Titanium Court Wins the Seumas McNally Grand Prize at the 28th IGF Awards — 2026’s Most Exciting Indie Game Doesn’t Even Have a Release Date Yet

Titanium Court, developed by independent developer AP Thomson, was awarded the Seumas McNally Grand Prize for Best Independent Game at the 28th annual Independent Games Festival Awards, held on March 11, 2026 at the GDC Festival of Gaming in San Francisco. The IGF Awards are among the oldest and most respected independent game awards in the world, specifically designed to celebrate games created outside the major studio system. Titanium Court also won the Excellence in Design award at the same ceremony. The game is described by critics as a ‘wonderfully strange strategic RPG deckbuilding puzzle’ — a genre-defying work whose narrative, music, and animation have all drawn exceptional praise from the games press. The game’s victory attracted additional attention for an unusual reason: Titanium Court does not yet have a confirmed release date or a purchase page on any storefront, despite the submitted competition build appearing to critics and judges as a highly complete and polished game. The Nuovo Award — given for the most experimental or conceptually adventurous game — went to Horses, a horror adventure game developed by Santa Ragione and Andrea Lucco Borlera. The Wings Award went to 13Z: The Zodiac Trials by Mixed Realms. Excellence in Visual Art went to Eclipsium by Housefire. Excellence in Narrative was awarded to Perfect Tides: Station to Station by Three Bees. Excellence in Audio went to Baby Steps, developed by Gabe Cuzillo, Maxi Boch, and Bennett Foddy. The full independent games category winner AP Thomson’s Titanium Court represents the spirit of the IGF: games that push the boundaries of what the medium can do, created by individual developers with limited resources and unlimited creative ambition.