The delightful Hello Kitty Island Adventure has walked away with the award for Apple Arcade Game of the Year as part of the 2023 App Store Awards.
The Apple-run awards, seek to recognise the best games and apps for both Mac and iOS platforms. Hello Kitty Island Adventure beat out Citiscapes: Sim Builder and stitch. to claim the ultimate prize.
Elsewhere, Lies of P took out the award for Mac game of the year. The NEOWIZ-developed game mixes the challenging action RPG mechanics of the Souls-like genre with a gothic take on the story of Pinnochio.
Honkai: Star Rail from Hoyoverse took out the award for iPhone Game of the Year; the developer has previously won this award in 2020 for Genshin Impact. The iPad Game of the Year award went to Lost in Play.
In addition to the category awards, several games also appeared as winners of the Cultural Impact Award, which recognises the best games and apps that drive positive social change through more inclusive and accessible spaces, or a focus on sustainability, self-reflection, and connection.
These winners included Unpacking from Australia’s Witch Beam, with the Cultural Impact Award being the 24th award the game has received since its launch in 2021. Unpacking also recently surpassed a milestone of 1 million copies sold.
Read: The making of Unpacking: From bullet-hell to domestic heaven
Hidden object game Finding Hannah was also a recipient of the Cultural Impact Award, as was Pok Pok, a digital toy room for pre-school aged children.
Congratulations to all the winners. You can subscribe to Apple Arcade for AU $7.99/month.
Apple App Store Awards 2023 – Game Finalists and Winners
iPhone Game of the Year
- Afterplace
- Honkai: Star Rail [WINNER]
- Vampire Survivors
iPad Game of the Year
- Eggy Party
- Lost in Play [WINNER]
- Pocket City 2
Mac Game of the Year
- ELEX II
- Lies of P [WINNER]
- Return to Monkey Island
Apple Arcade Game of the Year
Cultural Impact Awards
- balance
- Copilot
- Endling
- Finding Hannah [WINNER]
- How to Say Goodbye
- Pok Pok [WINNER]
- Proloquo [WINNER]
- Rebel Girls
- Too Good to Go [WINNER]
- Unpacking [WINNER]
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