Every Winner At The Indie Game Awards 2025

It’s never been a better time to celebrate indie gaming, and the recent Indie Game Awards 2025 prove it. Taking place on December 18, 2025, the Indie Game Awards honored developers and teams whose games exemplify creativity, innovation, and emotional impact.

The awards-only ceremony (which, honestly, is always super appreciated) recognized standout achievements across a wide range of categories, spotlighting the independent creators from around the globe who are shaping the future of the industry. And yes, the future of gaming is bright if these awards are any indication.

The full Indie Game Awards 2025 presentation is now available to watch, alongside the Indie Game Awards Steam Sale, which features a curated selection of titles from this year’s nominees, recipients, and participating studios. Take advantage of these sales, people! It is our moment!

The Indie Game Awards will return in 2026, with a date announcement to come shortly after the holidays. So keep your eyes peeled. Additional details on this year’s nominees, featured titles, and ways to get involved are available on the official IGAs website.

Keep reading to see the list of The Indie Game Awards 2025 winners, judges, and more. 

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, and TooManyGames Expo.

Also judging were 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, and Outerhaven.

The Indie Game Awards 2025 Nominations Process

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, and Black Voices in Gaming,

In addition, 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, were involved in the process of constructing the nomination lists and categories.

The Indie Game Awards 2025 Categories & Winners

The 2025 IGA Game of the Year

• Absolum – Dotemu, Guard Crush Games, and Supamonks
• and Roger – TearyHand Studio
• Blue Prince – Dogubomb – WINNER!
• 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 – WINNER!
• Spray Paint Simulator  – North Star Video Games, Whitethorn Games
• Squeakross: Home Squeak Home – Alblune

ANZ Indie Game Award (Curated by Frosty Games)

• 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  – WINNER!

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 – WINNER!

Black Voice In Gaming Award (Curated by Black Voices In Gaming)

• Advent Neon – CryoGX
• Altheia: The Wrath of Aferi – MarsLit Games, Neon Doctrine, Game Seer Publishing – WINNER!
• 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 – WINNER!
• Soulstone Survivors – Game Smithing Limited 
• Strange Scaffold Strange Scaffold Strange Scaffold, Frosty Pop

Debut Game

• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 – Sandfall Interactive, Kepler Interactive – WINNER!
• 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 – WINNER!
• 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 – WINNER!
• 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 – WINNER!
• 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 (Curated by the Latin American Games Showcase)

• 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. – WINNER!
• 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 – WINNER!
• 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 – WINNER!
• 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

• TallTrails – Brady Solgin – WINNER!
• Lushfoil Photography Sim – Matt Newell, Annapurna Interactive
• Megabonk – vedinad
• NAIAD – HiWarp
• Spilled! – Lente 
• Vile: Exhumed – Cara Cadaver, DreadXP

South African Indie Game Award (Curated by Playtopia Festival)

• 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 – WINNER!

Southeast Asian Indie Game Award (Curated by the Southeast Asian Games Showcase)

• Afterlove EP – Pikselnesia, Fellow Traveller
• Artis Impact – Mas Feuxon – WINNER!
• 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 – WINNER!
• 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 (Curated by Women=Led Games)

• 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 – WINNER!
• White Knuckle – Dark Machine Games, DreadXP

Indie Vanguard | Class of 2025:

• Alice Bottino and Chancellor Wallin
• Cookiecrayon
• Crashable Studios
• Gabby DaRienzo
• Gortyn Code

Industry Impact

• Game Devs of Color

The Mohammad Fahmi Storyteller Award

• Maddy Thorson