Murder mystery simulator 'Her Story' wins narrative honours at IGF Awards

Interactive murder mystery Her Story scooped the Independent Games Festival's Grand Prize at a March 16 awards ceremony, with indie hits Undertale, Oxenfree, Mini Metro and Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes among the night's other winners.

Using pre-recorded footage and a facsimile of police evidence databases, Her Story asked players to put together the pieces of a murder investigation and find out what really happened. Made available on Windows PC, Mac, iPhone and iPad in 2015, Her Story won considerable praise from the games press and from its players alike, with the IGF's judging pool deeming it worthy of both the Excellence in Narrative award as well as overall Seamus McNally Grand Prize.

Other winners on the night included public transport puzzle solver Mini Metro (Excellence in Audio), virtual reality showpiece Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes (Excellence in Design), and dramatic teen adventure Oxenfree (Excellence in Visual Art). Genre-subverting retro homage Undertale was voted winner of the Audience Award, with The Hole Story winning the Rising Star accolade, Beglitched taking Best Student Game, and the intensely biographical Cibele winning the Nuovo Award for innovation.

The Independent Game Festival Awards took place at the Game Developers Conference, San Francisco.