Baldur’s Gate 3 was the big winner at this year’s BAFTA Games Awards, taking home five prizes including the prestigious best game.
It also won BAFTAs for music, narrative, and performer in a supporting role for Andrew Wincott, along with the EE players’ choice award, which is voted for by the public.
The Dungeons and Dragons-based game faced strong competition from Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Alan Wake 2 and indie hit Dave the Diver.
(L-R) Sarah Baylus, Swen Vincke and David Walgrave who won the best game award for Baldur’s Gate 3
Alan Wake 2 won two BAFTAs for artistic achievement and audio achievement, while Super Mario Bros. Wonder also scooped two for family and multiplayer.
Awards host Phil Wang told Sky News: “There are some real legends of gaming here. Sam Lake, you know? I played as Sam Lake, I used to play so much Max Payne and now he’s here, sipping a mimosa.”
Phil Wang hosted the ceremony. Pic: BAFTA
Sam Lake’s smash hit, Alan Wake 2, took him 13 years to create and over that time, it changed dramatically.
“There is very little from the original concept of Alan Wake 2 that still exists in what we have made today,” Mr Lake said.
Games news was mostly just seen “on the business pages”, he said but “bit by bit, gaming has worked its way into culture”.
Alan Wake 2 creator Sam Lake attends the BAFTA Games Awards. Pic: BAFTA
One of the Baldur’s Gate 3 writers Lawrence Schick told Sky News how proud he was to work for the team after winning the narrative award.
He was joined at the event at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall by a huge team, including narrator Amelia Tyler.
“[Baldur’s Gate 3] allows people to explore aspects of themselves in the game that they’ve never been able to explore,” he said.
“There are so many stories of players who have found out new things about themselves, about their sexuality, about their gender identity, about who they love or how they love them, from this game.”
Hogwarts Legacy, the Harry Potter game played by more than 22 million people, lost in both categories it was nominated for, including the best family game section, and best animation – which was won by Hi-Fi Rush.
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Dave the Diver, the indie game where you play as a diver catching fish and working in a sushi restaurant, picked up one award for game design.
Best British game went to Viewfinder from Scottish-based studio Sad Owl, which also won a BAFTA for new intellectual property.
The creators of Dead Island 2, from Nottingham-based Dambuster Studios, were happy to be nominated for best British game.
“We tend to keep ourselves to ourselves, keep our heads down and get the work done so to get to the end of it all and get this [nomination] is really exciting.”