SATV, Kathmandu, Mar. 13 - This year's Bafta Games Awards nominations have been released, and the unstoppable Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is the front-runner once again.
The role-playing adventure, made by French developer Sandfall Interactive, received 12 nominations in total, including best game, best music and best narrative.
Having already swept the board at several video game award ceremonies, Expedition 33 was widely expected to feature heavily in this year's Bafta list.
But, in a ceremony which aims to celebrate multimillion-dollar productions and independent games made by tiny teams, there are also some surprising inclusions and omissions.
Expedition 33's 12 nominations is not a record for Bafta.
In 2023, God of War Ragnarok was up for 14 awards - although it lost out on best game to independent game Vampire Survivors.
The remaining best game nominees include superhero adventure Dispatch, which got nine nominations in total.
PlayStation 5 adventure Ghost of Yōtei, which picked up eight nods, is also up for the top prize, as is the critically acclaimed adventure game Blue Prince.
The nomination of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle in best game will likely surprise some players, as it was first released in December 2024.
But it falls within the eligibility window for this year's game awards and makes an appearance in six categories in total.
Final best game nominee, Arc Raiders, the hugely successful multiplayer "looter shooter" which sparked backlash over its use of AI character voices, received five nominations.
Despite missing out on a best game nomination, blockbuster sequel Death Stranding 2, directed by legendary developer Hideo Kojima, appears in seven categories.
Indie games Hollow Knight: Silksong and Hades 2, two of the most-anticipated and highly rated games of last year, picked up only a handful of nominations between them.
And medieval adventure Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 (KCD 2), one of the first big releases of last year, picked up just two nominations - one one for its ambitious narrative and the other for lead performer Tom McKay.
