Dansk
Svenska
Norsk
Suomi
Deutsch
Italiano
Español
Português
Français
Nederlands
中文
Indonesia
Polski
日本語
한국어
Čeština
Ελληνικά
Türkçe
Tiếng Việt
عربي
Follow us
Last month we were able to get in touch with the indie gaming industry at the DevGAMM event held in Gdańsk, Poland. Apart from talking to big studios and publishers, at this conference hosted at the AmberExpo and powered by InvestGDA we interviewed different developers who are looking for a publisher or who want to make their project known to a wider audience.
After the interactions we had with the different people who make up the development teams (sometimes one-man armies), we at Gamereactor noticed an interesting shuffle of genres and quite peculiar combinations. We'll have to see how they perform upon release, but there are some promising titles in the pipeline. As we did at DevGAMM Lisbon 2024, in this report we present a selection of developers we had the opportunity to speak with during the event.
Dungeons of the Amber Griffin is a title in development that takes players to the mystical region of Kashubia, Poland, drawing inspiration from its language, mythology, and folklore. In the adventure, they will lead a party of four characters with unique abilities to explore dungeons, defeat legendary creatures and uncover secrets of their ancestors. The solo developer, Frozengem Studio, wanted to combine elements of 80s CRPGs with modern mechanics to give a more polished experience. "We want the best exploration experience with the newest technology and characters like metahumans change every aspect of the quality of the game" said Tomasz Rozynski, lead developer of the game. In addition, they had the help of the band Percival Schuttenbach, famous for their work on The Witcher, to add depth to the project. The studio wants to release it this year on PC, but they want to release it well polished because they have a lot of confidence in the title, so we'll have to wait until they take the plunge.
Tearscape is a video game that aims to focus on exploration and combat and leave the story in the background, but without neglecting it. "There is some lore, some NPCs, several dialogues and things like that, but the story is not the main thing," explained its solo developer Tudor Prodan. It's a 2D, 8-bit adventure game, inspired by The Legend of Zelda and FromSoftware titles like Dark Souls or, above all, Bloodborne. The plot focuses on a hunter who has to explore dungeons to hunt down a group of beasts to collect their tears. A demo is already available on Steam, so you can play the first dungeon and its final boss, and its Romanian solo developer, while talking to publishers, plans to release the game by the end of the year.
Despite its German origins, Detective of the Dead is a project centred on the Mexican culture of death, putting the player in the role of a detective with cases to solve... in the other world. Mixing adventure elements with RPG, and even a bit of Metroidvania, with an isometric camera, you must search for clues to solve mysteries before a great enemy ends the world. "There are mini-games, you have coins.... There's a lot going on in the game, but the focus is on strong storytelling," explained Michael Geidel, producer at Actrio Studio. It is already available to add to the Steam Wishlist, but they are looking for funding to finish it.
Keep Driving is an already released title that focuses on a young person who has just got their driving licence and wants to go and visit their friends. During the adventure there will be different missions and we will be able to finish in different ways. It has elements of RPG and inventory management, with a lot of attention to detail. Sweden-based studio YCJY Games has drawn inspiration from the Swedish countryside for the scenery and vehicles. "A lot of people came to me today and said, oh, it feels like I'm in Latvia or Belarus or something like that," shared Olle Tibblin, the title's quality assurance manager. The game, full of pixelated nostalgia and 80s cars, as we said, is available on Steam (with Steam Deck support) and there's no official word on consoles yet.
Call of Elyndra is a game in development that combines different elements of simulation and adventure, reminiscent of titles such as Stardew Valley and classic Zelda. In this project, players will be able to farm, explore dungeons, solve puzzles and face multiple enemies. All this combined in a pixel art world inspired by iconic Game Boy Advance aesthetic, although there are hints that this could undergo a big change in the near future. "We want to deliver a nostalgic yet modern experience, with deep mechanics and thoughtful storytelling that will keep players engaged for hours," said Jakub Mamulski, Quorum Games representative. The game will offer a story about 30 hours long, differentiating itself from similar titles by focusing on a deep storytelling. A demo of the title is currently available for testing on Steam, although there is no word on a final release date.
Verho is set in a land where the Curse of the Faces has taken most of the world's lives. This curse means that if two people see each other's faces, they die instantly, which is why they wear masks. The player will have to find the source of this doom in a world with hints of King's Field and Skyrim, with low-poly graphics and in first-person. "The world is divided into 20 levels and you can play four of them in the Steam demo. It's about three to four hours and the final game will be between 33-40 hours long," explained Sebastian Solczak, lead developer at Kasur Games. The title will be released on PC, as its first platform, by the end of summer, although it's set to arrive on Switch, Xbox and PlayStation in the future.
Among everything that could be sampled at DevGAMM, there are many interesting projects that have been left out of this compilation and also deserve an honourable mention. We're talking for instance about An Amazing Wizard, from the Tiny Goblins studio, or Dark Trip, from the iTales VR studio. Both have their dedicated piece, in case you want to know more at their respective links.