Within our typo and queso stained contracts with developers, there’s something in there about nervously asking them questions from time to time for marketing purposes. I leaped to my keyboard and reached out to Riv Hester of Ahr Ech, a pixel artist, animator, game dev generalist and main developer of Pepper Grinder for some answers to my questions. Along with Riv, Pepper Grinder would not have existed without the help from Xeecee, who made the amazing music and Mathias from MP2 Games, who handled all porting and support tech. In celebration of today’s release on both PlayStation and Xbox, answers to questions can be read at any leisure below or above ground.

What are the biggest creative inspirations you have for your game’s design, mechanics, story and/or art style? (Can be non-games, or a life experience, etc.)?

Riv: Lots of stuff! The core mechanic was always Dig-Dug plus Ecco the Dolphin in my head, and the world structure owes a lot to Donkey Kong Country 2. But there's just as much less specific inspiration coming from other media like Mad Max and Tank Girl, Gurren Lagann, various horror novels, it's hard to keep track of what all went into it. And of course just digging holes in the backyard as a kid. For some reason I often just wanted to dig a hole big enough to sit in and read a book? Couldn't tell you why.

Are there hobbies, trips, people, or moments in life you can tell us about that were key to your decision to create this game (or games in general)?

Riv: I've kinda always wanted to make games in some capacity, or animated film, or animatronics, or just anything that could seem to live on its own somehow once you got it to a certain point. Dead things that feel alive and the particulars of how you go about achieving that feeling of life, conceptually, just really fascinates me. So trips to places like the Model Railroad Museum in San Diego, California would hit that note for me just as much as seeing Jan Švankmajer's 1988 film Alice, in which his take on the White Rabbit is a stop-motion animated taxidermied animal that breaks out of its display case. Most of all though I think playing with LEGO fed into making me a game designer. That's where I learned to design spaces for things to occupy, putting dioramas together with moving parts and hidden features. I still use LEGO for prototyping level layouts sometimes!

What are you skilled at or interested in beyond game development? (example: Do you have mad hydroponic gardening skills or were you formerly an opera singer? Are you a coffee aficionado?)

Riv: I like to cook! I mostly just make diner fare but I can ape most styles and improvise stuff pretty well. I can also dress stab wounds for unexpected trips to the hospital.

Which game element do you think no one will notice that you’re most proud of? Riv: This ties back to making things feel alive, but the Marauder Beach sticker book page you can unlock has shy little fish swimming around in one corner, and they'll get spooked by the cursor moving around while you're placing your stickers. I just think little details like that are fun, though I'm sure most players don't care.

What could you easily talk about for two hours?

Riv: Godzilla! … Should I actually do that?

What has been the most difficult part of game development?

Riv: Tuning difficulty for sure. With Pepper Grinder I initially started from a comfortable baseline for myself and ramped up from there, but early tester feedback was all over the place. Mostly trending toward feeling the game was too hard, but a few outliers wanted a lot more challenge. What do you do with that? I had to recognize that my comfortable baseline was probably a little too high to start off with since, y'know, I knew exactly how everything worked. But I also wanted to give those outliers the challenge they wanted too, since their playstyles seemed more like mine. Ultimately half the solution was improving the ways levels introduce concepts so it's really clear what the strategy is, and the other half was just being less punishing when players did fail, so they weren't sent back quite so far and could try again right away. That way I could ask quite a lot of someone's traversal skills without it stinging too much when a little practice was needed. I know some still feel there are some pretty brutal difficulty spikes in the game, but most seem to get by fine and I'm personally really happy with where it's at in the final version.

What would you choose to be your personal theme song whenever you entered a room?

Riv: Probably just the Wilhelm Scream.

What is your favorite video game of all time?

Riv: There are a lot of contenders, and I feel like my answer is always different, but this week it's Omega Boost. It's Polyphony Digital's only non-racing title and a very cool take on mecha shooter action. What game do you replay the most and why?

Riv: Jet Set Radio Future! It's fun, it's stylish, it's not terribly long and I can't help playing through it at least once a year. The contenders to that game's throne have all been cool but for one reason or another haven't been for me, so I'm really hoping SEGA sticks the landing with this new one they announced.

Which part of gaming culture (fan-created mods, cosplayers, speedrunners, fan art, fan translations, or something else altogether) fascinates you most and why?

Riv: Definitely speed running. In a lot of ways, I made Pepper Grinder with that in mind, and they STILL managed to surprise me with the tech they came up with to get through it faster in this year's Summer Games Done Quick. That was incredible to see, shoutout to the runner, shovelclaws. The tenacity and sheer will it takes to dig into every corner of a game to find new ways to exploit or break its systems, and the player expression that comes out through that is just so fun to behold.

Pepper Grinder is OUT NOW for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.

In the mid 1990s the world echoed with the high-pitched bleeps of virtual pets. Kids were transfixed by these tiny plastic eggs and the cute pixelated creatures within. They'd excitedly feed, pet, and bathe their needy digital blobs, while their real pets sat depressed and malnourished in the corner wondering why their owners were ignoring them. It was a phenomenon, and we wanted in.

So in 1996 we decided to create our own virtual pet. To save money, we outsourced the project to a small tech company based somewhere unpronounceable in Denmark. The owner, Henrik, said he could do it, no problem, and after 16 beers in a Danish bar we took his word for it. He had a trustworthy face, and that was enough for us to give him the contract.

A week later, Pocket Volvy was born. Devolver Digital had officially entered the lucrative virtual pet market. Players were tasked with looking after a charming digital representation of our iconic big-handed mascot, Volvy, feeding him onions, letting him play video games, and shining his smart little shoes to keep him happy. The happier he was, the bigger his hand would grow.

