Alt Games Of The Year - Tell Me A Story
For all the shooty shooty and whacky whacky that games do, they also have this ability to connect you with characters in ways that other mediums are unable to. By sheer fact of being able to interact with the characters you see on screen, their words become more than just writing on a page or words spoken aloud - they become a dialog between avatar and player.
Best Narrative- and/or Choice- Based Game
Case and point: though by nature of game development all choices are predetermined, the fact that you make that choice makes such a difference to your experience. A story is not just told to you; it is written with and by you.
Nominees:
Bad End Theatre
Grotto
Essays on Empathy
Silicone Dreams | Cyberpunk Interrogation
Buddy Simulator 1984
Overboard!
Winner: Overboard!
Overboard! is a perfect example of how valuable focusing in on a kernel of an idea, then iterating on the possibilities of a single question, can lead to surprising results. Inkle’s chops in the choose your own adventure space are already well known, but with a such a seemingly simple game pulled together in just a few months by a small team, it rivals games with years of production, millions more in budget and teams that could fill a stadium.
Best Visual Novel / Interactive Fiction Game
Where these stories may not diverge through choice and consequence, they drill down on telling a tale one screen at a time.
Nominees:
Crimson Spires
ARISEN - Chronicles of Var'Nagal
Day Repeat Day
Opus: Echo of Starsong
The Sin Collector: Repentless
Winner: Opus: Echo Of Starsong
Opus: Echo Of Starsong does break the bounds of its novel-esque roots, in that it has 2D sidescrolling and map exploration sections, using these elements to enhance its space operatic yet intensely personal narrative. A saga expansive and epic, yet grounded and intimate.
Best Left-To-Right 2D Story Focused Game
Nobody ever asks, what if Mario just walked and talked instead? Would the goomba’s regale him with tales of their families? Would Bowser wax philosophical about the trials of being an “evil” ruler?
Nominees:
Lacuna
Backbone
春と修羅｜Haru to Shura
Where the Snow Settles
The Rewinder
Existensis
The Longest Road on Earth
Winner: The Rewinder
“Beautiful” is properly ascribed to few games in a real sense, yet it so overused when other words would be more fitting. The Rewinder is the type of game where the moniker actually fits.
Best Top-Down 2D Story Focused Game
Nobody ever asks, what if in Pokemon, you just walked and talked instead? … Hmm yeah no, that’s kind of just SMT. That comparison doesn’t really work.
Nominees:
Impostor Factory
Night Reverie
Fallow
Fire Tonight
No Longer Home
Winner: Fallow
Fallow is haunting. I don’t know if I’d call it horror, but the dread that seeps into this game is palpable. The dreariness of a dying reality buries itself deep in your bones, lingering in a way that might not ever really leave.
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