Games that don’t need the budget of a AAA blockbuster to be impactful, fun, or enthralling. Independent games can do what no big-budget game can do: be anything they want.
The nominees for the GM GOTY Award 2021 for Best Indie Game are the following:
- Chivalry 2
- Road 96
- Unpacking
- Valheim
- Wildermyth
Deliberations Summary
Previously The Most Surprising Game, we have evolved this category and made it focus only on indie games. The spirit of this award was always celebrated indie games before, as they are the ones that don’t get as much of a marketing hype compared to games backed by big publishers.
The way we define “indie” has to be specific in order for this to work. Games sold at full price backed by AAA game publishers are out of the running (though we can make exceptions), as well as games from mid-tier publishers.
What we have left is a wide selection of different games all doing something a little bit different.
Unpacking brings a small box of a puzzle game yet hides a charm and smart storytelling you wouldn’t be able to see if it’s stretched out to 30 hours.
Wildermyth and Road 96 invite players to be part of making the game’s story as it goes, both utilising procedural generation and smart carry-overs that make each run, be it a run to save the world or a run to cross the borders, a fascinating experience.
Chivalry 2 seems normal by comparison as it’s largely a multiplayer-only game. But it does one thing that not many AAA multiplayer-only games can do: a hitchless launch window with servers working during the first two weeks. The hectic medieval combat is impressive, gruesome, but can be silly fun at times. Watching someone play Chivalry 2 is already a fun time.
Valheim is already making a big mark while still in Early Access. The Viking-vibing-and-surviving game alleviates the many irksome parts of games in this genre via streamlining the busywork, but keeps the core fantasy of the base-building survival game genre intact, making it an engrossing game that will only continue to grow better as it gets closer to full release.
This lineup is so strong that we had to bump off The Forgotten City, an excellent time-loop adventurer, mostly because we didn’t play it. All the other titles featured here have not just one but at least two of the three crew members played it in some ways. A rare occasion.
It was a tough one to call a winner. But a winner was decided.
Deliberation Length (after edits): 27 minutes
Best Indie Game Winner
Congratulations to Chivalry 2 for winning the 2021 GM GOTY Award for Best Indie Game!
Stay tuned tomorrow when we reveal The Trashfire Award.
For the full list and full recording of the deliberations (as part of dia.log – The Gamer Matters Podcast), check the main page for the Gamer Malaya And Gamer Matters Game Of The Year Awards 2021 here.