Six One Indie has officially announced The Indie Game Awards 2025, set to take place on December 18 at 3:30 p.m. PT / 6:30 p.m. ET. The annual event will honor outstanding achievements in the world of independent gaming, with categories covering innovation, storytelling, artistry, accessibility, and more. The ceremony will be streamed live on YouTube, allowing gaming fans worldwide to celebrate the creativity and diversity of indie developers.
This year’s event comes with exciting new additions that highlight diversity and global representation in the indie scene. One of the biggest highlights is the introduction of the Indie Vanguard Class, featuring five developers who represent the next generation of indie talent. These developers are recognized for their creativity, vision, and their role in shaping the future of independent gaming.
The 2025 awards will also introduce new regional and showcase-specific categories, curated by various communities such as Latin American Games Showcase, Women-Led Games, and Black Voices in Gaming. These categories are designed to spotlight underrepresented creators and regional talent, ensuring that indie games from all parts of the world get the attention they deserve.
Another exciting addition is the Community Picks segment, where players can submit and vote for their favorite indie games across multiple genres. This gives fans a direct voice in the celebration, adding a new layer of engagement to the ceremony.
The ceremony will feature 28 presenters, including notable industry figures such as Chandana Ekanayake, Lena Raine, Remy Siu, and Chipzel. The nominees were chosen by a diverse panel of experts and curators from across the indie gaming world. The judging panel includes organizations like Six One Indie, The MIX, Wholesome Games, Latin American Games Showcase, and Southeast Asian Games Showcase, along with popular names from gaming journalism and content creation such as Game Informer, GameSpot, Giant Bomb, and noclip.
This year’s nominees highlight the incredible variety and creativity that define the indie gaming scene.
The nominees are as follows:
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
- 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 Voices in Gaming Award
- Advent Neon (CryoGX)
- Altheia: The Wrath of Aferi (MarsLit Games, Neon Doctrine, Game Seer Publishing)
- Sorry We’re Closed (a la mode games, Akupara Games)
- Spirit Swap: Lofi Beats to Match-3 To (Soft Not Weak)
- 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, 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)
- 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)
- Ooo (NamaTakahashi, tiny cactus studio, Tsuyomi)
- Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo (Pocket Trap, PM Studios)
- The King is Watching (Hypnohead, tinyBuild)
Innovation
- 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, Phiphen Games)
- Taria & Como (Poppyseed Studio Inc, JuVee Productions)
Latin American Indie 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)
- Taria & Como (Poppyseed Studio Inc, JuVee Productions)
- Tormented Souls II (Dual Effect, PQube)
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)
- 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)
- The Roottrees are Dead (Evil Trout Inc.)
- The Seance 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)
- Metavoidal (Yellow Lab Games)
- Stick It to the Stickman (Free Lives, Devolver Digital)
Southeast Asian Indie 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 Games)
- Duck Detective: The Ghost of Glamping (Happy Broccoli Games)
- Gemporium: A Cute Mining Sim (Merge Conflict Studio)
- Spilled! (Lente)
- Urban Myth Dissolution Center (Hakaba Bunko, Shueisha Games)
- White Knuckle (Dark Machine Games, DreadXP)
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)
The Indie Game Awards 2025 is a platform to uplift and inspire independent developers from around the world. With categories for regions such as Southeast Asia, Latin America, Australia and New Zealand, and South Africa, the event recognizes the truly global nature of indie game creation.
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