We used to only get a Day of the Devs showcase once a year during the summer. Now we get an encore during the holidays as well. This year’s Day of the Devs: Game Awards 2024 Edition didn’t disappoint either. Every time I think the heavily curated, very personal, extremely intimate showcase can’t possibly top the last one, somehow it still does.
As the video game industry ping-pongs from one big-budget sequel and live-service disaster to the next, with seemingly ever less room for creativity, experimentation, and risk-taking, Day of the Devs reminds us that wild, wonderful things are being made all around us as long as you know where to look. And the organization, which started as a collaboration between DoubleFine and iam8bit before becoming a donation-supported non-profit, does indeed know where to look.
This year’s event featured 19 rad-looking games from all sorts of genres, sporting a wonderful assortment of visual styles and coming from devs around the world, and I can’t wait to try them all. Especially TankHead, which seems like what you’d get if you set Shadow of the Colossus in the world of Wall-E.