The Indie Game Awards 2025 Release Nominees, Judges, And More

It’s official! The Indie Game Awards (IGA) are back for their second year. The Indie Game Awards 2025 will be streamed on December 18, 2025. And today, IGA released their nominees and judges. We’re grateful to be included once again in the judging body of The Indie Game Awards. 

The IGAs are focused on bringing the indie scene together to honor outstanding achievements in categories such as innovation, storytelling, artistry, and more, all celebrating the creativity of independent developers.

Additionally, The Indie Game Awards 2025 also features new regional and showcase-specific categories, curated by showcases such as Latin American Games Showcase, Women-Led Games, and Black Voices in Gaming. This addition serves as an important step in recognizing the global games being developed in a time when diversity, equity, and inclusivity are being ignored or actively opposed. 

Keep reading to see the list of nominees, judges, and presenters, and learn more about the new categories. For more information, head to the official Indie Game Awards website here. 

What is the Indie Vanguard Class?

New to the annual awards-only ceremony is the Indie Vanguard Class. This new category is a selection of five developers who represent the future of the industry and stand among those paving the way forward for the indie scene. 

What is the IGA’s Community Picks segment?

Players can now submit their favorite indies across a variety of genres for the highly requested Community Picks segment during the Indie Game Awards 2025.

Players can submit their favorite indies for Community Picks until November 24th. Be sure to follow The Indie Game Awards on Bluesky to stay up to date with all the latest news and updates as the festivities unfold.

The Indie Game Awards 2025 Nominees

As explained by the Indie Game Awards in a release, the nominations are not dictated by one organization, person, or outlet. Instead, they have been deliberate on by a broad and diverse panel of indie showcase curators and industry experts, including Six One Indie, Latin American Games Showcase, Women-Led Games, Wholesome Games, The MIX, Black Voices in Gaming, Frosty Games Fest, Southeast Asian Games Showcase, Playtopia Festival, and The Indie Informer, as well as prominent voices from games journalism and content creation, such as Giant Bomb, Game Informer, GameSpot, Wanderbots, Steve Saylor, and noclip.

Nominee Announcement | The Indie Game Awards 2025

View all nominees, presenters, & more: https://www.indiegameawards.gg/ Tune into The Indie Game Awards on December 18 at 3:30 PM PT / 6:30 PM ET on IGN, GameSpot, and Six One Indie’s YouTube and Twitch channels. Voting for Community Picks is now open until November 24! Visit the official website for details.

The 2025 IGA 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 II – 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, Playstack
• Barista – YofiAsi
• Calm the Storm – Ludic Lemur 
• Peak – Team PEAK, Aggro Crab, Landfall
• Spray Paint Simulator  – North Star Video Games, Whitethorn Games
• Squeakross: Home Squeak Home – Alblune

ANZ Indie Game Award

• Abiotic Factor – Deep Field Games, Playstack
• Hollow Knight: Silksong – Team Cherry
• Mars First Logistics – Shape Shop, Outersloth
• PROXIMATE – Cain Maddox 
• Tempopo – Witchbeam, CULT Games
• The Drifter – Powerhoof 

Bite-Sized Game

• CARIMARA – Beneath the Forlorn Limbs – Bastinus Rex, CRITICAL REFLEX
• FlyKnight – Wabbaboy
• Many Nights a Whisper – Deconstructeam, Selkie Harbour 
• The Dark Queen of Mortholme  – Mosu, Monster Theater
• this game will end in 205 clicks. – insertdisc5 
• Time Flies – Playables Panic

Black Voice In Gaming Award

• Advent Neon – CryoGX
• Altheia: The Wrath of Aferi – MarsLit Games, Neon Doctrine, Game Seer Publishing
• Sorry We’re Closed – à la mode games, Akupara 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 Hexecutable
• Date Everything! – Sassy Chap Games, Team17
• IKEELYA – ALL DAY ALL NIGHT
• PEAK – Team PEAK, Aggro Crab, Landfall
• Soulstone Survivors – Game Smithing Limited 
• Strange Scaffold Strange Scaffold Strange Scaffold, Frosty Pop

Debut Game

• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 – Sandfall Interactive, Kepler Interactive
• Discounty – Crinkle Cut Games, PQube
• Fretless – The Wrath of Riffson – Ritual Studios, Playdigious Originals
• ILA: A Frosty Glide – Magic Rain Studios First Break Labs
• Sorry We’re Closed – a la mode Games, Akupara Games
• Tyrant’s Realm – Team Tyrant, Skystone Games

Emotional Impact

• Afterlove EP  – Pikselnesia, Fellow Traveller
• and Roger – TearyHand, Studio Kodansha
• Don’t Get Your Hopes Up – Krish Raghav 
• Henry Halfhead – Lululu Entertainment, popagenda
• Wanderstop – Ivy Road, Annapurna Interactive
• Wednesdays – Pierre Corbinais, The Pixel Hunt, exaheva, ARTE France

Gameplay Design

• Absolum – Dotemu, Guard Crush Games, Supamonks, Gamirror Games
• BallxPit – Kenny Sun, Devolver Digital
• Dawnfolk – Darenn Keller, Astra Logical
• Hades II – Supergiant Games
• Hollow Knight: Silksong – Team Cherry
• Keep Driving – YCJY Games
• Look Outside – Francis Coulombe, Devolver Digital
• Öoo – NamaTakahashi, tiny cactus studio, Tsuyomi
• Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo – Pocket Trap, PM Studios, Inc.
• The King is Watching – Hypnohead, tinyBuild

