Nordic Game Jam 2025 | Indie Showcase

games indie projects testing culture

Games in your Game Jam

This was a publicly accessible event and as such if you find yourself in these pictures and would like to be blurred out, please reach out to me via email or social media (Check my About page)

Nordic Game Jam 2025 has officially ended and I was an organiser this year! If you don't know what Nordic Game Jam is, check it out by clicking here. In short, it's the biggest game jam event in the north held in Denmark every year since 2006 and people come from near and far to participate in it!

As a new thing this year, they hosted an Indie Showcase. Basically companies could get free access to the Nordic Game Jam (which is otherwised a paid event) so they could show off their games to an audience of hobbyists, gamers and developers just before all of those people were about to jam and make their own games. Lots of valuable feedback. I did a walk around and took note of some new games I hadn't seen before and decided to ask the developers about their games. I also spotted a couple I had seen before. I did the same at the last Dev ➤ Test ➤ Repeat in March 2025 which you can read about here.

Project Thorns

So full disclosure, this is my own game (on my own blog? Scandalous!) made by my company Star Grease Studio. Currently titled "Project Thorns" this narrative puzzle game will be a real brain twister. The game is diving into some very human stories and elements in a world full of old forgotten technology and in-fighting factions. The games mechanics are based around version control as we know it from software like git and are integrated into the world as old tech. Think sheikah tech from Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. There are currently no pages dedicated to the game, but there will be soon so stay tuned for that! A link to the current existing demo can be found below. The demo can be played in the browser on a PC using keyboard and mouse.

  • Company: Star Grease Studio
  • Platforms: PC
  • Check It Out: itch.io
Two laptops on a table with Project Thorns demo page running with Philip, one of the devleopers of Project Thorns, sitting on one side while a player is going through a level on the other side.
Philip (Left) talking to a player (Right) as they are going through the Project Thorn Demo

GRAVITY BREAK

I didn't catch the developer for this game. They had just placed a CRT screen with an LCD panel in it on a stand and left the game for people to pick up a controller and play it. From the gameplay I saw it looked like a space exploration game with fairly simple but vibrant 3D graphics and fairly fluid rocket controls. Looking into the company that made this game it appears to be one very experienced guy just doing his thing. All the best to you Kristian Bak! You can find a demo of the game on Steam which you can check out below.

  • Company: bakspace interactive
  • Platforms: PC
  • Check It Out: Steam
A CRT screen enclosure with an LCD panel sitting on an old wooden stand with the game Gravity Break running as a player is interacting with the game via a connected controller.
The game GRAVITY BREAK being played.

Bobls

This team had brought a huge screen to the indie showcase so it was very eye-catching right away. I saw some players use bubbles to cross canyons and they were used in creative ways to beat various levels. The art-style was vibrant colours in 2D and rather appealing with cute little character designs. I spoke to the developers of the game and learned that it's a precision platformer inspired by games like Portal where you can play solo or as two players. It's a simple gameplay loop where you need to collect gems and can shoot bubbles to jump on which your friend can also jump on. There is a single player campaign which can be played with a friend as well. The game spends little time on exposition and gets you straight into the action as fast as possible!

  • Company: SoftLock
  • Platforms: PC, Switch/Switch 2 Later
  • Check Them Out: Website
A big television with a 2D pixel style game while two players are jumping on bubbles to cross a chasm together.
The game Bobls with two players

One More Experiment

With a title like "One More Experiment" how can you not be curious to see what it is? The game is 3D and the artstyle looked to draw inspiration from older titles which is all the rage right now. I spoke to the developer and was told that it's a game which has been in development since 2019. Most of the VFX and art was made by this person and then they hired freelancers to cover the rest. The precision platforming puzzles are inspired by games like Portal (another one!) where you have a device that can absorb fire and water which you can then use to manipulate your environment and solve various puzzles. The developer recently got a demo out on Steam that you can find below!

  • Company: Ambercrown Games
  • Platforms: PC
  • Check Them Out: Steam
A person is playing the game One More Experiment which is shown from a first person perspective while looking at what appears to be a small 3d modelled bedroom with light furnishing.
One More Experiment being played.

DarkSwarm

The developers of this game had taken up four stations so you could play their game as you could play it in four player co-op mode! They had also brought a big ad with them to stand menancingly next to their stations so you could see what game you were playing. It is a top-down shooter with a darker and more gritty art-style not too dissimilar to that which you find in games like Deep Rock Galactic. Speaking to the developer I learned that the game was originally made by one guy at home in his sparetime after having gone to a couple of game jams. It was heavily inspired by co-op games, originally the old Amiga Game called Alien Breed but also newer titles on PC like Alien Swarm and Hell Divers. It's all about class based gameplay where you need tight teamwork. You go on missions to earn currencies which you can use to upgrade your crew and go on more missions.

