Indie Game Awards

Spot a future classic? The shortlisted nominees for 'Most Anticipated' at Debug's 2026 Indie Game Awards are... Adventures of a Cat in Space Modulus: Factory Automation My Familiar Sleepytime Village Something Meaningful Stretchmancer Thank you to @gamemaker.io for making the 2026 IGAs possible!

The shortlisted nominees for 'Best New Studio' at Debug's 2026 Indie Game Awards are... AdHoc Studio D-CELL GAMES Evil Trout, Inc. Little Sewing Machine Space Colony Studios Space Lion Studios Thank you to @gamemaker.io for making our 2026 ceremony possible. See you there IRL on 25 April 2026!

New stuff to play on your old stuff! The nominees for 'Retro World Award' at Debug's 2026 Indie Game Awards are... Buck and the Cursed Cartridge D*Fuzed Earthion Gas Station Story Mavericks Baghdad Extraction Self Simulated Once again, a huge thank you to @gamemaker.io for supporting the IGAs

Free, but certainly not lacking in value! The shortlisted nominees for 'Free Play Award' at Debug's 2026 Indie Game Awards are... an unplayable game?! Old Timer Transport Pin-Up Solitaire Poco Tablecraft Type Help The Debug IGAs are made possible thanks to the support of @gamemaker.io

Let's get physical! The shortlisted nominees for 'Physical Release of the Year' at Debug's 2026 Indie Game Awards are... Absolum: Special Edition D*Fuzed Foolish Mortals: Big Box Edition Make Way Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound - Special Edition Stories from Sol: The Gun-Dog - Sponsored by @gamemaker.io

Looking for something different? The shortlisted nominees for 'Innovation & Creativity' at Debug's 2026 Indie Game Awards are... Banquet for Fools CYCLIA JOURNEY DEAD LETTER DEPT. Deck of Haunts Into the Restless Ruins Ruffy and the Riverside Debug's IGAs are proudly sponsored by @gamemaker.io

The shortlisted nominees for 'Best UK Indie' at Debug's 2026 Indie Game Awards are... Cabernet Citizen Sleeper 2 Into the Restless Ruins ROUTINE Stories from Sol: The Gun-Dog Tails of Iron 2: Whiskers of Winter Made possible thanks to @gamemaker.io - Join us for the IRL ceremony on 25 April 2026!

Get those headsets ready! The shortlisted nominees for 'Best VR Game' at Debug's 2026 Indie Game Awards are... Arken Age Banners & Bastions Ghost Town Laser Dance My Monsters The Midnight Walk Big up our friends at @gamemaker.io for making our 2026 ceremony possible. See you there?

Congratulations! The shortlisted nominees for 'Best Narrative' at Debug's 2026 Indie Game Awards are... Citizen Sleeper 2 Dispatch Old Skies The Drifter The Roottrees are Dead Wednesdays A massive thank you to @gamemaker.io for making our 2026 ceremony possible. See you there IRL on 25 April 2026!

Having a really lovely week so far! On Saturday, Heir of the Dog won the “Judges Choice” award at the @gamedevlocal.bsky.social Indie Game Awards, and last night @debugawards.com announced that “Adventures of a Cat in Space” has been nominated for their “Most Anticipated” award too! 🤩 #indiegamedev

The shortlisted nominees for 'Best Gameplay' at Debug's 2026 Indie Game Awards are... Axyz GlitchSPANKR Into the Restless Ruins Katanaut Spooky Express The Knightling Thank you to @gamemaker.io for making our 2026 ceremony possible. See you there IRL on 25 April 2026!

The shortlisted nominees for 'Best Art Direction' at Debug's 2026 Indie Game Awards are... Bye Sweet Carole Dreams of Another Gloomy Eyes ROUTINE The Séance of Blake Manor UNBEATABLE Thank you to @gamemaker.io for making our 2026 ceremony possible. See you there IRL on 25 April 2026!

The shortlisted nominees for 'Best Voice Acting' at Debug's 2026 Indie Game Awards are... Arctic Awakening Dispatch Rosewater The Drifter The Haunting of Joni Evers UNBEATABLE Our live ceremony is made possible thanks to @gamemaker.io - Will we see you there IRL on 25 April 2026?

Next up: Best Soundtrack! Cabernet Dispatch Knights in Tight Spaces OFF The Knightling UNBEATABLE Thank you to @gamemaker.io for making our 2026 ceremony possible. See you there IRL on 25 April 2026!

The shortlisted nominees for 'Award for Accessibility' at Debug's 2026 Indie Game Awards are... Adventure to Fate: Dungeons an unplayable game?! Laser Dance Squeakross: Home Squeak Home Trash Goblin Wednesdays Thank you to @gamemaker.io for making our ceremony possible. See you there 25 Apr 2026!

We’re adding a category to our IRL awards ceremony… The Bluesky’s Choice Award! And all you have to do is reply here with the game you believe deserves to win. You don’t even have to follow us 😉 *one nomination per account* *game must have released in 2025* *nominations close 31 Jan 2026*

At their core, our awards exist to celebrate the people behind the games, their craft, creativity, and the human effort that brings these projects to life. Whilst we understand that the tools used to make games evolve over time, we choose to celebrate those made without the use of generative AI.

Submissions for our 2026 Indie Game Awards are now open! Once again made possible thanks to the generous support of @gamemaker.io Submissions are open until February 1st, 2026 - debugawards.com

New awards category added! The Long Term Support (LTS) Award recognises indie games which have been supported through years of updates. If you think this applies to your (or your favourite) game, be sure to submit now - debugawards.com

The spreads have been sheeted. And the entry cost yeeted… Yes, you read that right. Thrown away. Gone. Vanished into the void. Tickets to Debug’s 2026 Indie Game Awards are officially FREE No catch. Just brilliant games and a stage ready to celebrate them! Details drop Thursday

We came first, just saying… The other one with the same colours and a very similar name isn’t us

Our Indie Game Awards 2025 winners Starter Pack is now live! go.bsky.app/9jMQyrg

Congratulations to @badgerpunch.com for winning the Retro World Award with RogueCraft! And a huge thank you to @antstreamarcade.bsky.social for sponsoring this category

And the award for Mental Health goes to Bober Bros for The Hole!

And the award for Best Sound Design goes to… Still Wakes The Deep by @thechineseroom.co.uk Massive congratulations!

The award for Best Gameplay goes to @buckshotroulette.bsky.social Congratulations!

The award for Best Narrative goes to Kyle Banks for Farewell North!

The award for Best Voice Acting goes to The Holy Gosh Darn by @perfectlyparano.bsky.social Thanks to @yogscastgames.bsky.social for coming to accept the award in person!

The Award for Accessibility goes to the team at @balloonstudios.bsky.social for Botany Manor!

Huge congratulations to Alex Kanaris-Sotiriou of Polygon Treehouse, who took home the award for ‘Best UK Indie’ at the Indie Game Awards! @polygontreehouse.bsky.social @kanaratron.bsky.social

Newfangled Games take home the Debug Game of the Year award for ‘Paper Trail’ at the Indie Game Awards 2025 Congratulations!

Congratulations to Jon Hare of Sensible Soccer fame, who is now publishing ‘Sociable Soccer’ independently under the Tower Studios name Jon takes home our Most Influencial Person award!

And the award for ‘Best PR Campaign’ at the Debug Indie Game Awards 2025 goes to… @piratepr.com 🏴‍☠️

Congratulations to @nosebleedinteractive.com for winning ‘Best VR Game’ at the Debug Indie Game Awards 2025!

I’ve got so much love for the @debugawards.com team right now ❤️ Alex, Aimee, Daniel, Nick