#case of the golden idol art

[juliavisuals]

LAZARUS ART BECAUSE THIS GAME HAS LITERALLY SO LITTLE FANART??

[skridz]

ILOVE SPACEHEY

LOOK AT HOWGOOFY

[tsuzukerukoto]

Hey all! Hope everyone's been okay, I've been out and about enjoying the summer these past few days, getting out there and all that. I'll be back on here and on Discord soon (I've been cooking some IC replies when I can) but I'm feeling pretty recharged! Thanks for all the patience.

[blqgumi]

Making this video was hard. It somehow meshed all my WIPS and all the games I was playing. It was fun though, maybe one day I'll get to yap in more detail about Detective Horror Games.

[imperotenebre]

The Case of the Golden Idol PS5 gameplay 4K - prime impressioni

Finalmente anche su PlayStation

[powdermelonkeg]

Theory that solves(?) "founding of Hyrule" timeline inconsistencies:

Origin of Hyrule no. 1: Skyward Sword. Zelda, Link, and the Skylians settle the surface world at the game's conclusion. Notably, their dress looks nothing like the Zonai era.

Origin of Hyrule no. 2: Tears of the Kingdom. Rauru and Sonia are the king and queen who founded Hyrule. Notably, Zonai mechanisms and architecture greatly resemble the pre-Skyward-Sword-era Lanayru mining tech and symbolism, though Skyward Sword's art direction is more cartoony than TotK, so that has to be taken into account.

That's where it gets cyclical. If TotK's forgotten era came first, then:

Zonai influence should be ALL OVER Skyloft

The Gerudo should not exist, because they're (implied to be) descended from Groose, a Skylian; at the very least, there should have been a whole Gerudo culture in the Sky

Where did the Secret Stones go?

We should have seen Zeldra flying around in the sky, let alone Dinraal, Farosh, and Naydra

But if Skyward Sword came before all things Zonai, then:

The Lanayru Mining Facility (assuming it to be Zonai in origin) should not exist

Hyrule should have already been founded by Rauru's time

Of the two, Skyward Sword being first on the wild surface makes more sense. But if that's the case, there are even more questions:

Where did the Secret Stones come from? Are we to believe that Hylia gave them to the Zonai, since the Golden Trio have already left the Triforce and departed?

What about the Zonai themselves? They supposedly descended from the heavens. Were they just up so high that the Skylians couldn't find them? Did Hylia cleave the ground twice? Did they spontaneously appear up there like mice in grain bins?

Why is there a whole Temple of Time with bells that Rauru, one of two of the LAST of his species, woke up and went to sleep to? In fact, why is there an entire kingdom's worth of structures already built before the Sky Reckoning?

My solution:

The Zonai did exist pre-Skyward Sword, and did descend down from the sky ages ago. They built the Lanayru Mining Facility, utilizing the power of Timeshift Stones in their work. This is not Rauru and Mineru's era.

The Zonai are among the people that stay behind to fight Demise alongside Hylia, while the Skylians were sent up to Skyloft. The people of the Surface are entrusted with the Secret Stones as weapons against Demise, with the caveat that they keep them hidden. That's why they're called Secret Stones despite being well-known to Ganondorf in TotK, it was PARAMOUNT that Demise not know he could get any stronger.

The war ends. Just about every civilization is obliterated by it. The Zonai retreat as far from Demise's seal as they can to lick their wounds. They take the sages' Secret Stones with them, so as to not be caught unawares and lose them to Demise when he eventually reemerges.

Skyward Sword.

The evil is defeated, the Skylians come down to the Surface. That's the signal that it's safe to return now. Shortly after the Skylians officially start to settle, the Zonai, who know how things work, help them build a proper civilization.

Time passes. The Surface is officially a bunch of scattered clans with varying degrees of territory. People are content, though nothing is particularly efficient. The Skylians take on Zonai fashion and building styles as generations pass. The Zonai themselves dwindle.

Rauru, married to the leader of the Hylians, looks to unite the scattered clans under one banner in the name of prosperity and shared resources, idolizing the pre-Skyward era where the gods walked the land. He and Sonia officially name the place Hyrule, and any clan that signs treaty with them is considered within its borders. Mineru, meanwhile, has made her first construct models based on the Lanayru Mine Robots of old, which add to the appeal of joining Hyrule as its subkingdom territories.

