Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 leads Bafta Games Awards nominations

This year’s Bafta Games Awards nominations have been released, and the unstoppable Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is the front-runner once again.

The role-playing adventure, made by French developer Sandfall Interactive, received 12 nominations in total, including best game, best music and best narrative.

Having already swept the board at several video game award ceremonies, Expedition 33 was widely expected to feature heavily in this year’s Bafta list.

But, in a ceremony which aims to celebrate multimillion-dollar productions and independent games made by tiny teams, there are also some surprising inclusions and omissions.

Expedition 33’s 12 nominations is not a record for Bafta.

In 2023, God of War Ragnarok was up for 14 awards – although it lost out on best game to independent game Vampire Survivors.

The remaining best game nominees include superhero adventure Dispatch, which got nine nominations in total.

PlayStation 5 adventure Ghost of Yōtei, which picked up eight nods, is also up for the top prize, as is the critically acclaimed adventure game Blue Prince.

The nomination of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle in best game will likely surprise some players, as it was first released in December 2024.

But it falls within the eligibility window for this year’s game awards and makes an appearance in six categories in total.

Final best game nominee, Arc Raiders, the hugely successful multiplayer “looter shooter” which sparked backlash over its use of AI character voices, received five nominations.

Despite missing out on a best game nomination, blockbuster sequel Death Stranding 2, directed by legendary developer Hideo Kojima, appears in seven categories.

Indie games Hollow Knight: Silksong and Hades 2, two of the most-anticipated and highly rated games of last year, picked up only a handful of nominations between them.

And medieval adventure Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 (KCD 2), one of the first big releases of last year, picked up just two nominations – one one for its ambitious narrative and the other for lead performer Tom McKay.

The nominations in this year’s performance and supporting performance category feature well-known names from the worlds of video games and more traditional media.

McKay, who recently appeared in Channel 4’s docudrama Dirty Business, told BBC Newsbeat it was “an honour” to be nominated.

The actor’s up for lead performance alongside Breaking Bad star Aaron Paul, who’s nominated for his role in Dispatch.

Westworld actor Jeffrey Wright appears in the supporting performance category for his work on the same game.

McKay, who has a background in TV and theatre, said working on KCD2 was an “educational” experience for him that involved recording 508 hours of voiceover due to the game’s branching storylines.

He said working on video games showed him “the incredible level of talent all the way through this industry”, but did confess the field this year was daunting.

“I’m not fancying my chances at all,” he said.

“I’ve got to know some of the brilliant people in my category and in the other categories and I’m aware of the incredible level of talent all the way through this industry, but particularly this year.”

Daredevil star Charlie Cox is also nominated for his supporting performance in Expedition 33, while his castmates Ben Starr and Jennifer English face-off once again in the lead performance category.

Starr was seen rapturously celebrating English’s win at the Game Awards in December, as was Ghost of Yōtei actor Erika Ishii, who is nominated alongside them at Bafta.

Veteran video game actor Troy Baker is nominated twice – for his lead performance as Indiana Jones in The Great Circle and for his supporting role as antagonist Higgs in Death Stranding 2.

Cox and his castmates led calls for motion capture performers to have their own awards category to recognise their contribution.

Bafta does not currently give awards for motion capture, but said the performance, artistic achievement and audio achievement categories were voted on by members with “career expertise in these roles” for the first time this year.

The Bafta Games Awards – voted for by the academy’s more than 1,400 industry members – were founded to highlight “an outstanding level of creative excellence from a broad range of UK and international development teams”.

British developers represent nine of the studios nominated this year, with six of those in the dedicated British game category.

They include Atomfall, the survival game set in an alternative history version of the Lake District, as well as Mafia: The Old Country and Powerwash Simulator 2 – both developed in Brighton.

In the game beyond entertainment category, which celebrates titles that deliver “a transformative experience”, teams from Japan, Poland, the UK, the US, Ecuador and Ukraine are nominated.

Bafta Games Committee chair Tara Saunders said the 42 nominated games “highlight the very best of the global games industry”.

She said the nominations reflected a games industry “reshaping itself”, with established studios and first-time nominees filling out the lists.

“The exceptional craft, artistry and innovation behind these titles shines through,” she said.

“A nomination is an extraordinary achievement, and I extend my warmest congratulations to every nominee for their innovation, hard work and resilience.”

Alexis Garavaryan, chief executive of Clair Obscur publisher Kepler Interactive, said it was “an honour that Sandfall’s exceptional work has been recognised by Bafta”.

“We’re deeply proud of what the team has achieved and that the game has resonated with so many others, as it did with us.”

Bafta, a registered charity, first launched its video game awards in 2004, in addition to its annual ceremony celebrating the movie industry.

It issued an “unreserved apology” over its most recent film awards last month, after the broadcast of a racial slur shouted during the ceremony.

The BBC, which was also heavily criticised over the incident, said it was the result of a “genuine mistake” and is looking into why it was not removed from iPlayer sooner.

The games awards ceremony is not shown on television, but is usually streamed live on YouTube and Twitch.

BBC Newsbeat asked Bafta if it plans to do the same again this year, and if any precautions are being put in place ahead of the winners’ ceremony on 17 April.

It confirmed awards content would be available on its social channels but said “a decision regarding a live stream of the ceremony will be made in due course”.

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