Innovation

• Blue Prince – Dogubomb, Raw Fury
• FREERIDE – Flightyfelon Games Inc., Future Friends Games
• Gas Station Story – enzi
• PBJ The Musical – Philipp Stollenmayer
• Ruffy and the Riverside – Zockrates Laboratories, UG Phiphen Games
• Taria & Como – Poppyseed Studio Inc, JuVee Productions

Latin American Indie Game Award

• Adventure of Samsara – Ilex Games, Atari
• despelote – Julian Cordero, Sebastian Valbuena, Panic
• Kulebra and the Souls of Limbo – Galla, Fellow Traveller
• Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo – Pocket Trap, PM Studios, Inc.
• Taria & Como – Poppyseed Studio Inc, JuVee Productions
• Tormented Souls 2 – Dual Effect, PQube

Music

• Everhood 2 – Cazok, KM_EXP, Stewart Keller, Lewmoth, Chris Nordgren, CatGod, Beat Tape, Dancefloor Is Lava, INFX Chris Nordgren, Jordi Roca, Foreign Gnomes
• Herdling – Joel Schoch. Okomotive Panic
• Rift of the NecroDancer – Danny Baranowsky, Alex Moukala, Jules Conroy, Josie Brechner, Sam Webster, and Nick Nausbaum, Brace Yourself Games, Tic Toc Games, Klei Publishing
• SONOKUNI – Don Yasa Crew, Kakehashi Games
• Sword of the Sea – Austin Wintory, Giant Squid 
• Wheel World – Johnny Jewel, JOON, Orion Messhof, Annapurna Interactive

Narrative

• Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector – Jump Over the Age, Fellow Traveller
• Consume Me – Jenny Jiao Hsia, AP Thomson, Jie En Lee, Violet W-P, Ken “coda” Snyder Hexecutable
• Promise Mascot Agency – Kaizen Game Works
• The Drifter – Powerhoof, Dave Lloyd Powerhoof
• The Roottrees are Dead – Evil Trout Inc. 
• The Séance of Blake Manor – Spooky Doorway Raw Fury

Solo Development

• ANTONBLAST – Summitsphere, Joystick Ventures
• Lushfoil Photography Sim – Matt Newell, Annapurna Interactive
• Megabonk – vedinad
• NAIAD – HiWarp
• Spilled! – Lente 
• Vile: Exhumed – Cara Cadaver, DreadXP

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 ALL DAY ALL NIGHT
• Metavoidal – Yellow Lab Games
• Stick It To The Stickman – Free Lives, Devolver Digital

Southeast Asian Indie Game Award

• Afterlove EP – Pikselnesia, Fellow Traveller
• Artis Impact – Mas Feuxon
• Glyphica: Typing Survival – aliasBLACK, Squeaky Wheel
• SEDAP! A Culinary Adventure – kopiforge Isolated Games Publishing, IndieArk
• Urban Jungle – Kylyk Games, Assemble Entertainment
• Whisper Mountain Outbreak – Toge Productions

Visual Design

• 30 Birds – RAM RAM Games, Business Goose Studios, ARTE France
• Artis Impact – Mas Feuxon
• Cat Detective Albert Wilde – beyondthosehills
• Eclipsium – Housefire, CRITICAL REFLEX
• Mashina – Talha and Jack Co, J. King Spooner, Talha Kaya Judatone Studios
• Slime Rancher 2 – Monomi Park

Women-Led Indie Game Award

• Cabernet Party for Introverts – Akupara
• Duck Detective: The Ghost of Glamping – Happy Broccoli Games
• Gemporium: A Cute Mining Sim – Merge Conflict Studio
• Spilled! – Lente
• Urban Myth Dissolution Center – Hakababunko, SHUEISHA GAMES
• White Knuckle – Dark Machine Games, DreadXP

Who are the Indie Game Awards 2025 Judges?

Six One Indie, Women-Led Games, Latin American Games Showcase, Wholesome Games, The MIX, Black Voices in Gaming, Frosty Games, SEA Showcase, Playtopia Festival, Dames 4 Games, IDGA, Gamespot, Laura Kat Dale, Game Informer, Giant Bomb, noclip, Playcrafting, Qweerty Gamers, MinnMax, Jake Steinberg, Nazih Fars, Steve Saylr, The Indie Informer, But Why Tho?, Gamespew, AshSaidHi, Wanderbots, TooManyGames Expo, Strumpt Gamers, Insider Gaming, Patch Magazine, RoganPlayesGames, AbleToPlay, Knoebel, Skybox, Pas The Controller, Anthony Franklin II, Nerdershewrote, DnA Creative, CGDannyB, slashier101, No Small Games, Crossplay Conversations, LV1 Gaming, Point In Progress, “Fun” & Games Podcast, Carpool Gaming, I Dream of Indie, JK! Games!, Seasoned Gaming, The Trophy Room, The Game Club, Outerhaven

When does the Indie Game Awards air?

The Indie Game Awards will premiere on December 18th at 3:30 PM PT / 6:30 PM ET via Six One Indie’s YouTube and Twitch channels, as well as IGN and GameSpot.