The Independent Games Festival, which takes place during the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco, has announced the finalists.
The awards ceremony is on 20th March 18:30-20:30 (Pacific time) and will be streamed live on Twitch here.
Here’s the list for this year’s edition:
Seumas McNally Grand Prize
- Do Not Feed the Monkeys (Fictiorama Studios)
- Hypnospace Outlaw (Jay Tholen, Mike Lasch, Xalavier Nelson Jr., Corey Cochran)
- Minit (Kitty Calis, Jan Willem Nijman, Jukio Kallio & Dominik Johann)
- Noita (Nolla Games)
- Opus Magnum (Zachtronics)
- Return of the Obra Dinn (Lucas Pope)
Excellence in Visual Art
- Alto’s Odyssey (Team Alto)
- Forgotton Anne (ThroughLine Games)
- Hypnospace Outlaw (Jay Tholen, Mike Lasch, Xalavier Nelson Jr., Corey Cochran)
- Just Shapes & Beats (Berzerk Studio)
- Mirror Drop (Ian Lilley)
- Return of the Obra Dinn (Lucas Pope)
Excellence in Audio
- Alto’s Odyssey (Team Alto)
- ETHEREAL (Nonsense Arts – Nicolás Recabarren and Tomás Batista)
- Hypnospace Outlaw (Jay Tholen, Mike Lasch, Xalavier Nelson Jr., Corey Cochran)
- Moss (Polyarc)
- Return of the Obra Dinn (Lucas Pope)
- Paratopic (Arbitrary Metric)
Excellence in Design
- Dicey Dungeons (Terry Cavanagh, Chipzel, and Marlowe Dobbe)
- Do Not Feed the Monkeys (Fictiorama Studios)
- Noita (Nolla Games)
- Opus Magnum (Zachtronics)
- Return of the Obra Dinn (Lucas Pope)
- What the Golf? (Triband)
Excellence in Narrative
- Genital Jousting (Free Lives)
- Return of the Obra Dinn (Lucas Pope)
- Unavowed (Wadjet Eye Games)
- Seers Isle (Nova-box)
- Wandersong (Greg Lobanov & A Shell in the Pit)
- Watch Me Jump (Jeremy Gable)
Nuovo Award
- Black Room (Cassie McQuater)
- Circle0 (yesyes)
- Do Not Feed the Monkeys (Fictiorama Studios)
- eCheese Zone (Seemingly Pointless)
- Mirror Drop (Ian Lilley)
- Nth Dimension[al] Hiking (Zachariah Chandler)
- Noita (Nolla Games)
- Paratopic (Arbitrary Metric)
Best Student Game
- After HOURS (Bahiyya Khan, Claire Meekel, Tim Flusk, Abi Meekel)
- En Garde! (En Garde! Team)
- Grace Bruxner Presents: The Haunted Island, a Frog Detective Game (Grace Bruxner)
- It’s Paper Guy! (Paper Team)
- levedad (solimporta)
- Sole (Gossamer Games)
With multiple nominations across the categories, the Return of the Obra Dinn, Do Not Feed The Monkeys, Paratopic, Alto’s Odyssey, Noita, Mirror Drop, and Hyperspace Outlaw have the best chances of taking home an accolade.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that any of the others aren’t great games, either. We look forward to seeing who the winners are in March.
Indie Bandits 