Tears of the Kingdom, Zelda's first 12 memories.

Between the Master Sword going back in time and Zeldra's ascent, Zelda and Mineru get to work with as many constructs as possible to protect the Sky Isles they plan to send upwards. They need a TON of Zonaite, and recycling is a priority, leading to the gachapon machines.

Zelda knows enough about her kingdom that she knows where the land is particularly rich is where the people of her time settled, and Zonaite is shown to enrich soil greatly. This is why all the old Zonaite mines are underneath the towns in modern Hyrule, despite changing geography through other eras, and Tarrey Town's new-ness.

Zelda ascends.

The secretive Sheikah clan, having seen the Blood Moon's rise when the Demon King took power, realize that Demise isn't, in fact, all gone. They decide this means that their job serving Hylia isn't truly done, and return to help the fledgling kingdom as best they can. They bring the knowledge of the Master Sword of Skyward Sword days with them.

Ganondorf first shakes the seal he's under without form, leading to the first Calamity and the initial rise of Calamity Ganon. This is 10k years before BotW. This is also the first documented use of the Master Sword to seal the Demon King away, recorded in the tapestry.

The Sheikah are forced to abandon their technology. The Yiga/Sheikah split happens.

Literally all the rest of Hyrulean History happens after this.

Breath of the Wild.

Tears of the Kingdom.

[spicy-apple-pie]

Fuck it, here’s some video games I think the Wayne’s would like.

First up, Return of the Obra Dinn. A murder mystery that relies on environmental clues to discover who’s who and what happened. I think Tim eventually got Bruce into the game. Bruce doesn’t play games so it was really Tim controlling the player while Bruce instructs him where to go. Duke likes it too, he has a whole section in his notebook to keep track of his thoughts.

Kinda in that same realm, The Case of The Golden Idol. Again, murder mysteries with environmental clues. Bruce can play this one by himself since it’s just a point and click. Duke and Tim also really like the game.

Duke really likes the Rusty Lake series. It reminds him of the computer games he used to eat up as a kid. Jason likes some of the storytelling beats and the metaphors. Damian can’t stomach the game because of the mistreatment of Mr. Harvey.

Disco Elysium. Omg would Jason love Disco Elysium. The storytelling, the art, the shitting on rich people. Damian got into it for the art but then got really invested in it. I don’t think Bruce would play it but my god would he do everything in his power to adopt Cuno and Cunoesse. Steph plays it because she saw a few memes of it online and always chooses the worst option for shits and giggles.

Damian secretly loves cozy games. He has a Stardew play through and the first cow he got he named Batcow. Him and Jon have a game together for when they’re “studying” every Wednesday. His favourite NPC is Sam, because he reminds Damian of Jon, but he would never admit that. Yes, this is me pushing my; “Damian gets a farm and becomes a veterinarian and goes out as a vigilante some of the time” agenda.

[atthebell]

guys out of pure desperation here's a(n incomplete) list of games that have come out during cellbit's break or are upcoming releases that he'll possibly play/that i want for him to play once he's back, in no particular order and including games i think will be terrible but he'll play anyway:

cryptmaster

slay the princess (i think it still doesn't have an official portuguese translation but there is a fan translation that felps used for his playthrough)

fears to fathom: woodbury getaway

clock tower rewind

decadent

reanimal (looks very little nightmares)

no, i'm not human

zoochosis (he played the demo i'm pretty sure and it was kind of terrible but we'll see if he plays the full release)

hauntii

hollow body

machinika atlas

riven (unless it's only out on vr)

murders on the yangtze river (menace and i played a couple of the bits that were out in english and it's pretty good plus the full eng translation is out now)

escape memoirs: safe house

malware (no way he doesn't play this)

late homework

beyond shadowgate

phoenix springs (obra dinn vibes, extremely detective-y)

farewell north (dog)

asleep - ato 1 (brazilian indie horror game w/female protagonist & pixel art AND he already featured the trailer on the cellbit awards last year)

parallel experiment (cryptic killer sequel-- would love for him and roier to play this once it releases)

staffer case

until then

neva (devs who made gris which he ADORED)

edge of sanity

homicipher

rise of the golden idol (follow up to case of the golden idol, one of his fave games)

[thatpersonwhosaidtheywouldnt]

What do you think of these Absolute Flash previews?

