BAFTA Unveils 2025 Game Of The Year Longlist, 58 Award Hopefuls

BAFTA has revealed the longlist for the 2025 BAFTA Games Awards, after 1,300 of its members from the gaming industry chose the biggest and brightest stars of the last year. The Best Game category’s longlist has also been revealed for the first time, with ten solid hopefuls aiming to get the biggest prize.

It’s a very BAFTA collection of potential winners, too; the GOTY longlist shares seven of the 12 frontrunners chosen by the 2024 Golden Joystick Awards, including eventual winner Black Myth: Wukong, and adds hometown hero Thank Goodness You’re Here!, The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, and Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2. Unlike the GJs, Silent Hill 2, Satisfactory, Tekken 8, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, and–most surprisingly–Final Fantasy VII Rebirth didn’t make the cut.

Still, seeing a few more indies in the limelight is great. Once again, Balatro has proved itself across the pond, grabbing a Best Game longlisting alongside Billy Basso’s Animal Well. Other brilliant small-studio titles in the selection include horror duo Crow Country and Still Wakes the Deep, plus Tales of Kenzera: ZAU and UFO 50.

Unlike last year’s BAFTA Games longlist, which grouped titles by number of selections–Baldur’s Gate 3 unsurprisingly led the 2024 pack with 15, and ended up winning Best Game, but only grabbed another three awards–this unveiling simply lists all 58 inclusions in the big list, whittled down from 247 eligible games released between November 25, 2023, and November 15, 2024 (save for those in the Best Evolving Game category).

All 58 longlisted games now move on to the next voting phase, which determines the final nominations; shortlisted nominees will be revealed on March 4, 2025, ahead of the awards ceremony on April 8, 2025. BAFTA members will vote in January 2025 for the Best Game and British Game categories; specialized juries pick nominees for all other categories, with winners decided by a combination of member votes and jury decisions.

2025 BAFTA Best Game category longlist (in alphabetical order)

• Animal Well
• Astro Bot
• Balatro
• Black Myth: Wukong
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
• Helldivers 2
• The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
• Metaphor: ReFantazio
• Thank Goodness You’re Here!
• Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2

2025 BAFTA Games Awards longlist (in alphabetical order)

• Animal Well
• Astro Bot
• Balatro
• Baldur’s Gate 3
• Batman: Arkham Shadow
• Black Myth: Wukong
• Botany Manor
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
• Cat Quest III
• Crow Country
• Diablo IV
• Dragon Age: The Veilguard
• EA Sports F1 24
• EA Sports FC 25
• Factorio
• Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
• Final Fantasy XIV Online
• Frostpunk 2
• Harold Halibut
• Helldivers 2
• A Highland Song
• Hitman World of Assassination
• Indika
• Kind Words 2 (lofi city pop)
• The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
• LEGO Horizon Adventures
• Life is Strange: Double Exposure
• Little Kitty, Big City
• Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story
• Metaphor: ReFantazio
• Minecraft
• Neva
• No Man’s Sky
• Pacific Drive
• Paper Trail
• Planet Coaster 2
• The Plucky Squire
• Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
• Sea of Thieves
• Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II
• Silent Hill 2
• Star Wars Outlaws
• Star Wars: Hunters
• Stellar Blade
• Still Wakes the Deep
• Super Mario Party Jamboree
• Tactical Breach Wizards
• Tales of Kenzera: ZAU
• Tekken 8
• Tetris Forever
• Thank Goodness You’re Here!
• Tiny Glade
• UFO 50
• V Rising
• Vampire Survivors
• Vampire Therapist
• Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2
• World of Warcraft

You can read the full breakdown of the best video games of 2024 at BAFTA.