Last year’s best independent game, Gish from Chroniclogic, and Wik and the Fable Souls from Reflexive won the big prizes at this years Independent Games Festival. Gish won in the open category and Wik took top honors in the Web/Downloadable category. A complete list of winners can be found here.

Big congratulations to Reflexive Entertainment. The Web/Downloadable category is so packed with small brilliant games that it can be hard to really stand out. Gish was in the Web category last year and came away with nothing. But to win with an action/adventure game – albeit a very pretty action/adventure game – is quite an accomplishment. I haven’t had the opportunity to give Wik a spin yet, and it should probably be left in the hands of someone more competent with tongue-grabbing Gollum like creatures.

I am less excited about the Gish win, even though I love the game, mostly because Gish was there last year. Yes, it was robbed last year – winning zero awards. Oasis earned its win in the web category in 2004, though, so I can’t complain too loudly. But with all the new games to IGF there, the victory of Gish comes at the expense of products that few had seen in competition. Besides; Gish has been recognized as almost everyone’s indie game of 2004. What does winning one more award in a show that you’ve been to before (albeit in a different category) prove?

I’m not so much of a communist that I think that everyone should get awards. If Gish was the best game in the category it certainly deserves to win. The real question is whether a game that was nominated in a previous year should be eligible for re-entry. I would tend to argue against this possibility. The IGF showcase is about more than giving prizes. It’s about giving independent developers a chance to show their new projects; not the same projects that they have been working on for the last two years.

Still, give credit where it is due. Gish is the best platform jumper ever made for the PC and you do yourself a disservice by not playing it.