By Sagar V. Mankar 
The IndieDB Indie of the Year Awards has announced its winners for the 15th annual edition. The editorial team at IndieDB carefully selected winners across multiple categories, recognizing the best indie games of the year.
This year’s Best Singleplayer award goes to “shapez 2,” an impressive solo-developer project that builds upon its predecessor’s success. The game has captured players’ attention with its addictive space factory-building mechanics and refined gameplay systems.
“Palworld” claimed the Best Multiplayer title. Released in early January, this survival-crafting game from Pocketpair blends pokemonlike creatures with unexpected elements like gunplay and collecting mechanics, resulting in over 25 million sales in just one month.
The Most Creative award was secured by “Chained Together,” which introduces an ingenious twist to the popular “only-up” genre. By literally chaining players together, the game creates both hilarious moments and challenging cooperative gameplay scenarios.
“Bodycam” earned the Best Art-Direction award for its groundbreaking visual realism. The small development team at Reissad Studio pushed Unreal Engine to its limits, creating visuals so realistic that early trailers were met with skepticism.
The Community Award went to “No More Room in Hell 2” by Torn Banner Studios, a notable choice that connects to IndieDB’s own history. The game represents a full-circle moment, as it evolved from one of the earliest Half-Life 2 mods featured on ModDB, IndieDB’s predecessor.
In the virtual reality space, “Guardian of Realms” by SinnStudio took home Best VR Game for its innovative use of the Meta Quest 3’s augmented reality capabilities, bringing medieval combat into players’ living rooms.
Looking ahead, the Most Anticipated award went to “Killing Floor 3” from Tripwire Interactive, generating excitement for its 2025 release. The game promises to continue the gore-filled action that made its predecessors popular among fans. Set in the year 2091, “Killing Floor 3” sees the corporation Horzine producing an obedient horde of bio-engineered creatures known as Zeds. Players will step into the role of specialists in the rebel group Nightfall, joining forces with up to five teammates to battle the unrelenting waves of Zeds, unlocking skills and forging a killer arsenal along the way.
Here are the winners across all categories:
- Best Singleplayer
- Winner: shapez 2
- Developer: tobspr Games
- Notable for: Solo-developed space factory building game
- Best Multiplayer
- Winner: Palworld
- Developer: Pocketpair
- Notable for: Combining survival crafting with creature collection
- Most Creative
- Winner: Chained Together
- Developer: Anegar Games and Forceight
- Notable for: Unique chain-bound cooperative gameplay
- Best Art-Direction
- Winner: Bodycam
- Developer: Reissad Studio
- Notable for: Ultra-realistic visuals in Unreal Engine
- Community Award
- Winner: No More Room in Hell 2
- Developer: Torn Banner Studios
- Notable for: Faithful continuation of classic Half-Life 2 mod
- Best VR Game
- Winner: Guardian of Realms
- Developer: SinnStudio
- Notable for: Innovative AR combat using Meta Quest 3
- Best Co-op
- Winner: Liar’s Bar
- Developer: Curve Animation
- Notable for: Social deduction gameplay
- Best Narrative
- Winner: Helldivers 2
- Developer: Arrowhead Game Studios
- Notable for: Community-driven storytelling
- Best Gameplay
- Winner: Balatro
- Developer: LocalThunk | PlayStack
- Notable for: Innovative take on poker gameplay
- Most Anticipated
- Winner: Killing Floor 3
- Developer: Tripwire Interactive
- Notable for: Upcoming 2025 release in popular franchise
Source: IndieDB Editor’s Choice Awards 2024 announcement