Hellblade leads BAFTA game nominations with nine nods

Horizon and Edith Finch not far behind.

News by Robert Purchese Associate Editor

Updated on 15 Mar 2018

Ninja Theory's self-published gamble, Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, leads the nominations for the BAFTA video game awards 2018, with nine nods including Best Game. It's been a tremendous success for the British studio, with Hellblade winning both critical acclaim and bringing in more than half-a-million sales.

Sony's PlayStation 4 smash hit Horizon: Zero Dawn follows with eight nominations ahead of Eurogamer's number-two game of the year 2018, What Remains of Edith Finch. Our game of the year, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, has five nods, as does wonderful and inspired puzzle game Gorogoa.

On the four-nod tier are old Disney-inspired platformer Cuphead, Night in the Woods and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy. On the three-nod tier: Assassin's Creed Oranges, Monument Valley 2, PUBG and Super Mario Odyssey. On the two-nod tier: Snipperclips, Fortnite, NieR: Automata, The Sexy Brutale and Bury Me, My Love.

This year's new Game Beyond Entertainment category, designed to recognise games exploring something more than just entertainment, will be contended by Life is Strange: Beyond the Storm; Night in the Woods; Bury Me, My Love; Last Day of June; Hellblade; and Sea Hero Quest VR. Between them they shine a light on a range of mental health afflictions and social issues as well as grief and war. They, and many other games, are doing great work.

Performers in the spotlight for their role in a game this year are: Bayek (Assassin's Creed Origins) actor Abubakar Salim; Aloy (Horizon) actor Ashly Burch; Senua (Hellblade) actor Melina Juergens (this was her first acting role incidentally); Edith Finch actor Valerie Rose Lohman; and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy duo Claudia Black (Chloe) and Laura Bailey (Nadine Ross).

The BAFTA video game awards take place 12th April in London, and will be hosted by comedian Dara O'Briain for the eight time.