By Elizabeth Hambleton
Indie games —titles created by small teams without the backing of a major publisher—are more numerous than the blockbuster releases. They’re often more affordable, too, making them more appealing for library collections. Due to their niche reach, however, many library game collections give indies a pass in favor of more well-known triple-A titles. Why offer cult-classic metroidvania Hollow Knight (2017) when you can add actual Metroid (link is for Metroid Dread (2021), the latest entry in the series)? Which game is more likely to circulate: adorable indie Cozy Grove (2021) or the world-famous Animal Crossing: New Horizons (2020)?
Fortunately, there are several awards programs geared towards indie releases. The Indie Game Awards highlights recent successful titles, and the Indiecade Awards focus on new or forthcoming games that push creative and technical boundaries in gaming. Speaking as someone who has worked behind the scenes for one of these, I can attest that literally hundreds of games are evaluated every year, and the final list of nominees are all stellar and worth your time (and, perhaps, your library collection budget!) in their own ways. Picking the winner is great, but just making the shortlist is a testament to incredible success and quality.
There are also genre- and region-specific showcases worth tapping into, such as the Latin American Games Showcase and the Wholesome Games Direct. These can be excellent sources for librarians curating collections that speak to their diverse patron interests. For the sake of brevity, this blog post will stick to Indie Games and Indiecade, but I encourage you to see what’s out there for other genres and styles of gameplay.
Highlights of the 2025 indie awards
2025 saw more the most indie game releases than any year in history – and many of them would make excellent additions to a library collection, budget permitting. The new mountain climbing game Cairn by The Game Bakers scooped up the Grand Jury Award. Cairn is available on Steam and PlayStation 5. It also earned the Systemic Design Award.
The Tabletop Design Award went to Beacon Patrol by Shapes and Dreams, which exists in both video game and board game form. The video game version is digital-only, making it trickier for libraries that rely on lendable physical media. That’s a common trend among winners, but not a deal-breaker – many nominated games add physical releases after the fact. However, rest assured that any game that makes the list of nominees is already outstanding. For example, the charming bestseller Tiny Bookshop may be digital only right now but they are accepting pre-orders for both Switch and PlayStation 5 physical editions.
Two of the very hottest indie games of 2025 are the roguelike puzzle exploration game Blue Prince by Dogubomb, and the French role-playing turn-based-combat adventure game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 by Sandfall Interactive. Sandfall Interactive did release a physical disc for the PS5 in addition to digital, but only as a collector’s edition that is sold out in many places. The solo developer behind Blue Prince wisely waited for success to be assured, and then released a physical PS5 disc through iam8bit (which is sold out at the time of writing this piece, but may return to stock soon).
Once you read the descriptions and awards and identify a video game you’d like to add to your library’s collection, you can often track down a physical copy through specialized distributors like First Press Games (Germany), iam8bit (Los Angeles), or Limited Run Games (North Carolina), which work with the indie developers to produce limited editions of physical discs for their games.
Of course, you might even browse these distributors’ websites for new releases and cross-reference the titles with ones from the game award lists. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel here. For example, Sorry We’re Closed is another cult classic from 2025, winner of the Debut Game award from the Indie Game Awards. Though it didn’t make as big of a splash, the developers went ahead and gave it a full physical release that’s available at most of the usual stores (Amazon, GameStop, Target, etc.).
To recap: If you’re looking to enrich your library’s video game collection with indie gems:
- Use the Indie Game Awards, IndieCade Awards, and specialty showcases as selection guides.
- Remember that not all indie games receive physical editions—but many that do are released on major systems like Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 5.
- When in doubt, a quick search or a look through indie‑focused distributors like iam8bit can point you toward physical copies.
Indie games bring creative, diverse, and affordable options to library collections—and award lists make it easier than ever to discover what’s worth adding next.