Skip to main content

Unpacking and Inscryption lead 2022 IGF Awards nominations

Other titles in running for Seumas McNally Grand Prize include Unpacking, Loop Hero, The Eternal Cylinder, Cruelty Squad, and Unsighted

Yesterday the Independent Games Festival revealed its finalists for the 24th annual IGF Awards, with Witch Beam's Unpacking and Daniel Mullins Games' Inscryption leading with nominations each in the same four categories, including the Seumas McNally Grand Prize.

Joining them in the grand prize running were Four Quarters' RPG Loop Hero, ACE Team's open-world exploration game The Eternal Cylinder, Consumer Softproducts' tactical FPS Cruelty Squad, and Studio Pixel Punk's action-adventure game Unsighted.

This year's nominations were selected from a pool of over 400 indie games.

The winners will be revealed at the IGF Awards show on March 23.

Here is the list of the IGF Awards nominees for 2022 in full:

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), Satumalia (Santa Ragione), Dodgeball Academia (Pocket Trap), Webbed (Sbug Games), Fuzz Dungeon (Jeremy Couillard)

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 Mentions: 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)

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)

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)

Read this next

Jeffrey Rousseau avatar
Jeffrey Rousseau: Jeffrey joined GamesIndustry.biz in March 2021. Based in Florida, his work focused on the intersectionality of games and media. He enjoys reading, podcasts, staying informed, and learning how people are tackling issues.
Related topics