‘Vampire Survivors’ wins Best Game at BAFTA Games Awards

The BAFTA Games Awards took place last night (March 30), with the likes of Vampire Survivors, God Of War Ragnarok and Elden Ring taking home awards.

A total of 18 BAFTAs were awarded at the ceremony, with God Of War Ragnarok taking home the most with five trophies.

Sony Santa Monica‘s action game won BAFTAS for Audio Achievement, Music, and Animation; while actors Christopher Judge (Kratos) and Laya DeLeon Hayes (Angrboda) won another two BAFTAs for their performances in the game.

The game also won EE’s Game Of The Year award, which was voted on by members of the public.

Meanwhile, FromSoftware’s 2022 hit Elden Ring – which won Game Of The Year at The Game Awards 2022 – won awards for Best Multiplayer and Original Property.

Likewise, Zelda-inspired adventure game Tunic also won two awards for Artistic Achievement and Debut Game.

However, it was 2022’s breakout indie hit Vampire Survivors that ultimately took home Best Game, after winning the Game Design BAFTA earlier in the night. The development team at Poncle took the stage to accept their award, with Xbox head Phil Spencer congratulating their “great achievement,” adding that it was “awesome to see the industry recognition”.

Congrats to the amazing team @poncle_games on such a great achievement. Fantastic game and awesome to see the industry recognition. @poncle_soft @poncle_vampire

— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) March 30, 2023

Elsewhere, the BAFTA for British Game went to Rollerdrome; while Final Fantasy 14 Online took home an award for Evolving Game.

Half Mermaid’s five-star game Immortality won the BAFTA for Narrative, while Kirby And The Forgotten Land won in the Family category.

Finally, Ending — Extinction Is Forever won Game Beyond Entertainment, while Horizon Forbidden West was awarded Technical Achievement.

The award ceremony also saw PlayStation pioneer Shuhei Yoshida awarded a BAFTA Fellowship in recognition of his work within games.

Earlier in the year, NME spoke to the recipients of BAFTA’s Breakthrough programme, which seeks to spotlight the next generation of upcoming game developers.