What Are Devolver Digital Working On… A Look At Their Studios
In 2024, Devolver Digital published 10 games across the year and as usual for the eclectic publisher, there was a good range of genres that were on offer to players.
While the industry suffered layoffs across the year, Devolver were sadly not immune to that, as Artificer were impacted. As the studio was reported to only be around 40 people at the time the layoffs happened, losing 28 means that ~75% of the studio was cut, leaving just a small number behind.
These are the games that were released by Devolver in 2024, with those bolded titles being brand new releases:
The Crush House
Sumerian Six
Children of the Sun
Anger Foot
Neva
Pepper Grinder
The Plucky Squire
Phantom Abyss 1.0
Reigns: Three Kingdoms
Cricket Through the Ages
So that was their 2024 efforts, what does 2025 look like?
artificer
Last Game Released: Sumerian Six | Series: Showgunners, Phantom Doctrine
2024 was both a good year and a horrible year for Artificer. The bad was of course that they lost a massive chunk of their team, the good was that Sumerian Six released and it did well
Given the much smaller team and the fact that they just shipped a game in mid 2024, this is one team that is unlikely to have anything for 2025.
Big Fan Games
Last Game Released: None | Series: None
This group of Devolver Digital is actually a slightly independent group, think Jetstar to Qantas. They are owned by Devolver Digital, but they are doing their own thing.
We know that they are set to bring Tron: Catalyst to players in 2025, with the game being created by the folks at Bithell Games. Beyond that though, there is no word on what else they could have cooking. We got the chance to speak with Graeme from Devolver and he did promise more games are coming, but they were not ready to say what, at least back in October 2024. Given that the new year is upon us, I would imagine that we will start to learn more about what Big Fan are up to in 2025.
Croteam
Last Game Released: The Talos Principle 2 | Series: Serious Sam series, The Talos Principle series
It has been a few years since we got a game from Croteam and it seems they were keeping things quiet, as just a few months ago, the team revealed that they are working on a remaster of The Talos Principle. The game is coming out very soon, well sometime in early 2025, so there won’t be a long wait for this one. But is there more cooking from the studio, honestly no.
Well not exactly, as the studio itself is not massive with around ~50 people working there, but they do have a publisher division. The Croteam Incubator is a program that helps smaller developers with tech support, game design support and even financial. The program is not massive, they are not pumping millions of dollars a week into it, but it is through this program that we got titles like I Hate Running Backwards and Scum. That last one has fallen away from Croteam with the developers picking up another publisher, likely because it launched into early access in 2018 and has been stuck there ever since. The studio could also look to bring some of their older titles to newer platforms, as has been discussed in the past, but for that we would need to wait for Talos to release first.
Dodge Roll
Last Game Released: Exit the Gungeon | Series: Gungeon series
Last year I said that it was time for us to learn about the new game from Dodge Roll and it turns out that I was incorrect in my guess, as the studio said nothing for another year. In fact, their online presence for the past 12 months was mostly telling you when either Gungeon game went on sale, or sharing that another Devolver Digital game released.
There was a mobile port of the first game released in China in 2024, but that was done by another studio. At this point, I have no idea what these guys are up to, but I hope they reveal it soon.
Doinksoft
Last Game Released: Gunbrella | Series: Gato Roboto
Having had a busy 2023 with the release of Gunbrella, Doinksoft had a quiet 2024, mostly just promoting the release of the game. They did manage to get a collection of titles out on Switch via The Doinksoft Collection, which contained three games. But all that was done off of work from years past, so what about this year?
Honestly, I can’t make any guesses either way for this group. Their social channel does state more is coming, but there is nothing I can find, as the developer doesn’t have any anything online beyond the socials. The studio is not a big one, but 2 years between games feels like a decent release cadence, but only time will tell.
Firefly Studios
Last Game Released: Stronghold: Definitive Edition | Series: Stronghold series
When you make a good game, you should stick with it and that is what Firefly Studios have done, as they made Stronghold in 2001 and have been making them ever since. 2023 saw the studio release Stronghold: Definitive Edition, which as its name suggests is an updated version of the original release. 2024 saw the studio keep releasing content for the game, including the Valley of the Wolf and Swine's Bay DLCs.
The studio is working on something new its called Stronghold Unreal, as its Stronghold being made in Unreal Engine 5. The last time the studio talked about the game was back at the start of 2024, so we are due for an update, with luck a new video will come soon into this year. In what is a weird scenario though, a new listing for Stronghold Castles appeared during 2024 on mobile app stores, the game is available to download, but the official site has no listing for it. In fact their social channels are also devoid of any mention of the game as well. The game has been getting consistent updates, so I expect that to continue throughout 2025, I just wish I knew why the studio doesn’t want to talk about the game.
Good Shepherd Entertainment
Last Game Released: Demon’s Mirror | Series: John Wick Hex, The Eternal Cylinder, Hellboy Web of Wyrd, Monster Train
After a good 2023 with Hellboy, Good Shepherd had a bigger 2024 as they brought Dice Folk to Switch, Monster Train to PlayStation 5 and released the all new Demon’s Mirror onto PC.
The problem is that as Good Shepherd are a publisher of games, there is no telling what they are doing, until they announce things. Last years reveal of Big Fan Games, see above, does mean that John Wick Hex and Hellboy Web of Wyrd now have that group as their publisher name. Given that the group have published on average 2 games a year for the past few years, I would expect we see their name this year, I just have no idea on what.
Nerial
Last Game Released: Card Shark | Series: Reigns series
For the past 8 years now, Nerial have released a decent stream of hit games starting off with Reigns. In 2022 the studio released another hit title in Card Shark, but last year was their biggest as they dropped Reigns: Three Kingdoms for PC and Switch, but also The Crush House for PC.