Alright I'll got through them one by one.

The first image is gorgeous. I love the way the artist draws the Speed Force (I am assuming it is the Speed Force, admittedly). The typical lightning is not any different but the rectangles are what really make it for me. They drive the perspective of the piece and Wally's motion really well.

Now, getting into the actual pages that were revealed. It is interesting to me that he is in the desert. It makes me wonder if this Wally might not live in the Midwest. The image is giving New Mexico vibes to me but really, could be anywhere from California to Nevada to Utah to New Mexico. Of course this could be a reach. Maybe he ran really far with his new powers, considering the shock on his face, that is just as possible. Something that really interests me is how we keep seeing Wally drawn with the lightning. Not only does he have the lightning around him but also this secondary red image. Perhaps this is just a stylistic choice but to me, it reads as either him being in pain (which would be an interesting choice, hearkening back to the many times Wally has dealt with his powers causing him pain) or as another being grabbing at him. I am wondering if because of the nature of the Absolute Universe, the Speed Force is poisoned in some way. But I am getting into wild speculation territory so lets get to the next page.

The Rogues! Okay, man, do they have a different vibe. Seems pretty likely to me that these Rogues are working with the government. What would make sense to me is that they are perhaps made in particular to go after Wally, a bit of a twist on them developing their weapons in response to him to acts as thieves. Alternatively, they are already an existing government squad that goes after powered individuals. Now the Rogues themselves... it seems clear to me that we have Captain Cold, Golden Glider, and Captain Boomerang. I am unsure who they are going for with the guy in that back. My immediate guess is Trickster, but it could easily be a few people. As to who they are... They could easily be who they are in the main verse, but it is interesting to me that Cold so closely aligns with Rudy West's typical design. I think it isn't much of a stretch to say it could be him (and a number of people have been noting that as well). If he is Rudy, it makes it pretty likely to me that Golden Glider is Iris but that might be a stretch. I am excited to see them, though, and what direction Lemire goes.

Alright, the final page. This one is honestly the one that has me the most pumped. We are getting to see a lot into who Wally is and his family life. I think it is pretty safe to say that he is living with his grandfather, Ira West. His design is basically a one-for-one with his appearances in the mainverse, and he seems too old to be Rudy. Wally living with Ira is honestly a brilliant move, in the least suggesting Wally's parents have remained not the best people in this world. Ira has not been seen in so long, too, so I am excited for the potential. Is he still a scientist here? Maybe he is how Wally gets his powers? Honestly so many cool possibilities. Now as for Wally... Him be a musician is super cool to me. I am really enjoying the vibe we are seeing for him here. Teen Wally in mainverse was written sooo long ago and is obviously very dated and very much obsessed with the Flash. But this is a world without a Flash, so who is Wally without his idol? What is he into? Him playing the guitar with headphones on really reminds me of how teen Wally in the main universe was described as having his head in the clouds. It seems that is the case with this Wally too. I assume the posters and art around him are band posters but I hope we get more of an answer to that when the book comes out.

Overall... I am pumped, honestly. Most looks back at teen Wally we have gotten have been Teen Titans Wally, who fills a specific archetype. I am excited to get a take that is more nuanced. I really hope we have him meeting Linda and Piper and Chunk as a teenager. There is just so much potential for this and I have high hopes.

[ataleofcrowns]

What kind of game genre the RO's like to play?👀

I'm assuming in like a modern!au 🤔

D would be really into strategy games and management games. Think the Civ series for strategy, or Dwarf Fortress and Rimworld for management. R got them to try out the Sims one time and after spending 3 hours painstakingly creating their Sim family, D put them in a house, immediately got bored, set the house on fire to kill them all and closed the game.

They would also greatly enjoy puzzle/detective games that rely on logic and deduction, like Return of the Obra Dinn and The Case of the Golden Idol.

X would enjoy open world games that encourage you to fuck around as much you want. They'd mostly be familiar with GTA, Sleeping Dogs, Red Dead Redemption 2 - they're not into video games as much, so they stick with the most well known hits.

Also would enjoy competitive multiplayer games from time to time whenever they feel like dunking on someone (D), mainly with fighting games. Street Fighter is probably their fav.

