That headline probably goes without saying, but it’s true! The indie scene brought some genuinely great games in 2018 that will continue to stick with us for years to come. Look no further than the 2019 Independent Games Festival, which rounded up its finalists this week. That’s a good starting point.
The list also serves as a gentle nudge for me to check out games I foolishly let slip by. I think my big regret is Hypnospace Outlaw, a peculiar yet heartfelt ’90s internet simulator fever dream.
It seems remarkably likely that Papers, Please creator Lucas Pope will find his way back onto the award show stage. His latest title, the ship-bound murder-mystery adventure Return of the Obra Dinn, is up for awards in not only Audio, Design, Visual Art, and Narrative, but also the Seumas McNally Grand Prize.
We’ll see what’s what when the IGF Awards kick off at 6:30pm Pacific on March 20. The ceremony is the same night as the Game Developers Choice Awards and it’ll be led by 80 Days writer Meg Jayanth.
Here’s the full list of finalists and runners-up:
Source: Destructoid Damn, 2018 had a lot of really great indie games