BAFTA Games Awards 2023: Nominations across various categories
With the Bafta awards 2023 round the corner, it is safe to say that there’s no doubt God of War: Ragnarok is up for more than just a few awards. With 45 games nominated this year, Ragnarok has added 14 nominations to its credit, having surpassed Elden Ring (8 nominations) and the indie hit Stray (9 nominations).
It marks the 19th year of the Baftas celebrating the best of video games, recognizing the talent and creativity of game developers, designers, writers, and artists who push the boundaries of what’s possible in gaming.
The Nominees
While it is clear that Ragnarok is ahead of the pack, Cult of the Lamb has been nominated in the Best Game Design category along with Horizon Forbidden Forest West for Best Animation and Elden Ring for Best Artistic Achievement.
Stray is a French game developed by BlueTwelve Studio and published by Annapurna Interactive in 2022. An adventure game, it tells the story of a stray cat who accidentally finds itself in a walled city filled with robots, mutated bacteria and machines. As it tries to find its way back to the surface, it is aided by its drone companion B-12, who lets players gather and store items throughout the game.
Playing from a third-person perspective, the player navigates this world by jumping across platforms, scaling obstacles and using environmental objects to reveal new pathways by hacking into technological systems to solve puzzles. The biggest enemies in this game are the Zurks and the Sentinels whose mission is to end the players.
Ragnarok is the highly anticipated sequel to widely praised God of War (2018) by Santa Monica Studio. It is the ninth instalment in the series and is loosely based on Norse mythology. This game sees Kratos and his son Atreus, embark on a quest to uncover the truth as Fimbulwinter sets in.
Visiting the Nine Realms, they must traverse breathtaking mythical landscapes while Asgardian troops prepare for an apocalyptic battle. Slashing through terrifying adversaries, including Norse gods and monsters, the ultimate decision of whether to protect themselves or their realms is part of the story that is picked up from the prequel where Kratos killed Baldur, the Aesir god.
Coming from the same studios that released Ragnarok is Horizon Forbidden West, an action-packed RPG where players take on the role of Aloy who lives in a world that is filled with dangerous animal-like machines.
The game is played from a third-person perspective. It takes place in an expansive open world known as the Forbidden West, which is based on the post-apocalyptic version of California, Nevada and Utah in the Western US.
Category Nominations
Best Animation, Best Game, and Best Debut Game are just some of the categories Stray has been nominated in
Here are the nominees in each category this year:
Animation
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II – Infinity Ward/Activision Publishing
God of War Ragnarök – Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
Horizon Forbidden West – Guerrilla/Sony Interactive Entertainment
Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga – TT Games/Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment
Sifu – Sloclap/Sloclap & Kepler Interactive
Stray – BlueTwelve Studio/Annapurna Interactive
Artistic achievement
A Plague Tale Requiem – Asobo Studio/Focus Entertainment
Elden Ring – FromSoftware/Bandai Namco Europe
God of War Ragnarök – Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
Immortality – Half Mermaid Productions/Half Mermaid Productions
Pentiment – Obsidian Entertainment/Xbox Game Studio
Tunic – Tunic Team/Finji
Audio Achievement
A Plague Tale Requiem – Asobo Studio/Focus Entertainment
God of War Ragnarök – Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
Horizon Forbidden West – Guerrilla/Sony Interactive Entertainment
Metal: Hellsinger – The Outsiders/Funcom Oslo
Stray – BlueTwelve Studio/Annapurna Interactive
Tunic – Tunic Team/Finji
Best game
Cult of the Lamb – Massive Monster/Devolver Digital
Elden Ring – FromSoftware/Bandai Namco Europe
God of War Ragnarök – Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
Marvel Snap – Second Dinner Studios/Nuverse
Stray – BlueTwelve Studio/Annapurna Interactive
Vampire Survivors – poncle/poncle
British game
Citizen Sleeper – Jump Over the Age/Fellow Traveller
OlliOlli World – Roll7/Private Division
Rollerdrome – Roll7/Private Division
Total War: Warhammer III – Creative Assembly/Sega
Two Point Campus – Two Point Studios/Sega
Vampire Survivors – poncle/poncle
Debut game
As Dusk Falls – Interior/Night/Xbox Game Studios
The Case of the Golden Idol – Color Gray Games/Playstack
Stray – BlueTwelve Studio/Annapurna Interactive
Trombone Champ – Holy Wow Studios/Holy Wow Studios
Tunic – Tunic Team/Finji
Vampire Survivors – poncle/poncle
