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IGF 2022 Finalists include Inscryption, Unpacking and Cruelty Squad

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A small, partially unpacked office room in Unpacking, with a desk and chair, and empty shelf, and a lot of cardboard moving boxes to unpack
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News by Graham Smith Deputy Editorial Director
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Developers have good taste in games. That's the take away from each year's Independent Games Festival Awards, which consistently selects shortlists of excellent games. The nominations for 2022 are up, and the contenders for this year's Seumas McNally Grand Prize includes Unpacking, Inscryption, Loop Hero, Cruelty Squad, The Eternal Cylinder and Unsighted. Sounds about right.

Any developer can submit their game to the IGF Awards, with the submissions then crawled over by a large swarm of developers and journalists - including *spit* filth like me. The recommendations then guide a smaller number of handselected jurors - *spit* not me - who choose the finalists. Winners are then revealed during GDC in San Francisco, which this year is due to take place March 21st-25th.

Winning an IGF Award used to confer instant practical benefits, like Valve swooping in and letting you putting your game on Steam. Nowadays it still helps indie games rise above the crowd, and occasionally succeeds in highlighting something otherwise unknown. Below you'll find the complete list of finalists and honourable mentions.

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)

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)

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 Mention: 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)

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)

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)

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