A is undoubtedly a FromSoft stan first, a gamer second. Anything soulslike, either in aesthetics or mechanics, is also a quick hit; they especially have a soft spot for platformers like Hollow Knight and Blasphemous.

They also really enjoy roguelikes like Vampire Survivors, Enter the Gungeon and Dead Cells. X has described their taste in games as "masochistic" before to which A replied with "get good".

R has a preference for cool aesthetics, innovative design, and indie games in general. If the art is unique, if the story says something new, or if the mechanics are interesting they tend to be a fan of it.

Think Signalis, Journey, World of Horror, Outer Wilds, Disco Elysium, etc. These games have very little in common with each other in substance, but they are each very distinguished in style, mechanics or story.

[wallbeatjournal]

JIMIN MENTION. Riverdale characters as BTS members

unfortunately i did workshop this with the army gc and i think i have a proposal. it doesn't totally work because of gender dynamics and the way the universes of corporate-competitive art performance and riverdale aren't really quite aligned, but i think i got somewhere.

RIVERDALE MAINS AS BTS MEMBERS:

jughead = rm / kim namjoon. iconoclast. the lyricist-narrator of the whole deal. the link to the big corporate-bureaucratic metaplot in the sky. a typewriter kind of guy. there are so so so many of him and sometimes they interact. queerbait-complicit and yet sidestepping it.

reggie = jin / kim seokjin. the negotiator. the big-city boyfriend from the hallmark movie. the nation's son-in-law but DID flirt with your grandmother and your dad at the function. fed that mean old man from his bare hand. schemes and scams, less opportunistically than as a vocational calling. second place to karl marx and knows it.

betty = suga / min yoongi. she's resisting her idol image with her gratuitously-edgy secondary persona but she's still your poor little meow meow, your baby. she's alert! she's fractured! her amygdala is working sooo hard. her shadow grows and grows and she's avoiding it she's looking at it she's avoiding it she's looking. don't say tangerine.

veronica = j-hope / jung hoseok. idk it's about perfectionism. it's about how CRYING 👏 DOES 👏 NOT 👏 FIT 👏 WITH 👏 HER 👏 LIFE'S 👏 VIBE. it's about lean-in girlbossism. it's about success not creating psychological safety (but she wants more anyway bc what else is she here to do). she's nice but she's ruthless but she loves you!! and on several tragic levels iykyk: she da bus driver all of a sudden.

kevin = jimin. compulsive joiner. compulsive people-pleaser. compulsive flirt. compulsive. mapplethorpe fanboy. gender outlaw. a smoke-show, now. most likely to charm a late night talk show host. queerbaiter of the cruising-coded-crowd-scene variety. most likely to put it all on the line for a little cabaret ♥

cheryl = v / kim taehyung. questionable art appreciator. questionable painter. questionable self portrait accumulator. high-aesthetic curator of Scenes and Situations. president of gay fanservice (self-appointed). glamorous alien OR reclusive little freak. if the high-aesthetic, melodramatic-literary closet case lament fits.

archie = jungkook. golden boy all-rounder. beefcake-on-display. designated himbo. Wants To Help. will NOT contribute to a conversation so don't even try. gives kind of a sincere wounded baby animal quality at times. queerbait via lore-relevant chime card sponcon (this isn't jarchie but it does make you ask yourself "is charlie puth sort of jugheadcore, if jughead sucked (derogatory) instead of sucking (complimentary)?")

[radiation]

ok marco this is my moment. my partner and i played UNIVERSALLY CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED puzzle game THE RETURN OF THE OBRA DINN and by the end it pissed us the fuck off so bad not even cheating to the end of the “story” could save it. gameplay relies on increasingly obtuse visual clues that due to the low-res monochrome art style become an actual legitimate accessibility issue by the end. there are puzzles that are genuinely unsolvable using the deduction the game claims to emphasize and it forces the player to make brute-force guesses until they stumble upon the right answer which TO ME AND NO ONE ELSE, I GUESS, seems antithetical to what puzzle games are supposed to accomplish. and the story isn’t even good it’s a massive nothingburger of a resolution and the few actually interesting parts of the plot do not get elaborated on at all. case of the golden idol is infinitely better just play that love and light

.

[skridz]

Is this too fuckjkg weird guys

[amethystsoda]

sometimes games hold memories of places—

I remember Cave Story as my childhood bedroom, the first game my brother showed me how to play on Steam. It felt like a new world opened up...

