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While I found the recent Day of the Devs showcase was undoubtedly entertaining, my biggest takeaway was a personal epiphany: I am certain that 2026 will be the unrivaled era for frogs in video games.

A surprising total of five of the showcased games—Frog Sqwad, Stretchmancer, Unshine Arcade, Awaysis, and Big Hops—prominently include these amphibious creatures. Considering a band of frogs is termed an army, it appears they are launching an invasion.

A Legacy of Leaping

Croaking characters are anything but new to the interactive entertainment. From the arcade classic Frogger to the iconic froggy chair in Animal Crossing, they have enjoyed a special place. However, their popularity has markedly exploded in recent times.

A quick search for "frog game" on Steam yields an staggering number of results. While, some of these are novelty titles, a great many are bona fide Frog Games.

Charting the Croak Comeback

To quantify this phenomenon, I conducted a deep dive into the last half-decade of frog-related gaming on Steam. My criteria was somewhat arbitrary, prioritizing games with frogs in the title or clearly visible in screenshots.

The results reveal an unmistakable trend: a consistent rise from under 20 titles in 2020 to nearly 60 in 2025.

This dramatic growth prompts the question: what's driving this craze? The amphibian's rising status in the public consciousness is somewhat apparent elsewhere, for example the revival of Frog and Toad as Gen Z icons. But, the trend in gaming seems particularly powerful.

Why Frogs? The Game Design Advantage

Frankly, this is a movement I can fully endorse. Frogs have built-in appealing traits for game developers.

• Charming Creatures: They are perfectly suited to be designed as quirky characters that frequently end up as a standout feature in any game.
• Innovative Systems: Their stretchy limbs and prehensile tongues enable a myriad of innovative control schemes.

A number of the showcased games directly leverage these traits. Examples include the tongue-based traversal in Big Hops and the extra-long limb puzzles of Stretchmancer.

The Leap Into 2026

So, what does this mean for 2026? With five frog games confirmed for release before the year has even begun—and the possibility for more—the stage is set for it to be the biggest year for amphibian gaming.

Should these games find success—and based on past trends, games from this showcase tend to succeed—we could very well be on the verge of a full-blown frog gaming renaissance.