IGF Awards Finalists Revealed; Winners To Be Announced At GDC 2019

The 2019 Independent Games Festival has announced the finalists for its awards ceremony. The winners for each award will be announced on March 20 during GDC 2019.

There are several awards that over a dozen different games have been nominated for. Titles can be nominated for Excellence in Visual Art, Excellence in Audio, Excellence in Design, Excellence in Narrative, Best Student Game, the Nuovo (Innovation) Award, and the Seumas McNally Grand Prize. Each winner for the first six awards also earns a cash prize worth several thousand dollars, with a grand prize of $30,000 USD going to whoever receives the Seumas McNally.

Return of the Obra Dinn is the most nominated game for IGF by far, with the title up for five of the seven awards. Obra Dinn was one of the three indie games to earn a spot in our 10 favorite games of 2018 list, alongside Dead Cells and Into the Breach. It captured our eye with its superb story-telling and unique murder mystery mechanics. Although they haven't received as many nominations, other notable standouts for the IGF awards include Forgotton Anne, Minit, Opus Magnum, and Unavowed.

We've compiled the full list of finalists below, which you can also view--along with the honorable mentions for each category--on the Independent Games Festival's blog.

Independent Games Festival 2019 Awards Nominees

Excellent in Visual Art

• Forgotton Anne
• Alto's Odyssey
• Hypnospace Outlaw
• Just Shapes & Beats
• Mirror Drop
• Return of the Obra Dinn

Excellence in Audio

• Ethereal
• Hypnospace Outlaw
• Moss
• Return of the Obra Dinn
• Alto's Odyssey
• Paratopic

Excellence in Design

• What the Golf?
• Do Not Feed the Monkeys
• Noita
• Return of the Obra Dinn
• Dicey Dungeons
• Opus Magnum

Excellence in Narrative

• Wandersong
• Genital Jousting
• Unavowed
• Seers Isle
• Watch Me Jump
• Return of the Obra Dinn

Nuovo (Innovation) Award

• Circle0
• eCheese Zone
• Noita
• Mirror Drop
• Black Room
• Paratopic
• Do Not Feed the Monkeys
• Nth Dimension[al] Hiking

Best Student Game

• It's Paper Guy!
• Grace Bruxner Presents: The Haunted Island, a Frog Detective Game
• After Hours
• En Garde!
• levedad
• Sole

Seumas McNally Grand Prize

• Minit
• Opus Magnum
• Noita
• Return of the Obra Dinn
• Hypnospace Outlaw
• Do Not Feed the Monkeys