God of War, the action-adventure game of Santa Monica has won the coveted Best Game prize at the 15th annual Bafta Games Awards.

The Sony PlayStation exclusive title is rooted in ancient mythology and stars Kratos, the former Greek god of war, and his son Atreus.

Fortnite, the battle royale title released in 2017, was nominated best evolving game.

While it received six nominations, the UK-made western adventure game: Red Dead Redemption 2 walked away empty-handed at the flashy ceremony in central London.

The very first God of War title was released in 2005. It this eighth episode of the series, which is developed by Santa Monica Studio, its iconic lead character Kratos – son of Zeus – is a struggling single parent.

When Cory Barlog, director of God of War was interviewed, he told the BBC winning the awards was “amazing, overwhelming, and scary”.

He also added, that the prize win showed that story-led games could be as “relevant” as the presently popular Battle Royale style titles.

Nintendo didn’t walk away empty handed either: won two awards for Labo: one for best family game and the other for innovation.

It is the cardboard toolkit that lets players explore the interactivity of the firm’s Switch console, for example by creating a piano.

The Bafta winners in full were:

• Original Property: Into the Breach
• Music: God of War
• Game Design: The Return of the Obra Dinn
• Evolving Game: Fortnite
• Narrative: God of War
• Debut Game: Yoku’s Island Express
• Mobile: Florence
• Family: Nintendo Labo
• Artistic Achievement: Return of the Obra Dinn
• Multiplayer: A Way Out
• Audio Achievement: God of War
• Game Innovation: Nintendo Labo
• Performer: Jeremy Davies, God of War
• Best British Game: Forza Horizon 4
• Game Beyond Entertainment: My Child Lebensborn
• Mobile Game of the Year (Audience Vote): Old School Runescape
• Best Game: God of War

BBC also asked Radio 1 Newsbeat’s gaming reporter, Steffan Powell about Red Dead Redemption 2’s “failure” at Bafta and  he said it was surprising that Red Dead Redemption 2 had not won in any category.

“A game of such depth and innovation (whether you finished it or not!) – their loss is the independent sector’s gain. Tonight shows titles from smaller teams that manage to speak a certain truth to players can be just as successful (in awards terms – not cash!) as the big guns,” he tweeted.

Presenter Dara O’Briain told the BBC the event celebrates the diversity of the games industry and the award results can be surprising.

“Like the movie industry suddenly going indie and choosing all indie and not choosing the blockbusters, Bafta has a tendency to do that,” he said.

Sales of video games, consoles, PC gaming add-ons and other related products topped £5.7bn in the UK last year, according to trade body Ukie.

That is another record high and a 10% improvement on the previous year.

However, the VR hardware market had a more difficult year according to the IHS Markit consultancy. Sales dropped by 20.9% to £72m.

Source: BBC