The Bafta games awards are always slightly different from the institute’s TV and film evenings. Instead of glitzy celebrities, there are endearingly earnest speeches from the developers, artists, musicians, designers and performers behind the year’s most creatively accomplished video games.
The awards went to a diverse range of games, but one dominated the evening. Sony Santa Monica’s mythological epic God of War won five awards overall, having been nominated in 10 categories, including best game. The atmospheric nautical mystery Return of the Obra Dinn and the wildly creative Nintendo Labo took two honours each.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the evening was that Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption 2 picked up no awards, despite being nominated in six categories. Best British game went to the beautiful driving game Forza Horizon 4 instead – helped, no doubt, by its British setting – while artistic achievement went to Return of the Obra Dinn. The audio achievement and narrative awards were won by God of War, as was the performer award, which went to Jeremy Davis for his role as The Stranger, the game’s unhinged antagonist.
Members of the God of War team made emotional speeches. Davis called the game’s creative director, Cory Barlog, who accepted the awards for narrative and best game, a “Spielberg-velocity talent”. Return of the Obra Dinn creator Lucas Pope, accepting the game design award, thanked his late father, who didn’t live to see the game’s release. “He always had faith that my creative endeavours would work out,” said Pope. “I guess this time they did.”
The makers of the cheerful pinball-themed adventure Yoku’s Island Express and Josef Fares, the Swedish-Lebanese director and designer of the two-player prison-break drama A Way Out, were delighted to accept the debut game and multiplayer awards. Florence, which follows a young woman falling in love for the first time, picked up the mobile game award from six nominations.
The prestigious games beyond entertainment award – for communicating important social or political messages – was won by My Child Lebensborn, an emotionally challenging game about the suffering of children fathered by Nazi soldiers during the occupation of Norway. Its creators read out a message from the surviving Lebensborn children, with whom they collaborated on the project: “We are survivors of a lifetime of abuse, being punished for carrying the genes of the enemy … Our suffering is also the suffering of children born of war today. We need to learn from history so we can avoid repeating the mistakes of the past.”
The enduringly popular Fortnite picked up one award, for evolving game, and original game was won by Into the Breach, a riveting mixture of Command and Conquer with alien invasions, and chess. The EE Mobilegame of the year award – voted for by the public – went to Old-School Runescape, a British-made online role-playing game. Nintendo Labo’s awards, for innovation and family, were picked up by a Nintendo representative.
This year’s awards were hosted by Dara Ó Briain, with individual categories presented by games and entertainment figures, including Charlie Brooker and Brenda Romero.
