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Published Mar 12, 2026, 12:06 PM EDT
Could the indie superhero comedy stage an upset?
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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is in pole position at yet another awards show. Sandfall Interactive's hit role-playing game leads the field of nominees for the U.K.'s BAFTA Games Awards. But there's a surprise game in second place: not Death Stranding 2, not Ghost of Yōtei, but Dispatch, the breakout episodic superhero comedy by indie outfit AdHoc Studio. Dispatch has nine nominations, its best haul of the awards season. This reflects the fact that its viral popularity has only grown since The Game Awards in December, where it was nominated only twice.
Elsewhere, AAA games are well represented, with eight nominations for Ghost of Yōtei, seven for Death Stranding 2, and six for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. Also benefiting from BAFTA's late slot in the awards calendar is 2025's late-breaking hit extraction shooter Arc Raiders, which has five nods.
These five games are all nominated for Best Game, along with indie sensation Blue Prince. Notably, The Game Awards' indie darlings Hades 2 and Hollow Knight: Silksong have both been snubbed in the Best Game category. Clair Obscur will be the favorite in this race, but BAFTA often goes rogue with a left-field winner.
BAFTA splits its performance categories into leading and supporting roles, which means Troy Baker is nominated twice (for Indiana Jones and Higgs in Death Stranding 2), while Clair Obscur racks up no less than four acting nominations.
The BAFTA Games Awards, which takes place on April 17, is the last of the Big Five ceremonies of the gaming awards season, thanks to its lengthy and very serious nomination and voting process. It can go a different way in its Best Game category, even when there's a strong GOTY consensus. In 2017, for example, BAFTA was the only major awards body not to pick The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (it went with What Remains of Edith Finch instead). This year, it could be the one to break Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's run — if that doesn't happen at tonight's Game Developers Choice Awards first.
Here's the full list of the 2026 BAFTA Games Awards nominees:
Best Game
- Arc Raiders
- Blue Prince
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
- Dispatch
- Ghost of Yōtei
- Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Animation
- Battlefield 6
- Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
- Dispatch
- Ghost of Yōtei
- Hades 2
- Hollow Knight: Silksong
Artistic Achievement
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
- Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
- Dispatch
- Ghost of Yōtei
- Hollow Knight: Silksong
- South of Midnight
Audio Achievement
- Arc Raiders
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
- Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
- Dispatch
- Ghost of Yōtei
- Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
British Game
- Atomfall
- Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector
- Mafia: The Old Country
- Monument Valley 3
- Powerwash Simulator 2
- Two Point Museum
Debut Game
- Blue Prince
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
- Consume Me
- Despelote
- Dispatch
- The Midnight Walk
Evolving Game
- Fallout 76
- Helldivers 2
- Hitman World of Assassination
- No Man's Sky
- Vampire Survivors
- Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2
Family
- Donkey Kong Bananza
- Is This Seat Taken?
- Lego Party!
- Mario Kart World
- Powerwash Simulator 2
- Two Point Museum
Game Beyond Entertainment
- And Roger
- Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector
- Consume Me
- Despelote
- STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl
- The Alters
Game Design
- Ball x Pit
- Blue Prince
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
- Ghost of Yōtei
- Hades 2
- Split Fiction
Multiplayer
- Arc Raiders
- Dune: Awakening
- Elden Ring Nightrein
- Lego Party!
- Peak
- Split Fiction
Music
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
- Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
- Dispatch
- Ghost of Yōtei
- Hollow Knight: Silksong
- Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Narrative
- Blue Prince
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
- Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
- Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
- Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2
- The Alters
New Intellectual Property
- Arc Raiders
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
- Dispatch
- South of Midnight
- Split Fiction
- The Alters
Performer in a Leading Role
- Aaron Paul as Robert Robertson in Dispatch
- Ben Starr as Verso in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
- Erika Ishii as Atsu in Ghost of Yōtei
- Jennifer English as Maelle in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
- Tom McKay as Henry of Skalitz in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2
- Troy Baker as Indiana Jones in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Performer in a Supporting Role
- Alex Wilton Regan as Lea Florence Monad in Lies of P: Overture
- Charlie Cox as Gustave in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
- Jane Perry as Lia Cain in Dead Take
- Jeffrey Wright as Chase in Dispatch
- Kirsty Rider as Lune in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
- Troy Baker as Higgs in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
Technical Achievement
- Arc Raiders
- Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
- Doom: The Dark Ages
- Ghost of Yōtei
- Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
- Split Fiction
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