Grunn

Tom van den Boogaart
PC, Mac

In the realm of gaming, few experiences manage to combine such seemingly disparate elements as the tranquil art of gardening and the unsettling chill of horror. Yet GRUNN accomplishes this fusion with an artistic finesse that is truly worthy of commendation. Its unique aesthetic, simultaneously strange and appealing, lures players into a slow-burning narrative that is as organic as the very grass you are tasked to cut. Yet beneath the ostensibly mundane act of gardening lurks a story that is laden with eerie undertones, making the act of accidentally killing a bird a cause for existential dread. It’s a game that doesn’t just make you question the virtual world, but your actions within it. For its ability to innovate within the gaming medium, and for the emotional journey it takes players on, we honor Tom van den Boogaart’s GRUNN with the DIGITAL MOMENT AWARD.
Laudation by Vanessa Amoah Opoku

Waxwing

Common Opera
PC

Since the dawn of time, humans played games with other humans, competing, cooperating or just sharing good time together. It will be a real test for the advancement of AI to replace the unexpected, whimsical nature of human players. This game challenges you to collaborate with a random person you met at an exhibition, by taking turns on rhythm to guide a character to the goal without hitting dangers. The custom-made light gun controller makes it super easy to pick up and play by anyone, guaranteeing fun time for players of all ages. This year’s winner of the Human Human Machine Award is Waxwing by Common Opera.
Laudation by Shuhei Yoshida

[ECHOSTASIS]

ENIGMA STUDIO
PC

Let’s get lost. Completely immersed. For hours. Let’s dive deeper so that we’ll never be thinking or looking for a way out. This is what virtual worlds do to us. In a good way. As does this year’s winner of the A MAZE. Long Feature Award. You’ll find yourself confined by space and time itself until you’re no longer sure if you’re really you or just a glitching program. Or a virus? Enter an atmospheric blend of aesthetics. Perhaps you’re just stuck in a nightmare. Defeat your restrictions. Let [KEY WORDS] guide you through purgatory. And finally: Regain control.

This year’s winner of the Long Feature Award is [ECHOSTASIS] by ENIGMA STUDIO.
Laudation by Natasha Sebben AKA natsha

BlueSuburbia

Nathalie Lawhead
PC

The A Maze Explorer Award celebrates the spirit of adventure and innovation in the gaming and interactive arts sphere. It is dedicated to recognizing those who push the envelope, go past horizons and discard traditional pathways of game development and interactive design. This year’s recipient has done just that, creating a stunning gothic horror, blending high-resolution 3D gameplay with glitchy lo-fidelity aesthetics, delving into an exploration of feeling, within a dark landscape, using poetry and snippets of existential despair, it takes the player on a unique and multifaceted journey full of dark humor and a dichotomy of conflicting emotions. Born from a project that captured the hearts of a cult following decades ago, it has now emerged, reimagined for the contemporary era as a modern video game. Congratulations Nathalie Lawhead on Blue Suburbia, a statement of art that continues to push the limits, to inspire, to challenge.
Laudation by Deirdre V. Lyons

Non-Virtual Reality Games

3m Jump
Valve Index, vive, Oculus Rift

“NON-VIRTUAL REALITY GAMES by 3m Jump (Germany) was selected by all participants as the winner of the Audience Award out of all exhibited works”

No Case Should Remain Unsolved

Somi
PC, Mac

When most of the industry is focused on cutting-edge graphics and resource-intensive technologies, this game has the intelligence to offer a concept that could have been made 30 years ago but never was. Presented as a police investigation through a sober evidence board, it gradually transforms into a private diary. It is through its characters, so well-written they seem real, that we piece together the fragments of our blurred memory, racking our brains in order to rediscover and experience the heartbreaking truth. The winner of the Most Amazing Award is: Somi with No case should remain unsolved.
Laudation by Jonathan Coryn

Miniatures

Other Tales Interactive
PC

WINGS is very proud to return to AMAZE and present for the third year in a row the “WINGS Award”. Our mission at WINGS is to offer funding and opportunities to gender-diverse teams, amplifying the incredible work they do in games.

The WINGS Award highlights outstanding games where women and other gender marginalized developers hold key positions. Selected from 5 incredible nominees, this year’s winner will receive the award alongside a 2.000€ prize.

The game of this year’s winner invites the player to explore a small and intimate world through simple tasks and chores. What begins as play and wonder of a child soon becomes dark and filled with secrets. What the game teaches you of simple, joyful puzzles suddenly becomes actions of broken trust and arguments.

With its hand-drawn art, well-designed audio, and occasional laughter of a child the game creates its own world where the player soon finds themselves caring for the characters whose faces and words they have not yet heard.

Miniatures by Other Tales: shows how games as a medium can convey stories and feelings, unlike any other media. We don´t need grant visuals or big screens to be invested in carrying out simple actions, curious to learn what the story wants to teach us.

Congratulations to Other Tales and all nominees! It’s wonderful to see so many fantastic projects in this category, and we can’t wait to see more from these teams in the future.