Inscryption, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, Wytchwood, and Echo Generation are big winners at the Canadian Game and Indie Game Awards, Weird West is an adventure game with panache, Max Payne is getting a remake.

2022 Canadian Game and Indie Game Awards winners

The Canadian Game Awards and Canadian Indie Game Awards were handed out last weekend, and among the big winners were Inscryption created by Vancouver’s Daniel Mullins and Wytchwood from Toronto studio, Alien Trap.

The indie awards were created to provide an opportunity to recognize games coming from smaller developers which sometimes don’t get credit over the larger studios like Electronic Arts, Square Enix, and Ubisoft.

This year, though, two of the big winners in both categories came from indies. Inscryption won for Best Game Design in both the main awards and the indie awards. It also won Best PC Game in the indie category.

Likewise, Wytchwood was recognized for Best Art Direction in both categories and also picked up Best Animation in indie.

Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, developed by Eidos Montreal for Square Enix, won Best Narrative, Best Console Game, and Game of the Year in the main category.

In the indie category, Echo Generation from Cococucumber (Toronto) got Best Score, Best Narrative, and Indie Game of the Year.

You can watch Marissa Roberto host the awards on playback on Twitch.

Weird West a compelling gothic horror sandbox in which to play

Blending a gothic horror sensibility with a wild west aesthetic, Weird West is a third-person role-playing game that has you playing five characters in the course of the game.

You start out as bounty hunter Jane Bell who comes out of retirement – digging her six shooters out of the ground she buried them in – to avenge the death of her son and abduction of her husband.

Jane’s story gives way to that of a person who’s been transformed into a bipedal pig hybrid, which leads to the path of an Anishinaabe hunter, then a werewolf, and finally a witch who is part of a mysterious cult.

Each of these characters connects to the others and it all ties together to create a strange world where you, as a player, can do anything.

And you can tackle problems any way you want, too. The developers at WolfEye Studios created the world and the rules and systems that govern it, but aside from giving you an objective there’s no single way to achieve it.

You can blast your way through – literally at times – or use stealth. But you can also find back doors to places, and other solutions that even the developers didn’t think of.

The ability to affect the environment and the story in the way you choose is one of the things that makes Weird West such an intriguing place. Decisions you make as Jane will change the world you interact with later as the Indigenous character.

And after you leave a character they stick around and can be recruited into your posse. This is the West after all.

With a distinct art style, writing that pays homage to pulpy westerns, and a story that has consequences for your actions, Weird West is a strange and compelling sandbox.

Weird West is available now for PS4, Windows, and Xbox One, and is part of Xbox Game Pass. Developed by WolfEye Studios and published by Devolver Digital. Rated mature.

Max Payne games being remade by Remedy

Max Payne and its sequel, The Fall of Max Payne, are being remade by the original developers, Remedy Entertainment. Rockstar Games will publish the new titles for PS5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S.

We are pleased to announce that we will remake the iconic Max Payne and Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne, in a new development agreement with Rockstar Games.

Read the full press release here: https://t.co/gx9tuH425j

— Remedy Entertainment (@remedygames) April 6, 2022

The series was notable for introducing “bullet time” as a game mechanic. The effect, which comes from Hong Kong action films, is of time slowing down during moments of gunplay.

The first game, a noir tale about a fallen police detective who goes on a rampage, was published in 2001 and the sequel came in 2003. Both were written by Remedy’s Sam Lake and published by Rockstar. A third game in the series was developed and published by Rockstar and released in 2012.

This continues Remedy’s streak of getting financing to remake games from its library. Last year, the studio’s remake of Alan Wake was released by Epic, and the sequel to that game arrives next year.