The 2021 edition of the Tribeca Festival is adding a brand new competition to its lineup, focusing on some up-and-coming video games that players will be excited to check out. Back in 2011, Rockstar’s L.A. Noire was the first game to make its debut at Tribeca, and now the festival is making a move to showcase even more from the world of gaming. On Thursday, Tribeca announced the roster of games that will be competing for the first ever Tribeca Games Award.
Like the films at the festival, the games at Tribeca will be experienced by both judges and fans. Players at home can sign up for exclusive digital demos of the games beginning May 24th, and those who get access will be able to play at some point during the competition, which runs from June 11th to June 20th. Footage of the games will be streamed for free online as part of the Summer Game Fest.
“For over a decade, our mission has been to be a catalyst for placing games and their creators at the forefront of mainstream and artistic culture alongside film, TV and VR/AR,” said Tribeca Enterprises and Tribeca Festival Co-Founder and CEO Jane Rosenthal. “We continue to embrace the cross pollination and intersection of these storytellers with this year’s Tribeca Games Official Selections. And this is just the beginning.”
You can take a look below at the full roster of games in this year’s competition!
Harold Halibut (World Premiere) – Germany
Developer and Publisher: Slow Bros.
Project Creators: Onat Hekimoglu, Ole Tillmann, Fabian Preuschoff, Daniel Beckmann
Key Collaborator: Ilja Burzev
Harold is a lab assistant to the ship’s lead scientist, who despite general fatigue aboard the retro-futurist vessel continues to look for a way back into space. While the stale day-to-day life under water grows more and more familiar, one day a fateful encounter plunges Harold into an unknown world.
Kena: Bridge of Spirits (World Premiere) – United States
Developer and Publisher: Ember Lab
Project Creators: Josh Grier, Mike Grier
Key Collaborator: Hunter Schmidt
Kena, a novice Spirit Guide, uncovers an abandoned village. Wandering spirits, trapped between worlds, sow chaos and decay. With the help of tiny forest creatures called Rot and her knowledge of the Spirit Realm, Kena faces her own losses as she untangles the secrets of this forgotten community.
Lost in Random (World Premiere) – Sweden
Developer: Zoink Games
Publisher: EA Originals, Electronic Arts
Project Creator: Klaus Lyngeled
Key Collaborator: EA Partners Team
From the award-winning Swedish game studio, Zoink, play the odds in Lost in Random, a gothic fairytale-inspired action adventure where every citizen’s fate is determined by the roll of a dice. The player walks the Kingdom of Random’s mysterious cobbled streets, meets its unpredictable residents and takes on courageous quests. Through fearsome battles with a unique blend of tactical combat, card collection, and explosive dice gameplay, they’ll quickly learn to adapt or perish as they battle inside giant board game arenas that change with every dice throw. Learn how to tip the odds and dive in a dark wonderland where only the brave survive. Play the odds. Win the game.
NORCO (World Premiere) – United States
Developer: Geography of Robots
Publisher: Raw Fury
Project Creator: Geography of Robots
Key Collaborator: fmAura
This sci-fi Southern Gothic adventure immerses players in the sinking suburbs and industrial swamps of Louisiana’s petrochemical hinterlands. The hero’s brother goes missing; in the hopes of finding him, players must follow a fugitive security cyborg through the refineries, strip malls, and drainage ditches of suburban New Orleans.
Sable (World Premiere) – United Kingdom
Developer: Shedworks
Publisher: Raw Fury
Project Creators: Gregorios Kythreotis, Daniel Fineberg
Key Collaborators: Japanese Breakfast, Martin Kvale
Join Sable on her gliding, a rite of passage that will take her across vast deserts and through landscapes littered with fallen spaceships. Explore the desert on a hoverbike, scale monumental ruins, and encounter other nomads in the wilds whiet unearthing mysteries long forgotten.
Signalis (World Premiere) – Germany
Developer: rose-engine
Publisher: Humble Games
Project Creator: Yuri Stern
Key Collaborator: Barbara Whitman
Stranded on a desolate world, a lone Replika must explore the ruins of an abandoned reeducation facility in search for answers—and a way to escape. Solve puzzles, fight nightmarish creatures, and navigate through dystopian, surreal worlds as Elster, a technician Replika looking for a lost dream.
The Big Con (World Premiere) – Canada
Developer: Mighty Yell
Project Creator: Dave Proctor
Key Collaborator: Saffron Aura
In classic 90s con movie style, the player gets to persuade and pilfer their way to greatness. Sneak around, wear disguises, pickpocket, solve puzzles, and maybe profit from the latest collectible plushie craze, and make a friend or two along the way.
Twelve Minutes (World Premiere) – United States
Developer: Luis Antonio
Publisher: Annapurna Interactive
Project Creator: Luis Antonio
A man’s romantic evening with his wife is interrupted by a violent home invasion. He tries to stop the attacker and gets knocked out only to find himself stuck in a time loop of 12 minutes. He must use the knowledge of what is about to happen to change the outcome and break the loop. Featuring James McAvoy, Daisy Ridley, and Willem Dafoe.
