Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming
  3. News

The 2025 Independent Games Festival nominee list features some shockers

By
A street fight breaks out in Thanks Goodness You're Here.
Panic

The nominees for the 27th Annual Independent Games Festival have been revealed. UFO 50, Thank Goodness You’re Here, and more will compete for this year’s top honors, the Seamus McNally Grade Prize, but there’s one shocker that didn’t make the final cut: Balatro.

The Independent Games Festival awards ceremony takes place every year at Game Developers Conference, with this year’s set to take place March 17-21. The show celebrates independent games, often nominating unexpected deep cuts and upcoming games that go on to become critical darlings. Last year’s ceremony, for instance, featured multiple nominations for 1000xResist ahead of its official release. That would go on to become one of 2024’s best-reviewed games.

Recommended Videos

This year, six games will compete for the Seamus McNally awards: Caves of Qud, Consume Me, Despelote, Indika, Thank Goodness You’re Here, and UFO 50. The most eye-catching game on that list is Despelote, a narrative coming-of-age story set in Ecuador that’s scheduled to launch this year. It’s not only up for the Seamus McNally award but also Excellence in Audio, Narrative, and the show’s Nuovo Award, which honors more experimental games.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

As for other unreleased games nominated this year, Consume Me leads the pack with five total nominations. Raw Fury’s upcoming Blue Prince also made a splash this year, racking up an Excellence in Design nomination and an honorable mention for the Seamus McNally Award.

The big surprise here is that the Game Awards-winning Balatro didn’t make the cut for the Seamus McNally, despite making the honorable mentions list. It wasn’t entirely shut out, though, as it’ll compete in this year’s Design field.

Plenty of other 2024 releases made a major splash. Standouts like Nine Sols, Judero, Tactical Breach Wizards, Children of the Sun, and more all snagged nominations. Here’s the full list.

Best Student Game

  • A Dual Ascent (Mountain Toad Entertainment / Rubika Supinfogame)
  • DisplaceMen (Eversea Club / leafaleaves)
  • Growth Spurt: A Meandering Intermission into the Afterhours of a Miscalculation (Games for my Computer)
  • Slot Waste (Vinny Roca / pickpanpuck productions)
  • The WereCleaner (Howlin’ Hugs / USC Games)
  • Year Unknown (Julian Heuser)

Honorable Mentions

Cards of Heart (GoodMind Games), Duck Paradox (Magic Games / Midwest Games), Lost Garden (Ori Shany, Yoni Pushett, Ramon Zerem), Perfect World (Michael Overton Brown), Timeworks (Starworks Studios)

Excellence in Audio

  • Anger Foot (Free Lives / Devolver Digital)
  • Despelote (Julián Cordero, Sebastian Valbuena / Panic)
  • INDIKA (Odd Meter / 11 bit studios)
  • ODDADA (Sven Ahlgrimm, Mathilde Hoffmann, Bastian Clausdorff)
  • Thank Goodness You’re Here! (Coal Supper / Panic)
  • Utopia Must Fall (Pixeljam)

Honorable Mentions

Animal Well (Billy Basso / Bigmode), Mouthwashing (Wrong Organ / CRITICAL REFLEX), Pacific Drive (Ironwood Studios / Kepler Interactive), Rise of the Golden Idol (Color Gray Games / Playstack), UFO 50 (Mossmouth)

Excellence in Design

  • Balatro (LocalThunk / Playstack)
  • Blue Prince (Dogubomb / Raw Fury)
  • Caves of Qud (Freehold Games / Kitfox Games)
  • Consume Me (Jenny Jiao Hsia, AP Thomson, Jie En Lee, Violet W-P, Ken “coda” Snyder)
  • Pacific Drive (Ironwood Studios / Kepler Interactive)
  • Tactical Breach Wizards (Suspicious Developments)

Honorable Mentions

Animal Well (Billy Basso / Bigmode), No Case Should Remain Unsolved (Somi), UFO 50 (Mossmouth), LOK Digital (Letibus Design, Icedrop Games / Draknek and Friends), Eigengrau (Martin Mauersics), The Rise of the Golden Idol (Color Gray Games / Playstack)

Excellence in Narrative

  • Caves of Qud (Freehold Games / Kitfox Games)
  • Closer the Distance (Osmotic Studios / Skybound Games)
  • Consume Me (Jenny Jiao Hsia, AP Thomson, Jie En Lee, Violet W-P, Ken “coda” Snyder)
  • Despelote (Julián Cordero, Sebastian Valbuena / Panic)
  • INDIKA (Odd Meter / 11 bit studios)
  • No Case Should Remain Unsolved (Somi)

Honorable Mentions

Blue Prince (Dogubomb / Raw Fury), Miniatures (Other Tales Interactive), Mouthwashing (Wrong Organ / CRITICAL REFLEX), Tactical Breach Wizards (Suspicious Developments), Thank Goodness You’re Here! (Coal Supper / Panic), The Thaumaturge (Fool’s Theory / 11 bit studios)

Excellence in Visual Arts

  • Children of the Sun (René Rother / Devolver Digital)
  • Consume Me (Jenny Jiao Hsia, AP Thomson, Jie En Lee, Violet W-P, Ken “coda” Snyder)
  • Hauntii (Moonloop Games / Firestoke)
  • Judero (Talha and Jack Co, J. King-Spooner, Talha Kaya)
  • Nine Sols (RedCandleGames)
  • Thank Goodness You’re Here! (Coal Supper / Panic)