Evolving game
Apex Legends – Respawn/Electronic Arts
Dreams – Media Molecule/Sony Interactive Entertainment
The Elder Scrolls Online – Zenimax Online Studios/Bethesda Softworks
Final Fantasy XIV Online – Creative Business Unit III/Square Enix
Forza Horizon 5 – Playground Games/Xbox Game Studios
No Man’s Sky – Hello Games/Hello Games
Family
Disney Dreamlight Valley – Gameloft/Gameloft
Kirby and the Forgotten Land – Hal Laboratory/Nintendo
Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga – TT Games/Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment
Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope – Ubisoft Milan; Ubisoft Paris/Ubisoft
Nintendo Switch Sports – Nintendo EPD/Nintendo
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge – Tribute Games/Dotemu
Game beyond entertainment
Citizen Sleeper – Jump Over the Age/Fellow Traveller
Endling: Extinction is Forever – Herobeat Studios/HandyGames
Gibbon: Beyond the Trees – Broken Rules/Broken Rules
I Was a Teenage Exocolonist – Northway Games/Finji
Not for Broadcast – NotGames/tinyBuild
We’ll Always Have Paris – Cowleyfornia Studios/Cowleyfornia Studios
Game design
Cult of the Lamb – Massive Monster/Devolver Digital
Elden Ring – FromSoftware/Bandai Namco Europe
God of War Ragnarök – Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
Horizon Forbidden West – Guerrilla/Sony Interactive Entertainment
Tunic – Tunic Team/Finji
Vampire Survivors – poncle/poncle
Multiplayer
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II -Infinity WardActivision Publishing
Fifa 23 – EA Vancouver, EA Romania/EA Sports
Elden Ring – FromSoftware/Bandai Namco Europe
Overwatch 2 – Blizzard Entertainment/Blizzard Entertainment
Splatoon 3 – Nintendo/Nintendo
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge – Tribute Games/Dotemu
Music
A Plague Tale Requiem – Asobo Studio/Focus Entertainment
Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course – Studio MDHR/Studio MDHR
Elden Ring – FromSoftware/Bandai Namco Europe
God of War Ragnarök – Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
Stray – BlueTwelve Studio/Annapurna Interactive
Tunic – Tunic Team/Finji
Narrative
A Plague Tale Requiem – Asobo Studio/Focus Entertainment
Citizen Sleeper – Jump Over the Age/Fellow Traveller
God of War Ragnarök – Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
Immortality – Half Mermaid Productions/Half Mermaid Productions
Pentiment – Obsidian Entertainment/Xbox Game Studio
Stray – BlueTwelve Studio/Annapurna Interactive
Original Property
Citizen Sleeper – Jump Over the Age/Fellow Traveller
Cult of the Lamb – Massive Monster/Devolver Digital
Elden Ring – FromSoftware/Bandai Namco Europe
Sifu – Sloclap/Sloclap & Kepler Interactive
Stray – BlueTwelve Studio/Annapurna Interactive
Vampire Survivors – poncle/poncle
Performer in a leading role
Alain Mesa as Alejandro Vargas in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II
Charlotte McBurney as Amicia in A Plague Tale: Requiem
Christopher Judge as Kratos in God of War Ragnarök
Manon Gage as Marissa Marcel in Immortality
Siobhan Williams as Laura in The Quarry
Sunny Suljic as Atreus in God of War Ragnarök
Performer in a supporting role
Adam J Harrington as Sindri in God of War Ragnarök
Alison Jaye as Alva in Horizon Forbidden West
Charlotta Mohlin as The One in Immortality
Danielle Bisutti as Freya in God of War Ragnarök
Laya DeLeon Hayes as Angrboda in God of War Ragnarök
Ryan Hurst as Thor in God of War Ragnarök
Technical achievement
Elden Ring – FromSoftware/Bandai Namco Europe
God of War Ragnarök – Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
Horizon Forbidden West – Guerrilla/Sony Interactive Entertainment
Immortality – Half Mermaid Productions/Half Mermaid Productions
The Last of Us Part I – Naughty Dog/Sony Interactive Entertainment
Stray – BlueTwelve Studio/Annapurna Interactive
EE Game of the year (voted for by the public)
Elden Ring – FromSoftware/Bandai Namco Europe
God of War Ragnarök – Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
Horizon Forbidden West – Guerrilla/Sony Interactive Entertainment
Immortality – Half Mermaid Productions/Half Mermaid Productions
Marvel Snap – Second Dinner Studios/Nuverse
Stray – BlueTwelve Studio/Annapurna Interactive
Bafta Night 2023
The upcoming awards show will be hosted by experienced gaming presenter Frankie Ward, who has previously worked on E4’s GamesMaster show and co-presents the My Life in Pixels podcast. A passionate gamer herself, she often streams her gameplay on Twitch and expressed her excitement about being part of the awards and celebrating the talented people behind the gaming industry.
Watching the Awards
The ceremony is scheduled for Thursday at 6:50 pm BST and will be held at the Southbank Theatre. It will be available to watch exclusively on the BAFTA’s Twitch channel.