There are many video game awards and most of them are just popularity contests and therefore also stinking tedious. The ones that are not, in my opinion, are the annual Independent Games Festival – IGF awards.
This IGF Celebration Days Steam Sale provides plenty of examples of why, with discounts valid from now until July 20 for winners and finalists from throughout the history of the IGF Awards.
At the top of the Steam sale page, you’ll find discounts on the winners of the March 2024 IGF awards, including 10% off Rhythm Doctor, 70% off Mediterranea Inferno (pictured above), and 40% off Venba. Scroll down and you’ll find discounts on the 2024 finalists (Cocoon! Cobalt Core! A Highland Song!) and previous winners (80 Days! Spelunky! Fez! Darwinia! and many more).
The IGF Awards are judged, first, by a vast group of journalists and developers who sort through a pile of hundreds of submitted games to represent a handful, and second, by a smaller group of hand-picked judges, also mostly game developers, who choose a shortlist of nominees and ultimately winners. It’s a decent system that has often succeeded in raising the profile of unknown games, such as Outer Wilds, which won the top prize in 2015 thanks to an alpha version created by a team of students several years before its full commercial release. More generally, the IGF has succeeded, through its award categories and judges’ discussions, in creating a culture that favors design and innovation over popularity.
The result is progress in our medium, but also, hey, massive list of great games, now affordable.
