Well that was straightforward wasn’t it? Bafta sprung few surprises at the 21st Games Awards ceremony. Astro Bot put on a predictably dominant display, scooping five gongs including one for best game where it beat The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom and the Chinese action game, Black Myth: Wukong.
Made by the Japanese developer Team Asobi and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment, the innovative platformer set the tone early by claiming the first award of the night for audio achievement. It went on to collect golden masks in categories such as animation, family and game design.
If you haven’t played the game that is also my best of the year, Astro Bot is a creative adventure about a little robot who crash lands its spaceship (which just happens to be a PlayStation 5) on an alien planet. Players guide the little fella through 90 wacky levels that are laden with puzzles and nods to PlayStation’s 30 year history.
It was also a big night for British games where a broad spectrum of titles being produced in Blighty were on display. Still Wakes the Deep, a horror game made in Brighton that’s set on an oil rig in the 1970s won three awards, including one for Alec Newman’s lead performance as the game’s rather sweary protagonist, Caz.
Elsewhere a Mortimer and Reeves-inspired comedy called Thank Goodness You’re Here! rightfully won the British game award. It’s an absurd spoof about a grim fictional town in Yorkshire made by a team of two friends from Barnsley. The pair (James Carbutt and Will Todd) took to the stage and gave the most humble — and hilarious — speech of the night which ended with Todd telling aspiring video game makers: “if us two knobheads can do it, anyone can”. It was quintessentially British.
There were surprises. With 11 nominations, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II was the front runner heading into the event but the Cambridge-made game was snubbed, leaving with just one win for technical achievement. Elsewhere, the shooter Helldivers 2 added to its victory in the multiplayer category by triumphing over Final Fantasy VII Rebirth for the music award. The latter felt nailed on to win considering the series has a history of celebrated soundtracks.
Did the right games win on the night? Let us known your thoughts in the comments below.
What is the most influential video game?
Forget the obvious contenders like Super Mario 64 (1996) and Tomb Raider (1996) — the British public have voted in Bafta’s online poll over the past month for Shenmue, an unusual Japanese adventure game released on the Sega Dreamcast in 1999.
Shenmue is a left-field winner, but it has had an impact on one of contemporary gaming’s most dominant elements: the open-world. It allowed us to explore Japan and China at will as well as interact with a vast number of non-playable characters (NPCs), a rarity at the time.
Also on Bafta’s list is the runner-up (and my personal choice), the seminal Doom (1993), a first-person shooter that has us fighting demons in space.
After that, the list has the usual suspects. Gaming’s most recognisable character, Mario, takes third with Super Mario Bros (1985). It’s followed in fourth by Half-Life (1998), a sci-fi horror shooter that ushered in a wave of games prioritising immersive storytelling. In fifth place is the ambitious The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998), while Minecraft (2011) comes in sixth.
In an unusual twist, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is at number seven. The medieval adventure game was only released in February, so there’s a chance its inclusion is down to the voters’ recency bias.
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Bafta Games Awards 2025: the winners in full
Best game
Winner: Astro Bot
Balatro
Black Myth: Wukong
Helldivers 2
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
Thank Goodness You’re Here!
Animation
Winner: Astro Bot
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Lego Horizon Adventures
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II
Thank Goodness You’re Here!
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2
Artistic Achievement
Winner: Neva
Astro Bot
Black Myth: Wukong
Harold Halibut
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II
Still Wakes the Deep
Audio achievement
Winner: Astro Bot
Animal Well
Helldivers 2
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II
Star Wars Outlaws
Still Wakes the Deep
British game
Winner: Thank Goodness You’re Here!
A Highland Song
LEGO Horizon Adventures
Paper Trail
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II
Still Wakes the Deep
Debut game
Winner: Balatro
Animal Well
Pacific Drive
The Plucky Squire
Tales of Kenzera: ZAU
Thank Goodness You’re Here!
Evolving game
Winner: Vampire Survivors
Diablo IV
Final Fantasy XIV Online
No Man’s Sky
Sea of Thieves
World of Warcraft
Family game
Winner: Astro Bot
Cat Quest III
LEGO Horizon Adventures
Little Kitty, Big City
The Plucky Squire
Super Mario Party Jamboree
Game beyond entertainment
Winner: Tales of Kenzera: ZAU
Botany Manor
Kind Words 2
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II
Tetris Forever
Vampire Therapist
Game design
Winner: Astro Bot
Animal Well
Balatro
Helldivers 2
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
Tactical Breach Wizards
Multiplayer
Winner: Helldivers 2
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
LEGO Horizon Adventures
Super Mario Party Jamboree
Tekken 8
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2
Music
Winner: Helldivers 2
Astro Bot
Black Myth: Wukong
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II
Star Wars Outlaws
Narrative
Winner: Metaphor: ReFantazio
Black Myth: Wukong
Dragon Age: The Veilguard
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II
Still Wakes the Deep
New intellectual property
Winner: Still Wakes the Deep
Animal Well
Balatro
Black Myth: Wukong
Metaphor: ReFantazio
Thank Goodness You’re Here!
Performer in a leading role
Winner: Alec Newman (Still Wakes the Deep)
Humberly Gonzalez (Star Wars Outlaws)
Isabella Inchbald (INDIKA)
Luke Roberts (Silent Hill 2)
Melina Juergens (Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II)
Y’lan Noe (Call of Duty: Black Ops 6)
Performer in a supporting role
Winner: Karen Dunbar (Still Wakes the Deep)
Abbi Greenland/Helen Goalen (Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II)
Aldis Amah Hamilton (Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II)
Jon Blyth (Thank Goodness You’re Here!)
Matt Berry (Thank Goodness You’re Here!)
Michael Abubakar (Still Wakes the Deep)
Technical achievement
Winner: Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II
Astro Bot
Black Myth: Wukong
Call off Duty: Black Ops 6
Tiny Glade
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2
