If you’re anything like me, you might be looking at the large number of different IFDB Awards categories, and the even bigger number of great games folks put out in 2022, and feeling a bit at a loss – I know the idea is to see how things go in this first year and winnow things down, and there’s nothing saying one needs to vote in every single category, but I have pretty intense completionist tendencies. So I thought I’d start this thread to create some structure and help me work my way through. And since reasonable campaigning is allowed, hopefully it’ll provide a chance to highlight some of the games that I really dug this year in case other folks want to consider them for an award too.
First, a caveat – I played and reviewed a good number of the 2022 games (all of the Comp, Spring Thing, and Parser Comp), but I only played a couple EctoComp games and missed out on TALP entirely, plus I’m lazy and stick to English-only IF. So there are definitely holes in my knowledge of the year, but hopefully I’ve got a reasonable sense of the landscape.
OK, let’s get started – I’ll try to knock out a couple of categories a day. NB I’m linking to the entries’ IFDB pages, which all should have a review by me if you want a fuller account of what I thought about a game.
Outstanding Debut – this is a tough one since there’s of course no search that nicely lifts up all the first-time games, so I’m just scanning the full list and trying to mentally weed out the authors who I think I’ve seen write games before. This is a very unscientific method, but it’s the best I can do! The three that stand out to me are:
-
A Long Way to the Nearest Star - as a debut game with a somewhat generic title and premise, I was a little worried this would get overlooked, so it was really gratifying to see it do so well in the Comp, buoyed by its clever puzzles, solid pacing, and most of all the conflicted supercomputer SOLIS, one of the best-drawn NPCs in any game this year, debut or not.
-
Filthy Aunt Mildred - when I think of an outstanding debut, I think of a game that heralds some fresh new voice, and the scabrous, lurid prose of FAM – well, “fresh” is probably not the best word for something so sleazy, but it’s a singular, hilarious achievement nonetheless.
-
Thin Walls - a short story anthology in an IF frame, Thin Walls blends well-grounded social comment with creeping architectural horror, to very impressive effect.
Outstanding Game over 2 hours – another tricky category to narrow down, I am going to cheat and rely on @mathbrush’s length tags as a filter. This might mean I miss some in the about 2 hours category or where my playthrough was significantly different, but to me this category really should go to a big, long game, not one that’s flirting with the Comp limit, so hopefully that will turn out OK. Once again, I’m coming up with three rather different possibilities:
-
The Only Possible Prom Dress - in some ways the ur-example of this category, a big, old-school puzzlefest just like they used to make (except it’s much fairer, and better designed).
-
Manifest No - a full novel in kaemi’s inimitable style, serving up a heady brew of themes interrogating the nature and function of language.
-
Custard and Mustard’s Big Adventure - this one isn’t quite as Brobdingnagian as the others, clocking in at a mere 3-4 hours, but it still makes great use of the expanded space by providing a smorgasbord of lighthearted but meaty puzzling for its winning puppy protagonists.
Outstanding Short Game – relying on @mathbrush’s tags once again, I’m just looking at one hour or less since this likewise feels like a category that should reward games closer to the length extreme. Longer list this time since there are a lot of games here!
-
Use Your Psychic Powers at Applebee’s – clever use of a looping structure to deliver some good jokes and some nice little character pieces.
-
Esther’s - adorable, and the quintessence of a little game; it wouldn’t work at all if there was too much of it.
-
Good Grub - a didactic joke game, but it’s a funny didactic joke game.
-
No One Else is Doing This - understated social comment played at an incredibly close-up level.
-
You Won’t Get Her Back - a single chess puzzle, flawlessly implemented and with surprisingly effective narrative heft.
Outstanding Underappreciated Game – I don’t have a great sense of what’s broadly appreciated or not, so playing this one basically by ear – I guess I’ll look at the number of IFDB ratings as a proxy:
-
Manifest No - this got some well-deserved discussion on the forums, but only 3 IFDB ratings? Come on now. I know it was entered in the Back Garden of Spring Thing but it’s still a major work.
-
Lady Thalia and the Rose of Rocroi – how does Lady 2halia only have three ratings??? I repeat, come on now.
-
Custard and Mustard’s Big Adventure - another one I’ve already mentioned, but doesn’t seem like it got as much attention as I think it merits. Are folks just sleeping on Spring Thing? Pound for pound it might be better than IF Comp at this point, dare I say!
(I’m guessing there are some Ectocomp games that belong here – I’ve had Spectators and Escape from Hell on my to-play list – so I’ll be eager to see what else folks vote for on this one)
Most Sequel-Worthy Game – I’m not always a big fan of sequels for their own sake, so I think I’ll be more parsimonious in this category:
- Lady Thalia and the Rose of Rocroi – sort of a cheat since I know there’s a third one in the works, but the Lady Thalia games have cracked the formula of providing incredibly satisfying self-contained stories with enough connective tissue and overall character development to leave the player chomping for another installment.
…Okay, that’s about what I’ve got time for today - five down, 23 to go!
