Every year, the BAFTA Video games Awards rejoice the most effective of gaming, each inside and out of doors the UK, and it was a delight to see so many video games out there on Xbox platforms make their mark on the nominations checklist for this 12 months’s awards, which occur on Tuesday, April 8. From video games by our personal first-party studios, like Name of Obligation: Black Ops 6, Diablo IV, Sea of Thieves and World of Warcraft, to pioneering ID@Xbox titles like Animal Effectively, Balatro, Botany Manor, and extra, there’s an enormous vary of BAFTA-nominated video games out there on Xbox platforms proper now.
However as we speak, we wished to shine a lightweight on Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, which picked up a staggering 11 nominations throughout all kinds of classes, masking virtually each aspect of the artwork of creating video games, and past. It’s a serious second for developer Ninja Concept (which beforehand picked up 9 nominations, profitable in 5 classes, for Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice), a testomony to the laborious work and care that went into creating this singular expertise.
To rejoice this second, we spoke to builders throughout the studio concerning the work that went into their nominated class, and what it means to see this recognition.
Animation
“The entire animation workforce was thrilled to be particularly recognised within the Animation class. We’re glad that every one the laborious work, love and particular imaginative and prescient for Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II has been acquired so properly.
“Our purpose was to carry Senua, her cohort and adversaries to life as vividly as attainable , whether or not it was the up-close nuance of an intimate second between buddies or life and dying wrestle towards her deepest fears.”
Man Midgley, Ninja Animation Director
Photograph Credit score: Gareth Dutton
Creative Achievement
“The workforce at Ninja Concept has all the time had such a ardour for taking the artwork to new locations in our video games, however to have the popularity from BAFTA is unbelievable and means a lot to everybody right here.
“For Senua’s Saga we learnt a lot on the journey, whether or not it was attending to grips with new options of UE5 and understanding how they may enable us to current our imaginative and prescient like by no means earlier than, working with costume designers to construct the real-life outfits for us to scan and perceive their actions, or coaching how one can fly skilled drones in order that we may seize significant information from the great thing about the Iceland panorama.”
Mark Slater-Tunstill, Ninja VFX Director
Audio Achievement
“To carry to life the world, the truth of Senua by means of sound is a privilege, a journey that requires a powerful imaginative and prescient and a sure bravery that results in discovering a novel voice.
“Receiving this nomination brings numerous pleasure to the entire Ninja audio workforce, who’ve labored tirelessly and with such craftsmanship to ship an expertise like no different.”
David García Díaz, Ninja Audio Director
Photograph Credit score: Gareth Dutton
British Recreation
“We’re very proud to obtain a nomination for Finest British Recreation and have Hellblade II sit alongside such a various and inventive group of nominees within the class. Finest British Recreation is a very particular class for me, as I see it as a car for uplifting the subsequent era of builders in my dwelling nation.
“I wish to assume that there might be a child on the market someplace that can see the fantastic video games being created within the UK and it’ll spark in them a dream to sooner or later really feel the identical satisfaction that I do in receiving a BAFTA nomination of their very own.”
Dom Matthews, Ninja Studio Head
Photograph Credit score: Gareth Dutton
Recreation Past Leisure
“In Senua’s Saga, Ninja Concept have represented one of the crucial misunderstood of circumstances with unbelievable ability, respect and sensitivity. Their depiction of psychosis was crafted with unerring consideration to the underlying scientific neuroscience and, extra importantly, to the non-public experiences of those that have themselves carried the burden of psychosis.
“Ninja Concept have instructed the story, and amplified the voice, of people who find themselves ceaselessly unheard or dismissed. It has been an infinite privilege to play a small half of their work and to watch the depth and vary of its impression in difficult stigma.”
Paul Fletcher, Bernard Wolfe Professor of Well being Neuroscience, College of Cambridge
Photograph Credit score: Gareth Dutton
Music
“To inform a narrative with out phrases that connects the feelings with the listener, that’s the quest of all of the musicians concerned within the creation of the soundtrack for the sport.
