BAFTA has today announced the nominations for the British Academy Games Awards in 2018. A total of 45 games have been recognised, showcasing the very best games of the past 12 months and highlighting an outstanding level of creative excellence from a broad range of UK and international development teams.

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice leads the way with nine nominations across Artistic Achievement, Audio Achievement, Best Game, British Game, Game Beyond Entertainment, Game Innovation, Music, Narrative and Performer.

Horizon Zero Dawn receives nominations in eight categories: Artistic Achievement, Audio Achievement, Best Game, Game Design, Music, Narrative, Original Property and Performer.

What Remains of Edith Finch receives seven nominations in Best Game, Game Design, Game Innovation, Music, Narrative, Original Property and Performer.

Two games receive five nominations apiece: Gorogoa in Artistic Achievement, Debut Game, Game Innovation, Mobile and Original Property; and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild in Artistic Achievement, Best Game, Game Design, Game Innovation and Music.

Cuphead, Night in the Woods and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy receive four nominations. Assassin’s Creed Origins, Monument Valley 2, Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds and Super Mario Odyssey receive three nominations each.

Receiving two nominations each are Snipperclips, Fortnite, NieR: Automata, The Sexy Brutale and Bury Me, My Love.

Nominated in the Performer category are Abubakar Salim (Bayek) in Assassin’s Creed Origins, Ashly Burch (Aloy) in Horizon Zero Dawn, Melina Juergens (Senua) in Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, Valerie Rose Lohman (Edith Finch) in What Remains of Edith Finch and Claudia Black (Chloe Frazer) and Laura Bailey (Nadine Ross) in Uncharted: The Lost Legacy.

The new Game Beyond Entertainment category, introduced to recognise games that deliver a transformational experience beyond pure entertainment, explores a range of social issues. Nominees include the prequel to the BAFTA-winning Life is Strange, Life is Strange: Beyond the Storm, which elegantly tackles issues rarely touched on in ‘traditional’ games; exploring themes of love, friendship, bullying, and everyday dilemmas.  Night in the Woods, which explores issues surrounding depression and the class system in small-town America. Bury Me, My Love, the mobile game telling the tale of a couple separated by the Syrian conflict. Last Day of June, which deals with issues of loss when a couple suffer a tragedy. Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, which explores the titular character’s struggle with mental health issues and Sea Hero Quest VR, a game that contributes to research on dementia through gameplay.

Other nominated games are Call of Duty: World War II, Clash Royale, Destiny 2, Divinity Original Sin 2, Final Fantasy XV, Gang Beasts, Get Even, Golf Clash, Hollow Knight, Just Dance 2018, KAMI 2, LEGO Worlds, Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, Overwatch, Reigns: Her Majesty, Slime Rancher, Sniper Elite 4, Splatoon 2, Star Trek: Bridge Crew, Star Wars Battlefront 2, Stranger Things: The Game, Tacoma, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege, Total War: Warhammer II and Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus.

The ceremony, hosted by Dara O’Briain, takes place on Thursday 12 April at Troxy, London and live streamed on all major social, online and gaming platforms: www.bafta.org/games/howtowatch

The awards will be preceded by a Champagne Taittinger reception and followed by a seated dinner and after-party for guests. Guests attending BAFTA’s awards ceremonies support the organisation’s charitable work and initiatives that identify, support and nurture new talent in this thriving sector. Tickets are now available at www.bafta.org/games/awards/tickets.

The Awards are supported by industry partners Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts, GAME, SEGA Europe Ltd., PlayFusion, Tencent, Ubisoft Entertainment with ME London Hotel the official hotel partner.

The British Academy Games Awards is part of the London Games Festival. The London Games Festival runs from 5 April to 15 April covering 40 events across the city. London Games Festival is delivered by Games London, a project jointly run by Film London and Ukie, funded by the Mayor of London via the London Enterprise Action Panel. More information at www.games.london

The Awards, including the nominations, are voted for by BAFTA’s global membership, comprising experienced games industry practitioners from a range of backgrounds in game development and production. To become a BAFTA member, visit membership.bafta.org.

BAFTA curates a year-round global programme of events and initiatives that support the games industry. This includes developer talks, showcases, debates, scholarships and networking, as well as the flagship Games Lecture by an inspirational practitioner. BAFTA Young Game Designers (YGD) gives young people and educators insights into the industry and access to the brightest creative minds in games. Applications for YGD and BAFTA Crew Games, the professional network and masterclass programme, are now open.