Update, 12/22/25:
Following the conclusion of The Indie Game Awards 2025, where Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 received the prestigious Game of the Year award, the organizing team, Six One Indie, has announced a retraction of that honor. This decision was made due to the developer Sandfall Interactive’s use of generative AI in the game’s development. Furthermore, the Best Debut award previously granted to Clair Obscur was also rescinded for the same reasons.
Consequently, the games that were in second place for these categories will now be recognized as the official winners: Blue Prince is now awarded Game of the Year, while Sorry We’re Closed takes home the title of Best Debut.
“The Indie Game Awards maintains a strict policy against the use of generative AI throughout the nomination and selection process,” stated a representative from Six One Indie. “When Sandfall Interactive submitted Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, they affirmed that no generative AI was involved in its creation. However, after confirmation from Sandfall Interactive regarding the use of generative AI on the day of the awards ceremony, we must disqualify Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 from its nominations.”
Game Informer has updated the results of The Indie Game Awards 2025 to reflect these changes.
The original article continues below…

Original story, 12/19/25:
The talented team at Six One Indie hosted their first-ever awards ceremony, The Indie Game Awards, last year, and returned last night to celebrate the best of indie gaming! Game Informer was part of the jury for the awards, and following a fantastic ceremony, we present the complete list of winners.
Now, without further ado…

Winners of The Indie Game Awards 2025

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  Below is a list of each award category along with the nominated games; winners will be indicated in bold.

  <h3>Achievement in Accessibility</h3>
  <ul>
    <li>Abiotic Factor</li>
    <li>Barista</li>
    <li>Calm the Storm</li>
    <li><strong>Peak</strong></li>
    <li>Spray Paint Simulator</li>
    <li>Squeakross: Home Squeak Home</li>
  </ul>

  <h3>African Indie Game Award</h3>
  <ul>
    <li>Bru & Boegie Get Da Milk!</li>
    <li>Finding Father</li>
    <li>Flibbius McDoogle and The Mysterious Flying Machine</li>
    <li>IKEELYA</li>
    <li>Metavoidal</li>
    <li><strong>Stick It To The Stickman</strong></li>
  </ul>

  <h3>ANZ Indie Game Award</h3>
  <ul>
    <li>Abiotic Factor</li>
    <li>Hollow Knight: Silksong</li>
    <li>Mars First Logistics</li>
    <li>PROXIMATE</li>
    <li>Tempopo</li>
    <li><strong>The Drifter</strong></li>
  </ul>

  <h3>Bite-Sized Game</h3>
  <ul>
    <li>CARIMARA – Beneath the Forlorn Limbs</li>
    <li>FlyKnight</li>
    <li>Many Nights a Whisper</li>
    <li>The Dark Queen of Mortholme</li>
    <li>this game will end in 205 clicks.</li>
    <li><strong>Time Flies</strong></li>
  </ul>

  <h3>Black Voices in Gaming Award</h3>
  <ul>
    <li>Advent Neon</li>
    <li><strong>Altheia: The Wrath of Aferi</strong></li>
    <li>Sorry We're Closed</li>
    <li>Spirit Swap: Lofi Beats to Match-3 To</li>
    <li>Sunken Stones</li>
    <li>Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical</li>
  </ul>

  <h3>Community Management</h3>
  <ul>
    <li>Consume Me</li>
    <li>Date Everything!</li>
    <li>IKEELYA</li>
    <li><strong>Peak</strong></li>
    <li>Soulstone Survivors</li>
    <li>Strange Scaffold</li>
  </ul>

  <h3>Debut Game</h3>
  <ul>
    <li><s>Clair Obscur: Expedition 33</s></li>
    <li>Discounty</li>
    <li>Fretless – The Wrath of Riffson</li>
    <li>ILA: A Frosty Glide</li>
    <li><strong>Sorry We're Closed</strong></li>
    <li>Tyrant's Realm</li>
  </ul>

  <h3>Emotional Impact</h3>
  <ul>
    <li>Afterlove EP</li>
    <li><strong>and Roger</strong></li>
    <li>Don't Get Your Hopes Up</li>
    <li>Henry Halfhead</li>
    <li>Wanderstop</li>
    <li>Wednesdays</li>
  </ul>

  <h3>Gameplay Design</h3>
  <ul>
    <li>Absolum</li>
    <li><strong>Ball x Pit</strong></li>
    <li>Dawnfolk</li>
    <li>Hades II</li>
    <li>Hollow Knight: Silksong</li>
    <li>Keep Driving</li>
    <li>Look Outside</li>
    <li>Öoo</li>
    <li>Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo</li>
    <li>The King is Watching</li>
  </ul>

  <h3>Innovation</h3>
  <ul>
    <li><strong>Blue Prince</strong></li>
    <li>FREERIDE</li>
    <li>Gas Station Story</li>
    <li>PBJ The Musical</li>
    <li>Ruffy and the Riverside</li>
    <li>Taria & Como</li>
  </ul>

