Indiana Jones and The Great Circle leads in the Develop:Star Awards 2025 nominations: the adventure game is up for six awards at once

By: Vladyslav Nuzhnov | 15.05.2025, 13:28

The nominees for the prestigious Develop:Star Awards 2025 have been announced, with Indiana Jones and the Great Circle receiving the most nominations. This action-adventure game is in the running for the title of the best game of the year among other strong contenders.

Here's What We Know

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle received six nominations, including the main category of Best Game. It is followed by Thank Goodness You're Here from Coal Supper with five nominations, and Paper Trail from Newfangled Games received four. Interestingly, Thank Goodness You're Here is also competing for the Best Game title alongside Still Wakes The Deep and Astro Bot.

Other notable contenders include Split Fiction and Atomfall, while Hazelight Studios and Rebellion are nominated in the Best Studio category. Small studios Coal Supper and Shared Memory (by Animal Well) are competing in the Best Small Studio category, with Animal Well also nominated for Best Marketing Campaign.

This year's Develop:Star Awards feature two new categories - Best EDI Initiative, which recognises initiatives in the field of equality, diversity and inclusion, and Best In-Game Accessibility, which assesses the accessibility of games for players with special needs.

A special honour at this year's ceremony will be The Develop Star Award, which will be presented to Sam Lake, a key figure at Remedy Entertainment known for his contributions to Max Payne, Alan Wake, Quantum Break and Control.

The winners will be selected by voting among the gaming industry representatives, which will last until 30 May. The award ceremony will take place on 9 July at Develop:Brighton conference at Brighton Dome.

Full list of nominees:

Best Game

  • Astro Bot
  • Atomfall
  • Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
  • Split Fiction
  • Still Wakes the Deep
  • Thank Goodness You're Here

Best Studio

  • Facepunch Studios
  • FuturLab
  • Hazelight Studios
  • Larian Studios
  • Rebellion
  • Team Asobi
  • The Chinese Room

Best Small Studio

  • Coal Supper
  • Cyberwave
  • Newfangled Games
  • Polygon Treehouse
  • Shared Memory
  • Spilt Milk Studios

Publishing Star

  • Curve Games
  • Fireshine Games
  • No More Robots
  • Playstack
  • Raw Fury
  • Secret Mode
  • Team17

Best Mobile Game

  • A Little to the Left
  • Maid of Sker
  • Monument Valley 3
  • Paper Trail
  • PBJ - The Musical
  • Sniper Elite 4

Best Game Design

  • Astro Bot
  • Expelled
  • Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
  • Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2
  • Thank Goodness You're Here
  • Two Point Museum

Best Audio

  • Astrobot
  • Atomfall
  • Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
  • Monument Valley 3
  • Tales of Kenzera: Zau
  • Thank Goodness You're Here

Best Visual Art

  • Dungeons of Hinterberg
  • Harold Halibut
  • Neva
  • Paper Trail
  • Songs of Silence
  • Still Wakes the Deep

Best Narrative

  • Closer the Distance
  • Expelled
  • Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail
  • Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
  • Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2
  • Thank Goodness You're Here

Best Original IP

  • Paper Trail
  • Stellar Blade
  • Still Wakes the Deep
  • Thank Goodness You're Here
  • Uncle Chop's Rocket Shop
  • Vampire Therapist

Best In-Game Accessibility

  • Atomfall
  • Mythwrecked: Ambrosia Island
  • Paper Trail
  • Sea of Thieves - custom text overlay
  • Silent Hill 2
  • Trash Goblin

Tomorrow's Star

  • Emma Marshall-Newson, Sumo Digital
  • Francesca White, Behaviour Interactive
  • Gurvinder Bisran, BOM
  • Marco Ng, Otterweave Game Studio
  • Melodie Showell, Side
  • Summer Davies, Blast
  • Valeriya Lakhtikova, Dovetail Games

Best Marketing Campaign

  • Animal Well
  • Dungeons of Hinterberg
  • Futurlab - PowerWash Simulator
  • Hitman World of Assassination
  • Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
  • Monument Valley 3
  • PlanetPlay's Make Green Moves

Best Technical Innovation

  • Astro Bot
  • Code Wizards Group
  • Harold Halibut
  • Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
  • Lego Horizon Adventures
  • Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2

Supporting Star

  • Coutts
  • GG Insurance Services
  • Green Man Gaming
  • PitStop Productions
  • Room 8 Group
  • Side
  • Tanglewood Games
  • Unreal Engine

Talent and Recruitment Star

  • Aardvark Swift
  • Amiqus
  • Datascope Recruitment
  • Playground Games Recruitment Team
  • Skillsearch Limited

Best EDI Initiative

  • Brainspark Games
  • Ensemble (part of the London Games Festival)
  • Limit Break Mentorship
  • Out Making Games
  • Playground Games
  • Women in Games

Source: Develop