Astro Bot wins top prize

Astro Bot has swept this 12 months’s Bafta Video games Awards, profitable 5 awards in whole – together with the highest prize of finest sport.

The 3D platformer, starring the PlayStation mascot character, additionally gained finest animation, audio achievement, household sport and sport design.

Its director Nicolas Doucet devoted the perfect sport gong to builders who had “impressed others to affix the business”.

In the meantime, Nonetheless Wakes the Deep – a horror sport set on a Scottish oil rig within the Nineteen Seventies – took house three of the evening’s trophies.

It was a powerful night general for Sony as its different large 2024 hit, Helldivers 2, picked up two awards for finest multiplayer and music.

The squad-based shooter was a shock hit when it was launched, and its makers needed to race to spice up server capability to satisfy early demand.

Accepting the multiplayer award, Johan Pilestedt, chief artistic officer at developer Arrowhead, mentioned gamers had reached out to him to say Helldivers 2 had reconnected them with gamer associates from 10 to fifteen years in the past.

“That is such an honour,” he informed the viewers at Queen Elizabeth Corridor on London’s South Financial institution.

Thank Goodness You are Right here! – a comedy cartoon sport made by two associates from Yorkshire – gained the award for finest British sport.

It’s set within the fictional northern city of Barnsworth, closely impressed by builders Will Todd and James Carbutt’s house city of Barnsley in South Yorkshire.

The quirky title options voice performances from the pair, in addition to actor Matt Berry.

Accepting the prize, the 2 associates mentioned: “We hope this conjures up you to inform your personal story in your personal voice with out compromise.”

The Bafta Video games Awards, which launched 21 years in the past, have earned a repute as inflicting main upsets.

In 2023, Vampire Survivors, a sport made by a tiny British staff, beat Sony’s big-budget blockbuster God of Battle: Ragnarok to bag the perfect sport prize.

Many had tipped Balatro – the poker-inspired card sport made by an nameless, lone developer referred to as LocalThunk – to pip Astro Bot to the award this 12 months.

It did, nonetheless, win finest debut.

Actor Ben Starr, accepting the award on the developer’s behalf, approached the stage in make-up and a jester’s hat – an outfit impressed by the sport’s character Jimbo.

Within the speech, he joked that developer LocalThunk was “actually wealthy now” and urged the viewers to “play extra unbiased video games… they’re the lifeblood of this business”.

Legendary composer Yoko Shimomura accepted the Bafta fellowship in recognition of her contribution to gaming.

Maybe finest recognized for her work on the Kingdom Hearts collection, from Japanese writer Sq. Enix, she recalled how she had “felt like giving up” on her work many occasions.

“The very fact I’m standing right here in any respect isn’t any because of my very own efforts, however to the individuals who have supported me,” she mentioned in her acceptance speech.

“I really feel if the music I’ve made has resonated with one individual and touched their hearts in a technique, it was price it.”

Nonetheless Wakes the Deep swept the lead and supporting efficiency classes, and was additionally named finest new mental property.

Actor Abubakar Salim, recognized for performances in Murderer’s Creed and HBO’s Home of the Dragon, gave an emotional speech as he collected the video games past leisure award.

A eager gamer, he arrange his personal growth firm and its debut launch, Tales of Kenzera: Zau, was impressed by the grief he felt on the lack of his father.

In the meantime, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, which went into the ceremony with 11 nominations, went house with only one award: technical achievement.

Animation: Astro Bot

Inventive achievement: Neva

Audio achievement: Astro Bot

Bafta fellowship: Yoko Shimomura (composer)

Greatest sport: Astro Bot

British Recreation: Thank Goodness You are Right here!

Debut sport: Balatro

Evolving sport: Vampire Survivors

Household sport: Astro Bot

Recreation past leisure: Tales of Kenzera: ZAU

Recreation design: Astro Bot

Multiplayer: Helldivers 2

Music: Helldivers 2

Narrative: Metaphor: ReFantazio

New mental property: Nonetheless Wakes the Deep

Main efficiency: Alec Newman as Caz in Nonetheless Wakes the Deep

Greatest supporting actor: Karen Dunbar as Finlay in Nonetheless Wakes the Deep

Technical achievement: Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II