Baby Steps, Blippo+, and Titanium Court lead the nominees for the 28th annual Independent Games Festival (IGF) awards.
The IGF awards strive to showcase and celebrate independent video games and their creators. The 28th edition will be held in person as part of GDC Festival of Gaming at San Francisco’s Moscone Convention Center from March 9–13.
The winners will be crowned during a ceremony on Wednesday, March 11, 2026, at 6:30pm PT.
Baby Steps, the confounding stroller from Gabe Cuzzillo, Maxi Boch and Bennett Foddy, is leading the charge this year with five nominees—including nods in the Excellence in Audio, Excellence in Design and Excellence in Narrative categories.
The bumbling, stumbling, puzzler is also up for the Nuovo and Seumas McNally Grand Prize Awards.
Blippo+ and Titanium Court have received three nominations apiece, while Santa Ragione’s surreal horror game, Horses—banned from platforms such as Steam and the Epic Games Store—has been nominated for two awards.
This year, following an initial assessment, almost 800 entries for the 2026 IGF Awards were distributed to a diverse set of expert jurors from across the games industry for final consideration.
As a result, the IGF awards is billed as “peer-awarded celebration of the best independent games of the year, where professionals in the gaming industry vote on each category.”
You can find the full list of nominees alongside honorable mentions for each category below:
Best Student Game
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BubbleBeast DigiDungeon (EchoLane)
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Poco (Whalefall, Micah Boursier)
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Sip Fisher (Syphon Software)
Honorable Mentions:
Myth of Lumi (Luminara Games, USC Games), Candellum (ISART DIGITAL), Summit Drive (Luke Kim), Grindset T.V. (Michael Overton Brown)
Excellence in Audio
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Baby Steps (Gabe Cuzzillo, Maxi Boch, Bennett Foddy, Devolver Digital)
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BALL x PIT (Kenny Sun & Friends, Devolver Digital)
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Blippo+ (YACHT, Telefantasy Studios, Noble Robot, Panic)
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Eclipsium (Housefire, CRITICAL REFLEX)
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Morsels (Furcula, Annapurna Interactive)
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Wheel World (Messhof, Annapurna Interactive)
Honorable Mentions:
The Drifter (Powerhoof), Angeline Era (Analgesic Productions), Skate Story (by Sam Eng, Devolver Digital), Demonschool (Necrosoft Games, Ysbryd Games), Skin Deep (Blendo
Games, Annapurna Interactive)
Excellence in Design
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Angeline Era (Analgesic Productions)
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Baby Steps (Gabe Cuzzillo, Maxi Boch, Bennett Foddy, Devolver Digital)
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Öoo (NamaTakahashi, tiny cactus, NamaTakahashi)
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Skin Deep (Blendo Games, Annapurna Interactive)
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Titanium Court (AP Thomson, Fellow Traveler)
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Time Flies (Playables, Time Flies)
Honorable Mentions:
Strange Jigsaws (FLEB), Below The Crown (Misfits Attic, Shochiku), Is This Seat Taken? (Poti Poti Studio, Wholesome Games Presents), Henry Halfhead (Lululu Entertainment, popagenda), Type Help (William Rous)
Excellence in Narrative
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Baby Steps (Gabe Cuzzillo, Maxi Boch, Bennett Foddy, Devolver Digital)
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Perfect Tides: Station to Station (Three Bees)
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Promise Mascot Agency (Kaizen Game Works)
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Titanium Court (AP Thomson, Fellow Traveler)
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Wednesdays (The Pixel Hunt, ARTE France)
Honorable Mentions:
Blippo+ (YACHT, Telefantasy Studios, Noble Robot, Panic), HORSES (Andrea Lucco Borlera, Santa Ragione), The Roottrees Are Dead (Evil Trout Inc.), Sorry We’re Closed (à la mode games, Akupara Games)
Excellence in Visual Arts
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Blippo+ (YACHT, Telefantasy Studios, Noble Robot, Panic)
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CARIMARA: Beneath the forlorn limbs (Bastinus Rex, CRITICAL REFLEX)
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Eclipsium (Housefire, CRITICAL REFLEX)
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Loco Motive (Robust Games, Chucklefish)
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Morsels (Furcula, Annapurna Interactive)
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Skate Story (Sam Eng, Devolver Digital)
Honorable Mentions:
Sol Cesto (Antoine Druaux, Géraud Zucchini, Chariospirale, Goblinz Publishing), Is This Seat Taken? (Poti Poti Studio, Wholesome Games Presents), The Drifter (Powerhoof), Demonschool (Necrosoft Games, Ysbryd Games), Henry Halfhead (Lululu Entertainment, popagenda), PBJ – The Musical (kamibox)
Nuovo Award
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Baby Steps (Gabe Cuzzillo, Maxi Boch, Bennett Foddy, Devolver Digital)
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Blippo+ (YACHT, Telefantasy Studios, Noble Robot, Panic)
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HORSES (Andrea Lucco Borlera, Santa Ragione)
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Mini Mini Golf Golf (Three More Years)
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Plum Road Tea Dream (Reveal Game Studio)
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Titanium Court (AP Thomson, Fellow Traveler))
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kevin’s PLAYING in berlin (Kevin Du
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Wednesdays (The Pixel Hunt, ARTE France)
Honorable Mentions:
The End of Gameplay (droqen), No Players Online (Beeswax Games, Black Lantern Collective), The House Dreams Along With Them (Jeffrey Nordin), Type Help (William Rous), _ΩMEGA_POINT (cathroon), Dreamcore (Montraluz, Tlön Industries), Threshold (Julien Eveillé, CRITICAL REFLEX)
Seumas McNally Grand Prize
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Baby Steps (Gabe Cuzzillo, Maxi Boch, Bennett Foddy, Devolver Digital)
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Angeline Era (Melos Han-Tani, Marina Kittaka, Analgesic Productions, Analgesic Productions)
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Blippo+ (YACHT, Telefantasy Studios, Noble Robot, Panic)
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HORSES (Andrea Lucco Borlera, Santa Ragione)
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Titanium Court (AP Thomson)
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Perfect Tides: Station to Station (Three Bees, Three Bees)
Honorable Mentions:
Eclipsium (Housefire, CRITICAL REFLEX), Time Flies (Playables, Time Flies), Skate Story (Sam Eng, Devolver Digital), Skin Deep (Blendo Games, Annapurna Interactive), BALL X PIT (Kenny Sun & Friends, Devolver Digital), Demonschool (Necrosoft Games, Ysbryd Games), The Drifter (Powerhoof)
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