A Publishing Haven for the Offbeat and Irreverent

Until it was canceled for good last year, the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3, was the video game industry’s big week of exaggeration. The presentations by major game companies were highly corporate affairs and always upbeat about the industry.

Devolver Digital, an indie game publisher, took a very different approach at E3 in 2017. For 15 surreal minutes, its frightening (and fictional) chief synergy officer threatened viewers with “tomorrow’s unethical business practices today.” She asked an audience volunteer to try a suspicious new gaming device and did not flinch when it appeared to amputate his hand. By the end of the show, the stage was awash in fake blood.

From then on, anticipation was high for Devolver’s marketing presentations, which have doubled as scathing satires of the industry’s excesses: loot boxes, microtransactions, cynical A.I. gimmicks.

“The horror that is wanting to make video games for a living is lessened slightly when you know that Devolver’s got your back,” said Dave Crooks of Dodge Roll, whose game Enter the Gungeon was a big hit for Devolver.

The publisher’s taste is at the intersection of art house and grindhouse. One signature title, Cult of the Lamb, is both a dungeon crawler and a caricature of fringe religions: You battle heretics while also keeping your disciples adequately brainwashed. A Devolver game is tight, visually stylized, mechanically clear and also straightforward in how it wants to use your time, in contrast to the bloated games that major studios often produce.