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Indie Game Awards 2025 Unveils Full Nominee List, New Categories, and Global Spotlight

The Indie Game Awards 2025 is officially returning for its second year with a bigger lineup, more categories, and a fresh spotlight on rising indie creators.


This year’s IGA Awards expands to 18 categories, covering everything from regional showcases to community-voted favorites. We also get the debut of the Indie Vanguard Class, a new feature meant to highlight five developers who “represent the future of the industry” and are pushing the indie scene forward in their own way.


Alongside this, the ceremony will also reveal winners for the Mohammad Fahmi Storyteller Award and the Industry Impact Award. These categories were created to celebrate developers who influence the industry not just creatively, but culturally. According to the organizers, these selections were carefully discussed by “a broad and diverse panel of indie showcase curators and industry experts,” making the awards feel much more community-rooted this year.


The event will also feature 28 presenters, including some familiar names — Chandana Ekanayake, Lena Raine, Remy Siu, and Chipzel are all set to take the stage.


The ceremony goes live on December 18 at 3:30 PM PT / 6:30 PM ET, and you’ll be able to watch it on Six One Indie’s YouTube and Twitch channels, as well as on IGN and GameSpot.


All Categories & Nominees – Indie Game Awards 2025

Game of the Year

  • Absolum – Dotemu, Guard Crush Games, Supamonks

  • and Roger – TearyHand Studio

  • Blue Prince – Dogubomb

  • Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector – Jump Over the Age

  • Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 – Sandfall Interactive

  • Consume Me – Jenny Jiao Hsia, AP Thomson, Jie En Lee, Violet W-P, Ken “coda” Snyder

  • Hades 2 – Supergiant Games

  • Hollow Knight: Silksong – Team Cherry

  • Keep Driving – YCJY Games

  • Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo – Pocket Trap


2025 Indie Game Awards nominees for Game of the Year, featuring titles like Absolum, Hades II, in a colorful grid on a dark background.
2025 Indie Game Awards nominees for Game of the Year | Image via IGA

Achievement in Accessibility

  • Abiotic Factor – Deep Field Games

  • Barista – YofiAsi

  • Calm the Storm – Ludic Lemur

  • Peak – Team PEAK

  • Spray Paint Simulator – North Star Video Games

  • Squeakross: Home Squeak Home – Alblune


ANZ Indie Game Award

  • Abiotic Factor – Deep Field Games

  • Hollow Knight: Silksong – Team Cherry

  • Mars First Logistics – Shape Shop

  • PROXIMATE – Cain Maddox

  • Tempopo – Witchbeam

  • The Drifter – Powerhoof


Bite-Sized Game

  • CARIMARA – Beneath the Forlorn Limbs – Bastinus Rex

  • FlyKnight – Wabbaboy

  • Many Nights a Whisper – Deconstructeam, Selkie Harbour

  • The Dark Queen of Mortholme – Mosu

  • this game will end in 205 clicks. – insertdisc5

  • Time Flies – Playables


Black Voice in Gaming

  • Advent Neon – CryoGX

  • Altheia: The Wrath of Aferi – MarsLit Games

  • Sorry We’re Closed – à la mode games

  • Spirit Swap: Lofi Beats to Match-3 To – Soft Not Weak, LLC

  • Sunken Stones – Spritewrench

  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown – Strange Scaffold


Community Management

  • Consume Me – Jenny Jiao Hsia, AP Thomson, Jie En Lee, Violet W-P, Ken “coda” Snyder

  • Date Everything! – Sassy Chap Games

  • IKEELYA – ALL DAY ALL NIGHT

  • PEAK – Team PEAK

  • Soulstone Survivors – Game Smithing Limited

  • Strange Scaffold – Strange Scaffold


Debut Game

  • Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 – Sandfall Interactive

  • Discounty – Crinkle Cut Games

  • Fretless – The Wrath of Riffson – Ritual Studios

  • ILA: A Frosty Glide – Magic Rain Studios

  • Sorry We’re Closed – a la mode Games

  • Tyrant’s Realm – Team Tyrant


Emotional Impact

  • Afterlove EP – Pikselnesia

  • and Roger – TearyHand Studio

  • Don’t Get Your Hopes Up – Krish Raghav

  • Henry Halfhead – Lululu Entertainment

  • Wanderstop – Ivy Road

  • Wednesdays – Pierre Corbinais, The Pixel Hunt, exaheva


Gameplay Design

  • Absolum – Dotemu, Guard Crush Games, Supamonks

  • BallxPit – Kenny Sun

  • Dawnfolk – Darenn Keller

  • Hades II – Supergiant Games

  • Hollow Knight: Silksong – Team Cherry

  • Keep Driving – YCJY Games

  • Look Outside – Francis Coulombe

  • Öoo – NamaTakahashi, tiny cactus studio, Tsuyomi

  • Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo – Pocket Trap

  • The King is Watching – Hypnohead


Innovation

  • Blue Prince – Dogubomb

  • FREERIDE – Flightyfelon Games Inc.

