Nominations have been announced for the 2025 Indie Game Awards, with games like Hollow Knight: Silksong, Hades 2, and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 receiving nominations in several categories, including Game of the Year.
The IGA Awards are now in their second year and span 18 categories, including regional awards, community-voted awards and the introduction of the inaugural Indie Vanguard class to “illuminate the future of the industry.”
The Indie Vanguard Class is a selection of five developers “who represent the future of the industry and are among those paving the way forward for the indie scene.”
This award, as well as the Mohammad Fahmy Storyteller Award and the Industry Impact Award, will be announced during the ceremony.
This year's nominations were discussed by a “broad and diverse group of independent storefront curators and industry experts.”
The show will be hosted by 28 hosts including Chandana Ekanayake, Lena Raine, Remy Siu and Chipzel.
The 2025 Indie Game Awards will take place on December 18th at 3:30 pm PT/6:30 pm ET.
The ceremony will be streamed on Six One Indie's YouTube and Twitch channels, as well as IGN and GameSpot.
Here are this year's nominees:
Game of the Year
- Absolum (Dotemu, Guard Crush Games, Supamonks/Gamirror Games)
- And Roger (TearyHand Studio/Kodansha)
- Blue Prince (Dogubomb/Raw Fury)
- Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector (Era Leap)
- Claire Obscurus: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive/Kepler Interactive)
- Consuming Encounter (Jesus Jiao Xia, A.P. Thomson, Water, Violet V.P. and Ken “cod”
- Hades 2 (Supergiant Games)
- Hollow Knight: Silksong (Team Cherry)
- Keep Driving (YCJY Games)
- Pipistrello and the Damned Yoyo (Pocket Trap/PM Studios, Inc.)
Debut game
- Chiaroscuro: Expedition 33
- Discount (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 are closed (in Games/Akupara Games mode)
- Reign of the Tyrant (Team Tyrant/Skystone Games)
A little game
- Karimara – Under Unfortunate Limbs (Bastinus Rex/Critical Reflex)
- FlyKnight (Wubboy)
- Many Nights in Whispers (Deconstructeam, Selkie Harbour)
- Dark Queen of Mortholm (Mosu/Monster Theatre)
- This game will end in 205 clicks (Insertdisc5)
- Time Flies (Game Games/Panic)
Solo development
- Antonblast (Summitsphere/Joystick Ventures)
- Lushfoil Photography Sim (Matt Newell/Annapurna Interactive)
- Megabonk (Vedinad)
- NIADHiWarp (HiWarp)
- Spilled (Spring)
- Abomination: ExhumedCara (Cadaver/DreadXP)
Gameplay Design
- Absolute
- BallxPit (Kenny Sun/Devolver Digital)
- Dawn People (Darenne Keller/Astra Logical)
- Hades 2
- Hollow Knight: Silk Song
- Keep driving
- Look Outside (Francis Coulombe/Devolver Digital)
- Ooo (NamaTakahashi, Tiny Cactus Studio, Tsuyomi/NamaTakahashi)
- Pipistrello and the damned Yoyo
- The King is Watching (Hypnohead/TinyBuild)
Advances in accessibility
- Abiotic Factor (Deep Field Games/Playstack)
- BaristaYofiAsi(YofiAsi)
- Calm the Storm (Lemur Man)
- Peak (Team Peak/Agro Crab/Landfall)
- Paint Spray Simulator (North Star/Whitethorn Games video games)
- Squeakross: Home Squeak Home (Alblun/Alblun)
ANZ Indie Game Award (curated by Frosty Games)
- Abiotic factor
- Hollow Knight: Silk Song
- Mars First Logistics (Shape Shop/Outersloth)
- Proximat (Kane Maddox)
- Tempopo (Witchbeam/Cult Games)
- Wanderer (Powerhoof)
