The Independent Games Festival has announced the finalists for this year’s IGF Awards, and it should come as no surprise that critical darlings such as Hyper Light Drifter and Inside have scored multiple nominations. But leading the way is Variable State’s Virigina, which received four nominations (“Best Audio,” “Excellence in Narrative,” “Excellence in Visual Art,” and “The Nuovo Award”) and an Honorable Mention for the “Seumas McNally Grand Prize.”
Other games in competition for the IGF’s “Grand Prize” include the aforementioned Hyper Light Drifter and Inside, along with Concerned Ape’s Stardew Valley, Blendo Games’s Quadrilateral Cowboy, Ocelot Society’s Event[0], and Ghost Town Games’s Overcooked.
The 2017 IGF Awards ceremony will be hosted by developer Nina Freeman on March 1. Fans will be able to tune in to the Twitch channel for the Game Developers Conference to watch the show, and GDC attendees will be able to test out every nominated game at the IGF Pavilion area on the expo floor.
A complete list of the nominees and honorable mentions for the 2017 Independent Games Festival Awards can be found after the break.
Seumas McNally Grand Prize
- Inside (Playdead)
- Stardew Valley (Concerned Ape)
- Quadrilateral Cowboy (Blendo Games)
- Event[0] (Ocelot Society)
- Hyper Light Drifter (Heart Machine)
- Overcooked (Ghost Town Games)
Honorable Mentions
1979 Revolution: Black Friday (iNK Stories), Orwell (Osmotic Studios), Imbroglio (Michael Brough), Virginia (Variable State), Duskers (Misfits Attic), Oiκοςpiel: Book I (David Kanaga)Excellence In Visual Art
- The Flame in the Flood (The Molasses Flood)
- Inside (Playdead)
- Virginia (Variable State)
- Old Man’s Journey (Broken Rules)
- Hyper Light Drifter (Heart Machine)
- She Remembered Caterpillars (Jumpsuit Entertainment)
Honorable Mentions
Inks (State of Play), Night in the Woods (Infinite Fall), Mu Cartographer (Titouan Millet), Future Unfolding (Spaces of Play), Sundered (Thunder Lotus Games), Un Pas Fragile (PAF Team)Excellence In Narrative
- Ladykiller in a Bind (Love Conquers All Games)
- 1979 Revolution: Black Friday (iNK Stories)
- Virginia (Variable State)
- Orwell (Osmotic Studios)
- Event[0] (Ocelot Society)
- One Night Stand (Kinmoku)
Honorable Mentions
A Normal Lost Phone (Accidental Queens), The Lion’s Song (Mi’pu’mi Games), Far from Noise (George Batchelor), Inside (Playdead), Stardew Valley (Concerned Ape), Burly Men at Sea (Brain&Brain), Sorcery! 4 (Inkle / Steve Jackson)Excellence In Design
- Imbroglio (Michael Brough)
- Ultimate Chicken Horse (Clever Endeavour Games)
- Duskers (Misfits Attic)
- Overcooked (Ghost Town Games)
- Event[0] (Ocelot Society)
- Quadrilateral Cowboy (Blendo Games)
Honorable Mentions
She Remembered Caterpillars (Jumpsuit Entertainment), Elsinore (Golden Glitch Studios), Inside (Playdead), Antihero (Tim Conkling), Replica (Somi), Space Pirate Trainer (I-Illusions)Excellence In Audio
- The Flame in the Flood (The Molasses Flood)
- GoNNER (Art in Heart)
- Virginia (Variable State)
- Hyper Light Drifter (Heart Machine)
- Everything (David OReilly)
- Inside (Playdead)
Honorable Mentions
1979 Revolution: Black Friday (iNK Stories), Kingdom: New Lands (Noio), Dropsy (Tendershoot, A Jolly Corpse), Diaries of a Spaceport Janitor (Sundae Month), Sentris (Timbre Interactive), TumbleSeed (TumbleSeed Team)Nuovo Award
- Islands: Non-Places (Carlburton)
- Close (Tobias Zarges and Moritz Eberl)
- Diaries of a Spaceport Janitor (Sundae Month)
- Oiκοςpiel: Book I (David Kanaga)
- Everything (David OReilly)
- Virginia (Variable State)
- Mu Cartographer (Titouan Millet)
- Lieve Oma (Florian Veltman)
Honorable Mentions
Memoir En Code: Reissue (Alex Camilleri), Far from Noise (George Batchelor), Ladykiller in a Bind (Love Conquers All Games), Witchball (S.L. Clark), Project Perfect Citizen (Bad Cop Studios), Wheels of Aurelia (Santa Ragione), Quadrilateral Cowboy (Blendo Games)Best Student Game
- Diaries of a Spaceport Janitor (Sundae Month)
- Lily: Colors of Santa Luz (Lily, Colors of Santa Luz Team)
- Un Pas Fragile (PAF Team)
- FAR: Lone Sails (Mr. Whale’s Game Service / Mixtvision)
- Frog Climbers (TeamCrew)
- Bamboo Heart (Sokpop Collective)
Honorable Mentions
Awkward Dimensions Redux (StevenHarmonGames), DYO (Team DYO), Code 7: Episode 0 – Allocation (Goodwolf Studio), You Must be 18 or Older to Enter (Seemingly Pointless)
