First videogame by a solo developer to win the Best Game BAFTA

Luca Galante (ITA), now better known as developer Poncle, wanted to make a simple, fun game to lift his spirits during the COVID-19 lockdown. This became Vampire Survivors (Poncle, 2022), a simple but innovative “bullet heaven” game where the player tries to survive waves of attacks from vampiric monsters, with increasingly outlandish weapons. As well as exploding in popularity (particularly in light of it’s $4.99 (£3.99) price tag, Vampire Survivors won many awards, including, on 30 Mar 2023, Best Game at the annual British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Games Awards (also known as the British Academy Games Awards). Every winner of the title previously, and since as of the 2025 awards, was made by a much larger development team; Galante created Vampire Survivors as a solo developer.