Sony Santa Monica’s God of War (2018) is the only game in history to win “Game of the Year” honors at all five major year-end shows.
With the SXSW Gaming Awards off the calendar, and after Elden Ring‘s victories at The Game Awards, the DICE Awards, and the GDC Awards, it was looking extremely likely that Kratos would soon have some company. But it was not to be… and God of War: Ragnarok wasn’t even the one to snap the streak.
Instead, “Best Game” at the 2022-2023 BAFTA Games Awards went to Poncle’s Vampire Survivors.
The retro-styled “bullet heaven” shooter has been steadily picking up steam since it was released in early access in December 2021, and won over even more converts after its official launch in October. I’m sure a lot of people will look at this as an unlikely victory, but the membership of the British Academy has always tended to go their own way (most famously in 2017-2018 when it chose What Remains of Edith Finch over The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild). To further push that point home, Vampire Survivors also won the “Game Design” statuette.
So what of Elden Ring? From Software’s dark fantasy also won two awards, “Original Property” and “Multiplayer.”
Believe it or not, the biggest winner of the night was actually Sony Santa Monica and God of War: Ragnarok. The conclusion to Kratos’s Norse adventures took home six total awards, including three for the developer (“Animation,” “Audio Achievement,” and “Music”), both performance awards (Christopher Judge for “Performer in a Leading Role” and Laya DeLeon Hayes for “Performer in a Supporting Role”), and the fan-voted “EE Game of the Year.”
The complete list of winners and nominees from the 2022-2023 BAFTA Games Awards, as well as a replay of the ceremony, can be found after the break.