I remember staying up late one summer at an art conference with my mom, in an unfamiliar dorm, the window cracked so the summer air and cicadas singing filtered in. Playing FEZ as quietly as possible, and enjoying the quiet ambience.

I remember playing Undertale in my college art studio, the winter air chilling the tiny cubicle, but feeling like I finally had somewhere I belonged all to myself.

I remember VA: 11 Hall-A and Hustle Cat saving me while living at home after school. Giving me a taste of queerness I needed after a confusing relationship and actively hateful family. Games were an escape from being put back into trauma and daily emotional abuse.

I remember playing Deponia Doomsday, the first time after moving out from my parents’ house, listening to Miracle Musical and thinking about time travel.

I remember Animal Crossing New Horizons as the Pandemic game—the thing that connected everyone with their islands when it was less safe to interact irl.

I remember Yuppie Psycho as the game I could never play at home, as the coffee shop game, because I felt safe and less paranoid playing around other people, even if I didn’t know them. The warmth of the shop helped dispel my fear and expand my horizons.

I remember Stardew Valley as my safe place when I had to visit family in the South. How I was able to avoid F0x news and their casual homophobia by farming, fighting in the mines, and smooching Sebastian.

I remember The Case of the Golden Idol as the game I played in a coffee shop off the highway, waiting for my friend to meet me for “potato date.” I remember the thrill of solving mysteries while waiting for her, unknown and unbothered in an unfamiliar place.

I remember Dave the Diver as the one I played at Panera, taking a few minutes to relax during the holiday season. How someone’s grandpa said to his grandkid at the table next to me that “we miss out on so many interesting people if we never say hello”

Games hold power and they hold memory 🫵💖

[arbitrarygreay]

Symphogear attack names

@mimeparadox alerted me to the fact that Kirika's attack names are crimes against linguistics, so I started looking at all of the Gear users' attacks. Much thanks to the wiki, which helpfully compiles not only the attacks, but their title cards, the romanization, and the original text!

I'm only looking at anime attacks. From "least cringe" to "Kirika":

Miku: Two-character Chinese phrases. Short, sweet, dignified.

Hibiki: Cheating because she doesn't get attack name cards at all. See post-ranking paragraphs.

Mid-tier: Maria/Tsubasa/Kanade tie. These girls are chuuni, but are relatively self-aware enough to have some restraint. However, Tsubasa might actually be one tier up by a sliver. She's getting away with some shit by doing hers in foreign language calligraphy, but see the post-ranking paragraphs.

Chris: Name that rock band! Golden spot of delightful indulgence. I dare anyone to not smile whenever MEGADETH PARTY shows up like an old friend. Chris has one (1) genre on her music player, and she doesn't give a fuck.

Shirabe: [greek alphabet letter]-style: {[spinning reference] AND/OR [cutting thing/action reference] wrapper addition/s to make it chuuni}

Kirika: Aforementioned CRIMES AGAINST LINGUISTICS. Build a desired phrase. May or may not include kana-ized English referencing a western fictional character. Add chuuni Japanese as necessary. Find phonetic syllables in Japanese that can be represented by tortured kanji readings that fit desired meaning. Substitute other kana with English alphabet letters. Featuring such great hits as:

災輪・TぃN渦ぁBェル

愚焔・PぇtttE炉

断殺・邪刃ウォttKKK (did you know that you spell Jabberwock with "t"s? that's how Kirika rolls, death)

兇脚・Gぁ厘ィBアa

So, like, there are indications that these aren't relic-defined names, but things that the girls themselves came up with. The strongest evidence for this is Gungnir, which has three users across the length of the show. Not only does the show make it explicit that Hibiki is coming up with the attack names herself, as they are called "Hibiki Style", but even the two who are using Gungnir as intended, Kanade and Maria, have their attacks names tailored to them. Kanade's all involve the "∞" sign, which don't show up in Hibiki or Maria's attacks.

Maria and Chris also both present even stronger evidence, as the rare users who have performed attacks across two different relics, and their tailored quirks are present in both. With Gungnir and Airgetlam, Maria's attacks feature the "†" sign splitting capitalized English. With both Nehushtan and Ichaival, Chris features rock band references in Old English font.

