Short Games Showcase 2025: results are out!

Competitions
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The Short Games Showcase 2025 is now concluded! The top 10 games are:

  1. Portrait with Wolf by Drew Cook (@kamineko)
  2. a dialect for two by lacunova
  3. Marbles, D, and the Sinister Spotlight by Drew Cook
  4. Hairs by foxlerner
  5. Radiance Inviolate by @DemonApologist
  6. It Was Fate by @LampPostProjects
  7. Super Halloween Horror Show by @jwalrus
  8. Ten Things I Learned in the Red Room by Nessa Cannon
  9. Little Boxes by @lavieenmeow
  10. DREAM NO MORE by @KATan

Categories coming in a second comment so I can tag more people!

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Best Use of Short Form

  1. Nihilist Syndrome by crotovane
  2. I Got You by @Kastel
  3. hideous, fabulous by @Lionstooth / Hairs by foxlerner (tie)

Best Use of Interactivity

  1. Something in our heart by @Naarel and @Nulla

(Due to a wide spread of votes in this category, everything else is tied at either one or two votes, so second and third places cannot be awarded for this category.)

Best Story-Focused Game

  1. 3XXX: NAKED HUMAN BOMBS by Kastel / Hairs by foxlerner / Radiance Inviolate by @DemonApologist (tie)

Best Puzzle-Focused Game

  1. It Was Fate by @LampPostProjects
  2. Incoherence by Vine Moss Games
  3. Akinghas… by @mathbrush

Most Replay Value

  1. Portrait With Wolf by Drew Cook
  2. The Burger Meme Personality Test by @Carlos / hideous, fabulous by Lionstooth / Robot Recovery Mission by @ChanceOfFire (tie)

Best Previously Unawarded Game

  1. Nihilist Syndrome by crotovane
  2. Portrait With Wolf by Drew Cook
  3. Ten Things I Learned in the Red Room by Nessa Cannon

Congrats to all winners and thank you to everyone who participated in any way!

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Thanks for making this showcase! I played a lot of great games I normally would not have ever played.

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Thanks for running the showcase!

Can you confirm the Most Replay Value results? The list here doesn’t match IFDB (and Itch doesn’t yet express an opinion).

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Sorry, it’s IFDB that’s incorrect. I’ll fix that.

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Thanks to organizers, authors, and players for making this a successful event! I really enjoyed it.

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(post deleted by author)

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Seconding Drew—thanks to all who made the Showcase happen. And congrats on the “Best in Show,” Drew!

(Sorry for the deleted post above. I had quoted the wrong response.)

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Nice to see NAKED HUMAN BOMBS tie with two great games for story and I Got You getting second place in short form.

I’m also pleased to see my partner’s game, a dialect for two, placing second place overall. They were very ecstatic.

I can at least vouch for the top ten games. They’re all pretty good.

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It was good to see lots of names I recognized, with works I didn’t recognize. I missed the chance to vote (nope, didn’t even make time for short games) but I do want to look at the winners. Thanks again for holding this–it’s cool to see the variety even in just the titles and summaries.

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Thanks to everyone who chose to read and rate Radiance Inviolate for this event, and to EJ and Encorm for organizing!

It was great to see this event bring this project back from the dead with a second chance at life. I’m thrilled it did so well overall, and that people thought to pick it out of a lot of great options for recognition in the story-focused game category. I appreciate it, it means a lot to me.

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