There is also a space for Loop Hero or Sable in an event that has been active for 24 years.
For more than two decades (it has been celebrated since 1998), the Independent Games Festival, known as IGF, awards the most outstanding independent video games of each year. The nominees list for this year’s edition, with some highly recognizable titles among the candidates for the different categories in order for the winners to be revealed during the month of March.
Among those chosen, lead the nominations Inscryption, the surprising work of Daniel Mullins, and Unpacking, a curious proposal that invites us to order different objects in different rooms while telling us a particular story with them. Both are nominated for game of the year, named after the Seumas McNally Grand Prize, in honor of a historic video game programmer.
Other prominent proper names are, for example, Loop Hero, one of the most recognized independent games of the past 2021, or Sable, which was launched a few months ago and lets us enjoy a very characteristic and unique artistic section while we carry out our own and deep personal journey. Here is the full list of nominees.
Nominated for the IGF 2022
Best Student Game
- Cai Cai Balão (Look Up Games)
- Abriss – build to destroy (Randwerk Games)
- Letter Lattice (Ethan Zarov)
- Smalllife (Yueqi Wu)
- Nainai’s Recipe (Fan Fang and Mai Hou)
- Live Adventure (Live Adventure Team)
Honorable mentions: Astreia’s Gift (Femy Nassirou and Hervé Blanchot), There You Are (Funky Dango), The Bleeding Tree (No Input Interactive), Dumpling Love (Parks Staff), Lysfangha (Baptiste Marsac and Daphne Pauchet-Deloffre), Jivana ( Team Jivana), Hook Up (Team Hook Up), Come with Me (Xin Ye).
Distinction in Audio
- Toem (Something We Made)
- Unpacking (Witch Beam)
- Jett: The Far Shore (Superbrothers and Pine Scented)
- Mini Motorways (Dinosaur Polo Club)
- Sable (Shedworks)
- Inscryption (Daniel Mullins Games)
Honorable Mentions: Severed Steel (Greylock Studios), A Musical Story (Glee-Cheese Studios), Death’s Door (Acid Nerve), The Vale: Shadow of the Crown (Falling Squirrel), Kena: Bridge of Spirits (Ember Lab), Overboard ! (Inkle), The Wild at Heart (Moonlight Kids)
Distinction in Design
- Inscryption (Daniel Mullins Games)
- Unpacking (Witch Beam)
- Overboard! (Inkle)
- Strange Horticulture (Bad Viking)
- Webbed (Sbug Games)
- Midnight Protocol (LuGus Studios)
Honorable Mentions: Loop Hero (Four Quarters), Unsighted (Studio Pixel Punk), Mini Motorways (Dinosaur Polo Club), Card Shark (Nerial), KeyWe (Stonewheat and Sons), Sunshine Heavy Industries (Daisyowl Games)
Distinction in Narrative
- Last Call (Nina Freeman and Jake Jefferies)
- Neurocracy (Playthroughline)
- Closed Hands (Passenger)
- Overboard! (Inkle)
- Inscryption (Daniel Mullins Games)
- Unpacking (Witch Beam)
Honorable Mentions: Card Shark (Nerial), Norco (Geography of Robots), The Big Con (Mighty Yell), Tux and Fanny (Ghost Time Games), Opus: Echo of Starsong (Sigono), Sable (Shedworks), Blackhaven (Historiated Games)
Distinction in Visual Art
- The Eternal Cylinder (ACE Team)
- Behind the Frame: The Finest Scenery (Silver Lining Studio)
- Papetura (Petums)
- Fuzz Dungeon (Jeremy Couillard)
- The Wild at Heart (Moonlight Kids)
- Jett: The Far Shore (Superbrothers and Pine Scented)
Honorable Mentions: Inscryption (Daniel Mullins Games), A Musical Story (Glee-Cheese Studios), Kena: Bridge of Spirits (Ember Lab), Saturnalia (Santa Ragione) Stonefly (Flight School Studio), Cris Tales (Dreams Uncorporated and Syck)
Nuovo Award (Innovation)
- Memory Card (Lily Zone)
- Okthryssia and Saturnia’s Bureaucratic Adventures (Outlands)
- Space Hole 2020 (Sam Atlas)
- Tux and Fanny (Ghost Time Games)
- Cruelty Squad (Consumer Softproducts)
- Sparkles and Gems (Resnijars)
- Fuzz Dungeon (Jeremy Couillard)
- Cuccchi (Fantastic Studio)
Honorable Mentions: Last Call (Nina Freeman and Jake Jefferies), The Shape of Time (Xpaidia Studio), The Under Presents (Tender Claws), Song of Homunculus (Diamond Ace (Lily Zone and Zoë Sparks), Card Shark (Nerial), The Vale: Shadow of the Crown (Falling Squirrel)
Seumas McNally Grand Prize (Game of the Year)
- Inscryption (Daniel Mullins Games)
- Unpacking (Witch Beam)
- Loop Hero (Four Quarters)
- The Eternal Cylinder (ACE Team)
- Cruelty Squad (Consumer Softproducts)
- Unsighted (Studio Pixel Punk)
Honorable mentions: Toem (Something We Made), Norco (Geography of Robots), Overboard! (Inkle), Saturnalia (Santa Ragione), Dodgeball Academia (Pocket Trap), Webbed (Sbug Games), Fuzz Dungeon (Jeremy Couillard).
It is worth mentioning that Inscryption has been selected as one of the masterpieces of 2021 by the web team at the 3DJuegos Awards. The game based on a proposal of cards keeps many secrets and twists that we are not going to reveal to you, but if you want to know more you can take a look at the analysis that Alejandro Pascual published in this house.
More about: IGF, Independent Games Festival, Awards, Indies, Indie Games, Development and Independent.