The Indie Game Awards 2025: Nominees, Start Times, and Streaming Details

The Indie Game Awards 2025 are almost here, with Six One Indie preparing to spotlight the best indie titles of the year. Now in its second edition, the show continues its mission to highlight standout projects that might otherwise be overlooked.

Start Times

The awards air on December 18, 2025, with the livestream beginning at 6:30 PM ET / 3:30 PM PT. Here’s the full breakdown of regional start times:

• Eastern Time (ET): 6:30 PM

• Central Time (CT): 5:30 PM

• Mountain Time (MT): 4:30 PM

• Pacific Time (PT): 3:30 PM

• UTC/GMT: 11:30 PM

• London (GMT/BST): 11:30 PM

• Central Europe (CET): 12:30 AM (Dec 19)

• India (IST): 5:00 AM (Dec 19)

• China (CST): 7:30 AM (Dec 19)

• Japan (JST): 8:30 AM (Dec 19)

• Australia (AEDT): 10:30 AM (Dec 19)

Where to Watch

Fans can tune in live on the Six One Indie YouTube and Twitch channels. The show will feature 21 awards, including Game of the Year, Best Debut Game, Best Narrative, and Best Music. Presenters include Playstack’s Wout van Halderen, Jade Meadows, and The MIX’s Justin Woodward, alongside other notable indie industry figures.

The Indie Game Awards 2025 Nominees

Game of the Year

• Absolum - Dotemu, Guard Crush Games, and 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, and Ken "coda" Snyder

• Hades 2 - Supergiant Games

• Hollow Knight: Silksong - Team Cherry

• Keep Driving - YCJY Games

• Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo - Pocket Trap

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

• 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 Voices in Gaming Award

• 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., Flightyfelon Games Inc., Future Friends Games

• 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 – Chris Nordgren, Jordi Roca

• Herdling – Okomotive

• Rift of the NecroDancer – Brace Yourself Games, Tic Toc Games

• SONOKUNI – DON YASA CREW

• Sword of the Sea – Giant Squid

• Wheel World – Messhof

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 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

From the list, Absolum, Hollow Knight: Silksong, and Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector stand out with multiple nominations across categories such as Game of the Year, Gameplay Design, and regional awards. These titles are among the frontrunners heading into the ceremony.

While some winners are decided by fans through public submissions and voting (ended on Nov. 24), others, like the Indie Vanguard and Storyteller Award, are selected directly by the curation jury and announced during the show.