It was another absolutely stellar year for gaming in 2025. We got all sorts of adventures, role-playing, magic, mystery, cards, swords, guns, and action to punctuate different points of our year, and you’re going to hear about all of it across our wide variety of Shacknews Awards. But ahead of that, we’d like to share some of our personal picks for 2025. We’re already going to share our main Game of the Year lists in the weeks ahead, but for this week’s Shack Chat, the last of 2025, we share which indie games made up our number one picks of 2025. Have a look below!
Question: What is your Indie Game of the Year 2025?
Hades 2 – Ozzie Mejia, Back to the underworld
Supergiant Games cannot be stopped. The team’s efforts on Hades 2 can’t be praised enough, taking what it built in the previous Hades and creating what can be considered Supergiant’s best work to date. Incredible characters, a refined and more engaging combat system, and so much to explore. Failure almost never feels like failure in this game and, for those times that it does, it just makes me want to fight that much harder. I won’t be forgetting Melinoe and her supporting cast for a long time, mostly because I can’t stop diving back into the underworld.
Hollow Knight: Silksong – TJ Denzer, Senior Tryhard (as written by TJ Denzer)
A lot of my favorite games this year were mostly feelgood things that gave me some level of emotion about the state of the world and my hopes for it. I was just in that kind of mood.
Hollow Knight: Silksong, however, is not that kind of game. The emotions Silksong made me feel most were righteous fury and desire for vengeance as it clobbered me mercilessly with every possible nasty gameplay trick and twist in the book. But I love it so. Team Cherry put together quite an amazing platformer that feels smartly assembled from top to bottom. Every boss, every jump, and every new bit of technique or gear was a small extra layer on top of the impeccable controls and feel of the game.
And it made for a give and take of triumph and tragedy as I did my best to defeat it. I ran half the game doing no-hit runs on the bosses and it was one of my most exciting challenges this year. I intend to finish that list over break if I can, so stay tuned.
Skate Story – Asif Khan, Hasn’t skated since snapping his board in half in 1994
I absolutely love skateboarding video games, and Skate Story is one of the very best ever created. From the art style to the story, the game is a wonderful celebration of skater culture intertwined with a narrative that is not afraid to poke fun at modern-day American consumerism and bureaucracy. You are a devil made out of glass trying to eat the moon, and while that premise already sounds crazy, that isn’t even the most absurd part of this wonderful game.
Skate Story combines a gameplay toolkit with unique boss battles to create a brand-new skateboarding video game experience. It’s my indie game of the year, and Sam Eng deserves all the flowers for shipping such an insanely polished game without an abundance of developer resources.
Dispatch – Bill Lavoy, Shackmaps Overlord
Not only was Dispatch my Indie Game of the Year, but it was nearly my Game of the Year. In 2025, there was no other game that I couldn’t put down. As I was playing it and thinking about going to bed I’d talk myself into one more episode. It was a masterpiece from start to finish and a game that I’ll happily return to in the future to see alternate outcomes I can discover.
Hollow Knight: Silksong – Sam Chandler, Bugman
It was a long time coming but 2025 finally delivered one of my favorite games of the year and, in fact, my favorite indie game this year: Hollow Knight: Silksong. The game blew me away with its art style, movement and platforming, and the intense and punishing combat. Every new area felt like it was testing the limits of my skills, and once I proved I could do it, I’d receive a new bit of tech to make it easier. Even just standing around in small villages talking to other bugs or looking out into the distance felt, oddly enough, cozy. There’s a deep warmth to Silksong under its tough shell.
I’m so proud of what Team Cherry, a little studio from Australia, managed to deliver. The developers kept their heads down and let passion drive their dreams forward.
Look Outside – Dennis White Jr., Community Manager
Look Outside hits a sweet spot for me with a mixture of dope retro visuals, excellent character building, and Lovecraftian levels of cosmic horror. I really enjoyed the creatures I ran into while trying to survive the night in this game’s world and the turn-based RPG elements drew me, as well. The soundtrack on this game is awesome with switches from creepy ambiance to hype battle tunes that had me ready to run through a door while taking out the horrors down the next hallway (One track is called Blood Ghoul Orgy 3 for example).
I also really like some of the game’s mechanics like how enemies reveal their true terrifying forms as you get closer, making you have to question whether it’s worth the encounter risk to get the shiny trinket hiding around the corner. Party members are fun and there’s some interesting NPCs as well. The body horror and designs are truly nightmare fuel but I love it. This game is gross in the best ways and the retro game style keeps it from being too realistic in ways that might turn me away. The game has received some quality updates over the past few weeks so I definitely suggest that horror fans check it out.
Dispatch – Donovan Erskine, News Editor at SDN
Dispatch is easily my Indie Game of the Year. I absolutely fell in love with these characters and this world. Being able to log in every Wednesday from October to November to experience the newest chapters in this story was a magical experience. I loved seeing other players’ reactions online; it was the first interactive narrative game to capture the cultural zeitgeist since Telltale Games’ prime in the 2010s. AdHoc Studio delivered an unforgettable game for their debut, and I’m already one of their biggest fans.
Dispatch has a special place in my heart, and I probably won’t resist the urge to spin up another run in the coming months.
Gigasword – Steve Tyminski, Carry a Big Sword!
What is my indie game of the year for 2025? There were so many good games that came from AAA developers as well as indie studios. I think I have this narrowed down to two games and those are Ball X Pit and Gigasword. I found myself drawn to Ball X Pit when I first saw it on a Nintendo Direct. If you don’t know, Ball X Pit feels like a modern take on Arkanoid, where you use balls to break/attack blocks/enemies. I started playing Ball X Pit during the Shacknews Game of the Year deliberations and found myself not being able to put it down. The rounds are very quick that you could play for hours without even noticing.
However, there was another game that I found myself playing just as much and that was Gigasword. I saw Gigasword for the first time at PAX East a few years ago and fell in love with it. It plays like a classic platformer/Metroidvania game. Not only did I play the demo at PAX East, I played the Steam demo and begged for a review code on Nintendo Switch. I love this game very much. Gigasword is one of the few games I have been able to play and notify the developers about bugs and glitches that can help make the game better. 2025 was a great year for gaming. 2026 will have some big shoes to fill but I’m sure it can manage.
That covers our Indie Game of the Year choices for 2025. What indie games were your favorite this year? Chime in below and stay tuned for more Shacknews Awards 2025 coverage rounding out this month!
