Balatro wins four at GDC Awards, including Game of the Year

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Written By Peter Meiklejohn │ Editor-in-Chief

I’ve spoken previously about my reluctance to play Balatro, for fear of getting hooked — it appears the voters at the Game Developer Conference Awards had no such qualms, with the game walking away with no less than four awards.

Along with Game of the Year, LocalThunk also claimed Best Debut, Best Design and the Innovation Award. It adds to an impressive haul including two Golden Joysticks (for Best Indie Game and Breakthrough Award) and three Game Awards 2024 (Best Indie, Best Indie Debut, and Best Mobile Game). With the BAFTAs less than a month away and Balatro netting a further four nominations there, it might not be done yet.

In other indie wins, developer Lucas Pope collected a well-deserved Pioneer Award in recognition of his contribution to the games industry, not least for being the creator of two of the — in my humble opinion — most important indie games of all time: Papers Please and Return of the Obra Dinn.

The full list of winners can be found below:

  • Game of the Year: Balatro

  • Best Audio: Astro Bot

  • Best Debut: Balatro

  • Best Design: Balatro

  • Innovation Award: Balatro

  • Best Narrative: Metaphor: ReFantazio

  • Best Technology: Astro Bot

  • Best Visual Art: Black Myth: Wukong

  • Audience Award: Final Fantasy VII Rebirth

  • Pioneer Award: Lucas Pope

  • Lifetime Achievement Award: Sam Lake

Peter Meiklejohn │ Editor-in-Chief

Peter is the founder and editor-in-chief at IndieLoupe.com. He has been trying to write things and play games since before he was old enough to properly do either. He’s still trying. He strives to support both players and developers by providing honest, insightful reviews of games across the indie-sphere.

https://www.indieloupe.com