Skip to main content

The 2025 Independent Games Festival nominee list features some shockers

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)

Giovanni Colantonio
As Digital Trends' Senior Gaming Editor, Giovanni Colantonio oversees all things video games at Digital Trends. As a veteran…
Trading digital Pokémon TCG Pocket cards is a risky but lucrative business
Trade cards in Pokémon TCG Pocket.

After Pokémon TCG Pocket released its controversial trading feature, an odd sort of "black market" has arisen around some of the rarer cards. Some players have started to sell the digital cards on eBay, charging anywhere from $5 to $10 per card. Yes, it's a definite violation of the games' terms and conditions, but the real-money trades are difficult to prove and present little financial risk to the seller  — but don't think it's an easy to line your pockets.

The initial release of the trading mechanic was met with backlash from players. Developer Creatures, Inc promised changes to the way the system works, but provided few details regarding how or when those changes would take place — and while there are restrictions on how trading works, those restrictions haven't stopped players from finding workarounds.

Read more
The powerful Alienware m18 R2 gaming laptop is $400 off
The Alienware m18 R2 gaming laptop with Baldur's Gate 3 on the screen.

You shouldn't pass up any discount when you're shopping for gaming laptop deals on a premium device, as any form of savings is already a huge bonus. That's exactly why you're going to want to take advantage of Dell's offer for the Alienware m18 R2. This configuration that usually sells for $2,400 is currently $400 off, slashing its price from $2,400 to $2,000. It's still not in the budget territory, but for serious gamers, it's going to be worth every single penny. You need to complete the transaction immediately though, as the bargain may be gone as soon as tomorrow.

Why you should buy the Alienware m18 R2 gaming laptop
If you want a gaming laptop that will be able to play the best PC games at their highest settings without any issues, you should set your sights on the Alienware m18 R2. It's equipped with the 14th-generation Intel Core i7 processor and the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 graphics card, along with 32GB of RAM that's the sweet spot for high-end gamers, according to our guide on how much RAM do you need. The gaming laptop also features a 1TB SSD for ample storage space for your favorite games, and it's got Windows 11 Home pre-installed.

Read more
This free plugin will make games on your Steam Deck look even better
Ghost of Tsushima running on the Steam Deck.

A modder named SnooOranges3876 has released a plugin for Steam Deck titles that lets players adjust graphics on the fly, improving appearance and performance, and the best part is that it's both free and easy to use. Called LetMeReShade, this plugin allows players to adjust illumination, contrast, colors, and much more on the fly. It can be particularly beneficial to older titles, too.

The plugin is available through GitHub. It circumvents the often-complicated install processes for ReShade mods and instead lets players quickly apply those mods to games. In the example video, SnooOranges3876 is seen changing shaders in Cyberpunk 2077 and Heavy Rain, with several other titles like Alan Wake and Monster Sanctuary as potential options.

Read more