Now the studio is cooking up something new, some of the newer staff to join over the past 12 months or so have narrative experience and neither of the 2024 titles were that narrative heavy. The studio has no open roles, so they are likely hard at work on whatever their new project is, but given they dropped two titles in 2024, I would not expect to hear from them this year.
System Era Softworks
Last Game Released: ASTRONEER | Series: Astroneer
2024 was a big year for System Era Softworks, not only was it the first full year of the group being apart of the Devolver Digital family, but they also released a massive expansion for Astroneer. Glitchwalkers gave players a massive new planet to explore, a new villain to encounter and new stories to discover, but as they brought that out in November 2024, odds of them having something big ready to go for 2025, are slim.
While there may not be anything massive planned, the studio is unlikely to be stopping on support for Astroneer, as just before the holiday break a PC patch was released, which should come to consoles soon. The group were looking for a job or two towards the end of last year and they have been filled, but I would imagine they were to bolster the existing team and not for anything new. Given that Astroneer is doing well, I expect this will be the primary focus of the studio for a while, though something percolating in the background is likely.
Publishing
Deepnight Games
Last Game Released: None | Series: None
Deepnight Games is a name you won’t know, but if you have played Dead Cells then you will know Sébastien Benard, the lead developer for the game. In 2020 he left Motion Twin to create a new studio and their debut game Nuclear Blaze.
This studio is a one man operation, meaning that Benard is doing everything himself, so while Nuclear Blaze was the first game, he was not slowing down. Now Tenjustu doesn’t have a release date, it just is for 20XX for PC and Consoles, so it could be a while until we see more of this game.
Free Lives
Last Game Released: Terra Nil | Series: Gorn, Broforce, Cricket Through the Ages
Free Lives is one of those developers that makes such a range you never know what they are going to do next. Broforce is good dumb fun, but Genital Jousting is… unique. Their two recent games are just as different with Anger Foot being the only soles like around and Terra Nil being the complete opposite. 2024 was a big year for the studio, Terra Nil got a massive update, Anger Foot kicked down the release door and Cricket Through The Ages came to PC and Switch.
So what about 2025? Well we know that Stick it to the Stickman is coming, or at least dated to release this year. We got to play it quite a while ago, in fact it was over 2 years ago, so with luck the developers can release the game this year, but given the studio is a small one, who knows. As they tend to have few projects going at the same time, odds are they have something else happening behind the scenes, I just have no idea if we will see that this year, whatever it is.
Gabe Cuzzillo and friends
Last Game Released: Ape Out | Series: Ape Out
This is an odd one to talk about, revealed back in 2023, the game is quite literally a walking simulator, or Lord of the Rings the game, I kid. Apart from the official trailers, like the one below, the game is radio silent. Even the trio of developers have not been talking about the game, in fact some of them barely talk about things online, at least in the usual public spaces.
The game is coming to PlayStation 5 and PC and is expected to arrive in 2025, so with luck the game will take its first steps to its planned release very soon.
Heart Machine
Last Game Released: Solar Ash | Series: Hyper Light series
Revealed in June 2024, the partnership between Heart Machine and Devolver Digital is for Possessor(s), where it will have players take control of Luca, the host, and Rehm, her less-than-cooperative counterpart, as they explore a quarantined city ripped apart and flooded by an interdimensional catastrophe. Their only hope of survival is by learning to co-exist.
The studio will kick off 2025 with a big milestone as Hyper Light Breaker will release into early access, less than a week from now. They have no open roles right now, so it is likely that they are just working away on what they already have in development. While Hyper Light Breakers has its early access release date, Possessor(s) is still rocking a 2025 date.
No Brakes Games
Last Game Released: Human Fall Flat VR | Series: Human Fall Flat
The folks at No Brakes Games have been working on their people physics adventure since the first release in 2016 and that game just kept growing. The studio also brought the game to VR in November 2024, the reception on that is a little mixed.
Both of those games were published by Curve Games, which is why it was a bit of a surprise to see the sequel being published by Devolver Digital. Sadly since that reveal trailer, which is below, we haven’t seen or heard anything more on the game. It has no release window, not even a year and there are no platforms revealed either, but given the first game came to everything, I imagine the sequel will do the same, whenever that is.
Sam Eng
Last Game Released: None | Series: None
For the second year in a row, Skate Story is back in this list because it was delayed again. It was first revealed back in 2022 and was meant to come out in 2023, then 2024 and now 2025. Given the constant delays, the solo developer Sam Eng is a bit accident prone, I have no idea if it will release this year, but one can hope.
Skelton Crew
Last Game Released: Olija | Series: BackSlash
Skeleton Crew Studios, it has nothing to do with the Star Wars series Skeleton Crew, has been making games for around 8.5 years now out of their office in Kyoto, Japan. The studio has had a few games that got attention, with Olija being the most recent one.
Forestrike was just announced last year, we even got to go hands on with it, and it tasks players with completing a journey, the catch being that you need to practice your encounters before you engage with the enemy. The studio is quite a quiet one, with all their online presences being the barest of bare, so we won’t see much from them on those. But what about the game? Honestly, there is no telling where it is at, the build we played was very early and the developers have not locked down a release beyond 2025, when exactly is the question.
So there we go, all that we know about from Devolver Digital, their own studios and their development partners. Given the studio tends to be a little random at times, ok a lot random, they will likely have a lot of surprises for gamers across the year, we will just have to wait and see.
Do you think we were right, or wrong? Let us know your thoughts.