  • Gas Station Story – enzi

  • PBJ The Musical – Philipp Stollenmayer

  • Ruffy and the Riverside – Zockrates Laboratories UG

  • Taria & Como – Poppyseed Studio Inc, JuVee Productions


Latin American Indie Award

  • Adventure of Samsara – Ilex Games

  • despelote – Julian Cordero, Sebastian Valbuena

  • Kulebra and the Souls of Limbo – Galla

  • Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo – Pocket Trap

  • Taria & Como – Poppyseed Studio Inc, JuVee Productions

  • Tormented Souls 2 – Dual Effect


Music

  • Everhood 2 – Cazok, KM_EXP, Stewart Keller, Lewmoth, Chris Nordgren, CatGod, Beat Tape, Dancefloor Is Lava, INFX

  • Herdling – Joel Schoch

  • Rift of the NecroDancer – Danny Baranowsky, Alex Moukala, Jules Conroy, Josie Brechner, Sam Webster, Nick Nausbaum

  • SONOKUNI – Don Yasa Crew

  • Sword of the Sea – Austin Wintory

  • Wheel World – Johnny Jewel, JOON, Orion


Narrative

  • Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector – Jump Over the Age

  • Consume Me – Jenny Jiao Hsia, AP Thomson, Jie En Lee, Violet W-P, Ken “coda” Snyder

  • Promise Mascot Agency – Kaizen Game Works

  • The Drifter – Powerhoof, Dave Lloyd

  • The Roottrees are Dead – Evil Trout Inc.

  • The Séance of Blake Manor – Spooky Doorway


Solo Development

  • ANTONBLAST – Summitsphere

  • Lushfoil Photography Sim – Matt Newell

  • Megabonk – vedinad

  • NAIAD – HiWarp

  • Spilled! – Lente

  • Vile: Exhumed – Cara Cadaver


South African Indie Game Award

  • Bru & Boegie Get Da Milk! – MIKDOG

  • Finding Father – Studio Bo

  • Flibbius McDoogle and The Mysterious Flying Machine – Unsigned Double Collective

  • IKEELYA – ALL DAY ALL NIGHT

  • Metavoidal – Yellow Lab Games

  • Stick It To The Stickman – Free Lives


Southeast Asian Indie Game Award

  • Afterlove EP – Pikselnesia

  • Artis Impact – Mas

  • Glyphica: Typing Survival – aliasBLACK

  • SEDAP! A Culinary Adventure – kopiforge

  • Urban Jungle – Kylyk Games

  • Whisper Mountain Outbreak – Toge Productions


Visual Design

  • 30 Birds – RAM RAM Games, Business Goose Studios

  • Artis Impact – Mas

  • Cat Detective Albert Wilde – beyondthosehills

  • Eclipsium – Housefire

  • Mashina – Talha and Jack Co, J. King Spooner, Talha Kaya

  • Slime Rancher 2 – Monomi Park


Women-Led Indie Game Award

  • Cabernet – Party for Introverts

  • Duck Detective: The Ghost of Glamping – Happy Broccoli Games

  • Gemporium: A Cute Mining Sim – Merge Conflict Studio

  • Spilled! – Lente

  • Urban Myth Dissolution Center – Hakababunko

  • White Knuckle – Dark Machine Games


How to Vote in Community Picks

There’s also a new Community Picks section where fans can vote for their favorite indie titles of the year.


Voting is open until November 24 at 2 PM PT / 5 PM ET, and you can submit "any" game released between November 1, 2024, and October 31, 2025, even if it isn’t part of the official nominations. Only one vote per category is allowed, so choose wisely.


You can cast your votes here: indiegameawards.gg → scroll down → click Community Pick → fill the long-form entry.


Where and When to Watch

Date: December 18


Times:

  • 3:30 PM PT

  • 6:30 PM ET

  • 11:30 PM GMT

  • 5:00 AM IST (Dec 19)

  • 1:30 PM AEDT (Dec 19)


Streaming Links:

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