Game Informer Is a Judge for This Year’s Indie Game Awards — Here Are the Nominees

After a warmly received inaugural event, Six One Indie returns with the Indie Game Awards to shine a spotlight on outstanding independent games from around the world. The ceremony is scheduled for December 18, 2025, and Game Informer is proud to serve as one of this year’s official judges alongside a range of outlets, curators, and creators.

The awards’ official site is live—visit the Indie Game Awards website to view the full roster of judges, presenters, and nominees, including this year’s contenders for Game of the Year. IndieGameAwards.gg

According to the event announcement, the IGAs will honor excellence across categories such as innovation, narrative, and visual design, celebrating the breadth of creativity within the indie scene. The organizers also revealed the lineup of judges, presenters, and nominees as the countdown to the live show begins.

This year introduces the Indie Vanguard Class: a curated group of five developers chosen for their leadership and forward-thinking contributions to the industry. In addition, the awards expanded their category slate to include regional and showcase-specific honors—examples named by the organizers include the Latin American Games Showcase, Women-Led Games, and Black Voices in Gaming. For the first time, players may nominate their favorite titles in the Community Picks segment, giving the audience a direct voice in the celebration.

The awards broadcast will be an awards-focused presentation (no game reveals or trailers). The ceremony will feature 28 presenters from across the games community—musicians, designers, curators, and more—alongside a judging panel composed of outlets and organizations such as Game Informer, The Indie Informer, Giant Bomb, GameSpot, NoClip, Women-Led Games, Wholesome Games, The MIX, and Black Voices in Gaming.

2025 Game of the Year Nominees

Below are the titles nominated for the 2025 Indie Game Awards’ Game of the Year. For the complete list of nominees, presenters, and judges, see the official site. IndieGameAwards.gg

• Absolum — Dotemu, Guard Crush Games, 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, 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 will stream live on December 18, 2025 at 3:30 p.m. PT / 6:30 p.m. ET via Six One Indie’s YouTube and Twitch channels, and will also be carried by outlets including IGN and GameSpot. Links to the Six One Indie channels: YouTube and Twitch.

Community Picks submissions are open through November 24, 2025. Follow the Indie Game Awards on Bluesky for updates and additional details: bsky.app/profile/indiegameawards.gg.