The nominees for the 2023 Independent Games Festival Awards are locked in. The previous year was quite a rollercoaster and all the categories look very packed with viable candidates.
Both Betrayal at Club Low and Tunic are leading the nominations but we have some other familiar names as well like Immortality, Neon White, andNORCO. The IGF Awards are a part of GDF 2023, which will be held in San Francisco from March 20 through March 24.
Here’s the full lineup for this year’s 2023 IGF nominees and honorable mentions.
Best Student Game
Gevaudan (Nicolas Bernard)
Mind Diver (Indoor Sunglasses)
Presenter Slides (Mathias Schifter & Brin Žvan)
Shutter (ARTFX 2022)
Skala (Gustav Almström)
Slider (randomerz)
Honorable Mentions: A Mallard’s Song (Ducky Elford), Error143 (Jenny Vi Pham), Paper Planet (Doodlegames), The Longest Walk (Alexander Tarvet), zenosyne (Ezra Szanton)
Excellence in Audio
Dome Keeper (Bippinbits)
Paradise Marsh (LazyEti)
South of the Circle (State of Play)
The Forest Quartet (Mads & Friends)
TUNIC (TUNIC Team)
We are OFK (Team OFK)
Honorable Mentions: Betrayal at Club Low (Cosmo D Studios), Cult of the Lamb (Massive Monster), IMMORTALITY (Sam Barlow, Half Mermaid), Melatonin (Half Asleep), Neon White (Angel Matrix), Tinykin (Splashteam)
Excellence in Design
Against the Storm (Eremite Games)
Betrayal at Club Low (Cosmo D Studios)
Mr. Sun’s Hatbox (Kenny Sun)
Neon White (Angel Matrix)
Stacklands (Sokpop Collective)
The Case of the Golden Idol (Color Gray Games)
Honorable Mentions: Citizen Sleeper (Jump Over the Age), Cursed to Golf (Chuhai Labs), Potion Craft: Alchemist Simulator (niceplay games), Swordship (Digital Kingdom), Terra Nil (Free Lives), Tinykin (Splashteam)
Excellence in Narrative
Butterfly Soup 2 (Brianna Lei)
Citizen Sleeper (Jump Over the Age)
I Was a Teenage Exocolonist (Northway Games)
IMMORTALITY (Sam Barlow, Half Mermaid)
NORCO (Geography of Robots)
South of the Circle (State of Play)
Honorable Mentions: Eternal Threads (Cosmonaut Studios), Queer Man Peering Into a Rock Pool.jpg (Fuzzy Ghost), Roadwarden (Moral Anxiety Studio), The Case of the Golden Idol (Color Gray Games), The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow (Cloak and Dagger Games), The Wreck (The Pixel Hunt)
Excellence in Visual Arts
Afterglitch (Vladimir Kudelka)
How Deep Is the Dark Water? (Rhett Tsai)
Potionomics (Voracious Games)
RPG Time: The Legend of Wright (DeskWorks Inc.)
To Hell With the Ugly (La Poule Noire, ARTE France)
TUNIC (TUNIC Team)
Honorable Mentions: I Was a Teenage Exocolonist (Northway Games), Melatonin (Half Asleep), NAIAD (HiWarp), Potion Craft: Alchemist Simulator (niceplay games), Return to Monkey Island (Terrible Toybox), Swordship (Digital Kingdom), Terra Nil (Free Lives), Voodoo Detective (Short Sleeve Studio LLC)
Nuovo Award
Afterglitch (Vladimir Kudelka)
An Outcry (Quinn K.)
Betrayal at Club Low (Cosmo D Studios)
He Fucked The Girl Out Of Me (Taylor McCue)
Queer Man Peering Into a Rock Pool.jpg (Fuzzy Ghost)
Sylvie Lime (Love♥️Game)
Time Bandit (Joel Jordon)
Titanic II: Orchestra for Dying At Sea (Flan Falacci)
Honorable Mentions: Atuel (Matajuegos), Ib (kouri), Not For Broadcast (NotGames), Of Moons and Mania (Absurd Walls), RPG Time: The Legend of Wright (DeskWorks Inc.)
Seumas McNally Grand Prize
Betrayal at Club Low (Cosmo D Studios)
TUNIC (TUNIC Team)
The Case of the Golden Idol (Color Gray Games)
IMMORTALITY (Sam Barlow, Half Mermaid)
Neon White (Angel Matrix)
Not For Broadcast (NotGames)
Honorable Mentions: Tinykin (Splashteam), Terra Nil (Free Lives), RPG Time: The Legend of Wright (DeskWorks Inc.), Roadwarden (Moral Anxiety Studio), Hardspace: Shipbreaker (Blackbird Interactive), Citizen Sleeper (Jump Over the Age).