The Pavs 2022 announce finalists, see the best games from New Zealand

The Pavs are back for 2022, celebrating the best games from New Zealand made in the past year, as part of NZ Games Festival in July.
The Pavs 2022 award finalists, NZ Game Festival

The NZ Games Festival is back in 2022, and with it are The Pavs, the awards that celebrate the best video games developed in Aotearoa New Zealand in the past year.

This year sees a diverse bunch of games shortlisted from around 50 submissions, which cover familiar categories like Excellence in Visual Art, Audio, Design and Narrative, as well as awards highlighting Excellence in Representation and Accessibility.

There is also the Grand Prize, as well as the Student Game Award – two categories which have a common finalist this year. Well done to The Many Misfortunes of Kyran Pierre Cadenza The First!

In addition to the categories listed below, The Pavs ceremony will also award two individuals to be named the year’s Unsung Hero, as well as Industry Pillar. There is also a category dedicated to Australian games, which has some very stiff competition.

The NZ Games Festival will be held from 1-16 July 2021, and be streaming online for all to see. Good luck to all the finalists!

More details can be found on the NZ Games Festival website.


The Pavs 2022 – List of Finalists

The ‘Slice of Heaven’ Grand Prize

The Student’s Slice (Student Game Award)

The Perfect Recipe: Excellence in Design

The Poetic Serving: Excellence in Narrative

The Decorative Piece: Excellence in Visual Art

The Composed Segment: Excellence in Audio

The Accessible Ambrosia: Excellence in Accessibility

The Diverse Delight: Excellence in Representation

The Tactile Taste: Excellence in Physical Games

The Guest Plate (Australian Games)

Edmond was the founding managing editor of GamesHub. He was also previously at GameSpot for 13 years, where he was the Australian Editor and an award-winning video producer. You can follow him @EdmondTran