Yahoo Finance Bafta Game Awards 2023: Vampire Survivors in shock best game win, while God of War: Ragnarok takes home six
It was potentially the biggest shock in Bafta Game Awards history. One that drew audible gasps from the crowd as a small indie game, developed largely by one man, won the Best Game award.
Luca Galante’s Vampire Survivors is a gothic shoot ‘em up that has you maneuvering yourself between endless waves of ghouls and ghosts. Your character automatically attacks as you slip in between the monsters, with you powering up and building your arsenal until you become a whirlwind of destruction.
London-based Italian Galante started development on the game in 2020 while he was unemployed and reportedly cost an initial £1100 to buy the assets he needed. The success of the game in early access allowed Galante to build a small team --Poncle Studio-- to continue development, bring the game 'more cohesion' and port the game to multiple formats for its 'official' release in October 2022.
And in an extraordinary turn at the Bafta Game Awards 2023, Vampire Survivors beat competition from multi-million pound blockbusters such as Sony’s God of War: Ragnarok and From Software’s heralded Elden Ring to win the Best Game award. Vampire Survivors also won the Game Design award.
As the night went on, it seemed that God of War would be the favourite for the Best Game Award, picking up six awards from its record 14 nominations. The Norse epic won awards for Animation, Audio Achievement, Music and the public voted EE Game of the Year. There were also awards for God of War actors Christopher Judge --who won Best Performer in a Leading Role for his intense turn as player-character Kratos-- and Laya Deleon Hayes, winning Best Performer in a Supporting Role for Angrboda.
As well as Vampire Survivors there was British success for Sam Barlow’s haunting Immortality, which won Best Narrative. Best British Game was won by Roll7’s Rollerdrome.
Elden Ring was nominated in seven categories and won Original Property and Multiplayer, while Tunic, a gorgeous cartoon adventure from Andrew Shouldice and Isometricorp Games, also took home two Baftas for Artistic Achievement and Debut Game.
The Bafta Fellowship --which recognises significant contributions to the gaming industry-- went to long-serving PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida’ awarded for his championing of independent developers, as well as overseeing big-ticket PlayStation franchises such as Uncharted, God of War and The Last of Us.
Bafta Game Awards 2023 winners
Animation
Winner: God of War Ragnarök
Nominees: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, Horizon Forbidden West, Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, Sifu, Stray
Evolving Game
Winner: Final Fantasy XIV Online
Nominees: Apex Legends, Dreams, The Elder Scrolls Online, Forza Horizon 5, No Man’s Sky
Original Property
Winner: Elden Ring
Nominees: Citizen Sleeper, Cult of the Lamb, Sifu, Stray, Vampire Survivors
Audio Achievement
Winner: God of War Ragnarök
Nominees: A Plague Tale: Requiem, Horizon Forbidden West, Metal: Hellsinger, Stray, Tunic
Game Design
Winner: Vampire Survivors
Nominees: Cult Of The Lamb, Elden Ring, God Of War Ragnarök, Horizon Forbidden West, Tunic
British Game
Winner: Rollerdrome
Nominees: Citizen Sleeper, OlliOlli World, Total War: Warhammer III, Two Point Campus, Vampire Survivors
Artistic Achievement
Winner: Tunic
Nominees: A Plague Tale: Requiem, Elden Ring, God of War Ragnarök, Immortality, Pentiment
Multiplayer
Winner: Elden Ring
Runners up: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, EA Sports FIFA 23, Overwatch 2, Splatoon 3, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge
Narrative
Winner: Immortality
Nominees: A Plague Tale: Requiem, Citizen Sleeper, God of War Ragnarök, Pentiment, Stray
Performer in a Supporting Role
Winner: Laya Deleon Hayes as Angrboda (God of War Ragnarök)
Nominees: Adam J. Harrington as Sindri (God of War Ragnarök), Alison Jaye as Alva (Horizon Forbidden West), Charlotta Mohlin as The One (Immortality), Danielle Bisutti as Freya (God of War Ragnarök), Ryan Hurst as Thor (God of War Ragnarök)
Music
Winner: God of War Ragnarök
Nominees: A Plague Tale: Requiem, Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course, Elden Ring, Stray, Tunic
EE Game Of The Year (voted for by the public)
God of War Ragnarök
Nominees: Elden Ring, Horizon Forbidden West, Immortality, Marvel Snap, Stray
Technical Achievement
Winner: Horizon Forbidden West
Nominees: Elden Ring, God of War Ragnarök, Immortality, The Last of Us Part I, Stray
Family
Winner: Kirby and the Forgotten Land
Nominees: Disney Dreamlight Valley, Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope, Nintendo Switch Sports, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge
Debut Game
Winner: Tunic
Nominees: As Dusk Falls, The Case of the Golden Idol, Stray, Trombone Champ, Vampire Survivors
Game Beyond Entertainment
Winner: Endling–Extinction Is Forever
Nominees: Citizen Sleeper, Gibbon: Beyond The Trees, I Was A Teenage Exocolonist, Not For Broadcast, We’ll Always Have Paris
Performer in a Leading Role
Winner: Christopher Judge as Kratos (God of War Ragnarök)
Nominees: Alain Mesa as Alejandro Vargas (Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II), Charlotte McBurney as Amicia (A Plague Tale: Requiem), Manon Gage as Marissa Marcel (Immortality), Siobhan Williams as Laura (The Quarry), Sunny Suljic as Atreus in (God of War Ragnarök)
Best Game
Winner: Vampire Survivors
Nominees: Cult of the Lamb, Elden Ring, God Of War Ragnarök, Marvel Snap, Stray
BAFTA Fellowship
Shuhei Yoshida
