Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice dominates at video game Bafta awards

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, a dark mythological adventure that follows a young warrior suffering from psychosis, was the big winner at the 2018 Bafta video game awards on Thursday night at Tobacco Dock, London. The game, which was developed in conjunction with psychologists and neuroscientists to ensure its accurate depiction of mental illness, was nominated in nine categories and won for best British game, best performance, artistic achievement, audio achievement and a new category, games beyond entertainment, which celebrates new releases with a political or social message. Accepting the latter prize, psychologist Paul Fletcher, a professor of neuroscience at Cambridge University who worked closely with the game's Cambridge-based developer, Ninja Theory, said: "Mental illness is usually characterised by the fact that it's invisible. Working with Ninja Theory has shown me something valuable: games can aspire to and achieve a remarkable exploration of state of the mind and mental suffering." However, the night's biggest award, best game, also provided its biggest shock.