Last year’s celebrated French hit Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is nominated in 12 categories this year, with Ghost of Yōtei, Dispatch, Death Stranding 2 and Indiana Jones also making strong showings
The 22nd Bafta games awards are coming up in April, and the 2026 nominations list is dominated by the impeccably stylish French breakout hit Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 – a game that has already won game of the year prizes at December’s Game Awards in the US, the UK’s Golden Joysticks last November, and February’s Dice awards in Las Vegas.
Dispatch, a game about a benched superhero roped into running a team of superpowered misfits at a call centre, has nine nominations. Among them is a best performer in a leading role nod for its star Aaron Paul, and one for Jeffrey Wright in supporting role. Sony’s samurai epic Ghost of Yōtei came out with eight nominations, including best game and best performer in a leading role for Erika Ishii, who plays Atsu.
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, from Japan’s Kojima Productions, got seven nominations – but star Norman Reedus did not appear in the best performer category, despite being nominated for his role in the original Death Stranding in 2020.
Compared with other gaming awards ceremonies, many of which are public-voted, the panel-voted Bafta list tends to nominate (and honour) a much broader range of games. This year, Ecuadorian football-memoir game Despelote, autobiographical coming-of-age comedy Consume Me, the sublime puzzle-box Blue Prince and a game about dementia called And Roger – all made by very small teams or led by solo developers – sit alongside blockbuster-budget games such as Xbox’s Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. The list includes 42 different games in total.
