As is the case every year, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts will be handing out awards to the best video games of the previous year. And next month the top video games of 2019 according to the Academy will get an award, or perhaps more than one during the show, which kicks off in London on April 2.
Actually, several games have been nominated for more than one award this year, and two of these have picked the highest number of nominations in BAFTA’s entire history. These are Death Stranding and Control, undoubtedly two of last year’s top games, which will be in the running for 11 awards each.
Other games have also garnered a fair number of nominations. These include Disco Elysium, which could be getting up to seven awards next month. Disco Elysium was one of the most original video games to see a release last year: a deep, text-heavy role-playing game starring an amnesiac detective, Disco Elysium surely reminded players of golden oldies such as Planescape Torment. It sure was worthy of all the praise it got last year.
Other top games nominated for multiple awards this year include Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (five nominations), Life is Strange 2 (five nominations), Untitled Goose Game (four nominations) and From Software’s hyper difficult samurai game Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, which is also nominated for four awards.
But undoubtedly this year’s ceremony will be a contest between top nominees Death Stranding and Control.
Death Stranding was criticized by many for being breathtaking but boring: after all, most of the game just involved delivering packages from one location to another, meaning the game was derided as a walking simulator by some. Japanese designer Hideo Kojima (the brains behind Death Stranding) does know how to create worlds players can lose themselves in though, and Death Stranding’s post-apocalyptic US sure is a sight to behold.
The game also features top-notch actors like Norman Reedus in the lead role, his motion capture work for the game’s lead character helping make things even more convincing. Actually, Norman Reedus has been nominated for best performer at the 2020 BAFTA Games Awards, while another two of the game’s actors (Troy Baker and Léa Seydoux) have been nominated in the new “performer in a supporting role” category.
Death Stranding also garnered nominations in the Animation and Technical Achievement categories, which are new this year. It may be surprising for some, though, that Kojima’s magnum opus wasn’t nominated for best game, while its rivals Control and Disco Elysium were.
Other games featured in the Best Game category include action and adventure game Outer Wilds (not to be confused with the similarly named The Outer Worlds), Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Untitled Goose Game and Luigi’s Mansion 3. May the best of these end up winning the award, although Control’s exciting third-person action, intriguing sci-fi setting and story make it a strong candidate to bag the award this year, no doubt.
Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding may not be in contention for the best game award, but Kojima himself will be pleased to be receiving a BAFTA fellowship, making him one of the few video game auteurs who have received the honor. Past winners include Kojima’s compatriot Shigeru Miyamoto and former id Software man John Carmack.
May this year’s BAFTA Games Awards be a good one, then, and hopefully this year will deliver even better games for players to enjoy than the last.
Here follows a list of the nominees of the 2020 BAFTA Games Awards (via The Guardian). Note: the list has been updated to show the winners of the Awards, which took place on April 2.
BAFTA Games Awards 2020 nominees
Best Game
- Control
- Disco Elysium
- Luigi’s Mansion 3
- Outer Wilds
- Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
- Untitled Goose Game
British Game
- Dirt Rally 2.0
- Heaven’s Vault
- Knights and Bikes
- Observation
- Planet Zoo
- Total War: Three Kingdoms
Original Property
- Baba Is You
- Control
- Death Stranding
- Disco Elysium
- Outer Wilds
- Untitled Goose Game
Game Design
- Baba Is You
- Control
- Disco Elysium
- Outer Wilds
- Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
- Wattam
Performer in a Leading Role
- Laura Bailey – Gears 5
- Courtney Hope – Control
- Logan Marshall-Green – Telling Lies
- Gonzalo Martín – Life Is Strange 2
- Barry Sloane – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
- Norman Reedus – Death Stranding
Performer in a Supporting Role
- Jolene Andersen – Life Is Strange 2
- Sarah Bartholomew – Life Is Strange 2
- Troy Baker – Death Stranding
- Léa Seydoux – Death Stranding
- Martti Suosalo – Control
- Ayisha Issa – The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan
Technical Achievement
- A Plague Tale: Innocence
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
- Control
- Death Stranding
- Metro Exodus
- Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
Narrative
- Control
- Disco Elysium
- Life Is Strange 2 (Episodes 2-5)
- Outer Wilds
- Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
- The Outer Worlds
Music
- Control
- Death Stranding
- Disco Elysium
- Outer Wilds
- The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening
- Wattam
Multiplayer
- Apex Legends
- Borderlands 3
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
- Luigi’s Mansion 3
- Tick Tock: A Tale for Two
- Tom Clancy’s The Division 2
Game Beyond Entertainment
- Civilization VI: Gathering Storm
- Death Stranding
- Kind Words (lo fi chill beats to write to)
- Life Is Strange 2 (Episodes 2-5)
- Neo Cab
- Ring Fit Adventure
Family
- Concrete Genie
- Knights and Bikes
- Luigi’s Mansion 3
- Untitled Goose Game
- Vacation Simulator
- Wattam
Evolving Game
- Apex Legends
- Destiny 2
- Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers
- Fortnite
- No Man’s Sky: Beyond
- Path of Exile
Debut Game
- Ape Out
- Death Stranding
- Disco Elysium
- Katana Zero
- Knights and Bikes
- Manifold Garden
Audio Achievement
- Ape Out
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
- Control
- Death Stranding
- Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
- Untitled Goose Game
Artistic Achievement
- Concrete Genie
- Control
- Death Stranding
- Disco Elysium
- Knights and Bikes
- Sayonara Wild Hearts
Animation
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
- Control
- Death Stranding
- Luigi’s Mansion 3
- Sayonara Wild Hearts
- Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
EE mobile game of the year (public-voted award)
- Assemble With Care
- Call of Duty: Mobile
- Dead Man’s Phone
- Pokémon Go
- Tangle Tower
- What the Golf?