Indie Game Awards Winner Announced, All Nominees Now on Sale on Steam

The winners of Indie Games Awards 2024 have been announced and include a mix of genres, styles and backgrounds. The Indie Game Awards is an annual event organized by Six One Indie that celebrates independent creators and highlights smaller games that are often overlooked in a games industry full of giants.

This year's nominees included games released by small game developers and voted on by a diverse panel of judges. The event was broadcast on December 19th on Independent Game Awards website, where the winners were officially announced. The awards selected stellar indie titles across 14 categories, including indie game of the year. Indie game fans can now get all the games featured in the event with a discount at Steam in a special Indie Game Awards sale which will last until January 2, 2025.

Balatro wins independent game of the year at the Indie Game Awards 2024

The game also won several categories at The Game Awards

Balatro is the biggest surprise of 2024. Created by a single developer and released in February, the little game made a huge impact on gaming when it was released. The title is a Deceptively simple card game with stellar visuals and an addictive gameplay loop who has captivated fans since he burst onto the scene. Balatro won the Game of the Year and Gameplay Design awards at The Indie Game Awards 2024.

Despite being an independent game, Balatro in fact, it won several awards at the biggest Game Awards earlier this month, which included titles across all categories and budgets. The game won the awards for “Best Independent Game”, “Best Mobile Game” and “Best Debut Indie Game” at The Game Awards and faced giants such as Elden Ring, Final Fantasy VII, and Wukong for the title of best game of the year before losing to the official winner Astro Bot.

All the winners of the Indie Game Awards 2024

The Indie Game Awards celebrates small creators

Balatro joins an impressive roster of diverse indie games across many different genres. While all of the nominees had their own merits, the winners provided a great sample of what smaller developers are capable of. From adorable animal adventures to incredibly complex narratives, here is the full list of Indie Game Awards 2024 winners:

• Debut game: Kitten, big city (Dual Dagger Studio)
• Notable achievement in accessibility: Another Crab's Treasure (Aggro Crab)
• Visual design: Harold Halibut (Slow brothers.)
• Music: Pacific Drive (Ironwood Studios)
• Impact on the industry: Strange Scaffolding, New Blood, Outersloth, and Developer Day
• Small game: Thank God you are here (Coal Supper / Panic Inc)
• Individual development: Animal well (Billy Basso/Bigmode)
• Innovation: Master of Cryptography (Paul Hart and Lee Williams/Akupara Games)
• Emotional Impact: Snow (Nomada Studio/Devolver Digital)
• Gameplay Design: Balatro (LocalThunk/Playstack)
• Community Management: Aggro Crab
• Female-Led Game: Mexico, 1921. A deep sleep. (Interactive Taint)
• Narrative: 1000xRESIST (sunset visitor 斜陽過客 / Fellow Traveler Games)
• Game of the Year: Balatro (LocalThunk/Playstack)

All of the indie games highlighted at this year's event show what smaller developers can accomplish, despite lacking the reach and funds of larger development studios. All of the winners, as well as any nominated games that didn't win, are on sale on Steam right now thanks to Independent Game Awards offer.

Source: Independent Game Awards, Steam