The Imirt Irish Game Awards 2026

The Imirt Irish Game Awards 2026 returned to the Fís Games Summit on the 24th of April. It was a fantastic show. Imirt Staff, Eoghan Watters and our host, Leela Collins, took to the stage to announce the winners in our twelve categories.

We had a total of 23 award winners across 13 categories throughout the afternoon! The categories were as follows.

*Group photo with the Winners and Coordinator of the Imirt Irish Game Awards 2026 - Photo Credit: Andrew Downes*

Best Art Direction
Best Game Audio
Best Analogue Game
Best Student Game
Community Hero
Best Debut Game

Best Game Design
Best Storytelling
Best Technical Achievement
Best Experimental Game
Emerging Talent
Most Anticipated
Game of the Year

Below we detail our amazing winners/ runner-ups and their incredible projects.

Úna-Minh Kavanagh

Emerging Talent

Úna-Minh Kavanagh is a Game Producer, Gaeilgeoir, Author, Writer, and Forager. Úna-Minh was the lead producer on the award winning Co-Op Gothic Horror title ‘Eyes of Hellfire’. Before that, she was the project manager for a team that translates games into the Irish language, making games like Axyz, VVVVV, Crowded. Followed. and Among Us playable in our native tongue. Now an independent game developer, Úna-Minh has shown immense drive in her work as a solo developer, releasing five individual games that each showcase a unique style, and play upon different aspects of the craft of game-making. Úna-Minh no doubt has a bright future ahead of her.

Alanna Kelly

Community Hero

Alanna Kelly has spent her career working tirelessly on making the Irish games community a better place. Alanna started her career early in life, writing games on her fathers ZX81 as early as 1991. Starting her career officially at Popcap in 2005, Alanna has been making games professionally for over 20 years. It was her move to found the Galway Game Jam in 2013, alongside her move to represent the needs and voices of the independent games community on the Imirt Board from 2021 - 2025, that have earned her this award. Her work to make the games industry a more accessible and fair place cannot be overstated enough, and we’re delighted to honour her with this award.

TÖLT

ENIGMA | Studio

Most Anticipated

*Adam Englishby, Jamie Gavin and Laura Ryder with their award for Most Anticipated Game - Photo Credit: Andrew Downes*

The next game from Jamie Gavin and ENIGMA | Studio, TÖLT cannot simply be explained with words. It’s a game that you must play to completely understand the madness and creativity that’s on display. In TÖLT, you are a horse. You spend your days talking to the other horses, such as your good friend Tony Maloney, and running around. But not all is as it seems. The humans are worried. Should you be concerned? You are just a horse.

Play the demo for TÖLT now and wishlist the game on Steam here.

‘Spansion Packet - Dungeons and Naggins by Steve Bennett

Best Analogue Game - Runner-Up

*Steve Bennett with his Runner-Up award for Best Analogue Game - Photo Credit: Andrew Downes*

‘Spansion Packet - Dungeons and Naggins' is the first add-on pack for the award winning Dunegeons and Naggins. ‘Spansion Packet expands the game up to 8 players, with new cards and new mechanics. Dungeons and Naggins is the brainchild of Irish comedian and game designer Steve Bennett.

Dungeons and Naggins can be purchased here.

Scalable Modular Behaviour by Joakim Svensson

Best Technical Achievement - Runner-Up

*Joakim Svensson with his Runner-Up award for Best Technical Achievement - Photo Credit: Andrew Downes*

Scalable Modular Behavior is a plugin by game developer Joakim Svensson, that makes it easy to have thousands of NPCs on screen with customized logic in Unreal Engine, combat and blueprint actor transitions included. This is an incredible technical achievement, especially for a solo developer.

You can read more info here.

Confront

Rachel Appleyard, Erin Valerie Hogan, Kieron Duffy, Nick Kolesnikov and Luna Henry

Best Student Game - Runner-Up

*Kieron Duffy, Luna Henry, Nick Kolesnikov, Erin Valerie Hogan, Rachel Appleyard and Ava Dorcey Downes with their Runner-Up award for Best Student Game - Photo Credit: Andrew Downes*

Sometimes to get the help you need, you must fight. The internal battle of this argument will always feel worse than the actual one. Confront is a visual representation of this. Come out to your principal, family member and doctor, and try to get the help you need.

Fight their words, heal yourself with positive affirmations and defend against attacks themed around their roles in your life. Confront brings you through the whole experience.

Éalu

Beyond the Bark

Best Experimental Game - Runner-Up

*Ivan Fisher-Owen with his Runner-Up award for Best Experimental Game - Photo Credit: Andrew Downes*

Éalú is a hand-animated, stop-motion, point & click adventure game in the style of an interactive, silent film. In it, a clockwork mouse that dreams of freedom is guided by players through a wooden labyrinth seeking a way out. Danger lurks in the maze in multiple forms, and players may even be tempted to harm the mouse in pursuit of goals that are counter to the little creature's interests. The primary theme of the game is an expression of the potential harm created by algorithm driven behavioral loops, and escaping from them.

You can purchase Éalu on Steam here.

Tightrope

Trigger Happy

Best Student Game

*Eva Kondela, Jess Kelly and Lauren Morgan with their award for Best Student Game - Photo Credit: Andrew Downes*

Tightrope is a dedicated game that advocates for the much needed reform of transgender healthcare in Ireland. This game consists of a visual novel style dialogue section, and small mini-games to show the headspace of people affected.