In the summer of '96, shipping crates full of Pocket Volvies were making their way from Henrik's workshop (well, he called it a 'workshop' but it was more like a small shack) to stores around the world. Our Danish friend assured us they were fully tested and functional, and we had no reason to doubt him. But then we started receiving troubling reports from parents that their kids' digital Volvies were behaving strangely. Something had gone terribly, terribly wrong.

Volvy would not stop—how we do put this delicately—emptying himself. You see, part of the gameplay in Pocket Volvy involved cleaning up his poop to keep him happy and healthy. But because of a catastrophic software bug, shortly after switching the device on he simply would not stop. You could press the button to clean the mess up, but the sheer volume would become overwhelming. Children wept as their screens filled up with poop, killing Volvy.

We tried to contact Henrik, but his phone line had been disconnected. We visited his shack, located in a forest on the outskirts of Copenhagen, but the place was abandoned. All that remained was a note with the words 'I.O.U. $250,000' scribbled on it. Thus began the eye-wateringly expensive process of recalling and refunding every single Pocket Volvy that had ever been sold. We didn't stop until every last one was back in our warehouse, then we destroyed them.

It was suggested we should bury them in the desert like that one game, but the risk of them being discovered again by inquisitive documentary makers decades later was too great. Total, merciless destruction was the only answer. We were so thorough in our efforts that no visual evidence of Pocket Volvy remains, which is why, to illustrate this article, we asked Volvy fans who were unlucky enough to briefly own one as children to sketch it from memory.

We cast every single Pocket Volvy into a really big, really hot furnace, and with that the tragic story of Pocket Volvy was over. Or was it? Rumours have begun to circulate that an emulated beta version of Pocket Volvy's system software has been located in the depths of the dark web by elite net surfers.

We don't know if there's any truth to this, but please: if you find it, do not play it. It no longer reflects the values of Devolver Digital or Volvy. This dark chapter in our history should not be forgotten, but we'd rather you remember our pal as the star of beloved games like Cigarette Heist or Volvy Jumping Day.

It's Devolver's 15th birthday! Do you know what that means? It means we get to say stuff like "time flies when you're having fun" or "maybe we should do a series of listicles centered around the number 15" and you're not allowed to roll your eyes. After all, we just wanted to answer the one question we get asked constantly in a positive and constructive way for once. What IS a Devolver game? We asked 15 Devolvers to explain themselves.

1 - Graeme

I have no idea what makes a game a Devolver game and that’s been the case from day one, that said, like any child faced with vegetables, I can tell you what I don’t like in a heartbeat

2 - Anna

A True Devolver Game is a game that stands out in some way, whether it’s art, gameplay or story (or all combined!). And it should definitely be something I would notice and play in my own time.

3 - Clara

Serious answer: Games we want to play by people we want to work with. Super serious answer: Good games that also say "Surprise, motherfucker."

4 - Nigel

There’s not a good definition to ‘a true Devolver game’ as I think it’s more you know it when you see it but that’s a lousy answer for an article or an interview. If I had to distill it I’d say the recipe includes a clear and singular vision, an interesting take on an established norm, and an experience that leaves the player with a sort of emotional impact they think about well after they’re done playing.

5 - Adoné

True Devolver Digital games are the games our developers want to make. It's our job to help them bring their vision to life, and to give them the support they need along the way.

6 - Robbie

Personality. We tend to approach our jobs emotionally, and feeling strongly about things is a key tenet of our process. If you're working with people who can't get excited about what you're creating, it only makes things more difficult for everyone. We like to share our enthusiasm with others, and that all starts with the game itself.

Everything that we put out is just an extension of our collective personality.

7 - Kate

A True Devolver Game is a game that Devolver has published.

8 - Danny

I always thought there was a template for what a Devolver Game is. Some time after joining the company, I found out that a true Devolver Game is the one that gets at least one of us excited enough to make us nag others relentlessly until we eventually sign it.

9 - Vieko

A game made by individuals determined to risk it all and unwilling to compromise their vision.

10 - Bridie

It's very clear by this point in the spreadsheet (this was written in a spreadsheet btw) that no one really knows what a Devolver game is. That doesn't mean we don't know what we're doing, I'm confident at least 3 people in the company do. Our vague answers are because knowing something is right for Devolver is an ineffable feeling, based on vibes and years of experience. If I had to put that feeling into words I'd need a much longer word count.

11 - Tena

I don't really know, I keep asking around and getting different answers.

12 - JM

Quality experience, subversive content, and a kickass soundtrack.

13 - Zach

I think the beauty of a Devolver game is that it can be anything and everything. As long as its something with passion put into it, something with heart, thats what makes a Devolver game. Also it's gotta perform well on TikTok. Clearly thats what's most important right? RIGHT?!

14 - Reese

Sometimes it's a vibe, a look, a sense of humour, sometimes it's a developer that we just have to work with, sometimes it's completely weird. Mainly we all just fall in love with a demo and need to fund it so we can play MORE.

15 - Andy A game is either a Devolver game or it ain't. Any attempt to explain it beyond that is futile. It's a vibe. An essence. Impossible to define, yet somehow clearly defined. If you could easily explain it, it would cease to be interesting. (Translation: I have no idea.)

Now that you learned what a Devolver game is maybe you should go buy some. Yes, seriously.

The Devolver 15th Anniversary Steam Publisher Sale we have going May 16 - May 23 features a ridiculous number of generously discounted hits, like Cult of the Lamb, Inscryption, and The Talos Principle 2. The recently launched Children of the Sun and Pepper Grinder are also on sale, as well as many other Devolver classics.

Go see for yourself.

It’s not easy being an Indie Game Publisher Marketing Website Developer these days. The gold rush has long ended. At this point it seems all we can do is gather together and converse for hours about what could have been. What if social media hadn’t taken over? What if recipes weren’t the only web pages people visited? What if these recipes weren’t long winded and boring and full of ads? What if the web fulfilled its promise of being a wonderland filled with innovation and engaging ways of interacting with content?

