The Indie Game Awards Winners Announced

EDITOR’S NOTE – December 20, 2025:

The IGAs Nomination Committee has officially disqualified Clair Obsur: Expedition 33 as Game of the Year due to its undisclosed use of Gen AI. The new winner is Dogubomb‘s Blue Prince. In addition, Sorry We’re Closed is now the Best Debut Game.

Lastly, Chantey by Gortyn Code’s nomination as Indie Vanguard has been retracted. The reasoning is that the physical cart is produced by ModRetro, which is a company owned by Palmer Luckey and revealed an Anduril-themed Chromatic device which uses the same metal its attack drones use as part of the device’s body.

The year is not quite over for Game Awards season. Still, this time, instead, let’s focus on the bread and butter of the game industry, Indie games as Six One Indie just finished presenting the 2025 edition of The Indie Game Awards on YouTube and Twitch, where the indie game outlet revealed the winners of 18 general categories and three signature awards including five inductees into the award show’s Indie Vanguard Class for 2025.

Unlike Geoff Keighley’s announcement showcase, which features game awards and speeches, The Indie Game Awards was all about the awards and much quicker to watch, ending under two hours. There were no sweeps, but two games took home two awards, including Peak and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, which, once again, is the recipient of another game of the year award. The Indie Game Awards featured a bevy of presenters, including Celeste composer Lena Raine, Justin Woodward of THE MIX and Black Voices in Gaming, Laura Kate Dale of Access-Ability, Outerloop Games co-founder Chandana Ekanayake, Playstack’s Wout van Halderen, Sunset Visitor founder Remy Siu and many more.

The full list of the Indie Game Awards 2025 nominees is listed below, with the winners (game, developer, and publisher) of each award bolded.

Game of the Year

Absolum (Dotemu / Guard Crush Games / Spinks / Gamirror Games)
and Roger (TearyHand Studio / Kodansha)
New Winner: Blue Prince (Dogubomb / Raw Fury)
Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector (Jump Over the Age / Fellow Traveller)
~~Winner: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive / Kepler Interactive)~~ Disqualified
Consume Me (Jenny Jiao Hsia / AP Thomson / Jie En Lee / Violet W-P / Ken “coda” Snyder / Hexecutable)
Hades II (Supergiant Games)
Hollow Knight: Silksong (Team Cherry)
Keep Driving (YCJY Games)
Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo (Pocket Trap / PM Studios)

Narrative

Winner: 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)
The Roottrees are Dead (Evil Trout)
The Séance of Blake Manor (Spooky Doorway/ Raw Fury)

Gameplay Design

Absolum (Dotemu / Guard Crush Games / Supamonks / Gamirror Games)
Winner: BALL x Pit (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)
The King is Watching (Hypnohead / tiny Build)

Visual Design

Winner: 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 / Jud atone Studios)
Slime Rancher 2 (Monomi Park)

Music

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

Achievement in Accessibility

Abiotic Factor (Deep Field Games / Playstack)
Barista (YofiAsi)
Calm the Storm (Ludic Lemur)
Winner: Peak (Team PEAK / Aggro Crab / Landfall)
Spray Paint Simulator (North Star Video Games / Whitethorn Games)
Squeakross: Home Squeak Home (Alblune)

Emotional Impact

Afterlove EP (Pikselnesia / Fellow Traveller)
Winner: 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)

Innovation

Winner: Blue Prince (Dogubomb / Raw Fury)
FREERIDE (Flightyfelon Games / 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)

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)
Winner: Time Flies (Playables / Panic)

Debut Game

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

Solo Development

Lushfoil Photography Sim (Matt Newell / Annapurna Interactive)
Megabonk (vedinad)
NAIAD (HiWarp)
Spilled! (Lente)
Winner: Tall Trails (Brady Soglin)
Vile: Exhumed (Cara Cadaver / DreadXP)

Women-Led Indie Game Award

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

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)
Winner: The Drifter (Powerhoof / Dave Lloyd)

Black Voice in Gaming

Advent Neon (CryoGX)
Winner: 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)

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)
Winner: Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo (Pocket Trap / PM Studios)
Taria & Como (Poppyseed Studio Inc / JuVee Productions)
Tormented Souls 2 (Dual Effect / PQube)

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)
Winner: Stick It To The Stickman (Free Lives / Devolver Digital)

Southeast Asian Indie Game Award

Afterlove EP (Pikselnesia / Fellow Traveller)
Winner: 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)

Jenny Jiao Hsia / AP Thomson / Jie En Lee / Violet W-P / Ken “coda” Snyder / Hexecutable (Consume Me)
Sassy Chap Games / Team 17 (Date Everything!)
ALL DAY ALL NIGHT (IKEELYA)
Winner: Team PEAK / Aggro Crab / Landfall (PEAK)
Game Smithing Limited (Soulstone Survivors)
Strange Scaffold / Frosty Pop (Strange Scaffold)

Indie Vanguard Class of 2025

~~Chantey (Gortyn Code)~~
Neon Knives (Cookiecrayon)
Seasonala Cemetry (Gabby DaRienzo, Kait Tremblay, Jen Costa, Nina Wong, halina heron, Mobeen Fiktree, and Jacqueline de Leon)
HYPERBEAT (Alice Bottino / Chancellor Wallin / Dreamware Media
Wildwood Down (Crashable Studios)

The Mohammad Fahmi Storyteller Award

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