  <h3>Latin American Indie Game Award</h3>
  <ul>
    <li>Adventure of Samsara</li>
    <li>despelote</li>
    <li>Kulebra and the Souls of Limbo</li>
    <li><strong>Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo</strong></li>
    <li>Taria & Como</li>
    <li>Tormented Souls 2</li>
  </ul>

  <h3>Music</h3>
  <ul>
    <li>Everhood 2</li>
    <li>Herdling</li>
    <li><strong>Rift of the NecroDancer</strong></li>
    <li>SONOKUNI</li>
    <li>Sword of the Sea</li>
    <li>Wheel World</li>
  </ul>

  <h3>Narrative</h3>
  <ul>
    <li><strong>Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector</strong></li>
    <li>Consume Me</li>
    <li>Promise Mascot Agency</li>
    <li>The Drifter</li>
    <li>The Roottrees are Dead</li>
    <li>The Séance of Blake Manor</li>
  </ul>

  <h3>Solo Development</h3>
  <ul>
    <li>Lushfoil Photography Sim</li>
    <li>Megabonk</li>
    <li>NAIAD</li>
    <li>Spilled!</li>
    <li><strong>Tall Trails</strong></li>
    <li>Vile: Exhumed</li>
  </ul>

  <h3>Southeast Asian Indie Game Award</h3>
  <ul>
    <li>Afterlove EP</li>
    <li><strong>Artis Impact</strong></li>
    <li>Glyphica: Typing Survival</li>
    <li>SEDAP! A Culinary Adventure</li>
    <li>Urban Jungle</li>
    <li>Whisper Mountain Outbreak</li>
  </ul>

  <h3>Visual Design</h3>
  <ul>
    <li><strong>30 Birds</strong></li>
    <li>Artis Impact</li>
    <li>Cat Detective Albert Wilde</li>
    <li>Eclipsium</li>
    <li>Mashina</li>
    <li>Slime Rancher 2</li>
  </ul>

  <h3>Women-Led Indie Game Award</h3>
  <ul>
    <li>Cabernet</li>
    <li>Duck Detective: The Ghost of Glamping</li>
    <li>Gemporium: A Cute Mining Sim</li>
    <li>Spilled!</li>
    <li><strong>Urban Myth Dissolution Center</strong></li>
    <li>White Knuckle</li>
  </ul>

  <h3>Game of the Year</h3>
  <ul>
    <li>Absolum</li>
    <li>and Roger</li>
    <li><strong>Blue Prince</strong></li>
    <li>Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector</li>
    <li><s>Clair Obscur: Expedition 33</s></li>
    <li>Consume Me</li>
    <li>Hades II</li>
    <li>Hollow Knight: Silksong</li>
    <li>Keep Driving</li>
    <li>Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo</li>
  </ul>

  <h3>Community Picks</h3>
  <ul>
    <li>Best Action Game: <strong>Hades II</strong></li>
    <li>Best Adventure Game: <strong>Hollow Knight: Silksong</strong></li>
    <li>Best Horror Game: <strong>R.E.P.O.</strong></li>
    <li>Best Interactive Fiction: <strong>Date Everything!</strong></li>
    <li>Best Multiplayer Game: <strong>Peak</strong></li>
    <li>Best Puzzle Game: <strong>Blue Prince</strong></li>
    <li>Best Role Playing Game: <strong>Clair Obscur: Expedition 33</strong></li>
    <li>Best Simulation Game: <strong>Schedule 1</strong></li>
    <li>Best Strategy Game: <strong>The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy</strong></li>
    <li>Best Survival Game: <strong>Abiotic Factor</strong></li>
    <li>Community Game of the Year: <strong>Hollow Knight: Silksong</strong></li>
  </ul>

  <h3>Signature Awards</h3>
  Here are the various Signature Awards presented during the ceremony.

  <h4>Indie Vanguard Class of 2025</h4>
  <ul>
    <li>Chantey (Developer: Gortyn Code)</li>
    <li>Neon Knives (Developer: Cookiecrayon)</li>
    <li>Seasonala Cemetery (Developers: Gabby DaRienzo, Kait Tremblay, Jen Costa, Nina Wong, Halina Heron, Mobeen Fiktree, Jacqueline de Leon)</li>
    <li>HYPERBEAT (Developers: Alice Bottino, Chancellor Wallin)</li>
    <li>Wildwood Down (Developers: Crashable Studios)</li>
  </ul>

  <h4>The Mohammad Fahmi Storyteller Award</h4>
  <ul>
    <li>Maddy Thorson of Extremely OK Games, Ltd (Associated Games: Celeste, TowerFall Ascension)</li>
  </ul>

  <h4>Industry Impact</h4>
  <ul>
    <li>Game Devs of Color, represented by Catt Small, Brian S. Chung, and Joshy Boykin</li>
  </ul>

  <hr>
  That's a complete roundup of The Indie Game Awards 2025 winners! Were there any surprises for you? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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