Breath of the Wild, Night in the Woods clean up at GDC Awards

At this year’s annual Game Developers Choice Awards, a familiar name took home grand prize: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, racking up its latest game of the year trophy. But this year’s Independent Games Festival Awards ceremony, held on the same night during Game Developers Conference, featured slightly more surprising winners.

The IGF Awards honors indie titles from the last 12 months in a number of categories, with monetary prizes handed out to winners. Infinite Fall’s Night in the Woods won both Excellence in Narrative and the Seumas McNally Grand Prize, taking home a collective $33,000 in winnings. With two awards, Night in the Woods was matched only by the experimental student game Baba is You as the ceremony’s most honored games.

Other games that won tonight include Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy, which received the Nuovo Award for testing the limits of the medium; and Celeste, which got the public-decided Audience Award. The full list is below:

• Excellence in Visual Art ($3,000): Chuchel (Amanita Design)
• Excellence in Audio ($3,000): Uurnog Uurnlimited (Nifflas Games)
• Excellence in Design ($3,000): Baba Is You (Hempuli)
• Excellence in Narrative ($3,000): Night in the Woods (Infinite Fall)
• Nuovo Award ($3,000): Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy (Bennett Foddy)
• Best Student Game ($3,000): Baba Is You (Hempuli)
• Audience Award ($3,000): Celeste (Celeste Team)
• ID@Xbox Gaming for Everyone Award: SpecialEffect
• alt.ctrl.GDC Award ($3,000): Puppet Pandemonium
• Seumas McNally Grand Prize ($30,000): Night in the Woods (Infinite Fall)

Meanwhile, at the Game Developers Choice Awards, Breath of the Wild, Cuphead and Gorogoa each received two prizes. Cuphead developer Studio MDHR won Best Debut while the game won Best Visual Art; Gorogoa was named Best Mobile Game along with taking the Innovation Award. (Breath of the Wild also got Best Audio.)

Other notable names among the winners include Nier: Automata and Horizon Zero Dawn — as well as designers Rami Ismail and Tim Schaefer, who both received personal honors from the voting committee. Here’s the full list:

• Best Audio: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo)
• Best Debut: Studio MDHR (Cuphead)
• Best Design: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo)
• Best Mobile Game: Gorogoa (Jason Roberts/Buried Signal)
• Innovation Award: Gorogoa (Jason Roberts/Buried Signal)
• Best Narrative: What Remains of Edith Finch (Giant Sparrow)
• Best Technology: Horizon Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games)
• Best Visual Art: Cuphead (Studio MDHR)
• Best VR/AR Game: SUPERHOT VR (The SUPERHOT Team)
• Audience Award: Nier: Automata (PlatinumGames)
• Game of the Year: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo)
• Ambassador Award: Rami Ismail
• Lifetime Achievement Award: Tim Schafer