Hollow Knight: Silksong, Hades 2, and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 lead Indie Game Awards 2025 nominations

The Indie Game Awards 2025 nominations have been announced, with the likes of Hollow Knight: Silksong, Hades 2, and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 picking up nominations across multiple categories including Game of the Year.

Returning for its second year, the IGA Awards spans 18 categories including region-specific spotlights, community-voted awards, and the introduction of the first Indie Vanguard Class aimed to “spotlight the future of the industry.”

The Indie Vanguard Class 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.”

This award, as well as The Mohammad Fahmi Storyteller Award, and the Industry Impact Award, will be announced during the ceremony.

This year’s nominations were deliberated by “a broad and diverse panel of indie showcase curators and industry experts.”

The show will be hosted by 28 presenters including Chandana Ekanayake, Lena Raine, Remy Siu, and Chipzel.

The Indie Game Awards 2025 takes place on December 18 at 3:30pm PT/6:30pm ET.

The ceremony will be available to stream 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 (Jump Over the Age)
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Sandfall Interactive/Kepler Interactive)
• Consume Me (Jenny Jiao Hsia, AP Thomson, Jie En Lee, Violet W-P, and Ken “coda” Snyder/Hexecutable)
• Hades 2 (Supergiant Games)
• Hollow Knight: Silksong (Team Cherry)
• Keep Driving (YCJY Games)
• Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo (Pocket Trap/PM Studios, Inc.)

Debut Game

• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
• 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 (À la mode Games/Akupara Games)
• Tyrant’s Realm (Team Tyrant/Skystone Games)

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)

Solo Development

• Antonblast (Summitsphere/Joystick Ventures)
• Lushfoil Photography Sim (Matt Newell/Annapurna Interactive)
• Megabonk (Vedinad)
• NAIADHiWarp (HiWarp)
• Spilled (Lente)
• Vile: ExhumedCara (Cadaver/DreadXP)

Gameplay Design

• Absolum
• BallxPit (Kenny Sun/Devolver Digital)
• Dawnfolk (Darenn Keller/Astra Logical)
• Hades 2
• Hollow Knight: Silksong
• Keep Driving
• Look Outside(Francis Coulombe/Devolver Digital)
• Öoo (NamaTakahashi, Tiny Cactus Studio, Tsuyomi/NamaTakahashi)
• Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo
• The King is Watching(Hypnohead/TinyBuild)

Achievement in Accessibility

• Abiotic Factor (Deep Field Games/Playstack)
• BaristaYofiAsi(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/Alblune)

ANZ Indie Game Award (curated by Frosty Games)

• Abiotic Factor
• Hollow Knight: Silksong
• Mars First Logistics (Shape Shop/Outersloth)
• Proximate (Cain Maddox)
• Tempopo (Witchbeam/Cult Games)
• The Drifter (Powerhoof)

Latin American Indie Game Award (curated by 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
• Taria & Como(Poppyseed Studio Inc/JuVee Productions)
• Tormented Souls 2 (Dual Effect/PQube)

South African Indie Game Award (curated by the 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)
• Metavoidal (Yellow Lab Games)
• Stick It To The Stickman (Free Lives/Devolver Digital)

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

• 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)

Black Voices in Gaming Award (curated by Black Voices in Gaming)

• 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)
• 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 Ghost of Glamping (Happy Broccoli Games)
• Gemporium: A Cute Mining Sim (Merge Conflict Studio)
• Spilled
• Urban Myth Dissolution Center (Hakababunko/Shueisha Games)
• White Knuckle(Dark Machine Games/DreadXP)

Community Management

• Consume Me
• Date Everything (Sassy Chap Games/Team17)
• Ikeelya
• Peak
• Soulstone 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 Corbinais, The Pixel Hunt, Exaheva/Arte France)

Innovation

• Blue Prince
• 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

Music

• Everhood 2 (Cazok, KM_EXP, Stewart Keller, Lewmoth, CatGod, Beat Tape, Dancefloor Is Lava, INFX/Chris Nordgren, Jordi Roca)
• Herdling (Joel Schoch/Okomotive)
• Rift of the NecroDancer (Danny Baranowsky, Alex Moukala, Jules Conroy, Josie Brechner, Sam Webster, Nick Nausbaum/Brace Yourself Games, Tic Toc Games)
• Sonokuni (Don Yasa Crew)
• Sword of the Sea (Austin Wintory/Giant Squid)
• Wheel World (Johnny Jewel, Joon, Orion/Messhof)

Narrative

• Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector
• Consume Me
• Promise Mascot Agency (Kaizen Game Works)
• The Drifter
• The Roottrees are Dead (Evil Trout Inc)
• The Séance of Blake Manor (Spooky Doorway/Raw Fury)

Visual Design

• 30 Birds (Ram Ram Games, Business Goose Studios/Arte France)
• Artis Impact
• 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)