Look, let's be honest, Seongnam City, the Seongnam Industry Promotion Agency, and the Korea Mobile Game Association hosted the '2026 Indiecraft Awards Ceremony' at Hyatt Place Seoul Pangyo on October 15, handing out prizes to six brilliant development studios.

The 2026 Indiecraft is an indie game festival co-organized by the Seongnam Industry Promotion Agency and the Korea Mobile Game Association, with Seongnam City acting as the host.

This ceremony marked the grand finale of a grueling seven-month marathon that kicked off back in March, featuring selected title announcements, a promotional booth at Gamescom in Germany, an offline exhibition linked with GXG 2026, and the Connect Fair export consultation. Out of a total of 72 selected developers—52 in the domestic division and 20 in the challenger division—just six developers who reached the top 3 in their respective categories took home the glory today.

The Grand Prize in the domestic/community category went to 1HP Studio for 'INARI'. It is a shuriken action platformer featuring a single life system, which earned rave reviews for its polished execution and an Eastern-influenced setting where myth clashes with steel.

The final rankings for the domestic division were calculated by combining the initial document review (30%) with a secondary FGT evaluation (70%) where everyday players got to vote directly.

The Top Excellence Award was scooped up by Weiwei Co., Ltd. for 'Akseon', a hack-and-slash action roguelike themed around Korean shamanism, while the Excellence Award went to CircleFromDot for the hardcore top-down shooter 'Kusan: City of Wolves'.

Over in the challenger division, which focuses on student development teams, Plutarkos grabbed the Top Excellence Award for 'Theseus', a tactical FPS combining a commander's operational decisions with a mercenary's body-cam perspective.

The Excellence Award was claimed by Saessak Studio for 'War in the Dark', a turn-based simulation depicting 1950s battlefield Morse code information warfare through 1-bit pixel art, and the Indie Level-Up Award was awarded to Trinut Studio for 'Pass the Bomb: Runner', a balance-action title where players dash while managing the center of gravity of a bomb.

Yoon Jae-eun, co-representative of One & One, who claimed the top spot in the domestic division last year, stepped up as a presenter. Co-representative Yoon handed over the trophies to this year's winning teams and shared a year's worth of post-victory experiences alongside messages of encouragement for fellow developers.

Hwang Sung-ik, chairman of the Korea Mobile Game Association and co-chair of the Indiecraft organizing committee, stated, "I sincerely congratulate the six developers who made it to this year's top 3 after going through fiercely contested evaluations." He added, "We will spare no support to ensure this victory does not end as a one-time honor, but actually translates into tangible growth like securing investments, publishing, and overseas expansion."

Lee Joo-yeon, director of the Seongnam Industry Promotion Agency, noted, "Indie games are built not on massive capital, but out of sheer passion and fresh imagination." She continued, "I hope today's awards serve as a small reward for the time invested so far." She also pointed out, "Pangyo is the epicenter of the video game industry in South Korea," and promised, "Alongside the Korea Mobile Game Association, we will stay right by the side of these developers so they can keep making games and venture out into a wider world."

You can view further details on the official Indiecraft website.