Honorable Mentions

Crow Country (SFB Games), Death of the Reprobate (Joe Richardson), Miniatures (Other Tales Interactive), Tiny Glade (Pounce Light), Ultros (Hadoque / Kepler Interactive)

Nuovo Award

  • Consume Me (Jenny Jiao Hsia, AP Thomson, Jie En Lee, Violet W-P, Ken “coda” Snyder)
  • Despelote (Julián Cordero, Sebastian Valbuena / Panic)
  • Extreme Evolution: Drive to Divinity (Sam Atlas)
  • Ginger (Kevin Du / lizu ktap)
  • individualism in the dead-internet age: an anti-big tech asset flip shovelware rant manifesto (alienmelon)
  • Starship Home (Creature)
  • tapeçaria (tapestry) (mut/moochi (with help from plunderludics working group))
  • The Exit 8 (KOTAKE CREATE / Active Gaming Media Inc)

Honorable Mentions

Arctic Eggs (The Water Museum, cockydoody, abmarnie, Cameron Ginex / CRITICAL REFLEX), Judero (Talha and Jack Co, J. King-Spooner, Talha Kaya), Onto Maizilind Unto Infinity (Kas Ghobadi, Julián Palacios Gechtman / Kasrah Ghobadi), Price of Flight (WATERBOX), Project Y (Project_Y Production Committee), Refind Self: The Personality Test Game (Lizardry / PLAYISM)

Seamus McNally Grand Prize

  • Caves of Qud (Freehold Games / Kitfox Games)
  • Consume Me (Jenny Jiao Hsia, AP Thomson, Jie En Lee, Violet W-P, Ken “coda” Snyder)
  • Despelote (Julián Cordero, Sebastian Valbuena / Panic)
  • INDIKA (Odd Meter / 11 bit studios)
  • Thank Goodness You’re Here! (Coal Supper / Panic)
  • UFO 50 (Mossmouth)

Honorable Mentions:

Animal Well (Billy Basso / Bigmode), Balatro (LocalThunk / Playstack), Blue Prince (Dogubomb / Raw Fury), Mouthwashing (Wrong Organ / CRITICAL REFLEX), Nine Sols (RedCandleGames), Tactical Breach Wizards (Suspicious Developments)

Editors’ Recommendations

Topics
Giovanni Colantonio
Giovanni Colantonio
Senior Gaming Editor
As Digital Trends' Senior Gaming Editor, Giovanni Colantonio oversees all things video games at Digital Trends. As a veteran…
Donkey Kong Country Returns HD is a boilerplate port, and that’s OK
Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong in Donkey Kong Country Returns HD key art.

Donkey Kong Country Returns HD is a perfectly good game, but it will be Nintendo’s most underwhelming release in 2025. Those who've already played this platformer from Retro Studios on Wii or 3DS don't have much reason to buy the game on Switch unless they're itching to replay a great platformer. Like Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD and some other straightforward remasters that Nintendo launched recently, this feels like filler so that Nintendo can bide time until the launch of the Switch’s successor.

When it comes to filler, you could do much worse. Donkey Kong Country Returns is one of the Wii's best games. Anyone checking it out for the first time through the re-release is in for an excellent platforming adventure. Donkey Kong Country Returns HD is the definitive version of the Wii classic, but let's hope it's one of the last releases of its kind for a bit rather than one that sets the stage for Nintendo’s 2025.

Read more
Think Path of Exile 2 is too hard? Its devs want you to get good
A character blasting fire in Path of Exile 2.

Path of Exile 2 launched to much fanfare as fans of the first -- and players hungry for another Diablo-style experience -- flocked to the game. But players quickly discovered that it did not hold your hand. If you die, you're kicked from the game and lose some experience, plus any loot you haven't picked up yet. The RPG's latest patch will address a few pain points, but the developers say "the whole death actually mattering thing is important."

Director Jonathan Rogers says the game is high risk, high reward. He gave an interview with streamers Darth Microtransaction and GhazzyTV to discuss the patch. Give it a watch, if you'd like -- but be aware the video is four hours long.

Read more
Our final Nintendo Switch 2 reveal predictions
An image of the Nintendo Switch - OLED Model Mario Red Edition.

The day is almost upon us. After years of speculation, we're very close to an official reveal of the Nintendo Switch 2. Thank goodness for that, as we've been locked in a tidepool of fake leaks and rumors for far too long. The new console hype cycle can be fun in moderation, but the long road to Nintendo's next console has only become more exhausting over time. We had AI companies faking its release date for clout, hardware manufacturers sharing 3D printed mock-ups, and every so-called insider on the planet flinging out conflicting information.

It'll all come to an end soon when Nintendo reveals its new console. While that's a relief, there is something bittersweet about it. The mystery of a new gaming device is part of the fun. What will it look like? What games will launch with it? Will it be backward compatible? These are the kinds of questions make for fun social fodder; I've had plenty of speculative conversations with friends over the past two years. In some twisted way, I'll miss that once reality sets in.

Read more