And this isn't even getting into the NONSENSE when combo attacks enter the fray, as each girl's naming quirks get thrown into a blender. Not only do we have Shirabe and Kirika throwing their Greek-letter-tortured-kanji-random-romanized-letters shit together into the likes of "禁合β式・Zあ破刃惨無uうNN", but then you add Maria's cross-capitalized-English-chuuni, and get "禁結終Ω式・爍機†TRINITY".

Another canon case of an attack evidently being named by a person is S2CA, which is short for "Superb Song Combination Arts", despite the fact that it makes zero sense in Japanese, where "Superb Song" is "Zessho". Forced acronyms transcend the curse of Balal!

(Tsubasa sidebar: so if we're assuming that attacks are named by their users, then the likelihood that Tsubasa's attacks are actually more chuuni in the original Japanese goes way up. Tsubasa doesn't know what normal is! Her baseline standard is the Kazanari family, and her ninja idol manager! Not to mention that her main transformation song is already borderline self parody in S2. Japanese imagery, sword, sword, blade, sword, blade, blade, I am sword, sword is me, etc. Maria and Kanade's attack names are constrained by being only 1-2 English words. Tsubasa out here throwing out flowery whole scroll calligraphy. Every added character brings her closer to Shirabe and Kirika's level.)

You may notice that this ranking suspiciously seems to follow the level of lack of blood family and divorce from civilian life. Chris, Maria, Shirabe, and Kirika are all orphans who were coerced into exploitation. However, Maria still had Serena, who overtly shares her surname, which suggests blood ties (they still don't share Anastassia's surname).

One step further on this, though, is that Chris was yet still closer to Kanade's situation in that she did know who her civilian parents were before she lost them. The Yukine surname was never in question, which is not necessarily the case for the Receptor Children. It's possible that some of these kids may have chosen their surnames for themselves after being freed from captivity.

Which would explain why you can get a Gundam-ass name like "Maria Cadenzavna Eve", which makes little to no sense in terms of ethnic name origin. Maria is Greek+Latin via Hebrew, Eve is English via Latinized Hebrew, and then Cadenzavna is a nonsense mishmash of Italian and Eastern European.

"Kusanagi Motoko" from Ghost in the Shell is a pseudonym (admitted canonically in 2nd gig), which is something like "(plain) Jane Excalibur". It seems obvious to me that "Akatsuki Kirika" and "Tsukuyomi Shirabe" are similar. The music/sound-based given names apply across most all of the Gear users, but I can easily see these two goobers picking the edgiest surnames (with shared moon connotations!) for themselves. Which, per the first half of this post, is reinforced by how chuuni their self-defined attack names are. (Meanwhile, Maria loses her little sister called Serena, and then replaces her with two girls with moon-associated surnames, eh. Maria, the Eastern European who would have been more likely to watch a dub of an anime than the sub, and wore that odango hairstyle as a child...)

[gamesindustrynormal]

Best Student Game

A Dual Ascent (Mountain Toad Entertainment /  Rubika Supinfogame) DisplaceMen (Eversea Club / leafaleaves) Growth Spurt: A Meandering Intermission into the Afterhours of a Miscalculation (Games for my Computer) Slot Waste (Vinny Roca / pickpanpuck productions) The WereCleaner (Howlin' Hugs / USC Games) Year Unknown (Julian Heuser)

Honorable Mentions: Cards of Heart (GoodMind Games), Duck Paradox (Magic Games / Midwest Games), Lost Garden (​​Ori Shany, Yoni Pushett, Ramon Zerem), Perfect World (Michael Overton Brown), Timeworks (Starworks Studios) 

Excellence in Audio

Anger Foot (Free Lives / Devolver Digital)  Despelote (Julián Cordero, Sebastian Valbuena / Panic)  INDIKA (Odd Meter / 11 bit studios) ODDADA (Sven Ahlgrimm, Mathilde Hoffmann, Bastian Clausdorff) Thank Goodness You're Here! (Coal Supper / Panic) Utopia Must Fall (Pixeljam)

Honorable Mentions: Animal Well (Billy Basso / Bigmode), Mouthwashing (Wrong Organ / CRITICAL REFLEX),  Pacific Drive (Ironwood Studios / Kepler Interactive),  Rise of the Golden Idol (Color Gray Games / Playstack), UFO 50 (Mossmouth)

