Three British developers have been nominated for Best Game at the Develop: Star Awards 2025.
Held at the gaming developer convention, Develop: Brighton, the Develop: Star Awards recognise the very best games and talent within the industry.
Among the nominees for Best Game are Atomfall developer, Rebellion. Having only been released recently, this marks the start of Atomfall’s awards season campaign.
Other British developers nominated are Coal Supper and The Chinese Room for their work on Thank Goodness You’re Here! and Still Wakes The Deep, respectively.
The Develop: Star Awards winners will be announced at the final awards ceremony on Wednesday, July 9th, at the Brighton Dome.
Nominated: Atomfall – by Rebellion
Atomfall is set in 1960s Northern England, where a nuclear disaster near the village of Seascale has ravaged the countryside.
Inspired by the real-life event of the Windscale fire in 1957 and set five years later, players must learn to survive as they discover what really happened and unravel the intricate story.
Since the game’s release, it has only grown in popularity. Many have taken interest in its layered story, post-apocalyptic setting, and action-survival gameplay, which immersed players in an alternate version of history.
Rebellion are a veteran games development studio, as well as a producer of books, comics, TV, film, and board games.
The Oxford-based studio is most well-known for their Sniper Elite and Zombie Army series.
Nominated: Thank Goodness You’re Here! – by Coal Supper
Thank Goodness You’re Here! has been dubbed by its developer, Coal Supper, as a comedy slapformer.
Also set in the north of England, players are sent to a fictional town to sell to the town’s mayor.
However, whilst waiting for the Mayor to finish their meeting, the player is pulled into helping the townspeople with their increasingly chaotic problems.
The game was met with universal acclaim thanks to its absurd British humour.
Coal Supper was later rewarded for their efforts at the British Academy Games Awards 2025, where they took the award for best British Game.
Nominated: Still Wakes The Deep – by The Chinese Room
Still Wakes The Deep is a psychological horror set on a fictional oil rig off the coast of Scotland in 1975.
In this slow-burn Lovecraftian-inspired story, players must navigate the collapsing rig to save the crew from an otherworldly horror on the edge of all logic and reality.
The game received multiple awards at the British Academy Games Awards 2025, where it won Best New Intellectual Property, Best Performer in a Leading Role (Alec Newman), and Best Performer in a Supporting Role (Karen Dunbar).
The Chinese Room are known for their exploration games which use psychological horror elements to explore their characters and deeper themes within the story.
Other critically acclaimed games from the developer include Dear Esther, Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, and Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture.
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