5 standout games from the Day of the Devs presentation

The Summer Encounter Fest is a time for the major publishers to hype their latest blockbusters with the likes of The Witcher and The Ghost of Yotei amping up anticipation Although those AAA titles will garner plenty of attention smaller studios have a chance to shine with the Day of the Devs The event puts a spotlight on projects from smaller developers which have more control over the games and are also more willing to take risks Indie titles are where fans find innovative ideas when the run-of-the-mill blockbusters feel rote Here are the games that impressed me the bulk during the presentation Big Walk by House House The developer behind the Untitled Goose Challenge has a new project with a simple premise It s an open-world contest where a group of friends explore a curious surroundings but there s major limitation It has a proximity chat That means if someone wanders off they can become lost and unable to communicate because no one will be able to find them if they re not close by That leads to novel tactics of play as players have to use items like signs or flare guns to communicate from afar The goal of the competition is to find options to get a message across when there are obstacles to do that It reminds me of playing a contest as if it were the s a time before smartphones I think of it as a Seinfeld -simulator It s scheduled for release in Blighted by Drinkbox Studio This project is described as a hard-core action Metroidvania in a psychedelic Western nightmare It takes place in a world where a civilization developed through a sacred ritual in which a seed is planted in a brain when someone dies and a tree grows from it The fruit that it bears contains the memories of the person who died But the villain Soristo has decided to eat the brains before that happens defiling the ceremony and creating a blight It s up to players to defeat them and regain the lost memories It s Drinkbox s first foray into three-dimensional environments and it features co-op gameplay and a dynamic difficulty system Like its other games it s unlike anything else out there The association hopes to have a playable demo later this year on PC Moonlighter The Endless Vault by Digital Sun The shopkeeping and rogue-lite mashup was a revelation when it was circulated in The tournament follows a simple gameplay loop Players delve into dungeons and collect loot and sell those items in their shop in order to obtain better gear The sequel moves away from the pixelated look of the original as the developers have shifted to polygons for a more beautiful world The developers also explained combat has been vastly improved with a better mix of enemies while maintaining the rogue-lite gameplay that rewards players for clearing rooms In addition the unit has added perks to the shop-keeping element so boosts don t just happen during runs Moonlighter is scheduled to release this summer on Xbox Event Pass PlayStation and PC Relooted by Nyamakop Sparse games have a real-life call to action Players run through the adventure enjoy it and put it down but this heist title from the South African-based group works a little differently Relooted puts players in the role of Ocean s Eleven -type unit that seeks to repatriate artifacts taken from Africa Players scenario the locale they plan out how to steal the piece and then they execute that plan in hopes of taking back the treatures items while avoiding capture Relooted features real-life artifacts and highlights the issue of multiple works in contemporary times They are in Western collections and plenty of from their country of origin want them back The challenge is coming to PC and Xbox Series X and S Thick as Thieves by Otherside Entertainment Legendary championship creator Warren Spector s new challenge puts players in the shoes of burglars who are each after their own target What makes this title different from other games is that they re thrown in with other real-life players who have their own agendas That means players not only have to deal with computer-controlled adversaries but they ll also have to outsmart other players who could chaos a ruckus set traps or interfere with a goal It has the foreseen to be a smarter stealth championship that requires more from players The match is coming to PC