BAFTA Games Awards 2023: Nominations across various categories

bafta

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.

Comments

0