Devolver hasn’t given up on the dream. We’re pushing the boundaries with every game website we launch. Some people say that we only sign games that make great websites. These people are absolutely correct. Every project is a new idea; a beautiful immersive gallery that takes you on a journey through the very souls of the bloodied, battle ravaged, chili-dog infested, emotionally exhausted, and never crunching game developers.

And guess what. You ignored them all. You saw the website’s url and didn’t even consider clicking it. Instead you read user generated content and viewed all the ads. You responded to tweets without clicking the link. You read the aggregate review scores and accepted all the ad-tracking cookies. You failed your promise of a bright future for the web. It’s all your fault.

Without further ado, here are the top 15 Devolver Digital Websites!

15 - Essays on Empathy

The idea for this project was to try to replicate the in-game menu from the game. These pixel-art dioramas are wonderful and you can almost hear fingerspit’s music. In the old days of the web you couldn’t do these animated transitions to a new page url. Did you know that you can do that now? Doubt it.

14 - Broforce Forever

We knew we had to do something really special to celebrate the final update of this legendary indie game so we went all out and put together a chaotic auto-battler that shows off all your favourite Bros. That’s right, we coded an entirely new game and put it on the website. You know how hard Xebro and Broffy were to code? Xebro throws a projectile that bounces and then she has a melee attack. Broffy throws a projectile that revives her if she dies in its flames. It was sure to go viral. Only it didn’t because you already owned the game and instead of sharing the site you booted it up and played a few rounds instead. Asshole.

13 - Stick it to the Stickman

When we first launched this site everyone (1 person) thought it was a video in the background and scrolling through the site would scrub through the video. Nope! It’s all hand made in 3D. It took five weeks to position each character and puppeteer them through the action. And well, to be honest, this was a really fun project and it’s okay that you didn’t visit it. It was a blast to put together.

12 - Gato Roboto

Maybe you clicked this link. Maybe you even scrolled all the way down and immersed yourself in this game’s cute story. But you definitely didn’t find the easter egg. If you scroll to the bottom to watch the ship crash on the planet you’ll see that the content above has changed accordingly. The ship’s captain now sounds like a Devolver web developer presenting their weekly update.

11 - Reigns Game

Did any of you suckers buy any of the Reigns games? You could have just clicked on the website link and played them there. Sure, it’s not exactly the same but the important thing is that you had no idea. In this version, you have to balance out each of the five games’ bars and see how long you can go for. If one of the bars gets filled or depleted you have to buy that game.

10 - Return to Monkey Island

Actually a decent amount of you went to this website. Probably because this game made you nostalgic for back when the web felt like an imaginative playground. Did you click through all the dialogue options with Stan? If you do that you can ask him if he knows the secret to Monkey Island. Sidenote: If any web developers are reading this: the biggest challenge of this project was coding the pattern on Stan’s jacket.

9 - KarmaZoo

The last section of this website has a multiplayer mode! Does the Skull and Bones website have multiplayer? Nope. What about Overwatch 2? Not really. Maybe Destiny 2? Another single-player website. These websites are so concerned about “sales” and “informing the user” that none of them even considered putting an elephant on a floating hoverboard and making a pulsating heart explode with confetti.

8- Katana Zero

This site had one of our first big easter eggs (but nowhere near as big as what we did for the #1 entry on this list). First, you can change the “channel” with the remote control, but more importantly, you can access the TV’s menu by clicking that red button. In this menu, you can raise the volume and V-Sync to max to access a whole other channel. If you click on the TV in this view you’ll access DJ Electrohead’s hidden Bandcamp page.

7 - Disc Room

The Disc Room website also has a playable game on it, but you get a freebie for this one. It’s not easy to find. If you hit the spacebar a timer and high score list will open up, but where’s the game? It’s up there in the tab’s icon. A very tiny 16x16 playable version of Disc Room that reinforces that this game has a lot hiding under its surface.

6 - Loop Hero

This site was a perfect opportunity to use that infinite scroll website mechanic that everyone hates. Instead of making it annoying we added loops and progression. It has battles with damage odds that get progressively more difficult. As long as the hero doesn’t die, each loop fills the path with more buildings and monsters. It is possible to reach an end state but it’s not likely. You could try speed running this site. There’s a neat idea.

5 - Inscryption

Of course with Inscryption we had to give the website some layers to unfold. There’s the first layer that looks like a representation of the game on an old computer. Most of you weren’t able to figure out how to get to this part. For those of you who did get here, did you figure out that you can exit the game and explore Luke Carder’s computer? You can even write an email and send it to a loved one. This doesn’t always seem to work. Some email providers might have seen emails sent from this site as a bit sketchy. Just like the game!

4 - Ape Out

This one is a personal favourite. Horizontal scrolling, with some fake 3D effects and a bloody mess that sets the scene for how wild Ape Out can get. There’s even a little easter egg. If you scroll to the end, and then back to the bomb you’ll see that he is now blown up. It’s all about the tiny details.

3 - Sludge Life

This website has it all: A full blown operating system, a custom store, videos, in-game assets, screenshots, juicy bloop sound effects, and even pop-ups ads! That's what you like isn't it? You tell everyone you know that you close websites whenever you see an intrusive popup but we all know you're lying.

Bonus: Hit ESC for a little easter egg, or wait around long and enough and you'll get a chance to see an exclusive illustration made by the game's artist TerriV.

2 - Enter the Gungeon

Now to make you really feel bad. Did you know that the Enter the Gungeon website had a text adventure game hidden as an easter egg? Unfortunately because of some updates it has since been removed. You missed it completely. It was even written by Dodge Roll’s game designer himself. To unlock it you had to collect the shell casing currency hidden through the Exit the Gungeon and House of the Gundead pages, then come back and buy the blank from the shopkeeper. The last step was to keydown on your spacebar at the bottom of the page. This is all incredibly obvious if you’ve ever played the game. We could probably get it fixed up and put it back on there, but it would have to be by popular demand.

