BBC Newsbeat
Ninja IdeaSenua’s Saga: Hellblade II has picked up probably the most nominations at this 12 months’s Bafta Video games Awards.
The action-adventure recreation, developed by Cambridge-based studio Ninja Idea, is up for awards in 11 out of 14 classes on the annual ceremony.
It is within the operating for finest recreation alongside 3D platformer Astro Bot – up for eight awards – which clinched top prize at the US-based Game Awards in December.
The occasion, thought-about one of the vital prestigious within the video games trade calendar, can be held in London on 8 April.
The opposite contenders in the very best recreation class are:
- Balatro – a poker-inspired card recreation
- Black Delusion: Wukong – an action-adventure made in China and impressed by a preferred fantasy
- Helldivers II – a multiplayer co-operative shooter
- The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Knowledge – the primary recreation in Nintendo’s in style collection to star the princess it is named after
- Thank Goodness You are Right here! – a wacky cartoon journey recreation developed by two pals from Barnsley
Bafta palms out prizes annually in a spread of classes, together with performing, music and recreation design.
Three of the six most-nominated video games this 12 months have been made within the UK.
Nonetheless Wakes the Deep, a horror recreation from Brighton-based studio The Chinese language Room set on a Scottish oil rig, is up for eight awards, whereas Thank Goodness You are Right here! is up for seven.
Lego Horizon Adventures, based mostly on the PlayStation collection and largely developed by London-based Studio Gobo, is nominated in 4 classes.
Indie hits Animal Effectively and Balatro, every have 4 nominations, as does Name of Obligation: Black Ops 6.
Coal SupperSenua’s Saga: Hellblade II is a sequel to Senua’s Sacrifice – which picked up 5 awards at 2018’s gaming Baftas.
Its 11 nominations may shock some – the sport was a formidable technical showcase and obtained constructive if not excellent evaluations.
Nonetheless, like the primary recreation, it was praised for its sensitive depiction of the main character’s psychosis.
Bafta Video games committee chair Tara Saunders tells BBC Newsbeat it represents “a robust 12 months for British-made video games”.
She says the voting panel is made up of members internationally who take the awards “very severely” and vote based mostly on a spread of options.
“It is all about excellence,” she says.
“Excellence within the crafts and possibly a few of these video games have nailed all of these craft areas.”
Bafta CEO Jane Millichip agrees, and desires to embrace the very fact they’ve a British recreation class.
“Our members are worldwide and so they’re the individuals who select,” she says.
Most-nominated video games
Organized by variety of classes:
- Senua’s Saga: 11
- Astro Bot and Nonetheless Wakes the Deep – eight
- Thank Goodness You are Right here! – seven
- Black Delusion: Wukong – 5
Learn extra in regards to the nominees:
The Bafta Video games Awards are not any stranger to the odd upset.
In 2023, Vampire Survivors – made by a tiny British studio – beat Sony’s God of War: Ragnarök to the top prize.
This 12 months’s finest recreation area has an analogous mixture of big-budget blockbusters and indie hits.
“I really like that Bafta can shock, I really like that it is not a given and we will get to that night time and we do not know what is going on to come back out on high,” Tara says.
“It is placing a highlight on some actually tiny video games which may have slipped by.”
Metaphor: Refantazio featured prominently in different awards lists however solely picked up two nominations, with one for its narrative.
And Last Fantasy VII: Rebirth was nominated within the narrative and music classes however ineligible for finest recreation as a consequence of Bafta guidelines on remakes.
The Chinese language RoomOccasions stay robust for individuals working within the video games trade worldwide, with mass layoffs, studio closures and cancelled tasks persevering with to make headlines.
Tara says awards just like the Baftas are “a beacon of sunshine in the dead of night instances”.
“It is actually vital to pause and rejoice the groups and people which have crafted these standout video games experiences,” she says.
And Jane, who additionally oversees Bafta’s occasions throughout movie, TV and different inventive industries, says the gaming awards are a spot for individuals to help one another.
“I’ve by no means seen a group cheer a lot once they lose, it is a sensible factor to behold,” she says.
“It is so fantastic to see the entire video games group being so supportive of one another and there to rejoice the sector, not themselves.
“It is form of devoid of ego and that is nice.”
You’ll find a full checklist of Bafta Video games Awards nominations for 2025 here.
