BAFTA Games Awards / EGX Rezzed 2016

With both the BAFTA Games Awards and EGX Rezzed taking place in London last week, it’s been a busy and exciting time for the games and interactive industry, and after spending a jam-packed few days at the heart of it all, here are our highlights from the events.

First up was the 2016 BAFTA Games Awards Ceremony, hosted by Dara O’Briain at Tobacco Dock on April 7th. With such an exemplary and unique lineup of nominees, it was always going to be a close competition, and we’d like to extend our congratulations to all the BAFTA Games Award nominees and winners for their well-deserved achievements.

Particular congrats to Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture, a beautiful post-apocalyptic mystery game developed by indie studio The Chinese Room, which scooped three BAFTA Games Awards. We were also pleased to see that supercharged multi-player game Rocket League was another multiple award winner – it gets a lot of play time during Thud lunch breaks!

Then onto EGX Rezzed 2016 – a three day video game event packed full of pre-release games to play, behind-the-scenes sessions with developers, indie games showcases and more.

We wasted no time getting stuck into many of the great games on offer, and some of our stand-out favourites include Raging Justice, a smashing homage to the 2D scrolling brawler; Hue, a striking puzzle platformer that plays with colour; and the brilliantly styled 80s horror of Dead Pixels II. It was also great to see Wales Interactive’s adventure-puzzle game Soul Axiom on display in the ID@XBOX area.

The developer sessions at the show were also popular. Katie Goode of Triangular Pixels gave an informative talk on developing for VR (particularly apt given the enormous queues for those eager to try out the VR kit on offer) and the developer session with Campo Santa artist Olly Moss and animator James Benson delivered a behind-the-scenes insight into Firewatch, a beautiful looking game with a unique visual style.

It’s always a pleasure to attend events like this and celebrate the talents and latest triumphs in the games and interactive industry – we’ve returned feeling inspired and excited for what the future holds and what to stock our Steam library with…