We got through 2021, so how about kicking off 2022 with a look at this year’s Indie Games Festival (IGF) finalists? Quite a few fan favorites amongst this particular lot after all, like Loop Hero, Unpacking, and Overboard!. A rather varied bunch too, which is always nice… and groovy. Very groovy.
But before I let ya get to the fun of scrolling through the lot (he wrote, well-aware that there’s no stopping anyone from simply scrolling): IGF 2022 will take place on March 23rd at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, as part of the Game Developers Conference (GDC). On top of that, finalists will all be playable during GDC. Best be quick though, as the list of those who made the cut totals thirty-three, and one can only do so much over the course of seventy-two hours. Best of luck to the finalists, and may the best indie game(s) win.
(Source)
Seumas McNally Grand Prize
- 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)
Excellence 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 A/V + 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, Syck)
Excellence in Audio
- Toem (Something We Made)
- Unpacking (Witch Beam)
- Jett: The Far Shore (Superbrothers A/V + 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)
Excellence 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 & Sons), Sunshine Heavy Industries (Daisyowl Games)
Excellence 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)
Nuovo Award
- 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 & Gems (Resnijars)
- Fuzz Dungeon (Jeremy Couillard)
- Cuccchi (Fantastico Studio)
Honorable Mentions: Last Call (Nina Freeman and Jake Jefferies), The Shape of Time (落日间 xpaidia studio), The Under Presents (Tender Claws), ~Song of Homunculus~ (Diamond Ace (Lily Zone + Zoë Sparks)), Card Shark (Nerial), The Vale: Shadow of the Crown (Falling Squirrel)
Best Student Game
- Cai Cai Balão (Look Up Games)
- Abriss – build to destroy (Randwerk Games eG)
- Letter Lattice (Ethan Zarov)
- SmallLife (Yueqi Wu)
- Nainai’s Recipe (Fan Fang, Mai Hou)
- Live Adventure (Live Adventure Team)
Honorable Mentions: Astreia’s Gift (Femy Nassirou & Hervé Blanchot), There You Are (Funky Dango), The Bleeding Tree (No Input Interactive), dumpling.love (the parks staff), Lysfangha (Baptiste Marsac & Daphne Pauchet-Deloffre), Jivana (Team Jivana), Hook Up (Team Hook Up), Come with Me (Xin Ye)