Stealth Crossword

ComputerJames

Best Experimental Game

The forced stealth mission in a game that really shouldn't have one. Stealth Crossword sees you sneak around to take down The European, changing your letter to solve puzzles and sneak through environments undetected. Part Crossword, Part Metal Gear, Stealth Crossword is a short and innovative game that blends two very different games that shouldn’t work together into a breath of fresh air.

ComputerJames was not able to join us for the show, but we look forward to bringing him his award!

You can play Stealth Crossword here.

The Necromancer’s Tale

Psychic Software

Best Art Direction - Runner-Up
Best Technical Achievement
Best Storytelling

*Kirsty Halloran and Sam Redfern with their three awards for The Necromancer’s Tale - Photo Credit: Andrew Downes*

The Necromancer’s Tale, the latest title from Psychic Software, is a story-rich gothic RPG. Winner of Best Storytelling and Best Technical Achievement and Runner-Up for Best Art Direction, The Necromancer’s Tale sees the player master the rituals of an ancient spellbook. Raise an undead army to march against your enemies. Commune with the realm of the dead & struggle with your descent into madness. Progress through secrecy, diplomacy, blackmail, coercion & seduction until ready to reveal yourself.

You can play The Necromancer’s Tale here.

Axyz

Space Lion Studios

Best Debut Game - Runner-Up

*Mark Robinson with his Runner-Up award for Best Debut Game - Photo Credit: Andrew Downes*

Axyz, the debut game from Space Lion Studios, is a retro gravity switching puzzle game that asks the player to use their environmental and spatial awareness to beat every level. Soak in the vaporwave, switch gravity, collect tapes, and more in this tribute to 90s puzzle games.

You can play Axyz here.

The Creation of Wonder

Eve Golden-Woods

Best Analogue Game
Best Debut Game

The Creation of Wonder, the debut game from Eve Golden-Woods and the winner of our Best Analogue Game category, is a storytelling game for 1-4 players that follows a community through the making of a great work of art, based on the real history of the Book of Kells.

Eyes of Hellfire

Gambrinous

Best Game Design - Runner-Up
Game of the Year - Runner-Up
Best Game Audio
Best Art Direction

*Mario Sena, Len Cunningham, Úna-Minh Kavanagh, Owen Canavan, Colm Larkin and Fred Mangan with their awards for Eyes of Hellfire - Photo Credit: Andrew Downes*

Winner of Best Art Direction and Game Audio, alongside our Runner-Up for Game Design and Game of the Year, Eyes of Hellfire is a co-op gothic horror game inspired by tabletop games, but with a twist - the insidious Host can manipulate your sense of reality. The third game from the critically acclaimed studio Gambrinous, Eyes of Hellfire continues their tradition of designing digital games based on the core tenants of tabletop games.

You can play Eyes of Hellfire here.

The Séance of Blake Manor

Spooky Doorway

Best Game Audio - Runner-Up
Best Storytelling - Runner-Up
Best Game Design
Game of the Year

Finally, our Game of the Year for 2026, The Séance of Blake Manor is a supernatural detective mystery, set in 1897 Ireland, where you investigate the disappearance of Evelyn Deane in a remote hotel full of secrets and other-worldly occurrences. The third game from Spooky Doorway, the team behind The Darkside Detective series, The Séance of Blake Manor envelopes the player in a thrilling mystery, using a unique time progression mechanic. Critically acclaimed across the wider industry, The Séance of Blake Manor is a true Irish classic.

You can play The Séance of Blake Manor here.

Before we leave you, we’d like to thank a few people who were instrumental in the execution of the awards. Imirt Board Member Carlo Azzari was instrumental in co-ordinating the awards, and we’d like to thank him for his time on this project. Our host, Leela Collins was instrumental in the success of the show, setting the tone. Last but certainly not least, our amazing presenters, Eoghan Watters, Jane Tan, Caolan McKendry, Lex Luddy, Llaura McGee, Robert Emerson, Darren Kearney and Jamie Gavin, came up onto the stage to help deliver the awards to our winners. The show was all the better for their love of the people they were awarding, alongside their wonderful wit.

We’d also like to thank our partners at Ardán and the Fís Games Summit. The entire day was MC’d by Sinéad Ní Uallacháin and facilitated by Ardán staff and volunteers. A special thank you to Kathryn Reynolds, Julie McHugh and Eoin Butler-Thornton for helping to make the event happen!

The Fís Games Summit was made possible by the hard work of those at Ardán, alongside their support partners. Imirt were delighted to support the event, which was also supported by Fís Eireann/ Screen Ireland, Creative Europe Desk Ireland, TG4, Gréasán na Meán Skillnet, WRAP, ATU Galway, & University of Galway.

Alan Duggan, Jules Ní Chonchobhair, Trevor Ó Clochartaigh, Colm Larkin, Rebecca Blair and Colman Farrell at the Fís Games Summit 2026 - Photo Credit: Andrew Downes

Finally, we’d like to thank everyone who attended the show. The energy in the room was excellent and we even had people sit on the floor just to be able to attend. The show would be nothing without the support of the community. We look forward to seeing you all again next year for the Imirt Irish Game Awards 2027.

You can find all of these games on the Games From Ireland Steam Page, created and run by Imirt.

Check out the list here.