Consume Me wins the Grand Prize at the 27th annual Independent Games Festival (IGF) Awards.
The IGF awards, held as part of the 2025 Game Developers Conference, celebrated the most innovative and exceptional independent games of the past year.
The top award of the night, the Seumas McNally Grand Prize for Best Independent Game, was awarded to Consume Me, the deeply personal and darkly humorous game developed by Jenny Jiao Hsia, AP Thomson, Jie En Lee, Violet W-P, and Ken “coda” Snyder. The game, which explores themes of dieting and disordered eating, also won the prestigious Nuovo Award.
Elsewhere, a diverse lineup of independent games received recognition across various categories. Hauntii, the action-adventure by Moonloop Games that follows a ghost’s journey through the afterlife, picked up the Excellence in Visual Art award. The Excellence in Audio prize went to Despelote, the captivating slice-of-life adventure by Julián Cordero and Sebastián Valbuena, that explores the cultural effect of football in early 2000s Ecuador.
Tactical Breach Wizards took home the Excellence in Design award for its unique blend of turn-based tactics and magic-infused strategy. And the Excellence in Narrative award went to the sci-fi fantasy roguelike Caves of Qud.
The WereCleaner won the coveted Audience Award and the alt.ctrl.GDC Award, which honours games that use unconventional control schemes, went to ChromaCorp.
Here is the full list of winners and nominees for the 2025 Independent Games Festival Awards.
2025 IGF Awards – Winners and Nominees
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
Seumas 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)
Congratulations to every developer and studio from the team at Thumbsticks.
