A MAZE 2018's "Most Amazing Game" award went to historical narrative game Attentat 1942, which is currently banned from sale in Berlin and the rest of Germany due to its depiction of Nazi imagery.
Berlin played host to the annual A MAZE game festival last week, which included an awards ceremony that honored six games for everything from "Most Amazing Game" to "Human Human Machine" (aka best digital local multiplayer game.)
What's especially interesting about this year's event is that the "Most Amazing Game" award went to the historical narrative experience Attentat 1942, which is currently banned from sale in Berlin and the rest of Germany due to its depiction of Nazi imagery.
The game, developed by Czech students and researchers as part of the ongoing Czechoslovakia 38-89 educational game project, aims to teach players about what happened during the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia during World War II.
It layers interactive comic book segments with historical documents and video interviews (pictured) with survivors, and in the wake of this award win the Attentat 1942 devs say they're determined to sort out how to legally sell it in Germany.
"Due to German legislation regarding Nazi symbolism in games, Attentat 1942 is still not available in Germany," reads a recent update to the game's Steam page. "At A MAZE we've discussed this complex issue and got amazing support from the festival and many individuals including lawyers, who offered to help to release the game in Germany. It will not be an easy process, but we are still determined to do it one way or the other."
During A MAZE 2018 honors were also bestowed upon game dev Bahiyya Khan (who won the "Humble New Talent" award, presented in conjunction with the folks at Humble Bundle) and a number of other notable games. We've gone ahead and summarized them below, but you can check out the full list over on the A MAZE blog.
AUDIENCE AWARD: Wobble Garden
HUMAN HUMAN MACHINE AWARD: Tuned Out
LONG FEATURE AWARD (for "complex games and developing virtual reality worlds"): The Norwood Suite
DIGITAL MOMENT AWARD (for "expressions of socio-critical messages, personal or comedic life situations and feelings through an interactive medium"): Genital Jousting
COLLIDER AWARD (a "mash everything" award for "interdisciplinary productions" which mix games with everything from science to performance art to weird offbeat controllers): Fountain
MOST AMAZING GAME AWARD: Attentat 1942
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