Yahoo News Bafta Games Awards 2021: Record-breaking The Last of Us 2 leads nominations
Naughty Dog's The Last of Us Part II has set a new record at the Bafta Games Awards after it was nominated for 13 awards. A "scalding treatise on the cycle of violence", the post-apocalyptic blockbuster is in the running for a number of disciplines including overall Best Game and received five nominations in the performer categories alone.
The number of nominations beats the previous record of 11 set last year by Remedy's sci-fi thriller Control and Hideo Kojima's Death Stranding. Although in a note of caution for Naughty Dog's game, those games were victorious in just one category each. The California studio has previous at the Baftas, however, winning Best Game in 2013 and 2016 with The Last of Us and Uncharted 4 respectively.
The nomination list was a particular success for PlayStation exclusive games. Along with The Last of Us 2, samurai adventure Ghost of Tsushima received ten nods, Spider-Man Miles Morales seven and creation tool Dreams six. Elsewhere indie darling Hades --which casts you as Zagreus attempting to escape the underworld-- is up for eight awards.
While the majority of categories, including overall Best Game, is voted on by Bafta juries there is a new, separate award for Game of the Year as voted for by the public. The shortlist is Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Call of Duty: Warzone, Ghost of Tsushima, Hades, The Last of Us Part II and Valorant. The award can be voted for online here.
This is the 17th edition of the British Academy's standalone video games ceremony and, like last year, will be an online livestream due to the continuing Covid-19 pandemic. The Bafta Game Awards 2021 will take place on 25 March and will be hosted by presenter and journalist Elle Osili-Wood. The full list of nominations are below.
The Bafta Games Award 2021 nominations
Animation
Doom Eternal (id Software/ Bethesda Softworks)
Final Fantasy VII Remake (Square Enix)
Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales (Insomniac Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe)
Ori and the Will of the Wisps (Moon Studios/Xbox Game Studios)
SpiritFarer (Thunder Lotus/Kowloon Nights)
The Last of Us Part II (Naughty Dog/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe)
Artistic Achievement
Cyberpunk 2077 (CD PROJEKT RED/CD PROJEKT x BANDAI NAMCO UK)
Dreams (Media Molecule/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe)
Ghost of Tsushima (Jason Connell, Joanna Wang, Ian Jun Wei Chiew - Sucker Punch Productions/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe)
Hades (Jen Zee - Supergiant Games/Supergiant Games)
Half-Life: Alyx (Valve)
The Last of Us Part II (Naughty Dog/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe)
Audio Achievement
Astro’s Playroom (SIE Japan Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe)
Ghost of Tsushima (Rev. Dr. Bradley D. Meyer -Sucker Punch Productions/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe)
Hades (Darren Korb - Supergiant Games/Supergiant Games)
Half-Life: Alyx (Valve)
Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales (Insomniac Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe)
The Last of Us Part II (Naughty Dog/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe)
Best Game
Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)
Ghost of Tsushima (Brian Fleming, Chris Zimmerman - Sucker Punch Productions/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe)
Hades (Supergiant Games/Supergiant Games)
Half-Life: Alyx (Valve)
Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales (Insomniac Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe)
The Last of Us Part II (Naughty Dog/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe)
British Game
Dreams (Media Molecule/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe)
F1 2020 (Codemasters)
Fall Guys (Mediatonic/Devolver Digital)
Röki (Polygon Treehouse/United Label)
Sackboy: A Big Adventure (Ned Waterhouse, Jess Gaskell, Pete Smith - Sumo Digital Sheffield/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe)
The Last Campfire (Hello Games)
Debut Game
Airborne Kingdom (The Wandering Band)
Call of the Sea (Tatiana Delgado, Manuel Fernandez - Out of the Blue/Raw Fury)
Carrion (Phobia Game Studio/Devolver Digital)
Factorio (Wube Software)
Röki (Polygon Treehouse/United Label)
The Falconeer (Tomas Sala/Wired Productions)
Evolving Game
Destiny 2: Beyond Light (Bungie)
Dreams (Media Molecule/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe)
Fall Guys (Mediatonic/Devolver Digital)
Fortnite (Epic Games)
No Man’s Sky (Hello Games)
Sea of Thieves (Rare Ltd/Xbox Game Studios)
Family
Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)
Astro’s Playroom (SIE Japan Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe)
Dreams (Media Molecule/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe)
