WWDC 2023: Railbound, Afterplace, stitch, Marvel Snap, Endling, and Resident Evil Village Win Apple Design Awards

At WWDC 2023, Apple finally revealed its Vision Pro VR / AR headset, had Hideo Kojima come on stage to reveal that Death Stranding Director’s Cut will be coming to macOS, and had announcements for its MacBook lineup. A few hours later, Apple revealed the Apple Design Awards winners for this year. These include a mix of premium and free games with the most obvious macOS game that won. Here’s the full list of winners in 2022.

WWDC 2023: Apple Design Awards Winners List

Afterplace

Afterplace, our Game of the Week when it launched, wins an Apple Design Award for its delight and fun. The retro-style RPG is often recommended as a great premium iOS game, and it is a Zelda-like in an open world without any heavy signposting. It has great characters and memorable dialogue as well making it one of the better games to release on mobile last year when it arrived in December.

Check it out here on the App Store.

Marvel Snap

When I woke up a few hours ago, the first thing I saw on Twitter was this post by Ben Brode (pictured below) of Second Dinner. I was confused for a second, but soon realized that Marvel Snap actually released late into 2022. I’ve lost track of time clearly. Marvel Snap wins an Apple Design Award for innovation with its SNAP mechanic. We featured Marvel Snap as our iPhone Game of the Year.

Check it out here on the App Store.

stitch

Apple Arcade original stitch wins an Apple Design Award for its inclusivity. stitch is a relaxing puzzle game with support for multiple languages and accessibility options. It has been one of the better additions to Apple Arcade, and is well worth trying if you have a subscription. stitch is available alongside lumen and tint from Lykkegaard on Apple Arcade.

Check it out here on Apple Arcade.

Railbound

Railbound wins an Apple Design Award for interaction. I like Railbound a lot, and it feels like a perfect puzzler for touchscreen controls. The design itself is great, but it shines with its lovely aesthetic and many new puzzles including the ones added alongside a major update. If you like trains, this is essential.

Check it out here on the App Store.

Endling

Endling wins an Apple Design Award for social impact. Endling from Herobeat Studios hit mobile through HandyGames. It is another quality mobile premium game conversion from the publisher, and it has you playing as a fox in a side-scrolling adventure trying to keep your cubs alive. It includes exploring, hunting, surviving, and stealth mechanics.

Check it out here on the App Store.

Resident Evil Village

Resident Evil Village wins an Apple Design Award for visuals and graphics. This one isn’t on iOS or iPadOS (yet, let me dream), but it got a native macOS release recently. I’ve not played the macOS version yet, but I enjoyed my time with Capcom’s Resident Evil Village quite a bit on PS5, Xbox, and Steam Deck when I played the game and the DLC. I hope Capcom works with Apple to bring the amazing remake of Resident Evil 4 to macOS next.

Check it out here on the Mac App Store.

If you’d like to check out the full list of winners for both apps and games, read this. What do you think of the Apple Design Awards winners for this year?