1- My Friend Pedro

This one is in the top spot because it has an easter egg that took longer to make than the actual website and almost nobody found it. We even did a photoshoot in a local park where we took some lewd photos of bananas having a scandalous picnic. You know what? You don’t get any hints on how to find this one. You have to figure it out yourself.

—

While those were the top 15 sites you didn’t visit, in five years we’re planning to list the top 20 sites you visited hundreds of times and shared with your friends and family and they all went viral and fun websites are back. You can start now with some of our latest sites like childrenofthesungame.com, peppergrindergame.com and thecrush.house.

tl;dr: Go visit our Steam Publisher Sale.

We’ve been lucky enough to work with a lot of talented developers over the past fifteen years and it’s been a thrill to concept and create some pretty memorable trailers and videos together. Our amazing team of editors alongside incredible animation and cinematic studios have crafted some special things together and here are fifteen that stood out when looking back.

1 - Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number - Dial Tone Trailer

Relatively early on in our existence, this was a hard lesson footage capture for a game that was still in development. A million things can go wrong in the scene you wanted to capture but this had to be perfect because the Carpenter Brut track goes too hard for anything less. The dual-wielding bear scene at the 25-second mark was probably one of a hundred takes to get just right.

And, to our knowledge, this is the only game we’ve ever published that has had a fan trailer created scene for scene inside of Team Fortress 2. Damn that's hot. 

2 - Serious Sam for Palm OS Unboxing

This is obviously terrible but also says a lot about Devolver Digital. What if you’ve had a few and find a long forgotten Serious Sam Palm OS game? You gotta unbox it and make a video in iMovie because you have no real talent in any adult video editing software. Just have fun and hope that when you wake up the next day what you posted didn’t ruin the company.

3 - Dropsy - Launch Trailer [Sing-A-Long Edition]

Not only is Jay Tholen an incredible game developer, but he's also an amazing singer, and composer. The track “Eternal Hug” in this trailer was stuck in our heads for weeks. This surprisingly poignant game about doling out damp hugs still warms our hearts to this day.

4 - A Fistful of Gun - The Devil's Broadside (Launch Trailer)

Crafted by the team at Imagos Films, all we gave them was ‘a weird yet epic western’ and they delivered a cinematic / musical masterpiece. The fact that at 1:35 until the end is just one single came take is impeccable.

5 - APE OUT - Playable Trailer

Not only can you watch this trailer on YouTube, but you can also PLAY it on Steam. The idea of a playable trailer was only possible due to the incredible work from the developers and the complex procedural music system that brought it all together.

6 - Devolverland Expo - Available Now for Free on Steam

Another proud moment of ingenuity - with E3 being cancelled and our usual Devolver Parking Lot made impossible, we worked with our friends at Flying Wild Hog to make a playable game convention on Steam called Devovlerland Expo. Sneak around the abandoned event, fend off guard bots, and watch the trailers in opulent digital booths all in the name of sacred marketing.

7 - Genital Jousting - Full Release + Story Mode

Nominated for the 2019 IGF Excellence in Narrative Award, Genital Jousting uses the framework of the mundane lives of anthropomorphized penises to tell a story of toxic masculinity and breaking down harmful socializations. We couldn’t be prouder of little John.

8 - Carrion - Behind the Screams

Crafted by the team at Imagos Films, this behind the scenes mockumentary is an absolute delight and one of the most fun live action promotional films we’ve ever produced.

9 - Return to Monkey Island | Gameplay Reveal Trailer

The sheer thrill of being able to bring back the iconic Monkey Island series with its creators Ron Gilbert and Dave Grossman was distilled into this one moment of unveiling the game itself and showing what we and others had kept a secret for years. Absolute elation to share this with the world and longtime fans like ourselves.

10 - Inscryption - Developer Overview

Daniel Mullins is a singular developer that subverts expectations and everything else so we wanted to add a twist the usual developer overview that played to the strengths and unexpected surprises that made us love the game from the moment we first saw it. Love you, Stoat.

11 - Tentacular | Reveal Trailer | Quest & Steam VR

When you are working on a game about a giant tentacle monster, the obvious path forward is to do so in the style of a Planet Earth style documentary, narrated by none other than David Attenborough. Unfortunately for us, David Attenborough is WAY too expensive, so our own J.M. Specht crafted the most spectacular impression, which even fooled some members of the team. I dare say, this is one of the most spectacular trailers on our blue planet. 

12 - Skate Story - Reveal Trailer

You know when you’re working on a trailer and the track is in your head for hours after stepping away from the computer that you’ve got something special. “Set it on Fire” by blood cultures was stuck in our brains for weeks while crafting this trailer. The combination of magical visuals, and an amazing soundtrack, impeccable direction from Sam Eng, and sound design from A Shell in the Pit created this masterpiece that was nominated for Best Trailer of Not-E3' from @PCGamer and we're not gonna argue that one bit. 

13 - Neva | Reveal Trailer

This cinematic moment from the game was shared with the whole team live at a Devolver meetup and when it was over everyone had tears in their eyes. We knew right then that this was our reveal trailer.

14 - GLaDOS Plays The Talos Principle 2

As we thought about how we could have fun with this concept of advanced AI and what it means to be human in a world where AI had surpassed its biological creators, this idea of GLaDOS from the iconic Portal series playing The Talos Principle 2 seemed perfect. Massive thanks to Valve for seeing the vision as well and connecting us with GLaDOS voice actor Ellen McLain, models for GLaDOS and all the voice processing routine so we could make it perfect.

15 - Children of the Sun | Reveal Trailer

A combination sniper x puzzle game is a hard one to get across while also layering in the tone / vibe / style that developer Rene Rother had created. This is just old fashioned sexy editing against a perfect cover song by Sleigh Bells that brings it all together.

