The 14th British Academy Games Awards took place this week, with What Remains of Edith Finch taking the top prize, while Hellblade took home four awards.
What Remains of Edith Finch has picked up the biggest prize of the night at this year’s BAFTA Games Awards. The highly-rated first-person mystery managed to fend off stiff competition from AAA titles such as Assassins Creed: Origins, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and Super Mario Odyssey.
The game itself challenges the player, as Edith, to find out more about her deceased relatives by exploring their rooms. The company behind the game, developer Giant Sparrow, is previously responsible for first-person adventure, The Unfinished Swan, which also won a BAFTA in 2013 for Debut Game.
The other big winner on the night was Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, which took home five awards, including Artistic Achievement and Best Performer, for Melina Juergens role as the titular Senua. Hellblade has previously been the recipient of praise for the way it deals with mental illness, specifically Senua’s psychosis. Fan favorite Divinity Original Sin 2 was given the award for Best Multiplayer and Overwatch managed to grab the award for Evolving Game.
The night was not such a success for others, particularly Horizon Zero Dawn, which, despite receiving eight nominations, only managed to take home the award for Original Property. While indie title Cuphead, developed by StudioMDHR, managed to win one of its three nominations in the Best Music category.
The Academy Fellowship Award, BAFTA’s highest honor, was given to the founder of Double Fine Productions, Tim Schafer. The popular game designer, who is responsible for titles like Grim Fandango, Brütal Legend, and Broken Age, receives the fellowship after his considerable contributions to the industry. He joins some illustrious names including Fable creator, Peter Molyneux; co-founder of Valve, Gabe Newell; and Mario inventor, Shigeru Miyamoto.
The 14th annual British Academy Games Awards has once again upset expectations with the Best Game award, following a series of shocks in the same category in previous years. Time will tell which games will be fighting for the top prize in 2019.
This year’s winners in full are
