The Iconic Puzzle Game Couldn't Succeed at The Game Awards — A New Category Might Solve This

Whenever a prominent honors show nears, you'll find an outcry for the addition fresh award types to acknowledge overlooked contributions and delight the spirits of enthusiasts who have specialized interests.

A fellow writer previously argued advocating for terror-themed awards. That would rule. The same goes for tabletop games, representing a dedicated supporter's campaign. But they will have to forgive me if I try to elbow in front since similar to dedicated enthusiasts, I have a cast-iron argument for why my demand remains most pressing and important of all. Here's the proposal: There should be a category for puzzle games.

The Genre Classification Challenge

Organizing artistic expressions is not a science; it remains highly personal, and inevitably generate discussions concluding with vague boundaries. This explains why film award organizations steer clear of genre categories. However, it represents an essential concession in the world of gaming, that demonstrate such variety they barely qualify a single creative category.

For the full spectrum of achievement in video games to gain proper attention, and to ensure all game types to have a chance for representation, classification by type becomes crucial.

Present Award Structure

Prominent interactive entertainment events offer these classifications covering Action, Adventure-action titles, RPG experiences, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Together, these award types effectively encompass numerous genres, making space possible for most games within them.

Different situation exists for brain-teasing titles. No appropriate category exists to accommodate them. Examine these examples from outstanding current releases, each quite distinct: building puzzles from a specific release, intense tile-matching in a different title, thought-provoking social scenarios of a third title. What category would fit them within current classifications? Simply put, no category fits.

The Representation Problem

Many instances occur outstanding logic titles published annually that have no home during gaming ceremonies, except when they manage to fit award groups including Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, and the highly challenging small studio competitions.

  • A renowned logic title got overlooked in any category in 2014
  • Another imaginative release missed out during that ceremony
  • A beloved organization game got ignored that year
  • Limited numbers of logic titles barely qualified for small studio or handheld classifications

Value of Brain-Teasers

These are often modest productions, yet the craft behind logic titles carries substantial weight. Well-known matching games stand as most engaged experiences worldwide continuing this trend for an extended period.

The famous puzzle experience rivals well-known building titles claiming status as highest-selling title ever; it’s also in the running as greatest title ever. Logic titles represent cornerstones for gaming as medium, and engaging with almost every other genre.

Recommendation and Reasoning

Puzzle games wouldn’t have this problem. You could fill a field of five with fascinating, diverse, deserving games every year with ease — actually, with challenge, since numerous excellent many worthy titles.

Restating the point, these are games without proper classification at major gaming awards. Logic title developers are working at the hard edge game development, producing among the purest expressions of gaming itself. Similar to film action specialists, they merit acknowledgment. Let’s not keep them waiting 35 years.

Eric Ball
Eric Ball

Elara Vance is a gaming journalist and tech enthusiast with a decade of experience covering esports and hardware innovations.

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