Fall Guys (Mediatonic/Devolver Digital)
Minecraft Dungeons (Mojang Studios/Double Eleven Limited)
Sackboy: A Big Adventure (Joel Smith,Cesar Bittar, Pete Smith - Sumo Digital Sheffield/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe)
Game Beyond Entertainment
Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)
Before I Forget (3-Fold Games)
Dreams (Media Molecule/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe)
SpiritFarer (Thunder Lotus/Kowloon Nights)
Tell Me Why (DONTNOD Entertainment/Xbox Game Studios)
The Last of Us Part II (Naughty Dog/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe)
Game Design
Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)
Astro’s Playroom (SIE Japan Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe)
Ghost of Tsushima (Sucker Punch Productions/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe)
Hades (Supergiant Games)
Half-Life: Alyx (Valve)
The Last of Us Part II (Naughty Dog/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe)
Multiplayer
Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)
Deep Rock Galactic (Ghost Ship Games/Coffee Stain Publishing)
Fall Guys (Mediatonic/Devolver Digital)
Ghost of Tsushima (Darren Bridges, Matt Goldhaber - Sucker Punch Productions/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe)
Sackboy: A Big Adventure (Jack Houghton, Tom Sampson, Jason Stewart - Sumo Digital Sheffield/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe)
Valorant (Riot Games)
Music
Ghost of Tsushima (Ilan Eshkeri, Shigeru Umebayashi, Peter Scaturro - Sucker Punch Productions/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe)
Hades (Darren Korb - Supergiant Games)
Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales (John Paesano, Scott Hanau, Alex Hackford - Insomniac Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe)
Ori and the Will of the Wisps (Gareth Coker - Moon Studios/Xbox Game Studios)
Sackboy: A Big Adventure (Jay Waters, Joe Thwaites, Joanna Skorupa - Sumo Digital Sheffield/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe)
The Last of Us Part II (Gustavo Santaolalla, Mac Quayle, Scott Hanau - Naughty Dog/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe)
Narrative
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (Writing Team - Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)
Cyberpunk 2077 (Writing Team - CD PROJEKT RED/CD PROJEKT x BANDAI NAMCO UK)
Ghost of Tsushima (Nate Fox, Ian Ryan - Sucker Punch Productions/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe)
Hades (Greg Kasavin- Supergiant Games)
Kentucky Route Zero: TV Edition (Writing Team - Cardboard Computer/Annapurna Interactive)
Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales (Writing Team - Insomniac Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe)
Original Property
Carrion (Phobia Game Studio/Devolver Digital)
Fall Guys (Mediatonic/Devolver Digital)
Ghost of Tsushima (Sucker Punch Productions/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe)
Hades (Supergiant Games)
Kentucky Route Zero: TV Edition (Cardboard Computer/Annapurna Interactive)
SpiritFarer (Thunder Lotus/Kowloon Nights)
Performer in a Leading Role
Ashley Johnson as Ellie in The Last of Us Part II
Cherami Leigh as Female V in Cyberpunk 2077
Cody Christian as Cloud Strife in Final Fantasy VII Remake
Daisuke Tsuji as Jin Sakai in Ghost of Tsushima
Laura Bailey as Abby in The Last of Us Part II
Nadji Jeter as Miles Morales in Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales
Performer in a Supporting Role
Carla Tassara as Judy Alvarez in CYBERPUNK 2077
Jeffrey Pierce as Tommy in The Last of Us Part II
Logan Cunningham as Hades, Achilles, Poseidon, Asterius, Charon and the Storyteller in Hades
Patrick Gallagher as Khotun Khan in Ghost of Tsushima
Shannon Woodward as Dina inThe Last of Us Part II
Troy Baker as Joel inThe Last of Us Part II
Technical Achievement
Demon’s Souls (SIE Japan Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe)
Doom Eternal (id Software/Bethesda Softworks)
Dreams (Media Molecule/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe)
Flight Simulator (Sebastian Wloch, Duncan Lawler, Pavel Kuksa - Asobo Studio/Xbox Game Studios)
Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales (Insomniac Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe)
The Last of Us Part II (Naughty Dog/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe)
EE Game of the Year (voted for by the public)
Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Nintendo EPD/Nintendo)
Call of Duty: Warzone (Raven Software, Infinity Ward/Activision)
Ghost of Tsushima (Sucker Punch Productions/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe)
Hades (Supergiant Games)
The Last of Us Part II (Naughty Dog/Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe)
Valorant (Riot Games)
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