With 12 nominations, acclaimed role-playing adventure Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was expected to be the runaway success at the 2026 Bafta games awards, held in London on Friday evening.

And while it couldn’t quite match its nine wins at the Game Awards back in December, it was still the joint biggest winner on the night, taking best game and debut game as well as the performer in a leading role award for Jennifer English.

Alongside it was superhero comedy Dispatch, which won animation, audio achievement and performer in a supporting role for Jeffrey Wright. The only other multiple winner on a varied, unpredictable night was historical samurai slasher Ghost of Yōtei, taking trophies for music and technical achievement.

Samurai slasher Ghost of Yōtei bagged the technical achievement award. Photograph: Sony Interactive Entertainment

The visually stunning post-apocalyptic epic Death Stranding 2 attracted seven nominations but took just the one: artistic achievement. In the British game category, Rebellion’s 1950s-themed nuclear disaster thriller Atomfall claimed the prize against an interesting array of competitors including Two Point Museum and Power Wash Simulator 2. Another British game, No Man’s Sky, won evolving game. The much-praised puzzler Blue Prince was a worthy winner in game design, though it lost out in the narrative category to Kingdom Come: Deliverance II.

One slight surprise was in new intellectual property, where South of Midnight beat a strong field including Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Dispatch, Arc Raiders and Split Fiction. The games beyond entertainment award, which recognises games that deliver “a transformational experience”, went to the beautiful semi-autobiographical Despelote, about a boy’s experience of Ecuador’s 2002 World Cup qualifying adventure. Finally, Arc Raiders won in multiplayer and Lego Party! took the family award.

The Bafta Fellowship was presented to Ilkka Paananen, chief executive and co-founder of smartphone games developer Supercell, creator of smash hits Clash of Clans and Clash Royale.

The full list of Bafta games awards winners

Animation Dispatch

Artistic achievement Death Stranding 2: On the Beach

Audio achievement Dispatch

Best game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

British game Atomfall

Debut game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Evolving game No Man’s Sky

Family Lego Party!

Game beyond entertainment Despelote

Game design Blue Prince

Multiplayer Arc Raiders

Music Ghost of Yōtei

Narrative Kingdom Come: Deliverance II

New intellectual property South of Midnight

Performer in a leading role Jennifer English as Maelle in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Performer in a supporting role Jeffrey Wright as Chase in Dispatch

Technical achievement Ghost of Yōtei