BONUS - OmniBus - Launch Trailer

This trailer holds a special place in our video production lead’s heart so we had to add it. Kert Gartner’s second son was about one year old, and he was watching a lot of Little Baby Bum on YouTube. His tired daddy brain made this magical connection, and musician Jukio Kallio made this incredible custom track of ‘Wheels on the Bus’ just for Omnibus.

Hi all, Paul and Kate here from the propaganda service wing of Devolver Digital, and today, we invite you as we kick off the company's 15th anniversary blog posting extravaganza by taking a stroll through the history of our few, but favorite apparel designs that we pride ourselves on and wear on our torsos with little to no self respect. Deep cuts? Convention exclusives? Fan favorites? All here baby. Because it's our birthday, we decided to shower you consumers with a restock of some of our favorite designs (outside of North America? Go here!), so swing by the merch store and check out what we have to spend your extra pocket change and lint on.

15 - Graff Train (2018)

Hop on the passenger train or get left behind. This shirt we brought over to PAX Australia in 2018 and now it's yours to look at right now on this page in your home in 2024. Designed by Terri Vellmann.

14 - Devolver Possum (2023)

After commissioning the brilliant Enter The Gungeon popup vinyl art, and custom Dolly Parton wallpaper for Kate's bathroom, we knew we wanted artist Joseph Harmon to get super weird with our PAX East 2023 shirt. We got a dissected possum that could honestly represent the key poses employees actually do while working from home.

13 - Gungeons & Draguns (2016)

Roll or Die. Gather your friends together and explore the dungeon where you may or may not encounter the Dragun. This Bullet kin is strapped up and just jumping right in. Fearless, fearless creature. Designed by David Crooks, Joseph Harty, and John Cipriani.

12 - Ya'll Means All (2022)

Y’all is our favorite inclusive word, and when we say “y’all means all,” we mean that gaming is a space for everyone. Sometimes we print shirts where portion of the funds go towards charity, like ths one! 100% of the proceeds from this shirt will go to Equality Texas. Equality Texas works to secure full equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer Texans through political action, education, community organizing, and collaboration. While we may be global now, Texas is our home base, and we’re proud to support this fine organization. With artwork by Devolver's own Emily Taylor!

11 - Hotline Miami 3 Goblin (2019)

Another brilliant troll from artist, Terri Vellmann. This shirt features the only copy of Hotline Miami 3 that will ever, ever exist. It was also when we were asked to stop putting cigarettes on shirts, because smoking is gross, and Devolver is for the children.

10 - Minit (2017)

Luckily with this shirt you could hand wash it for 60 seconds and it would be clean! Well, maybe not entirely, but you get the idea. Wouldn't it be cool if they made Minit go to space or something? (Paul wrote this text, but Kate would like it noted that 60 seconds is more than enough time to handwash a shirt, unless you have heavy chili stains, from a chili dog or something.) Design was done by Thomas Wellmann, and Minit by Kitty, JW, Jukio and Dom.

9 - Burger (2014)

An original design from the vault from when we first started slanging shirts at conventions 10 or so years ago to you beautiful consumers. The burger looks great, but the eye popping shirt color looks even better. How many more Terri V shirts can we make? Never enough.

8 - Trailer Monsters (2018)

Look at this crew. Amazing times from our second to last parking lot jam that took place across the street from some Electronics Expo. The design is based off a real "Front Porch" art car we rented from artist Zac Carroll, and the design beautifully devolved from there. Another brilliant Terri V banger!

7 - Gato Roboto (2018)

Beautifully designed by artist, Guillaume Singelin. Singelin has done the key art for Gato Roboto, as well as other Doinksoft hits, Demon Throttle, and Gunbrella. Fun story: Kate told the Doinksoft developers "Whatever you do, don't just slap some art on a black T-shirt and call it a day." She was wrong. People crave duochromatic mech-cat shirts.

6 - Red Sox (2017)

What better way to sing 'Sweet Caroline' at the bottom of the eighth than in this shirt. It doesn't help you sing better, but does serve as a great napkin after your third Fenway Frank. Designed for PAX East 2017 by Omar Mejia.

5 - Black Metal (2020)

We woke up to a tweet from Terri Vellmann that was just this design, and we said "Ok, we're making a jacket from that." We only sold them for 100 hours, but now we're bringing them back as shirts! Also, yes, we know it's not really metal if it's legible, but like, branding y'all.

4 - Dropsy (2015)

To where could Dropsy and his pals be off to? Who knows, but just remember to smile and give your friends some nice warm damp hugs every once in a while. Designed by SURPRISE, SURPRISE, Terri Vellmann.

3 - Cult of the Lamb - Praise Lamb (2023)

Many have praised. Many more are about to and they just don't know it yet. Fans got to show their devotion to the most adorable cult in the land with this high-quality design last year with some more sizes still available! Artwork by Massive Monster and Carles Dalmau.

2 - Volvyland Tokyo (2023)

As one of the most sold shirts in company history with it selling out in mere days, we promised to bring it back after our marketing team lost an underwater LARPing tournament over a Summer weekend to fans. This here is the replica of the original Japan-exclusive Volvy shirt made for the grand opening of Volvyland Tokyo in 1994. Doodled by, you guessed it, Terri Vellmann.

1 - The OG Logo (2009)

This is it. This is the one. The OG freakin' logo in all its glory. I know, so original to place this at the top of the list, right? We're 15 years older and the majority of us are not that much wiser than when we started and the logo hasn't changed much, but this is the design that started this chaotic road trip of indie publishing. Designed by Nigel's friend, Tim Delger. Ah welp, that's it. Byeeee.

The Talos Principle 2, Croteam and Devolver Digital’s epic philosophical puzzle game, launched on November 2 to rave reviews. “Thought-provoking”, “genius”, and “a masterpiece” are just a few examples of the glowing praise critics have heaped on the game.

But you can’t please everyone.