Excellence in Design

Balatro (LocalThunk / Playstack) Blue Prince (Dogubomb / Raw Fury)  Caves of Qud (Freehold Games / Kitfox Games)  Consume Me (Jenny Jiao Hsia, AP Thomson, Jie En Lee, Violet W-P, Ken "coda" Snyder)  Pacific Drive (Ironwood Studios / Kepler Interactive) Tactical Breach Wizards (Suspicious Developments)

Honorable Mentions: Animal Well (Billy Basso / Bigmode), No Case Should Remain Unsolved (Somi), UFO 50 (Mossmouth), LOK Digital (Letibus Design, Icedrop Games / Draknek and Friends), Eigengrau (Martin Mauersics), The Rise of the Golden Idol (Color Gray Games / Playstack)

Excellence in Narrative

Caves of Qud (Freehold Games / Kitfox Games)  Closer the Distance (Osmotic Studios / Skybound Games)   Consume Me (Jenny Jiao Hsia, AP Thomson, Jie En Lee, Violet W-P, Ken "coda" Snyder)  Despelote (Julián Cordero, Sebastian Valbuena / Panic)  INDIKA (Odd Meter / 11 bit studios) No Case Should Remain Unsolved (Somi)

Honorable Mentions: Blue Prince (Dogubomb / Raw Fury), Miniatures (Other Tales Interactive), Mouthwashing (Wrong Organ / CRITICAL REFLEX), Tactical Breach Wizards (Suspicious Developments), Thank Goodness You're Here! (Coal Supper / Panic), The Thaumaturge (Fool's Theory / 11 bit studios)

Excellence in Visual Arts

Children of the Sun (René Rother / Devolver Digital)  Consume Me (Jenny Jiao Hsia, AP Thomson, Jie En Lee, Violet W-P, Ken "coda" Snyder)  Hauntii (Moonloop Games / Firestoke)  Judero (Talha and Jack Co, J. King-Spooner, Talha Kaya)  Nine Sols (RedCandleGames)  Thank Goodness You're Here! (Coal Supper / Panic)

Honorable Mentions: Crow Country (SFB Games), Death of the Reprobate (Joe Richardson), Miniatures (Other Tales Interactive), Tiny Glade (Pounce Light), Ultros (Hadoque / Kepler Interactive)  

Nuovo Award

Consume Me (Jenny Jiao Hsia, AP Thomson, Jie En Lee, Violet W-P, Ken "coda" Snyder)  Despelote (Julián Cordero, Sebastian Valbuena / Panic)  Extreme Evolution: Drive to Divinity (Sam Atlas)  Ginger (Kevin Du / lizu ktap) individualism in the dead-internet age: an anti-big tech asset flip shovelware rant manifesto (alienmelon)  Starship Home (Creature)  tapeçaria (tapestry) (mut/moochi (with help from plunderludics working group)) The Exit 8 (KOTAKE CREATE / Active Gaming Media Inc)

Honorable Mentions: Arctic Eggs (The Water Museum, cockydoody, abmarnie, Cameron Ginex / CRITICAL REFLEX) , Judero (Talha and Jack Co, J. King-Spooner, Talha Kaya), Onto Maizilind Unto Infinity (Kas Ghobadi, Julián Palacios Gechtman / Kasrah Ghobadi), Price of Flight (WATERBOX), Project Y (Project_Y Production Committee), Refind Self: The Personality TestGame (Lizardry / PLAYISM) 

Seumas McNally Grand Prize

Caves of Qud (Freehold Games / Kitfox Games)  Consume Me (Jenny Jiao Hsia, AP Thomson, Jie En Lee, Violet W-P, Ken "coda" Snyder)  Despelote (Julián Cordero, Sebastian Valbuena / Panic)  INDIKA (Odd Meter / 11 bit studios) Thank Goodness You're Here! (Coal Supper / Panic) UFO 50 (Mossmouth)

Honorable Mentions: Animal Well (Billy Basso / Bigmode), Balatro (LocalThunk / Playstack),Blue Prince (Dogubomb / Raw Fury), Mouthwashing (Wrong Organ / CRITICAL REFLEX), Nine Sols (RedCandleGames) ,Tactical Breach Wizards (Suspicious Developments)