At GDC 2025, indie game lovers and creators gathered in the heart of San Francisco for Day of the Devs 2025, the beloved annual showcase celebrating creativity, experimentation, and pure passion in game development.
Hosted by Double Fine and iam8bit, this year’s event was a colorful mix of innovative titles, heartfelt dev stories, and a welcoming community vibe that continues to make Day of the Devs a standout in the industry.
We joined the festivities as press, spent the day playing dozens of games, and walked away buzzing with excitement for what’s coming next. Here are our highlights:
Dreams of Another
Dreams of Another is built around the philosophical theme of “No Creation Without Destruction.” Rather than destroying objects by shooting, as in traditional shooting games, here, your shots materialize and create the world. This unconventional mechanic offers a gameplay experience that challenges the norms of the genre and invites players into a whole new dimension.
Dreams of Another is scheduled to launch on PlayStation 5 and PS VR2 in 2025, with wishlist registration now open.
Hello to all the passionate game lovers out there! This is Baiyon. Just like you, I truly love games. As a creator who works across various media, I’ve long been thinking: could I create a game that weaves in my deep love for videogames and allows us to share that passion together?
The result of that journey is my latest game, Dreams of Another. By continuously exploring the forms and traditions that exist within games with great appreciation and respect, sometimes from completely different perspectives, even in reverse, I was able to create something truly exciting.
You destroy with a gun, yet in fact, you create. Like the strokes of a brush on a canvas, where each action brings something new into existence. I wanted to create a game that evokes this sensation, and through endless experimentation and careful adjustments with my team, it finally took shape.
For this project, I began by creating the concept from scratch. Along with the art and sound, I also took on the new challenge of creating the entire story, carefully crafting the dialogue for all the characters and objects, weaving in my doubts and struggles. The sentiments conveyed by the characters and objects in the game are like lyrics to me. I hope you’ll dive into the unique, cohesive experience that was crafted as I composed the music to resonate with them.
Game Director Baiyon
Expelled
Expelled! is a narrative-driven adventure game developed and published by Inkle, released on March 12, 2025, for Windows, Nintendo Switch, and iOS platforms.
Set in 1922 at Miss Mulligatawney’s School for Promising Girls, players assume the role of Verity Amersham, a scholarship student accused of pushing a prefect out of a window. The objective is to navigate the school day, interact with characters, and gather evidence to clear Verity’s name or frame someone else before the day’s end.
Faraway
Faraway is a single-player game, where you control a shooting star who is constantly in the process of vanishing but keeping itself alive by harvesting energy from the stars by creating constellations. Players have to tame the smooth, flowing controls of swinging and slingshotting around stars, while weaving an energy string and connecting it to stars.
The Electrifying Incident: A Mini Monster Expedition
Featuring the monster from A Monster’s Expedition, The Electrifying Incident will have you explore a mysterious facility and manipulate the many electrical hazards and locked doors to find a way deeper, towards the source of the problem. Your only tool: a mechanical grabber-arm allowing you to lift and move boxes from afar.
But be careful, the reactor is malfunctioning, and could go into meltdown at any moment!
More details:
- 30-90 minutes play time, ideal for a single play session.
- A short and adorable new adventure from the team behind A Monster’s Expedition, Cosmic Express, Bonfire Peaks, and more.
- Made in six weeks with a small team, this is a fully remastered and reimagined edition of the puzzle script game “Cyber-Lasso”, released in June 2014 for the “Space Cowboy” Jam.
- Game designed by Alan Hazelden (A Monster’s Expedition, A Good Snowman is Hard to Build).
- Featuring an original soundtrack by Patricia Taxxon.
- Art direction from Adam deGrandis (A Monster’s Expedition).
Demonschool
Demonschool is an upcoming tactical RPG developed by Necrosoft Games and published by Ysbryd Games. Originally slated for release on September 13, 2024, the game has been postponed to early 2025 to allow the developers to enrich the game’s content and overall experience.
In Demonschool, players follow Faye, a university student and the last living demon hunter, as she and her companions confront supernatural entities invading their world. The game features a streamlined combat system where movement dictates actions, emphasizing strategic positioning and combo execution. Players can plan their team’s schedule to enhance skills, gain new abilities, and build relationships, influencing the game’s narrative and multiple endings.
That’s a wrap on Day of the Devs 2025
For all the games that took part in Day of the Devs: San Francisco Edition, check out the official Steam page for the event.
