Sandfall Interactive’s Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is back to try its hand at completing its phenomenal awards run with a shot at the top prize of the BAFTA Games Awards 2026.
However, the panel, which is known to often hand out wins to indie giants, has made the contest difficult, by adding indie giants Dispatch and Blue Prince to the mix, which is sure to make things interesting.
Scheduled for April 17 (Friday), the 2026 edition can be streamed live on YouTube at 7:15 AM BST (11:45 AM IST) from the link below.
But first, a little about the games that won the most nominations this year:
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
This top contender (and winner) over the past few gaming awards returns for more, garnering 12 nominations, including Best Game, Debut Game, and Game Design.
This turn-based RPG from Sandfall Interactive sees you lead a suicide squad against The Paintress, a godlike figure lording over the dystopian world of Lumiere, who has been picking off people of a certain age year after year.
Dispatch
This ‘unlikely superhero’ decision-based adventure game clearly made a mark with the BAFTA panel after failing to do so at The Game Awards last year, now becoming one of the main contenders for the top prize.
In this offering from the indie AdHoc Studio, which blends veterans from Ubisoft and Telltale, and Night School, you are Robert “Mecha Man” Robertson, who works as a dispatcher—someone who manages a team of paid ex-supers.
Ghost of Yotei
Close on the heels of Dispatch is this open-world action-adventure offering from Sucker Punch Productions, which earned 8 nods from the BAFTA panel.
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The revenge plot features the protagonist, Atsu, pitted against an outlaw samurai group called the Yotei Six, and their formidable leader, Lord Saito, who once destroyed her entire family and left her for dead.
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
With seven nominations from the BAFTA panel for its technical achievements, music, and animation is Hideo Kojima’s sequel to his 2019 sequel to his third-person open-world masterpiece, Death Stranding.
Sam Porter Bridges returns from off the grid for a journey to connect post-apocalyptic Australia and Mexico with the chiral network, in a bid to save humanity from extinction.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Even though this surprising entry to the nominations list may not be the wild card winner that BAFTA usually picks, it garnered a surprise six nods—including a shot at Best Game—in addition to music and technical achievements: a far better performance than at The Game Awards last year, where it did not make the cut for the top prize.
This stealth action-adventure title from Bethesda gives you a first-person view of the many marvels that Indy sees on his expansive voyage across the world in pursuit of Nazi mastermind Emmerich Voss.
Arc Raiders
With five nominations to its name, including a shot at the top prize, Arc Raiders is here not just on its own merits, but also because it was one of Google’s most-searched games of 2025—showing that title from Embark Studios really resonated with people around the globe.
Set in a post-apocalyptic Italy ravaged by a mysterious threat known simply as the ARC, you play as a Raider trying to survive not just the ARCs, but also fellow raiders.
Blue Prince
This underrated indie giant may have only four nods, but manages to take the fight to Clair Obscur and the big contenders in the Best Game, Debut Game, Game Design, and Narrative categories.
This cryptic first-person mystery/strategy title sees players explore an eerie, shape-shifting mansion that tries to block you as much as possible from finding the 46th room laid out in a dead uncle's will.