We gave an early review key to monstrous(ly intelligent and wonderful, please don’t kill us) artificial intelligence GLaDOS, expecting her to resonate with the game’s vision of a future where humanity is extinct and sentient robots rule the world.

But, well, see for yourself.

Whatever. It’s a big industry. There’s room for another first-person puzzle game featuring cubes, pressure pads, laser beams, and portals.

She’s just jealous that our game has cats that you can pet.

The Talos Principle 2 is available now on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.

Now that the world has been blessed with a wonderful new crossover, it is only fair the devs Massive Monster (Cult of the Lamb) and Klei Entertainment (Don't Starve Together) also bless us by answering some questions about each other.

Devolver: How much have you played Don't Starve Together?  

Massive Monster (Jimp, Art Director): Probably an unhealthy amount! I played a bunch of the OG Don’t Starve and then when Don’t Starve Together came out on Playstation, I played a lot with my housemates. It's difficult to put down, especially as you can't pause the game without both leaving the server… I’ve lost weekends to that game! I have quite a low attention span and quickly lose interest in games - but I never get bored of Don’t Starve. It always keeps me engaged. Every time you play, you learn something new!

Devolver: How much have you played Cult of the Lamb? 

Klei: When the game first released we were playing non stop until we defeated The One Who Waits. For a period of time we were essentially all committed to being our own little cult leaders. It was a blast unlocking the different followers and we couldn’t stop until we had unlocked them all, there’s some really funny ones. Who doesn’t want to be praised and worshiped by a Poop follower?

Devolver: Did you think of Don't Starve Together while developing Cult of the Lamb?

Massive Monster: Absolutely! It's hard not to be inspired by the games you love, particularly when they are in a similar genre. I love feeding the pigs to make them follow you. I remember wondering if you could make that as the basis of a whole game.

Devolver: Don't Starve and Cult of the Lamb share a similar visual approach, using 2D art work in a 3D perspective - why do you think this kind of style works?

Klei: We actually really loved the clean almost “icon-like” look of the art style in Cult of the Lamb. Being a studio that has a deep love for 2D art ourselves, many of us have trouble with the uncanny valley for games that are really reaching for realism these days. 

The visuals that many modern games pull off are technical marvels, but many of us in the studio find that the closer they get to realism; while impressive, sometimes it can take you out of the fantasy of the game in a weird way. When there’s no pretense for realism, it actually lets us buy into the crazier elements easier. As creators of something like Don’t Starve, we also have a soft spot for the merging of cute and disturbing. It sneaks up on you in a fun way and we loved that we were constantly catching ourselves constantly saying things like “Awww that’s SO cute... waaait.”

Massive Monster: We've always loved using a cartoon style for our games. There’s something pure and expressive about 2D art that doesn't always translate as well in 3D. We're also a small studio and 2D art is just much faster to draw than modeling everything out in 3D. It lets us focus on creating bigger worlds. However, the 3D perspective does help create a great sense of depth and a feeling of space. It also allows for elements like dynamic lighting to help build atmosphere. So for us, the combination of the two felt like the best of both worlds.

As for the style of the art itself - the cute cartoony direction is an interesting lens to view the dark world of Cult of the Lamb through. If the art was highly detailed and realistic, it might feel quite unpleasant and nasty - you can do some pretty messed up things in the game. But because it's presented in a colourful and light hearted way, players don't realise quite how monstrous their actions are… until it's too late.

Devolver: What's your favorite memory from Cult of the Lamb?

Klei: Something that is always interesting to us is when a game puts you in a position to make a controversial decision where you’re not forced but legitimately enticed to do the “wrong” thing. There were lots of little moments in Cult of the Lamb when dealing with your followers like this. Things like questionable marriage arrangements and choosing to “ascend” followers. Where are they ascending to? Do we want to know? Do we even want to ask?

We really loved the follower characters.  Your bond with them really grows as you progress since they’re all just so cute and the interactions on the surface present as so innocent, and then we remember it’s a cult and we’ll be sacrificing them.

Devolver: What’s your favorite memory from Don’t Starve Together?

Massive Monster: Probably those days of playing with my housemates - having a few beers, forgetting to eat, making a dumb mistake because you're tired and getting into a blazing argument for ruining the game you spent all weekend playing.

Devolver: What’s an element from Cult you think could work well in Don't Starve?

Klei: We loved all the different NPC interactions in Cult of the Lamb when you’re in town.  We have definitely thought about what it could look like if we add more things like that and NPCs in general into Don’t Starve Together. We have dabbled in it a bit with characters like Wagstaff popping up from time to time. 

We could also see a possible update that maybe adds more interaction with the Pigmen, Merm and Bunnymen where they became kind of cult followers to the survivors. There’s some fun room there where they have early benefits to the players, but then start to become problematic.

Devolver: What's an element from Don't Starve you'd like to add to Cult?

Massive Monster: We always loved the survival element of Don’t Starve Together and for the crossover we wanted to add an homage to that into our game. We’ve done this with the new ‘Penitence Mode’ which adds hunger and tiredness for the Lamb! It’s a new challenge where you need to look after yourself as well as your followers. We think it's a really fun new layer!

Beyond that, we’d love to add some kind of cooperative element to the game. The sense of adventure you get from exploring a new map in Don’t Starve Together is unmatched. We’d love something like that in Cult of the Lamb. There's no plans for this at the moment but hopefully there might be one day!

That being said, we do have lots of exciting stuff planned for the game! We released our first free expansion, Relics of the Old Faith in April and you can expect to see another free major content update later this year! 

Devolver: Final question about both of your games, why is there so much poop?

Klei: Great minds think alike! The main reason for poop is humor. Anyone who tells you “poop jokes stink” and isn’t saying it as a punchline to a terrible excellent joke, should probably not be trusted. But #2 is poop… is childish and gross. Which makes it one thing: Funny (with a colon)

Massive Monster: It's an important part of life, you know? You're born, you eat, you poop, you die.. the earth reclaims your body, to grow the food that feeds future generations. We’re all just poop at the end of it all.

