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Papers, Please and The Last of Us honored at GDC awards show

Designer Lucas Pope came close to apologizing for his frequent appearance on stage at 2014's Indie Games Festival Awards, collecting award after award for Papers, Please. The dystopian game of bureaucracy and hard-earned immigration was recognized by a panel of industry peers for its considered narrative, game design, and ... downloadability? Pope couldn't help but poke fun at the vestigial "Best Downloadable Game" category, noting the distinct advantage of making a game that's a quick 40MB download.

Papers, Please also won for innovation in the Game Developers Choice Awards, the more mainstream half of the evening's show. Naughty Dog's own take on dystopia, The Last of Us, won here for best design, best narrative, and best overall game of the year. (This despite fellow nominee Super Mario 3D World having some pretty sweet overalls.)

For the rest of the winners, including some gongs for Device 6, Risk of Rain and Grand Theft Auto 5, please see below.



Independent Games Festival

Excellence in Narrative
Papers, Please (Lucas Pope)

Excellence in Audio
Device 6 (Simogo)

Excellence in Design
Papers, Please (Lucas Pope)

Audience Award
The Stanley Parable (Galactic Cafe)

Excellence in Visual Art
Gorogoa (Jason Roberts)

Nuovo Award
Luxuria Superbia (Tale of Tales)

Student Showcase Winners
Risk of Rain (Hopoo Games)

Seumas McNally Grand Prize
Papers, Please (Lucas Pope)

Game Developers Choice Awards

Best Downloadable Game
Papers, Please (Lucas Pope)

Best Narrative
The Last of Us (Naughty Dog/Sony)

Best Visual Art
BioShock Infinite (Irrational Games/2K Games)

Ambassador Award
Anita Sarkeesian

Best Technology
Grand Theft Auto V (Rockstar North/Rockstar Games)

Best Game Design
The Last of Us (Naughty Dog/Sony)

Best Handheld/Mobile Game
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (Nintendo EAD/Nintendo)

Best Audio
BioShock Infinite (Irrational Games/2K Games)

Pioneer Award
Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill of Riot Games

Best Debut
The Fullbright Company (Gone Home)

Innovation Award
Papers, Please (Lucas Pope)

Audience Choice Award
Kerbal Space Program (Squad)

Lifetime Achievement Award
Ken Kutaragi

Game of the Year
The Last of Us (Naughty Dog/Sony)