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Hellblade leads Bafta game award nominations

Ninja Theory Hellblade: Senua's SacrificeNinja Theory

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice leads this year's Bafta Games Awards nominations.

It's up for nine including best game, best British game and game beyond entertainment - a new category.

The game is about Celtic warrior Senua, who is affected by psychosis and experiences hallucinations and hears voices, and her quest during the Viking age.

For many this is the most prestigious gaming awards in the world.

To help make sure Senua's hallucinations appeared realistic, the title's developers interviewed several mental health patients as well as getting advice from a practising psychiatrist.

Horizon: Zero Dawn follows it with eight nominations, What Remains of Edith Finch has seven.

SONY INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT Horizon Zero Dawn screen shotSONY INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT
Producer Sam Sharma describes it as, "a post, post-apocalyptic, third-person, action role-playing game"

They both also feature in the best game category.

The team behind Horizon Zero Dawn had never made an action role-playing game before.

Producer Sam Sharma says putting it together was "incredibly challenging, but also very satisfying".

As technology has developed, RPG (role-playing game) titles have become much bigger, now regularly offering players hundreds of hours worth of content.

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Both The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Gorogoa have five nominations.

Experts are tipping Zelda to take the award in all its categories.

The game, which follows Link, who wakes up after a 100-year sleep and tries to defeat the boss Calamity Ganon and the kingdom of Hyrule, won three awards at the 2017 Game Awards in Los Angeles.

It was also named ultimate game of the year at the Golden Joystick Awards last November.

Nintendo A screen shot from a Nintendo gameNintendo
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has five nominations

Monument Valley 2 will be hoping to emulate the original's success in 2015 by winning the best British game award.

It faces Sniper Elite 4, Reigns: Her Majesty, The Sexy Brutale and Total War: Warhammer II and Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice.

A total of 45 games have been recognised.

The ceremony, hosted by Dara O'Briain, takes place on Thursday 12 April at Troxy, London.

For a full list of the categories and nominations click here.

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