After waking up from a great night out with most likely a killer hangover, you take the role of GHOST, manager for musical ‘sell out’ mogul, BIG MUD, where you will explore the luxurious halls and crevices of CIGGY CITY SUITES as you crawl away from your room and beyond in search for him.

Frolicking your way around SLUDGE LIFE 2 comes with some upgrades of course! Traversal abilities that will take you to new heights with double jumping, thanks to some Double J sneakers you’ll be copping. A portable launcher to help you reach even newer-er heights? Yep. Also the glider. C’mon, you know the glider from the first SLUDGE LIFE, that’s back in it.

But hold up, this hasn’t been the first time art vandals Terri and doseone have worked together. Ohhh no, previously, the duo developed underground hits High Hell, Disc Room, Heavy Bullets, plus the original SLUDGE LIFE, which can all be found in your Devolver Digital games library. We just love these two that much.

I wanted to sit down and dig into the minds of both Terri and doseone to see what it was like working on SLUDGE LIFE 2 and where all this nonsense comes from.

SLUDGE LIFE 2 feels like a world designed to just vibe in. Like, just BEING there is fun as hell. Was that on your mind when you built it? How did you expand upon the already heavy style of the original SLUDGE LIFE?

Terri: Yeah, the vibes are what makes the game, and it's also what we were chasing while making it. The first one had a setting that leaned more towards the gray/industrial, and on SLUDGE LIFE 2 there was a focus on making scenes that had more character, doubling down on how dumb the whole thing is.

doseone: Indeed, I feel like sometimes we are building a world that's “like us”, meaning Terri and I, assets, sounds, attitudes, feels all pulled from our head and organized in Unity. SLUDGE LIFE 2 is really that VIBE/FEEL with XTRA everything, a doubling down upon the amount of areas, creeps, humor, secrets, items, animals and assholes.

What was your favorite addition into SLUDGE LIFE 2 and what gave you the idea and inspiration to add it into the game?

Terri: I really like the bum-a-cig system, it really just adds so much to the realism of being a smoker out in the world. My inspiration was real life and my life-long goal to make my games more realistic.

What would you say is your strongest quality as a producer? What is your biggest weakness? Please don’t say people-pleaser.

doseone: LOL, no outside peoples reception never ever enters my GUMBO :). I guess my strongest quality is my INDIVIDUALITY, when I do my best work, it sounds only like me, and when that's bent and focused to fortify a “WORLD” with music, the end result has a lot of character, quirk, errors and BOP. My biggest weakness is being self taught, which is also a strength that informs the above originality….that said when it WEAKS me, I suck and find my face pressed exactly against the ceiling of all the things I haven't learned yet or “correctly”.

Were there any usable item(s) you thought of bringing into the world of SLUDGE LIFE 2 that just didn’t make the cut?

Terri: Yeah, so SLUDGE LIFE 2 has a keycode system, and I had originally planned to use it on doors and various areas. Players would have to figure out the keys to gain access, OR find an item that was like a hacktool, an interface that would connect to GHOST’s laptop so he could play a hacking minigame to bypass the lock. Problem was, at the end we really just used them on a handful of lockboxes that can be found around the map. At this point that hacktool didn’t seem that needed anymore, and got cut.

Are there any jokes you couldn't add to the game because of our amazing friends at the ratings board? If so, describe it in... uh... as politely as you can.

Terri: Real answer is no, we kept everything. If a joke was cut it was probably because of scope or because it was just TOO unfunny. Our sense of humor is pretty dumb and cartoonish, but not super dark. I’ve seen quite a few people say the game is “surprisingly wholesome”.

doseone: NAH, it all made the game, that said Terri and I are pretty NO NONSENSE when it comes to being frank with one another about if a joke is funny, or a dialog intention is clear. I think stoned folks play and think the whole game, down to every decision is made of WEED, and not being focused….BUT alas this entire bizarre game is made of editing and trying to get the weirdness we are going for “right”.

The lyrics in the tracks from SLUDGE LIFE 2 talk a lot about what's actually happening as you play the game. How do you go about writing the songs? Do you write as you play? Or is it something you discuss with Terri beforehand?

doseone: BIG MUD is the voice of the SLUDGE, he’s a vehicle for the deeper perspective all the MOPES in our game don't have the time to realize or articulate, cause they are too busy working for the MAN. As far as the writing goes, I actually just pretended to be MUD for a week, wrote many many pages of MUDNESS, and then approached it to see what themes arose, and then I aligned all the raps along those themes until they became songs! For DOUBLE BUBBLE I actually did wait till the whole game was done to write specifically about hints, and happenings in the finished game.

What does being a game designer mean to you? How have you seen game designing as both the programmer and artist change over the years if any?

Terri: It has become rather compulsive for me, it can be difficult to keep it out of my mind when I’m not working, but also extremely rewarding. I’ve learned to work in a way where I try to go with the flow, within various limitations, and build the game in a way that is led by my process. I know it's a bit corny, but it's like the Bruce Lee “be water” quote, things work for me when I’m going with where the tools are leading, instead approaching them as a means to get to an idea I already have fully realized in my head.

If you could check in and spend a night at the real life Ciggy City Suites, would you? If so, what strange thing is happening in your room, cause we've seen how weird it gets..

Terri: I mean, you can smoke anywhere AND it has a dedicated smoking area? Hell yeah.

doseone: Oh hells yeah, I like to think I’d get along famously with every NPC and CAT in CIGGY CITY. Def be doing ZOOMS and freestyling with CLICK SICK when I’m not chilling in the room with 24 CATS!

