Untitled Goose Game Gets The Recognition It Deserves
Celebratory honks are in order for indie developer House House. Its Untitled Goose Game stole the hearts of players (among other things) everywhere. Last night, the game was honored over and over again at the DICE Awards, leaving with three awards — including the coveted title of Game of the Year.
In the past, DICE has awarded Game of the Year to big, huge, momentous releases. Last year, God of War earned the honor; in 2017, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was the winner. It is notable that an indie game with an indie budget, rather than a sprawling triple-A adventure made by a massive studio, won Game of the Year this time around. While God of War had hundreds of folks at Sony Santa Monica working on it, House House is comprised of a couple dozen dedicated devs.
House House found the whole experience surreal. The studio tweeted that it hadn't even dreamed of taking home a trophy, saying, "...it was impossible to imagine actually winning. We're blown away." Untitled Goose Game is now listed among gaming greats like The Last of Us and Skyrim, well-deservedly so. But House House wasn't the only studio to walk away with honors last night.
Who else won at the DICE Awards?
Untitled Goose Game waddled away with Game of the Year, Outstanding Achievement for an Independent Game, and Outstanding Achievement in Character. Remedy's Control also cleaned up considerably, earning four awards for Game Direction, Art Direction, Original Music Composition, and the coveted title of Action Game of the Year. While this trippy, psychokinetic adventure was overshadowed by bombastic releases like Death Stranding, it's nice to see that the industry as a whole didn't forget about this excellent and inventive action title.
Death Stranding, being Death Stranding, was also honored for Audio Design and Technical Achievement. But in truth, a wide swath of games were recognized, as evidenced by a little indie title earning game of the year. Here are the other winners:
- Game of the Year: Untitled Goose Game
- Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction: Control
- Outstanding Achievement in Game Design: Baba Is You
- Portable Game of the Year: Sayonara Wild Hearts
- Outstanding Achievement for an Independent Game: Untitled Goose Game
- Immersive Reality Game of the Year: Pistol Whip
- Immersive Reality Technical Achievement: Blood & Truth
- Outstanding Achievement in Online Gameplay: Apex Legends
- Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year: Fire Emblem: Three Houses
- Sports Game of the Year: FIFA 2020
- Role-Playing Game of the Year: The Outer Worlds
- Racing Game of the Year: Mario Kart Tour
- Fighting Game of the Year: Mortal Kombat 11
- Family Game of the Year: Super Mario Maker 2
- Adventure Game of the Year: Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
- Action Game of the Year: Control
- Outstanding Technical Achievement: Death Stranding
- Outstanding Achievement in Story: Disco Elysium
- Outstanding Achievement in Audio Design: Death Stranding
- Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition: Control
- Outstanding Achievement in Character: Untitled Goose Game
- Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction: Control
- Outstanding Achievement in Animation: Luigi's Mansion 3
The DICE Awards have done well to remind us that 2019 was a good year for games.