Skip to main content

Here are all the awesome award-winning indie games from IGF

Return of the Obra Dinn - Available Now

The Independent Games Festival held its award ceremony on March 20, giving honors to some of the best video games of 2018. The winners not only proved they had what it took to stand out from other independent games, but also the very biggest AAA games released last year.

Recommended Videos

Lucas Pope’s gorgeous Return of the Obra Dinn took home the top prize. The 3D game used a unique pencil-point-like design is unlike anything we’ve seen before, and builds on the strong setting and storytelling approach that Pope brought to Papers, Please.

Though it was not nominated for any awards, the hit VR game Beat Saber received honorable mention in three separate categories. It has sold over 1 million copies to date, and recently received a DLC pack that adds even more content. If the game isn’t on your headset of choice yet, it probably will be within the next few months.

Perhaps the most bizarre inclusion was in the “Excellence in Narrative” category. Lucas Pope once again took home the top prize, but also nominated was Genital Jousting. If you’re interested in picking it up right now, it’s available on Steam at a nice 69-percent discount.

Here are all the nominees and winners from the event. Winners are presented in bold and you can find a full list of the people and studios responsible at the official IGF website.

Seamus McNally Grand Prize

Return of the Obra Dinn

Do Not Feed the Monkeys

Hynospace Outlaw

Minit

Noita

Opus Magnum

Excellence in Visual Art

Mirror Drop

Alto’s Odyssey

Forgotten Anne

Hynospace Outlaw

Just Shapes & Beats

Return of the Obra Dinn

Excellence in Audio

Paratopic

Alto’s Odyssey

ETHEREAL

Hynpospace Outlaw

Moss

Return of the Obra Dinn

Excellence in Design

Opus Magnum

Dicey Dungeons

Do Not Feed the Monkeys

Noita

Return of the Obra Dinn

Excellence in Narrative

Return of the Obra Dinn

Genital Jousting

Seers Isle

Unavowed

Wandersong

Watch Me Jump

Nuovo Award (previously Innovation Award)

Black Room

Circle0

Do Not Feed the Monkeys

eCheese Zone

Mirror Drop

Noita

Nth Dimensional Hiking

Paratopic

Best Student Game

after HOURS

En Garde!

Grace Bruxner Presents: The Haunted Island, a Frog Detective Game

It’s Paper Guy!

levedad

Sole

Gabe Gurwin
Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…
Streets of Rage 4 studio’s next game is Absolum, a new roguelike beat-em-up
Two heroes slash through enemies in Absolum.

Guard Crush, the developer behind Streets of Rage 4, announced its next game. Rather than returning to a familiar franchise, the studio is creating an original title called Absolum alongside Dotemu and Supamonk. It's a co-op, fantasy beat-em-up that infuses an old genre with roguelike progression hooks.

Ahead of its reveal, I got my feet wet in a few Absolum runs across a 90 minute session. It took me a few tries to fully grasp the scope of what Guard Crush is looking to accomplish, but I’m already starting to see the full picture. Absolum feels like a happy middle ground between a classic beat-em-up and a more modern action game, finding crossovers between the two that compliment one another. It’s the exact kind of original follow-up I want to see from a studio after proving itself with a familiar IP.
A new kind of beat-em-up
Like a lot of 2D brawlers (including Dotemu hits like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge), Absolum looks fairly straightforward at a surface glance. When it begins, I’m walking from left to right and stopping to pummel monsters with my fists and sword. It’s immediately recognizable as a game created by the studio behind Streets of Rage 4 thanks to its illustrative art style that makes it look like a playable comic book and its weighty attacks. I’m chaining together combos in a matter of no time -- at least until I’m met with an unexpectedly quick death.

Read more
The best fan games of all time
A battle about to start in a forest.

The tools for making video games are more accessible than ever. We're not only seeing the rise of amazing indie games, but even entire projects made by a single person. While a lot of these are new IPs that are clearly inspired by the likes of the best Mario and Pokemon games, others are so passionate about their favorite franchise that they create an entire fan game in that series. Because they can't legally sell a game using a publisher's IP, these fan games are pure works of passion from the developers. Whether it is a franchise that hasn't seen the light of day for years or one that has fallen off in terms of delivering what the fans want, fan games are there to deliver a new experience that can even overshadow the real thing. At the same time, a lot of fan games can be a major disappointment due to a lack of experience and oversight. We have picked out only the most impressive fan games of all time that are worth playing alongside the original franchise.

AM2R: Return of Samus

Read more
The best arcade games of all time
Arcade1Up PAC MAN customizable arcade cabinet

Before the first home console generation, arcades were the meccas of video games. While they are nearly extinct now, those old enough will think back fondly of the days of dumping endless amounts of quarters into those giant cabinets to play just a few minutes of a game. Arcade games were where many of the most iconic gaming characters and franchises first began, such as Donkey Kong and Street Fighter. While some have fallen into obscurity over the decades, some are still beloved to this day. Whether it be for the impact they had on game design or just because they're still fun to play even today, these are our picks for the greatest arcade games ever made.

If this list is a bit too old school for you, we also have lists of the best PS5 games, best Xbox Series X games, and best PC games for something more modern.

Read more