The BAFTA Games Awards will be returning this year on March 25, with the best games of 2020 being honored in this year’s ceremony. But while previous editions of the awards have taken place in real physical venues in London, the 2021 edition will be livestreamed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic as was the case in 2020.
Nonetheless, people will surely tune in to the awards to find out which games win in each category. This is especially true for the highly coveted “Best Game” award, which six games will be fighting for at this year’s BAFTA awards.
One of these games as you can imagine is The Last of Us Part II, which has already picked up the Game of the Year award at last year’s Game Awards, and which is a firm favorite to do so again at BAFTA. Actually, the survival horror game by Naughty Dog is the most nominated game in the history of BAFTA with a total of 13 nominations.
This record was previously held by two other games: Hideo Kojima’s walking simulator Death Stranding, and surreal third-person shooter Control by Remedy Games, which were both in contention for 11 awards last year. In the end, neither won the best game award, which went to little-known game Outer Wilds, even if Kojima did pick up a BAFTA Fellowship for his long history of making great video games…
Going back to this years awards, though, it’s clear that The Last of Us Part II is a very strong candidate to pick up the top prize this year, but so are the other games nominated in BAFTA’s Best Game category.
Such is the case of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which has been topping sales charts for months. The Nintendo Switch game boasts a very high Metacritic score of 90 but strangely a poor 5.5 user score with more than 6,000 user reviews posted. But given its sales success (and that of the Nintendo Switch console too) it can’t be ruled out that this Animal Crossing game could be winning the top prize come March 25 this year.
A stronger candidate, though, might be Ghost of Tsushima. This action-adventure game features exciting samurai combat in feudal Japan and ravishing visuals but has been criticized due to its story not being exciting enough and for having repetitive open-world gameplay. But still, this boasts some of the best visuals of any game on PS4, and its recreation of feudal Japan is a sight to behold, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it won BAFTA’s Best Game award.
Another contender is Hades, a hack and slash dungeon crawler set in mythological Greece which became a surprise hit in 2020. It definitely drew a lot of people’s attention due to its great gameplay and characters, and could be a surprise winner at the BAFTA Games Awards.
There’s also Half-Life: Alyx, one of the few high-profile games to require a VR headset to play. Starring sexy female video game character Alyx, the game definitely is a great showcase for virtual reality gaming according to many. But it is less likely to win BAFTA’s Best Game award taking into account that very few people will have the opportunity to play it taking into account it requires an Oculus Rift headset in order to run.
Aside from the aforementioned games, there’s also Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, a debut game for the PS5 which both succeeded at serving as a demo of the capabilities of Sony’s console, while being a good video game to boot too… Nonetheless, it doesn’t look like this PlayStation exclusive will be picking up the top award at BAFTA, being a significantly shorter game than Sony’s 2018 Marvel’s Spider-Man game despite its quality.
Aside from the Best Game category, games are nominated in 18 other categories including animation, artistic achievement, debut game and game design, amongst others. A 90-minute live stream will take place on March 25 (which you can watch on YouTube here), during which the winners will be announced. May the best games win.
Here follows a list of all the nominees of this year’s BAFTA Games Awards (via IGN).
Note: The BAFTA Games Awards took place on March 25, 2021. The list has been updated to highlight the winner in each category.
BAFTA Games Awards 2021 nominees
Best Game
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons
- Ghost of Tsushima
- Hades
- Half-Life: Alyx
- Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales
- The Last of Us Part II
British Game
- Dreams
- F1 2020
- Fall Guys
- Röki
- Sackboy: A Big Adventure
- The Last Campfire
Animation
- Doom Eternal
- Final Fantasy VII Remake
- Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales
- Ori and the Will of the Wisps
- Spiritfarer
- The Last of Us Part II
Artistic Achievement
- Cyberpunk 2077
- Dreams
- Ghost of Tsushima
- Hades
- Half-Life: Alyx
- The Last of Us Part II
Audio Achievement
- Astro’s Playroom
- Ghost of Tsushima
- Hades
- Half-Life: Alyx
- Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales
- The Last of Us Part II
Debut Game
- Airborne Kingdom
- Call of the Sea
- Carrion
- Factorio
- Röki
- The Falconeer
Evolving Game
- Destiny 2: Beyond Light
- Dreams
- Fall Guys
- Fortnite
- No Man’s Sky
- Sea of Thieves
Family Game
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons
- Astro’s Playroom
- Dreams
- Fall Guys
- Minecraft Dungeons
- Sackboy: A Big Adventure
Game Beyond Entertainment
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons
- Before I Forget
- Dreams
- Spiritfarer
- Tell Me Why
- The Last of Us Part II
Game Design
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons
- Astro’s Playroom
- Ghost of Tsushima
- Hades
- Half-Life: Alyx
- The Last of Us Part II
Multiplayer Game
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons
- Deep Rock Galactic
- Fall Guys
- Ghost of Tsushima
- Sackboy: A Big Adventure
- Valorant
Music
- Ghost of Tsushima
- Hades
- Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales
- Ori and the Will of the Wisps
- Sackboy: A Big Adventure
- The Last of Us Part II
Narrative
- Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla
- Cyberpunk 2077
- Ghost of Tsushima
- Hades
- Kentucky Route Zero: TV Edition
- Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales
Original Property
- Carrion
- Fall Guys
- Ghost of Tsushima
- Hades
- Kentucky Route Zero: TV Edition
- Spiritfarer
Game Design
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons
- Astro’s Playroom
- Ghost of Tsushima
- Hades
- Half-Life: Alyx
- The Last of Us Part II
Narrative
- Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla
- Cyberpunk 2077
- Ghost of Tsushima
- Hades
- Kentucky Route Zero: TV Edition
- Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales
Original Property
- Carrion
- Fall Guys
- Ghost of Tsushima
- Hades
- Kentucky Route Zero: TV Edition
- Spiritfarer
Technical Achievement
- Demon’s Souls (Japan Studio)
- Doom Eternal (id Software)
- Dreams (Media Molecule)
- Microsoft Flight Simulator (Asobo Studio)
- The Last of Us Part II (Naughty Dog)
- Spider-Man: Miles Morales (Insomniac Games)
Performer in a Leading Role
- Laura Bailey (The Last of Us Part II)
- Cody Christian (Final Fantasy VII Remake)
- Nadji Jeter (Spider-Man: Miles Morales)
- Ashley Johnson (The Last of Us Part II)
- Cherami Leigh (Cyberpunk 2077)
- Daisuke Tsuji (Ghost of Tsushima)
Performer in a Supporting Role
- Logan Cunningham (Hades)
- Troy Baker (The Last of Us Part II)
- Patrick Gallagher (Ghost of Tsushima)
- Jeffrey Pierce (The Last of Us Part II)
- Carla Tassara (Cyberpunk 2077)
- Shannon Woodward (The Last of Us Part II)