“On the core of it’s the phrase ‘collaboration’: From Heilung, Ren and Arunka, the incredible voices and expertise of Helen and Abbi, plus our personal composers right here at Ninja. It’s an honour for us to obtain this nomination for a piece that’s executed with nice ardour and care.”
David García Díaz, Ninja Audio Director
Photograph Credit score: Gareth Dutton
Narrative
“Our heroine Senua faces down each internal and outer conflicts with persistence and energy of coronary heart, and I really feel lucky to be a part of the workforce sharing her distinctive perspective with the world.
“Storytelling is all the time foremost in our minds with all of Ninja Concept’s video games, and I’m deeply honoured and grateful that the workforce’s work on this space has been recognised by BAFTA with a nomination within the Narrative class.”
Lara Derham, Author and Stage Director
Photograph Credit score: Gareth Dutton
Performer in a Main Function – Melina Juergens as Senua
“I’m deeply honored to be nominated at this 12 months’s BAFTA Video games Awards as ‘Performer in a Main Function’ for my portrayal of Senua for the second time. It means the world to have my work as a performer acknowledged in such a significant manner.
“BAFTA Video games Awards play an important position in elevating gaming as an artwork kind, placing it on the identical cultural stage as movie and tv. Their dedication to celebrating creativity, storytelling, and innovation in video games is unbelievable, and their charity work, supporting new expertise and making the business extra accessible is really inspiring.
“In Senua’s Saga, we managed to push the efficiency tech additional than ever earlier than, which gave me the liberty to pour all the pieces into my efficiency, understanding that each emotion and each little nuance would come by means of on display. It was an unbelievable and rewarding expertise.”
Melina Juergens
Photograph Credit score: Gareth Dutton
Performer in a Supporting Function – Aldís Amah Hamilton as Ástríðr
“It’s laborious to place into phrases how a lot this nomination means to me and the way grateful I’m to everybody concerned in creating this lovely sport, and for permitting me to be part of that creation. Each step of the method has been an unforgettable expertise. I’ve made expensive buddies, discovered new abilities, labored overseas for the primary time, and brought half in making one thing significant. As a gamer from the age of 5, I couldn’t have imagined what my future would maintain. And to obtain this recognition for our work goes past what I may ever have dreamed of. Thanks dearly expensive Ninjas and Xbox for giving me the respect of working with you.”
Aldís Amah Hamilton
Photograph Credit score: Thelma Arngrims
Performer in a Supporting Function – Abbi Greenland and Helen Goalen as The Furies
“We’re delighted to be collectively nominated for our position because the Furies. Engaged on Senua’s Saga was a pleasure because of the brilliance of David García Díaz and his dream workforce.
“We’re a theatre firm who work lots with vocal improvisation and it was actually thrilling to collaborate with David on this manner. It was fascinating for us to get an perception into how video games are made. Everybody works so extremely laborious and it’s fantastic to see the workforce receiving such recognition for this.”
Helen Goalen and Abbi Greenland
Technical Achievement
“It’s an important honour to obtain a Technical Achievement BAFTA nomination for Hellblade II, alongside a shortlist of fantastic and assorted nominees. This nomination celebrates not simply the know-how itself, however the imaginative and prescient and perseverance of the whole workforce; it’s a testomony to the element, artistry and technical effort we poured into crafting Senua’s world and its inhabitants, as a part of our dedication to pushing the boundaries of interactive storytelling. We’re immensely grateful to BAFTA for this acknowledgement, and it fuels our ardour to proceed creating experiences that purpose to resonate on a profound stage. Thanks.”
Gavin Costello, Ninja Technical Director
Congratulations to everybody at Ninja Concept for his or her work on Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, and to all of the recipients of BAFTA nominations this 12 months.
You may watch the BAFTA Video games Awards stay on Tuesday, April 8 at 11am Pacific / 2pm Jap / 7pm UK by way of YouTube and Twitch.