  • Company: Bitfire Games
  • Platforms: PC, Consoles Later
  • Check Them Out: Website
Four computers on a table each have an instace of the game DarkSwarm playing while players are getting ready to jump in and take over from players that just left.
A four player session just ended and new players are joining in

Modularity

When walking by this booth I saw a complex structure of pipes and valves and cubes that I couldn't quite understand and it meant that I just had to talk to the developer about it so maybe they could shed some light on this mysterious sight. This game was made as a semester project by a group of ITU students in the Games Programme. It's a puzzle building game where you connect pieces of metal and flesh (Yep, flesh) together to build as big as possible. The goal is currently to get as high of a score as you can from the number of connections you make, pieces you placed and the energy orbs you pick up combined with the total size. It can be wishlisted on Steam now and should be released in the Fall of 2025.

  • Company: Root Cause Games
  • Platforms: PC
  • Check Them Out: Steam
A screen is placed on a table showcasing the game being played by one of the developers who is sitting behind the screen.
The game being played by one of the developers who is sitting behind the screen.

Starshapes

On a smaller unassuming table some patterns caught my eye while passing by. A person was playing a game where they seemed to be connecting dots with lines but...in space? So I asked the developer what was up with that. It's about drawing three dimensional star constellations and the way you do it is governed by mathematical rules that lets you do it or not. By the end of it you will have drawn beautiful shapes with neon colours and particle effects.

  • Company: Entire Games
  • Platforms: PC, Mobile Eventually
  • Check Them Out: Steam
A player is currently trying to tie stars together with simple lines to create star signs in the night sky. Each star works like a dot like in 'connect the dots' books for children.
A player currently drawing star signs by connecting stars that look like dots

Riva

When I saw the table with the beautiful art showcasing what appeared to be a forest background with the big "Riva" letters on screen I had to approach and talk to the developer about their game and I learned about a fish I had never heard of! This is a cozy style videogame where you play as a witches apprentice learning how to make elixirs and potions but then it turns out that when you collect the ingredients and craft potions and take them into the nearby village the village has now resorted to a new type of magical element called ambers. But then the ambers are putting you out of ambers and you start investigating what lies behind them. What you find is a very dark secret. The game features farming mechanics, fighting ingredients and crafting!

And yes. Sacabambaspis is the fish. Never heard of that one before. The team was about to switch to a different name but they couldn't tell me what the new name was.

  • Company: Team Sacabambaspis
  • Platforms: PC, Switch and Mobile later
  • Check Them Out: itch.io
Two laptops sit on a table with the title screen for the game 'Riva' showcasing deeply grown forest with large white letters spelling out 'Riva'.
The game was ready to be played by the next testers.

Beastly Bites

This game was setup right next to mine and I came back to it after having walked the canteen a bit to see what games were on display. The Japanese Torii gate on the title screen combined with the striking colour palette was pleasing to look at. Talking to the developer I was told that the game is about a woman who is starving in search of food. She finds the most delicious food she has ever seen on an altar. Temptation gets the better of her and she eats the food. A guardian monster comes out at her, curses her so that she turns into food/human hybrid (brand new sentence) and takes her to his domain. In order to redeem herself she has to fight smaller minons made of food as well. It's a fighting game with mini bosses and a journey of redemption and attonement. The game was made by 15 students while they were at DADIU in only 6 weeks!

  • Company: Hangar Studios
  • Platforms: PC
  • Check Them Out: Steam
Two laptops are seated on a table surrounded by fliers with QR codes for the games page, some playstation 5 controllers and on the laptop screens is the title screen of the game showing a Japanese gate called a Torii.
This game was fairly far along and they saw lots of foot traffic.

Oubliette

Seeing this title screen as I walked by immediately had me think of Valve's newest entry Deadlock so I approached the developer for a bit more information about their title. It's a first person shooter rogue-lite where you step into the shoes of a 1950's Paris detective, who falls into the underground and finds themselves in a weird gothic alternate reality. A lot of things are coming at you from all directions so you need to stay on your toes. The game also borrows elements from eldritch horror. The project started as a solo effort but has now evolved into a bigger production in Southern England. The artstyle is reminiscent of older games from eras past and is in 3D as well.

  • Company: Abyssal Foundry
  • Platforms: PC
  • Check Them Out: Steam
On a laptop is the title screen for the game showing old streets of a fictional city inspired by old British architecture covered in mist and eerie hues of purple and green.
A very stylistically eye catching title screen.

For Tomorrow

Now to the last game that I had time for before I had to leave the showcase to attend my Organiser duties. I saw a bit of gameplay where a player was jumping around on their sword like a pogostick and I immediately thought of games like Hollow Knight and had to talk to the developer about it. The game is a metroidvania with themes of mental health and depression. It was originally made for a three month game jam organised by the charity Safe In Our World. After the entry won that jam the developer decided to keep developing it. Just like other metroidvania games you explore a big map, get abilities and fight tricky bosses.

  • Company: Steelduck Studios
  • Platforms: PC
  • Check Them Out: Website
A player is currently going through a 2D side-scrolling level very inspired by games like Hollow Knight.
A night scene very inspired by games like Hollow Knight

And that was all for now folks!

Previous Post