Games for Change 2014 award finalists include Papers, Please, Gone Home

The eight finalists for the 2014 Games for Change Awards have been selected and include titles such as Gone Home, Papers, Please and SoundSelf, organizers announced today.

For Most Significant Impact, submissions have been narrowed down to The Mission US: A Cheyenee Odyssey, Start the Talk and Migrant Trail. In the Most Innovative category, finalists are SoundSelf and Súbete al SITP. Gone Home and TryAnt are nominated for Best Gameplay. Lucas Pope's Papers, Please is the only game to be nominated in both the Most Innovative and Best Gameplay categories. Schell Games CEO Jesse Schell will host the event.

"Whether crowd-funded or supported by public and private funding, the finalists reflect the increasing diversity of forms, audiences and subject matter embraced by developers making games for change," organizers said. "To reach this stage, game developers from around the world were asked to submit their games for consideration by a blue-ribbon panel of judges featuring leaders of the gaming community, philanthropic sector, non-profits and education."

Games for Change is a non-profit organization that "catalyzes social impact through digital games." The award ceremony will take place April 23 as part of the 11th Annual Games for Change Festival. The event is part of Tribeca Innovation Week during the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival.

During the 16th Annual Independent Games Festival awards, Papers, Please took home nearly half the awards during the show — including the Seumas McNally Grand Prize.