When writing songs for BIG MUD, did you try to get into his head space? Like think of what BIG MUD would do and how he'd write?

doseone: Oh yeah, as I mentioned above, I talk like MUD, smoke a bunch, think slowly and genuinely try not to write anything MUD wouldn’t say. He may get fucked up with the goons, but he's 100% conscience rap, and very aware that being cool and being honest are a delicate balance only your prose can maintain. PLUS we have HALF FACE in SLUDGE LIFE 2, a fast rapping goblin who’s also straight off the pipes. Was fun to deviate from the MUD identity and ADD to CLICK SICK with a second voice and younger more nihilist twist.

If you can describe GHOSTS’ appearance, what would they look like to you?

Terri: Small frame, looks like they’re younger than they are, not big on personal hygiene. Doesn’t talk much. Absolutely fearless.

doseone: LIL’, 100% GENDER FLUID, RBF with a SPARK in the EYE, VERY LARGE HOOD up at all times:)

How has graffiti culture influenced SLUDGE LIFE 2?

Terri: It was great to have something to draw from, not even in the tags themselves, but looking at how it can also be a community with its own dynamics, different points of view and even understandings of what the culture is. Friends that I have from way back were big influences on the taggers too. For the second one I drew a bit more from growing older and seeing these artists move on from graffiti towards other things.

What would you say to other artists/producers who want to take the leap into video game music but are afraid to do so?

doseone: BE AFRAID, BE VERY AFRAI:D! No, DO IT! Start by finding a community and JAMMING, learn the “HOW” of adding music/sounds to a “world”, and allow the “WHY” to come naturally, aka VIDEO GAME MUSIC is REAL MUSIC you can put your ALL into it. For a long while MUSIC was considered a less that integral aspect of game making, but working with the right people on the right creation puts that BOOMER ass narrative to BED with no SUPPER!

You both must have incredible synergy to keep making such great titles together, what makes working together so great?

Terri: There’s a mutual trust and respect for each other and in each other’s work. We’re both creatively chaotic in many ways but also focused on doing it right and getting things done. Also, maybe most importantly, we both share a side to our sense of humor that is incredibly immature.

doseone: I have never been more grateful for a partner in ART, than I am for Terri. We just ADD to each other implicitly, and we may use our critical selves to finish, but we truly rely on our creative selves from beginning to end.

SLUDGE LIFE 2 is OUT NOW for PC.

Nina Struthers.

A lot of things might come to mind when you think of the CEO of Devolver Digital. Perhaps an image of her being gunned down at her Very Normal 2018 E3 showcase? Perhaps the straight-up murder that she committed earlier in that same show?

But what you aren’t thinking about is the fact that Nina Struthers is NOT a real person (mostly … more on that later). The CEO of Devolver Digital is not, in fact, Nina Struthers, as she was simply a character created to help further Devolver Digital’s brand identity as a publisher.

Fork Parker is real though, don’t you forget it.

When you watch a Devolver Digital summer showcase, you know exactly what you’re getting; a batshit meta-narrative that is almost as entertaining as the games themselves. And you know this because Devolver Digital has crafted an unmistakable identity for itself - something that has been a part of the company since its inception in 2009.

As the very real co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer of the company, Nigel Lowrie, puts it, “Our successful brand is a product of timing, just as much as anything else. We were one of the first indie publishers. We've been doing this for over 14 years now. So we have a long history, we’ve built up a catalog of games, events and activities that have helped build a brand. That's not something that can just be invented.”

What absolutely can be invented, though, is fictional C-suite tycoons to help solidify said brand.

If you’re a fan of video games, you’re probably familiar with most companies having a CEWG, Chief Executive White Guy. You know, the White Guy that gets on stage at E3 wearing a blazer and a graphic t-shirt to sell you products. Well, that’s where Fork Parker comes from.

“The persona was created from all the talking heads that we were used to seeing that were older white dudes. And we thought that we needed to have the older white dude espousing this kind of generic, over-the-top corporate speak,” explained Lowrie.

And the company’s CEWW, Nina Struthers, was created to be the hypewoman for E3 conferences and what she believes to be the absolutely groundbreaking, never-before-seen announcements and murders happening there.

But you must be thinking, surely, Devolver must have no shortage of real, living white men working for them to fill this role, so why create fictional people?

A key aspect to Devolver Digital’s identity is, in fact, not having a true face of the company. Devolver Digital has one goal in mind - providing their best-in-class publishing services in the background, giving the real spotlight to the developers behind Devolver’s iconic catalog.

While Devolver prefers to operate from behind the scenes and allow the developers to shine, that doesn’t mean that the company has no personality of its own, of course. Beyond the jokey, self-referential identity of Devolver, it also has a set of values crafted by the team, “I think that one of the core values that we will preach is just being honest, and having honest relationships and conversations with people. To the consumer, to influencers, press, developers, partners - we're not trying to play games.”

“If we're in a pitch and someone's coming off as too much of a salesman, too disingenuous, the red flags go up, and we don't really want to work with them. But if the person really has this vision and believes in it, and that could mean the silliness of Fall Guys or the kind of more adult issues and themes of what Deconstucteam works on, or the cleverness of something like Minit, that all comes through, because the developers had a very clear vision that can express themselves openly and clearly.”

All-in-all, Devolver has had a clear goal with its brand identity from the beginning. It is known for a mix of best-of-class, eclectic games. And while you may not necessarily recognize the real faces behind Devolver Digital, they’ve crafted an eccentric, over-the-top brand identity that is always recognizable - and for good reason, “One person may pick up GRIS and be blown away, but they may not be super excited about Cult of the Lamb. But hopefully, they give it a shot because of the Devolver label on it - it at least piques their interest or they’ll give the trailer a watch. What’s important is that they don't dismiss the game. The Devolver brand gives you a little bit of a leg up to have someone at least check the game out. So that's to me what's important.”

Devolver Digital, in the end, is about three things. Making great games, putting developers that truly care about their works in the spotlight and promoting video games amidst a string of murders both on and off stage. Isn’t that what video games are really about, in the end?