Hellblade 2 will get most nominations

Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II has picked up essentially the most nominations at this 12 months’s Bafta Video games Awards.

The action-adventure sport, 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 greatest sport alongside 3D platformer Astro Bot – up for eight awards – which clinched high prize on the US-based Recreation Awards in December.

The occasion, thought-about probably the most prestigious within the video games business calendar, will likely be held in London on 8 April.

The opposite contenders in the most effective sport class are:

• Balatro – a poker-inspired card sport
• Black Delusion: Wukong – an action-adventure made in China and impressed by a preferred delusion
• Helldivers II – a multiplayer co-operative shooter
• The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Knowledge – the primary sport in Nintendo’s in style collection to star the princess it is named after
• Thank Goodness You are Right here! – a wacky cartoon journey sport developed by two buddies from Barnsley

Bafta palms out prizes every year in a variety of classes, together with performing, music and sport design.

Three of the six most-nominated video games this 12 months have been made within the UK.

Nonetheless Wakes the Deep, from Scottish studio The Chinese language Room, 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 Responsibility: Black Ops 6.

Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II is a sequel to Senua’s Sacrifice – which picked up 5 awards at 2018’s gaming Baftas.

Its 11 nominations would possibly shock some – the sport was a formidable technical showcase and obtained optimistic if not excellent evaluations.

Nevertheless, like the primary sport, it was praised for its delicate depiction of the principle character’s psychosis.

Bafta Video games committee chair Tara Saunders tells BBC Newsbeat it represents “a powerful 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 variety 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 actual fact they’ve a British sport class.

“Our members are worldwide and so they’re the individuals who select,” she says.

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 aren’t any stranger to the odd upset.

In 2023, Vampire Survivors – made by a tiny British studio – beat Sony’s God of Warfare: Ragnarök to the highest prize.

This 12 months’s greatest sport area has an identical mixture of big-budget blockbusters and indie hits.

“I like that Bafta can shock, I 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 greatest sport as a consequence of Bafta guidelines on remakes.

Instances stay powerful for folks working within the video games business 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 at midnight instances”.

“It is actually vital to pause and have a good time 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 artistic industries, says the gaming awards are a spot for folks to help one another.

“I’ve by no means seen a group cheer a lot once they lose, it is a good 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 have a good time the sector, not themselves.

“It is sort of devoid of ego and that is nice.”

You will discover a full listing of Bafta Video games Awards nominations for 2025 right here.

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