Tell us who should win best game at the BAFTAs and why for $3!

I'd love to say Baldur's Gate 3. The ripple it has had on the industry, captivating the DnD market, long time lovers of RPG and those new the series has been outstanding. Couple that with co-op multiplayer too, it really is a show stopper and deserving of all the awards and nominations.

But not from me.

Sadly I think gaming has become homogeneous with companies utilising the same IPs or existing franchises. Great for fans for the brand recognition and we can still get some new and interesting gameplay mechanics+ graphics but also I feel this generation we are getting burnt out with it especially from the remakes, reboots, and re-imaginings.

So my nomination is the big guy in "sleek" black nylon: Dave the Diver.

A really charming artstyle, a mixture of gameplay between exploring, boss fights, and business management sim, there is a lot to keep players occupied. I love games with different gameplay/ mini-games to stave of fatigue and has that one-more round addiction that I got from Yakuza 0's hostess mini-game and Persona's Social link mechanic.

Couple that with some amazing bombastic characters - you have a game that didn't deserve to be stuck in console exclusivity on the Switch and thankfully has been announced for Sony's consoles

I haven't played any of these games from the list (yet) so simply based on what I know from trailers, reviews and heard from friend who played them, I will say Baldur's Gate 3.

The game looks stunning, it definitely delivers for all the D&D fans and as being one of them myself I'm really looking forward to play it. It's definitely a game which not just meets the expectations but exceeds them with the well written characters and voice acting, countless options of replayability and the developers' obvious care for the players. I think this is such a rare combination these days that it deserves all the recognition it can get.

If someone would ask me to recommend a game which is well worth the money I would probably say BG3 even before I would name a Final Fantasy game and that's a huge thing coming from me.

Who I think SHOULD win and who I think will win are sadly different.

I own Baldur's Gate 3 but (please don't shout at me) I haven't yet started as I fear my life will be all consumed by the scale and length of it.

I would love Alan Wake 2 to win personally. It was such a well written story and the interlinking story of Alan and Saga if top notch; the ability to play through each characters story arc alternately or getting to the point of no return before swapping to the other character is refreshing. It's also brilliantly written to slowly link the 2 stories no matter how you play.

The horror design and action sequences have been nailed, with the survival aspects perfectly balanced in terms of ammo and health.

The game's Zany story and characters help elevate it beyond other survival action games and the New Game Plus additional story elements make sure you return to unlock more of the plot.

The graphics are probably the best seen on consoles and really help you feel immersed in the environments and enemy design.

I cannot wait to play the DLC for this game! I know I haven't played through BG3 yet to give an opinion on that but AW2 absolutely trumps anything else I have played in the past 12 months, even Spider-Man 2 and Dave the Diver.

Fingers crossed the the underdog will come good.

As a diehard D&D fan I would have to say

Balders gate 3

I love the deep characters & immersive experience. It may not be open world so to speak but I love the openess of how It doesn't limit you on the things you can do, literally. In most games when you are about to make bad or wrong choices the game has something in place to stop you. Here you can throw quest givers and essential npcs into lava and break the whole quest, the game doesn't stop you and you have to live with the choices you make :D some may not like it but I think that's what makes a great RPG.

Despite this being said, multiple times, Baldurs Gate 3. Over the years Baldur's Gate has evolved into this:

Now if we look back in time at the game itself, it has withstood the test of time itself. Now for those of you who are old enough like myself, if I show this image

You will of course get instant chills and nostalgia feelings immediately and remember the very first mission/quest when we knew nothing about the game, was probably one of the most frustrating things ever. But we persevered and kept moving forward.

In many ways, the games have evolved on "main games" such as essentially 1,2,3 with plenty of offshoots such as Tales of the Sword Coast, Siege of Dragonspear, Dark Alliance, Dark Alliance 2, shadows of Amn, throne of Bhaal etc, We of course had offshoot games like Icewind Dale which was essentially Baldurs Gate.

In my own opinion, there is no more deserving game, to win this award than Baldur's Gate 3, because, like the previous games, it has adventure, a gripping storyline, fantastic gameplay and most importantly, it has the staying power to withstand time, criticism and haters because of its huge fanbase.

Games need to deserve awards, to deserve awards you have to be able to keep your player base through thick and thin, a lot of games could learn a thing or two from these guys!