Last year, iOS adventure title Superbrothers Sword & Sworcery EP hit the iTunes App Store to some very positive reviews as it spread its brand of music-based, low-story adventuring to the mobile sphere. Mixing a low-res, pixelated art style with a deliberately atmospheric but minimalist story presentation and a great soundtrack by Jim Guthrie, Sword & Sworcery captured the imagination of many.
The game notably seemed to resonate with the judges of the Canadian Videogame Awards last week, as well. As TouchArcade reports, the title took home five wins from the CVAs, and notably went up against some big-time console and PC titles, such as FIFA 12, Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Assassin’s Creed: Revelations.
Though it was nominated for Game of the Year, Sword & Sworcery missed the mark on that particular title, which went to FIFA 12 instead. All of the awards except for that Game of the Year are chosen by a jury of judges; the top award for the year is chosen by an Internet poll.
But the mobile game did manage to snag quite a few accolades: “Best Game on the Go,” “Best Downloadable Game,” “Best Indie Game,” “Best Original Music,” and the “Innovation Award.”
The mobile sphere and the world of traditional video games are becoming more and more blended as time goes on, with a lot of indie titles finding their way from the PC platform to the iPad and iPhone and vice versa. Sword & Sworcery began its life as an iPad title, migrated to the iPhone and recently made the jump to PC, appearing on the downloadable portal Steam.
But it’s still notable that an iPad game has made this big a splash in the world of traditional gaming, where it is still considered somehow less important or “hardcore” than traditional games and even traditional handhelds. Sword & Sworcery represents a strong push by a game developer in a very artistic, very deliberate direction, and the game pushes a lot of innovation into its small package.
That Sword & Sworcery has been recognized for this is good for indie game developers, certainly, but it also helps legitimize the mobile gaming sphere. It’s not about the device on which great games are made or played, just about the innovation and experience they’re able to deliver.
Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery is available in the iTunes App Store for $4.99 on iPad and $2.99 on iPhone. The soundtrack can be purchased from Jim Guthrie’s website here or from iTunes.
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