At the Independent Games Festival Awards 2025, Consume Me by Jenny Jiao Hsia, AP Thomson, Jie En Lee, Violet W-P and Ken 'coda' Snyder won the Grand Prize. The three nominated games from Germany went home empty-handed.

The Independent Games Festival is part of GDC 2025 and the Independent Games Festival Awards 2025 were presented as part of the event. The Seumas McNally Grand Prize went to Consume Me by Jenny Jiao Hsia, AP Thomson, Jie En Lee, Violet W-P, Ken 'coda' Snyder. The game is a "darkly funny coming-of-age story". The team also won the Nuovo Award, also known as the Innovation Award. The award for Excellence in Design went to Suspicious Developments with Tactical Breach Wizards, and Caves of Qud by Freehold Games and Kitfox Games was honoured for Excellence in Narrative.

Games from German developers/teams Oddada (Sven Ahlgrimm, Mathilde Hoffmann, Bastian Clausdorff), Closer the Distance (Osmotic Studios) and Children of the Sun (René Rother) were nominated for an award but did not win.

Independent Games Festival Awards 2025

The winners are at the top of each category and are highlighted in bold.

Seumas McNally Grand Prize
  • Consume Me (Jenny Jiao Hsia, AP Thomson, Jie En Lee, Violet W-P, Ken "coda" Snyder)
  • Caves of Qud (Freehold Games / Kitfox Games)
  • 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)

Best Student Game
  • Slot Waste (Vinny Roca / pickpanpuck productions)
  • 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)
  • 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
  • Despelote (Julián Cordero, Sebastian Valbuena / Panic)
  • Anger Foot (Free Lives / Devolver Digital)
  • 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
  • Tactical Breach Wizards (Suspicious Developments)
  • 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)

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 / Cristical 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
  • Hauntii (Moonloop Games / Firestoke)
  • Children of the Sun (René Rother / Devolver Digital)
  • Consume Me (Jenny Jiao Hsia, AP Thomson, Jie En Lee, Violet W-P, Ken "coda" Snyder)
  • 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 TestGame (Lizardry / Playsim)

Never miss anything from the German, Swiss and Austrian games industry again: subscribe for free to our Daily newsletter and get all news straight to your inbox.

Share this post

Written by

Marcel Kleffmann
Marcel Kleffmann