Untitled Goose Game, Slay the Spire to Duke It Out at the Independent Games Festival Awards
Aidan O'Brien 
The Independent Games Festival has revealed the finalists for the 22nd IGF Awards, which are due to take place on Mar. 18 during the Game Developers Conference. Nominees needed to make it through a selection process of over 300 judges, with more than 550 games being considered for different awards.
Of keen interest to fans of Indie games each year, the IGF Awards honors the most important and innovative projects. Categories included Excellence in Visual Art, Audio, Narrative, and Design. Each year, the Seumas McNally Grand Prize acts as the main award given out at the show, named in memory of programmer Seumas McNally, who won the award in 2000 for his game, Tread Marks. The award comes with a cash prize of $30,000.
This year, for the Seumas McNally Grand Prize, fan favorites Slay the Spire and Untitled Goose Game will be going head to head with Eliza, A Short Hike, Mutazione, and Anodyne 2: Return to Dust.
A full list of the nominees across all categories can be found below, with links to their IGF Awards page. To watch that IGF Awards, you can tune in to the official GDC Twitch channel on Mar. 18.
Seumas McNally Grand Prize
Eliza (Zachtronics)
A Short Hike (Adam Robinson-Yu)
Untitled Goose Game (House House)
Mutazione (Die Gute Fabrik)
Slay the Spire (Mega Crit Games)
Anodyne 2: Return to Dust (Sean Han Tani & Marina Kittaka)
Excellence in Visual Art
Mutazione (Die Gute Fabrik)
Knights and Bikes (Foam Sword)
Void Bastards (Blue Manchu)
Creature in the Well (Flight School Studio)
Eastward (Pixpil)
Stone Story RPG (Martian Rex / standardcombo)
Excellence in Audio
Observation (No Code)
Vectronom (Ludopium)
Astrologaster (Nyamyam)
Knights and Bikes (Foam Sword)
Mutazione (Die Gute Fabrik)
Untitled Goose Game (House House)
Excellence in Design
Katana ZERO (Askiisoft)
Lonely Mountains: Downhill (Megagon Industries)
Slay the Spire (Mega Crit Games)
A Short Hike (Adam Robinson-Yu)
Elsinore (Golden Glitch)
Patrick’s Parabox (Patrick Traynor)
Excellence in Narrative
Mutazione (Die Gute Fabrik)
Heaven’s Vault (inkle)
Elsinore (Golden Glitch)
Wide Ocean, Big Jacket (Turnfollow)
Eliza (Zachtronics)
LIONKILLER (Sisi Jiang)
Nuovo Award
Tales From Off-Peak City Vol. 1 (Cosmo D)
Infini (Barnaque)
The Space Between (Christoph Frey)
Life Tastes Like Cardboard (Demensa)
Promesa (Julián Palacios)
Song of Bloom (Philipp Stollenmayer)
The Longing (Studio Seufz)
PAGAN: Autogeny (Oleander Garden)
Best Student Game
Orbital Bullet (SmokeStab)
A Juggler’s Tale (kaleidoscube)
Forgotten (Mutiny Games)
Neon Beats (OKYO Games)
BORE DOME (Goblin rage)
Nothing In Sight (Nothing In Sight Team)
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