The IGF & Game Developers Choice Awards 2022 winners and finalists

The Independent Games Festival and Game Developers Choice Awards are back and ready to celebrate various achievements in and around the video game industry. Below we’ve got a recap of all the nominees and winners, so let’s dive into the results!

The Independent Games Festival Awards

Best Student Game winner: Live Adventure

Nominees:

• Cai Cai Balao
• Abriss
• Letter Lattice
• Small Life
• Nainai’s Recipe
• Live Adventure

Seumas McNally Grand Prize winner: Inscryption

Nominees:

• Inscryption
• Unpacking
• Loop Hero
• The Eternal Cylinder
• Cruelty Squad
• Unsighted

Excellence in Audio winner: Inscryption

Nominees:

• Toem
• Unpacking
• Jett: The Far Shore
• Mini Motorways
• Sable
• Inscryption

Excellence in Design winner: Inscryption

Nominees:

• Inscryption
• Unpacking
• Overboard!
• Strange Horticulture
• Webbed
• Midnight Protocol

Excellence in Narrative winner: Inscryption

Nominees:

• Last Call
• Neurocracy
• Closed Hands
• Overboard!
• Inscryption
• Unpacking

Excellence in Visual Art winner: Papetura

Nominees:

• The Eternal Cylinder
• Behind the Frame: The Finest Scenery
• Papetura
• Fuzz Dungeon
• The Wild at Heart
• Jett: The Far Shore

Nuovo Award winner: Memory Card

Nominees:

• Memory Card
• Okthryssia and Saturnia's Bureaucratic Adventures
• Space Hole 2020
• Tux and Fanny
• Cruelty Squad
• Sparkles & Gems
• Fuzz Dungeon
• Cuccchi

Audience Awards winner: Mini Motorways

The Game Developers Choice Awards

Game of the Year winner: Inscryption

Nominees:

• Inscryption
• Forza Horizon 5
• Resident Evil Village
• Deathloop
• It Takes Two

Best Audio winner: Unpacking

Nominees:

• Returnal
• Unpacking
• Deathloop
• Marvel’s Guardians of the Galazy
• Forza Horizon 5

Best Design winner: It Takes Two

Nominees:

• It Takes Two
• Psychonauts 2
• Halo Infinite
• Deathloop
• Inscryption

Best Debut winner: Valheim

Nominees:

• Kena: Bridge of Spirits
• Valheim
• Wildermyth
• The Artful Escape
• Sable

Innovation Award winner: Unpacking

Nominees:

• It Takes Two
• Wildermyth
• Unpacking
• Inscryption
• Deathloop

Best Narrative winner: Psychonauts 2

Nominees:

• Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy
• Deathloop
• It Takes Two
• Psychonauts 2
• Unpacking

Social Impact Award winner: Boyfriend Dungeon

Nominees:

• Before Your Eyes
• It Takes Two
• Life is Strange
• Boyfriend Dungeon
• Chicory: A Colorful Tale

Best Technology winner: Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

Nominees:

• Halo Infinite
• Forza Horizon 5
• Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
• Returnal
• Hitman 3

Best Visual Art winner: Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

Nominees:

• Forza Horizon 5
• Kena: Bridge of Spirits
• Deathloop
• Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
• Psychonauts 2

Ambassador Award winner: Steven Spohn

Lifetime Achievement winner: Yuji Horii

Audience Award winner: Valheim

It’s always fantastic to see so many great games receive recognition for their achievements. Be sure to check out the Shacknews Game Developers Choice Awards and IGF pages for more coverage and news about upcoming events.

Sam Chandler

Head of Guides

Hailing from the land down under, Sam Chandler brings a bit of the southern hemisphere flair to his work. After bouncing round a few universities, securing a bachelor degree, and entering the video game industry, he's found his new family here at Shacknews as Head of Guides. There's nothing he loves more than crafting a guide that will help someone. If you need help with a guide, or notice something not quite right, you can message him on X: @SamuelChandler