Candidates for the 27th Independent Game Festival have been revealed. UFO 50, fortunately you are hereAnd many more will compete for this year’s highest honour, the Seamus McNally Grade Prize. But there’s one shocking thing that didn’t make the shortlist. Balatro.
The Independent Games Festival Awards are held annually at the Game Developers Conference, and this year will be held from March 17th to 21st. The show celebrates independent games, often nominating unexpected deep cuts and games that will be important in the future. For example, last year’s awards ceremony saw several nominations. 1000xresistance Official release is approaching. This will be one of the best reviewed games of 2024.
This year there will be six games competing for the Seamus McNally Award. Kud’s Cave, consume me, Deathpelott, indicate, fortunately you are hereand UFO 50. The most eye-catching game on the list is DeathpelottIt’s an epic coming-of-age story set in Ecuador, scheduled for release this year. As well as the Seamus McNally Award, it will also win the show’s Nuovo Award, which recognizes Excellence in Audio, Narrative and more experimental games.
Other unreleased games nominated this year include: consume me It leads the way with a total of 5 nominations. Raw Fury is coming soon. blue prince It was also a huge hit this year, being nominated for Excellence in Design and receiving an honorable mention for the Seamus McNally Award.
The most surprising thing about this is that it won a game award. Balatro Despite being on the honorable mention list, he didn’t make the list for Seamus McNally. However, they are not completely ruled out as they will be competing in the design category this year.
Many other 2024 releases were also hugely popular. The following outstanding nine souls, Semite, Tactical Breach Wizard, children of the sunAnd more all the nominations. Here is the full list:
best student games
- double rise (Mountain Todd Entertainment / Rubika Supinfogame)
- displacement man (Ever Sea Club / Leaf Leaves)
- Rapid growth: a tortuous break after a miscalculation. (games for my computer)
- waste of slots (Vini Roca / Pick Pan Puck Productions)
- WereCleaner (Howling Hug / USC Games)
- Year unknown (Julian Heuser)
honorable mention
card of the heart (Good Mind Games), duck paradox (Magic Games / Midwest Games), lost garden (Ori Shani, Yoni Puchette, Ramon Jerem), perfect world (Michael Overton Brown), Timeworks (Starworks Studio)
Audio Excellence
- Feet of Fury (Free Life / Devolver Digital)
- Deathpelott (Julian Cordero, Sebastian Valbuena / Panic)
- indicate (odd meters / 11-bit studio)
- submit (Sven Allgrim, Mathilde Hofmann, Bastian Klausdorf)
- Thank you for being here! (Coal Feast / Panic)
- Utopia must fall (I pixelated it)
honorable mention
animal well (Billy Basso / Big Mode), mouthwash (faulty organs/vital reflexes); pacific drive (Ironwood Studios/Kepler Interactive), Rise of the Golden Idol (Color Gray Game / PlayStack), UFO 50 (Mosmouth)
Excellence in design
- Balatro (Local Think/PlayStack)
- blue prince (Tool Bomb/Low Fury)
- Kud’s Cave (Freehold Games / Kitfox Games)
- consume me (Jenny Jiao Hsia, AP Thomson, Jie En Lee, Violet WP, Ken “coda” Snyder)
- pacific drive (Ironwood Studio/Kepler Interactive)
- Tactical Breach Wizard (Suspicious development)
honorable mention
animal well (Billy Basso / Big Mode), No case should remain unresolved (Finland), UFO 50 (Mosmouth), LOK Digital (Retibus Design, Icedrop Games / Drakneck and Friends), my own gray (Martin Moresix), Rise of the Golden Idol (Color Gray Game / PlayStack)
excellence of narrative
- Kud’s Cave (Freehold Games / Kitfox Games)
- bring the distance closer (Osmotik Studio / Skybound Games)
- consume me (Jenny Jiao Hsia, AP Thomson, Jie En Lee, Violet WP, Ken “coda” Snyder)
- Deathpelott (Julian Cordero, Sebastian Valbuena / Panic)
- indicate (odd meters / 11-bit studio)
- No case should remain unresolved (Finland)
honorable mention
blue prince (Toolbomb/Low Fury), miniature (Other Stories Interactive), mouthwash (faulty organs/vital reflexes); Tactical Breach Wizard (suspicious development), Thank you for being here! (Coal Feast / Panic), magician (Idiot Theory / 11bit Studio)
Excellence in the Visual Arts
- children of the sun (Rene Lauder / Devolver Digital)
- consume me (Jenny Jiao Hsia, AP Thomson, Jie En Lee, Violet WP, Ken “coda” Snyder)
- huntie (Moonroof Games / Firestalk)
- Semite (Talha and Jack Co, J. King-Spooner, Talha Kaya)
- nine souls (Red Candle Games)
- Thank you for being here! (Coal Feast / Panic)
honorable mention
crow country (SFB game), death of derelict (Joe Richardson), miniature (Other Stories Interactive), grove (pounce light), Ultros (Hadoque/Kepler Interactive)
body
- consume me (Jenny Jiao Hsia, AP Thomson, Jie En Lee, Violet WP, Ken “coda” Snyder)
- Deathpelott (Julian Cordero, Sebastian Valbuena / Panic)
- Extreme Evolution: The Drive for Divinity (Sam Atlas)
- ginger (Kevin Doo / Liz ktap)
- Individualism in the Dead Internet Age: A Shovel Manifesto Against Big Tech Assets (Alien Melon)
- Starship Home (creature)
- tapestry (mut/moochi (with help from the plunderludics working group))
- Exit 8 (KOTAKE CREATE / Active Gaming Media Inc)
honorable mention
arctic eggs (Water Museum, Cockydoody, abmarnie, Cameron Ginex / CRITICAL REFLEX), Semite (Talha and Jack Co, J. King-Spooner, Talha Kaya); From Maizilind to infinity (Kas Ghobadi, Julián Palacios Gechtman / Kasrah Ghobadi), flight price (WATERBOX), Project Y (Project_Y Production Committee), Self Recovery: Personality Test Game (Lizadri/Plaism)
Seamus McNally Grand Prize
- Kud’s Cave (Freehold Games / Kitfox Games)
- consume me (Jenny Jiao Hsia, AP Thomson, Jie En Lee, Violet WP, Ken “coda” Snyder)
- Deathpelott (Julian Cordero, Sebastian Valbuena / Panic)
- indicate (odd meters / 11-bit studio)
- Thank you for being here! (Coal Feast / Panic)
- UFO 50 (Mosmouth)
standing statue:
animal well (Billy Basso / Bigmode), Balatro (LocalThunk / Playstack), blue prince (Toolbomb/Low Fury), mouthwash (faulty organs/vital reflexes); nine souls (Red Candle Games), Tactical Breach Wizard (Suspicious development)