Latin American Indie Game Award (curated by Latin American Games Showcase)
- Samsara's Adventure (Ilex Games/Atari)
- Despelote (Julian Cordero, Sebastian Valbuena/Panic)
- Culebra and the Souls of Limba (Galla/Fellow Traveler)
- Pipistrello and the damned Yoyo
- Taria and Coup (Popyseed Studio Inc/Juvee Productions)
- Tormented Souls 2 (Double Effect/PQube)
South African Indie Game Award (Curator of Playtopia Festival)
- Brew and Boogie get milk (Mikdog)
- Finding Father (Bo Studio)
- Flibbius McDougle and the Mysterious Flying Machine (unsigned double team)
- Ikelia (All day, all night)
- Metavoidal (Yellow Lab Games)
- Stick It To The Stickman (Free Lives/Devolver Digital)
Southeast Asian Indie Games Award (Curator: Southeast Asian Games Showcase)
- Afterlove EP (Pikselnesia/Pellow Traveler)
- Artis Impact (Mas/Feuson)
- Glyphica: Typing Survival (alias Black/Squeaky Wheel)
- Sedap: A Culinary Adventure (Kopiforge/Isolated Games Publishing, IndieArk)
- Urban Jungle (Kylyk Games/Assemble Entertainment)
- Flash at Whispering Mountain (Toge Productions)
Black Voices in Gaming Award (curated by Black Voices in Gaming)
- Advent Neon (CryoGX)
- Altheia: The Wrath of Ader (Marslit Games/Neon Doctrine, Game Seer Publishing)
- Sorry, we are closed (in Games/Akupara Games mode)
- Spirit Exchange: Lofi Beats to Match-3 To (Soft Not Weak)
- Sunken Stones (Spritewrench)
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown (Strange Scaffold)
Women-Led Indie Game Award (curated by Women-Led Games)
- Cabernet (Party for Introverts/Akupara)
- Duck Detective: The Glamping Phantom (Happy Broccoli Games)
- Gemporium: Cute Mining Simulator (Merge Conflict Studio)
- Spilled
- Urban Myth Busting Center (Hakababunko/Shueisha Games)
- White Knuckle(Dark Machine Games/DreadXP)
Community Management
- Consume me
- Date Everything (Sassy Chap Games/Team17)
- Ikiel
- Peak
- Soul Stone Survivors (Game Smithing Limited)
- Strange scaffold (Strange scaffold, Frosty Pop)
Emotional Impact
- Afterlove EP
- and Roger
- Don't get your hopes up (Krish Raghav)
- Henry Halfhead (Lululu Entertainment/Popagenda)
- Wanderstop (Ivy Road/Annapurna Interactive)
- Wednesdays (Pierre Corbinet, The Pixel Hunt, Exaheva/Arte France)
Innovation
- Blue Prince
- Freeride (Flightyfelon Games Inc. Future Friends Games)
- History of the gas station (Enzi)
- PBJ The Musical (Philip Stollenmayer)
- Raffi and Riverside (Zockrates Laboratories UG/Phiphen Games)
- Taria and Como
Music
- Everhood 2 (Cazok, KM_EXP, Stuart Keller, Lewmoth, CatGod, Beat Tape, Dancefloor Is Lava, INFX/Chris Nordgren, Jordi Roca)
- Herdling (Joel Schoch/Okomotiv)
- Rift of the NecroDancer (Danny Baranowski, Alex Mukala, Jules Conroy, Josie Brechner, Sam Webster, Nick Nausbaum/Brace Yourself Games, Tic Toc Games)
- Sonokuni (Team Don Yas)
- Sword of the Sea (Austin Wintory/Giant Squid)
- Wheel World (Johnny Jewel, June, Orion/Messhoff)
Narration
- Citizen Sleeper 2: Star Vector
- Consume me
- Promise Mascot Agency (Kaizen Game Works)
- Wanderer
- Tree roots are dead (Evil Trout Inc)
- Session at Blake Estate (Spooky Doorway/Raw Fury)
Visual design
- 30 birds (Ram Ram Games, Business Goose Studios/Arte France)
- Artis Impact
- Cat Detective Albert Wilde (Beyond Those Hills)
- Eclipsium (House Fire/Critical Reflex)
- The Machine (Talha and Jack Ko, J. King Spooner, Talha Kaya/Judatone Studios)
- Slime Rancher 2 (Monomi Park)
