Another day, another article about Brazil’s Independent Games Festival 2021 – or simply BIG Festival 2021. Even though the winners have already been announced, I will present to you the competitors running in each category until we have covered them all!
In the last few days, we talked about the show and its attractions in our first piece and presented the games running for the Best game prize in our second article. In today’s publication, we will cover one of the most exciting categories of the competition…
Best Art
A Short Hike
Yesterday, we listed A Short Hike as one of the games running for the Best Game prize, among other awards. If you remember this game, you can skip to the next title.
If you don’t remember it, A Short Hike is a game about exploration and connection with nature. Controlling a bird hiker, you will hike, climb, and soar through the mountainside landscapes of hawk peak provincial park. Follow existent traits or make your way to the summit while befriending other hikers, looking for hidden treasures, and admiring the view along the way.
This beautiful adventure was released for PCs and Switch in 2019. Unfortunately, there’s no demo available for it.
We will see it again when we mention the titles running for Best Sound.
Arrog
Arrog is a 2D puzzle adventure game featuring beautiful hand-drawn art. This short game offers another vision about life and death based on Latin-American folklore in a bizarre black-and-white world.
The game is available for mobile and PCs, with a free demo available on Steam.
Arrog was also running for Best Game: Latin America and Best Game in Diversity.
Chicken Police – Paint it RED!
Chicken Police – Paint it RED! is a noir detective adventure of anthropomorphic animals. With a complex interrogation system, excellent writing, and good doses of humor, this game will guide you through a tale of love, death, chickens, and redemption!
The game was released in Nov 2020 and is currently available for Switch, PCs (with a free demo available on Steam), PS4, and Xbox.
Curious Expedition 2
Another title that was running for Best Game, and we presented it to you yesterday’s article.
For those that didn’t read the 2nd part of our coverage, Curious Expedition 2 is a turn-based roguelike adventure where players assume the role of an explorer on a quest to uncover the secrets of mysterious islands. The game requires players to manage their resources and party members, combining a beautiful hand-crafted world with procedural gameplay and story elements. It all while keeping their insanity at bay.
The game was released for PCs in Jan 2021, with console versions planned to be released still in 2021. While we wait for it, Xbox players can play the first game of the series.
Curious Expedition 2 was also running for Best Game.
Figment 2: Creed Valley
Another title we have already discussed in yesterday’s article, Figment 2: Creed Valley is an action-adventure game set in the human mind (anyone else feeling some Psychonauts feelings here?). In this game, our hero Dusty will solve puzzles, fight nightmares, and bosses full of swing in a quest to restore peace.
Planned for a 2021 release on PCs (and hopefully, an Xbox version as well), you can try its prologue on Steam.
Figment 2: Creed Valley was also running for Best Sound and Best Game. The title received a special prize in the event: it was nominated the Best Game – Chosen by Xsolla (a payment services company for games). Congrats on your award, Bedtime! It was thoroughly deserved!!
Genesis Noir
In this very untraditional title, you will find yourself caught in a love triangle with cosmic beings with catastrophic proportions: the love of your life is about to be murdered by nothing less than the Big Bang, and it’s up to you to prevent it or to destroy the universe to save her.
If you don’t remember, our editor Vicci Vulpic reviewed the Xbox version of this game (https://www.lifeisxbox.eu/review-genesis-noir/ ) a few weeks ago.
Genesis Noir was also running for Innovation, Best Sound, and Best Game.
Liberated
Here is one of the winners! Liberated received the Best Art prize during the Festival. A totally deserved reward, in my humble opinion!
As mentioned yesterday, Liberated is a cyberpunk graphic novel that takes place in a dark and not-so-distant future and, under the pretext of ensuring order and security, authorities freely violate civil rights and use technology to manipulate people.
Liberated has been released for PCs in Jul 2020 and is also available for Switch. While we wait for an Xbox version (even more now that the game received such a prize), our PC friends can enjoy a demo available on Steam.
Liberate was also running for Best Game and Best Narrative.
The Signifier: Director’s Cut
Running for more prizes than any other game in the Festival, The Signifier is a first-person mystery adventure where you control a psychologist and AI specialist in a mission to solve a murder investigation. What makes this game stand out in the genre is how you will do it: you will use a recently developed technology that allows you to delve into the subconscious and hopefully solve this crime.
The game is available for PC since Oct 2020 and has a free demo available on Steam. The Signifier will also be released on consoles in 2021. Hopefully, soon, our Xbox Team will have the opportunity to tell you more about this game.
The Signifier: Director’s Cut was also running for Innovation, Best Game, Best Narrative, and Best Game: Latin America.
The Wanderer: Frankenstein’s Creature
Relieve the classic myth of Dr. Frankenstein through the eyes of the creature – a wanderer without memory or past. Explore a fantastic world based on 19th-century paintings and its evolving landscapes in an atmospheric point-and-click adventure. Forge the destiny of an artificial being who doesn’t differ Good from Evil but feels pulsing in his interior the feelings of wanderlust.
Released in Oct 2019, the game is now available for mobile, PC, and Switch. There’s no demo available for it at the moment, but you can get its full version on Steam.
Welcome to Elk
Welcome to Elk, an adventure game set on a fictional island stitched together with true stories and tales and inhabited by the people who lived them. According to my friend Toto’s review, “we are a stranger on a Nordic island lost in the middle of the sea and our stay in the town will consist of meeting our neighbors and, above all, their stories.”
Released in Set 2020 and available for PCs (with a free demo available on Steam and Xbox.
Welcome to Elk was also running for Best Narrative.
We will continue our coverage of BIG Festival 2021 in the following days, with a promise to bring to all games present in the event.
We are looking forward to seeing you again in our next article!
With a history of gaming that goes from his old man’s Atari 2600 to his Xbox One, Rafael or RAF687, our Brazilian editor, has a love for games as old as he can remember. He has already spent countless hours in many consoles (Mega Drive/Genesis, Sega Saturn, PS1, PS2 and Xbox 360) and is always ready for more (as long as his wife is asleep). Raf has been writing for LifeisXbox since 2017, with a passion for games of almost all genres – though we know he has a special place in his heart for RPGs, racing games and anything that includes pixel art. Writing about games has always been a childhood dream to Raf, dream that he has fulfilled reviewing games for you here. You can drop him a message at Twitter, Facebook or Xbox Live at any time.