Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 leads the Bafta Games Awards nominations with 12 nominations, according to multiple reports. The game, developed by French developer Sandfall Interactive, has already won game of the year at the Game Awards, Golden Joysticks, and Dice awards, major media reports indicate.
Other top nominees include Dispatch with nine nominations and Ghost of Yōtei with eight nominations. Dispatch is a superhero adventure about a benched superhero running a team of superpowered misfits at a call center, major media reports. Ghost of Yōtei is a PlayStation 5 adventure and a samurai epic, according to major media.
I feel tremendously proud to represent women in the space.
In the best game category, Blue Prince and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle are among the nominees, multiple reports confirm. Blue Prince is a sublime puzzle-box game, major media reports. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, an Xbox game first released in December 2024, also contends for the top prize. Notably, Hollow Knight: Silksong is absent from the best game category, and both Hollow Knight: Silksong and Hades 2 picked up only a handful of nominations between them, major media reports.
Additional notable nominations include Arc Raiders with five nominations and Death Stranding 2: On the Beach with seven nominations. Arc Raiders is a multiplayer 'looter shooter' that sparked backlash over its use of AI character voices, major media reports. Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is directed by Hideo Kojima, according to multiple reports. Death Stranding 2 star Norman Reedus did not appear in the best performer category, major media notes.
It's very nerve-wracking and a lot of pressure.
Performance nominations feature key actors across multiple games. Aaron Paul is nominated for best performer in a leading role for Dispatch, and Jeffrey Wright is nominated for supporting performance for Dispatch, multiple reports indicate. Erika Ishii is nominated for best performer in a leading role for Ghost of Yōtei, according to reports. For Expedition 33, Charlie Cox is nominated for supporting performance, and Ben Starr and Jennifer English are nominated in the lead performance category, major media reports. Troy Baker is nominated twice for his lead performance as Indiana Jones in The Great Circle and for supporting performance in another game, though the identity of that other game is not specified in the sources.
The Bafta Games Awards ceremony will take place on 17 April in London and will be livestreamed on Bafta's YouTube channel. YouTuber Elz the Witch has been revealed as the host of this year's Bafta Games Awards. Elz the Witch, whose first name is Eleanor, is a content creator who built up a following on YouTube with gaming videos, has presented the Sidemen Charity Match several times, and is a regular voice on Kiss Xtra and Kerrang Radio, major media reports. Elz the Witch is not the first female host of the Bafta Games Awards; esports presenter Frankie Ward and TV presenter Elle Osili-Wood have also fronted the ceremony, major media reports.
I was blown away to be considered for the job.
The Bafta list is panel-voted, unlike many other gaming awards ceremonies which are public-voted, major media reports. The 'Game beyond entertainment' category includes games from six different countries. The nominations list includes 42 different games in total, but the full list of nominees in all categories beyond those mentioned is not detailed in the sources. Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 picked up just two nominations, major media reports. Key unknowns remain, including which game will win the best game award, how many awards Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 will actually win despite its 12 nominations, and the specific reasons why Hollow Knight: Silksong was omitted from the best game category.
I was told when I was little: 'Oh, why are you gaming?'
There are still so many women, myself included, that receive abuse online when you're gaming.
There's a massive responsibility for games companies and also social media platforms to help protect women in the space.
You can be a woman and love video games.
I've been sinking in a lot of hours to some of the games nominated.
Games were such a key part of just keeping me going, so I really want to meet some of these games companies and just tell them how much it means to me.