Every 2022 BAFTA Games Winner & Category | Screen Rant
The winners of the 2022 BAFTA Games Awards have been unveiled. With a lineup of fantastic nominees, the winners faced incredibly stiff competition.
The 2022 BAFTAs have awarded 18 games, developers, and performers for their outstanding achievement, including Returnal, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, Unpacking, and many more. The British Academy of Film and Television Arts has been recognizing game development excellence since 1998 through their Interactive Entertainment Awards, but began their game-specific awards in 2004.
2022 marks the 18th BAFTA Games Awards ceremony. Returnal, the PlayStation 5-exclusive third-person shooter game with roguelike features, and It Takes Two, an action-adventure platformer, both received the most nominations across categories, with nine each. Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart and Deathloop followed up with eight nominations each.
Although Deathloop also received many BAFTA 2022 nominations - and took its own wins elsewhere, such as Critics Choice at the Golden Joystick Awards and the number one game in the EDGE Awards - it unfortunately didn’t take home any wins at the BAFTAs. The big winners at the 2022 BAFTA Games Awards include Returnal, It Takes Two, Unpacking, and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, although there are some surprise winners throughout as well.
Returnal took home the most BAFTA wins this year with four awards. It won the coveted Best Game award, as well as Audio Achievement and Music. Actress Jane Perry also won Performer in a Leading Role for her performance as Selene Vassos. Returnal’s other nominations include Artistic Achievement, Game Design, Narrative, Original Property, and Technical Achievement.
The impressive awards for Returnal don’t stop with the BAFTAs, as it was chosen as one of Screen Rant’s own Best Games of 2021, where it was praised for its feedback loop, atmosphere, and narrative, reflecting the nominations and wins Returnal received at the BAFTAs. Returnal’s fantastic mix of shooter, rougelike, and even bullet-hell elements with its precise controls and well-crafted setting make it a worthy winner of its four BAFTA awards, and a game fans of its unique blend of genres will want to get their hands on a PlayStation 5 for.
The little indie title Unpacking triumphed over big names like Life is Strange: True Colors, Psychonauts 2, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, and even Returnal itself to win the 2022 BAFTA Games Award for Narrative. Unpacking’s complete story is told through the items players unpack at the protagonist’s new homes throughout the years. What the protagonist owns, keeps, and whether there’s even room to place them all play a role in telling the story of her life. The result is a fantastic execution of storytelling through environment and props that players will pick up on without being directly told what’s going on and how the protagonist is feeling.
Unpacking also won the EE Game of the Year. EE is a mobile network operator and internet service provider, and sponsor of the BAFTA since 2013. Unpacking was again up against worthy nominations including Deathloop, It Takes Two, Metroid Dread, The Forgotten City, and Chicory: A Colorful Tale. With two BAFTAs under its belt, Unpacking isn’t a game to be missed, and is readily available on PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
It Takes Two’s wonderful co-op adventure earned it the BAFTA Game Award in the Multiplayer category, even against powerhouse nominations such as Call of Duty: Vanguard, Halo Infinite, and Forza Horizon 5. The game follows Cody and May who have been trapped inside their daughter Rose’s dolls after Rose becomes distraught at their impending divorce. It Takes Two’s charm, moving story, and great gameplay also landed it the win for Original Property, with other phenomenal nominees including Deathloop, Unpacking, and Returnal. As a testament to its strengths, It Takes Two also won D.I.C.E.’s Game of the Year and the 2021 Game Awards’ Game of the Year.
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is another title whose awards aren’t exclusive to the BAFTA Games Awards. Its plentiful nominations and wins across various awards ceremonies, including the Game Developers Choice Awards and the D.I.C.E. Awards, are accompanied by Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart’s high review scores. The well-loved title earned two additional accolades from the 2022 BAFTA Games Awards: one for Animation, and another for Technical Achievement.
Many of Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart’s nominations across other awards ceremonies are in similar areas, including animation and art direction, a testament to the visual prowess of the title. Jennifer Hale’s performance as series newcomer Rivet was also nominated for Best Performer not only at the BAFTA Games Awards, but the Golden Joystick Awards as well. The D.I.C.E. Awards also nominated Rivet for Outstanding Achievement in Character, a testament to Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart’s strength in not only visuals but character performance to boot.
The cult classic Psychonauts’ long awaited sequel Psychonauts 2 received a whopping seven nominations for the 2022 BAFTA Games Awards spanning the categories of Narrative, Music, Animation, and even Game Beyond Entertainment, among others. Although the title took home only one BAFTA, it was for the outstanding performance of Kimberly Brooks as Hollis Forsythe. In the realm of animation, Kimberly Brooks was also nominated for an Annie Award for her 2021 performance as Bumblebee in DC Super Hero Girls. Psychonauts 2’s narrative prowess is enhanced by the stellar performances of its characters’ voice actors, and Kimberly Brooks’ win at the 2022 BAFTA Games Awards is well-earned alongside worthy nominees such as Maggie Robertson’s performance as Resident Evil Village’s fan-favorite character, Lady Dimitrescu.
In addition to the aforementioned winners, seven more titles brought home 2022 BAFTA Games Awards in its remaining categories. From Forza Horizon 5 to No Man’s Sky, the remaining winners encompass a wide array of games that showcase 2021’s diversity. The Evolving Game category in particular included nominations of Among Us, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Apex Legends, Fortnite, and even Disco Elysium, solidifying 2021’s impressive game lineup as well as how many fantastic games continued to evolve into the year. The following titles are all worthy winners to stand alongside other titles such as Returnal, and the equally fantastic nominees across all categories.
- The Artful Escape - Artistic Achievement
- Before Your Eyes - Game Beyond Entertainment
- Chicory: A Colorful Tale - Family
- Forza Horizon 5 - British Game
- Inscryption - Game Design
- No Man’s Sky - Evolving Game
- Toem - Debut Game
Source: BAFTA