Tunic, Betrayal At Club Low, and Neon White are among the games nominated at this year’s IGF awards.
The narrative goes that 2022 wasn’t a banner year for games. This year’s list of Independent Games Festival finalists swiftly disproves that theory with a roll call of experimental, entertaining, and innovative titles, two of which have received three nominations apiece.
The beguiling Tunic is nominated for Excellence in Audio, Excellence in Visual Arts, and the prestigious Seumas McNally Grand Prize.
Betrayal At Club Low from Cosmo D Studios is also a grand prize finalist, along with nominations for the Nuovo Award and Excellence in Design.
There’s a particularly strong field of Excellence in Narrative finalists, with Citizen Sleeper, I Was a Teenage Exocolonist, Immortality, and Norco among the games in contention.
And with an eye on up-and-coming talent, this year’s Best Student Game nominees are Gevaudan, Mind Diver, Presenter Slides, Shutter, Skala, and Slider.
Other 2022 highlights to receive recognition include The Case of the Golden Idol, Neon White, and Afterglitch. Players can also vote for their favourite independent video game in the Audience Award.
The Thumbsticks team sends its congratulations to every IGF nominee. Here’s the complete list of finalists.
2023 IGF Awards Finalists
Best Student Game
- Gevaudan (Nicolas Bernard)
- Mind Diver (Indoor Sunglasses)
- Presenter Slides (Mathias Schifter & Brin Žvan)
- Shutter (ARTFX 2022)
- Skala (Gustav Almström)
- Slider (randomerz)
Excellence in Audio
- Dome Keeper (Bippinbits)
- Paradise Marsh (LazyEti)
- South of the Circle (State of Play)
- The Forest Quartet (Mads & Friends)
- TUNIC (TUNIC Team)
- We are OFK (Team OFK)
Excellence in Design
- Against the Storm (Eremite Games)
- Betrayal at Club Low (Cosmo D Studios)
- Mr. Sun’s Hatbox (Kenny Sun)
- Neon White (Angel Matrix)
- Stacklands (Sokpop Collective)
- The Case of the Golden Idol (Color Gray Games)
Excellence in Narrative
- Butterfly Soup 2 (Brianna Lei)
- Citizen Sleeper (Jump Over the Age)
- I Was a Teenage Exocolonist (Northway Games)
- IMMORTALITY (Sam Barlow, Half Mermaid)
- NORCO (Geography of Robots)
- South of the Circle (State of Play)
Excellence in Visual Arts
- Afterglitch (Vladimir Kudelka)
- How Deep Is the Dark Water? (Rhett Tsai)
- Potionomics (Voracious Games)
- RPG Time: The Legend of Wright (DeskWorks Inc.)
- To Hell With the Ugly (La Poule Noire, ARTE France)
- TUNIC (TUNIC Team)
Nuovo Award
- Afterglitch (Vladimir Kudelka)
- An Outcry (Quinn K.)
- Betrayal at Club Low (Cosmo D Studios)
- He Fucked The Girl Out Of Me (Taylor McCue)
- Queer Man Peering Into a Rock Pool.jpg (Fuzzy Ghost)
- Sylvie Lime (Love Game)
- Time Bandit (Joel Jordon)
- Titanic II: Orchestra for Dying At Sea (Flan Falacci)
Seumas McNally Grand Prize
- Betrayal at Club Low (Cosmo D Studios)
- TUNIC (TUNIC Team)
- The Case of the Golden Idol (Color Gray Games)
- IMMORTALITY (Sam Barlow, Half Mermaid)
- Neon White (Angel Matrix)
- Not For Broadcast (NotGames)
This year’s winners will be announced at the Independent Games Festival awards ceremony, held on March 22 at San Francisco’s Moscone Center. The ceremony will be live-streamed on the official GDC Twitch channel.
Image: Official GDC
