Bookend Game Awards: Best Art Direction

Got some strong contenders this year, but I feel like this may be one category where I actually agree with the proper Games Awards...

• Cuphead – I mean, just look at it. The game is well made and fun, but it’s the art style that’s made it big news this year.
• Hollow Knight – I feel  like Hollow Knight has gotten shamefully overlooked, art wise, due to Cuphead coming out, the hand drawn animation in this game is also achingly beautiful.
• Hyper Light Drifter – VOMITING. NEON. PIXEL. BLOOD. Some breathtaking pixel work by the people who worked on this.
• N++ - A minimalist heaven, it’s clean, and allows you to customise the look, but that look is ALWAYS good.
• Puppeteer – A genius idea to present a game like a play, framed with puppets and a stage. It commits to the bit and is truly a unique sight in gaming.

And the winner is...

                Cuphead

Like I mentioned above, basically nobody would care about this game if it wasn’t for the art style, but WHAT an art style. It really is like playing a cartoon and it undoubtedly deserved to win this category in the game awards proper.

Join me next time for Best Narrative!

Bookend Game Awards: Best Independent Game

So, I bitched about how I don’t see the need to split best indie and best Debut Indie before, this is basically the same list for both for me, so probably no surprises here... I’ve copy and passed a lot for this one.

My Nominations:

• Cuphead - It took them long enough to make, but it’s a damn fun little game that looks amazing.
• Hollow Knight – A fantastic metroidvania, with great art, sound, lore and gameplay. What’s not to like? It already got the last award. Will it get another?
• Hyper Light Drifter – A beautiful looking action game with fun, challenging combat and exploration, though it took a little while to click with me.
• Slime Rancher – I never knew how much I wanted to farm Slimes with cat ears until I bought this game.
• Sunless Sea – It might have niche appeal, but this Lovecraftian London is one hell of a trip.

And the Winner is:

                Hollow Knight

What a shock... I suppose it was up against another Bookend Award Winner in Sunless Sea and the decision was quite close actually, but I think Hollow Knight is the better package.

Next up, join me for Best Ongoing Game!

Bookend Game Awards: Best Action/Adventure Game

I’m not totally sure what the difference between an "Action" and an "Action/Adventure" game is, I’ve taken action games to be games where the combat mechanics are the focus, and Action/Adventure has elements of exploration or platforming being a significant part of the experience. But really I think my picks for both could both easily go in either category, so I kind of hate the distinction.

• Banjo-Kazooie – Lots of platforming ACTION ACTION ACTION, a super fun time finding all the puzzle pieces.
• Hollow Knight – Lots of action. Lots of adventure. Lots of insects. What a time to be alive.
• Hyper Light Drifter – Travel the world coughing up neon blood as you kill everything that move. Once you get used to it a very fun experience.
• Red Dead Redemption – Cowboy Simulator of the year, every year, until Red Dead 2 is released at least.
• Spyro the dragon – Glide, charge, flame, rescue dragons, toast Gnorcs. Find a fault, I dare you. Other than the camera.

And the winner is:

                Hollow Knight

What can I say, I’ve already waxed lyrical about how good this game is in the indie category, I just love me some metroidvania, and this is a DAMN good metroidvania game.

Next up we have the Best Action Game!

Bookend Game Awards: Best Debut Indie Game

Yea, I’ll be honest; I don’t really get this award. It does eliminate a few people from the running, but I don’t see why a game should get any more or less props just because the company hasn’t made a game before. It might make the devs achievements more impressive, but the game is just as good either way. Eh, I guess I just give zero fucks about the devs for the most part, so the distinction doesn’t matter to me.

Spoiler, expect my best Indie Game list to look veeery similar.

My Nominations:

• Cuphead - It took them long enough to make, but it’s a damn fun little game that looks amazing.
• Hollow Knight – A fantastic metroidvania, with great art, sound, lore and gameplay. What’s not to like?
• Hyper Light Drifter – A beautiful looking action game with fun, challenging combat and exploration, though it took a little while to click with me, when it did I had a blast.
• Lone Survivor – Jasper Byrne's side scrolling exploration of the nameless protagonist’s mental health as he tries to survive after some silent hill style apocalypse is a strong first game by anybodies standards.
• Slime Rancher – I never knew how much I wanted to farm Slime with cat ears until I bought this game.

And the Winner is:

                Hollow Knight

What can I say, all of the games in this category were great and could have easily won, but for me Hollow Knight just has the whole package, it’s not perfect,  but once it got it’s nail stuck into me I couldn’t put it down until I had completed every last part.

Next up, join me for Best Multiplayer Game!