Inscryption took home the Game of the Year Award at the 22nd annual Game Developers Choice Awards (GDCA). Developed by Daniel Mullins Games, Inscryption is a genre-bending and deck-building roguelike game. That’s not all that the game achieved. It also won the Seumas McNally Grand Prize during the Independent Games Festival Awards. This makes it the first game to win the top award at both GDCA and IGF Awards.
For those not familiar, the IGF Awards is the sister awards show held immediately before the GDCA on the same stage.
Double Wins
Other winners of the awards night include Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, which won Best Visual Art and Best Technology awards. Not to be outdone, Unpacking also brought two awards with Best Audio and the Innovation Award.
It doesn’t end there. Developer Iron Gate Studio managed to snag Best Debut for Valheim. Valheim got its second win with the Audience Award, which was selected through public voting.
Special Awards
The GDCA isn’t all about games and studios. It also honors dedicated individuals that helped further the art, science, and craft of video games. There’s the Ambassador Award, which is presented to an individual who helped video games advance to a better place through action and advocacy. The award was given to Steven Spohn, recognized to be a driving force when it comes to accessibility in games. He also serves as Senior Director of Development of the AbleGamers.
Another special award is the Lifetime Achievement Award, and the recipient this year was Yuji Horii, the individual responsible for creating the Dragon Quest series. Horii’s groundbreaking work has been seen as an influence and inspiration, particularly when it comes to roleplaying game design.
In a statement, Katie Stern of Informa Tech shared that it’s always been wonderful to honor individuals who have created some of the most entertaining and innovative games of the previous year. She added that what makes this year’s award show special was that they were able to hold it in person.
Other Awards
Another big winner during the GDCA was Psychonauts 2, which grabbed the Best Narrative award. Meanwhile, It Takes Two won the Best Design award.
Another important award was the Social Impact Award. This is given to a game that advances equality, justice, intersectionality, and/or sustainability. It goes without saying that it’s also a game that works to have a positive impact. For this year, that award went to Boyfriend Dungeon.
Did your favorite game make the cut?
