The holidays are quickly approaching, which means that it is video gaming award show season. The Game Awards takes place in a couple weeks, but in the meantime, GamesRadar held the 2022 Golden Joystick Awards earlier today. In fact, the winners have been announced.
This is the 40th year that the Golden Joystick Awards have been held, and for Nintendo fans, it wasn’t a bad one at all. Pokemon Legends Arceus won “Nintendo Game Of The Year”, and Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom” won the award for “Most Wanted Game”. Meanwhile, the winner of “Game Of The Year” was Elden Ring. The full list of winners can be seen down below.
Best Storytelling
- IMMORTALITY
- Return to Monkey Island
- Horizon Forbidden West (WINNER)
- NORCO
- I Was A Teenage Exocolonist
- Wayward Strand
Still Playing Award
- Genshin Impact (WINNER)
- The Sims 4
- Destiny 2
- Final Fantasy XIV
- Minecraft
- Fortnite
- Pokémon GO
- Apex Legends
- Lost Ark
- The Elder Scrolls Online
Best Visual Design
- Elden Ring (WINNER)
- Horizon Forbidden West
- Cult of the Lamb
- Ghostwire: Tokyo
- A Plague Tale: Requiem
- Lost in Play
Studio of the Year
- Roll7
- Terrible Toybox
- Half Mermaid
- FromSoftware Inc. (WINNER)
- Interior / Night
- Tribute Games
Best Game Expansion
- Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker
- Destiny 2: The Witch Queen
- Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course (WINNER)
- GTA Online: The Contract
- Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons
- Total War: Warhammer III – Immortal Empires
Best Early Access Launch
- Disney Dreamlight Valley
- Slime Rancher 2 (WINNER)
- Dune: Spice Wars
- Core Keeper
- Vampire Survivors
- Gloomwood
Best Indie Game
- Cult of the Lamb (WINNER)
- Tunic
- Rollerdrome
- Dorfromantik
- Neon White
- Teardown
Best Multiplayer Game
- Elden Ring (WINNER)
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenue
- MultiVersus
- Splatoon 3
- Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands
- LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
Best Audio
- We Are OFK
- Xenoblade Chronicles 3
- Metal: Hellsinger (Winner)
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge
- Gran Turismo 7
- OlliOlli World
Best Game Trailer
- The Callisto Protocol The Truth of Black Iron Trailer
- Goat Simulator 3 Announcement Trailer (WINNER)
- skate. Still Working On It Trailer
- Bloody Hell Hotel Reveal Trailer
- Time Flies Announcement Trailer
- Alan Wake 2 Reveal Trailer
Best Game Community
- Dreams
- Final Fantasy 14 (WINNER)
- GRID Legends
- No Man’s Sky
- Splatoon 3
- Warframe
Best Gaming Hardware
- Playdate
- Steam Deck (WINNER)
- Analogue Pocket
- Backbone One: PlayStation Edition
- Roccat Kone XP
- WD_Black SN850 NVMe SSD for PS5
Breakthrough Award
Vampire Survivors
Critics’ Choice Award
Elden Ring
Best Performer
- Manon Gage (Marissa Marcel, Immortality) – WINNER
- Ted Rami (Travis, The Quarry)
- Dominic Armato (Guybrush Threepwood, Return to Monkey Island)
- Angela Bassett (Regalla, Horizon Forbidden West)
- Ashly Burch (Tiny Tina, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands)
- Christopher Judge (Kratos, God of War Ragnarok)
Nintendo Game of the Year
- Xenoblade Chronicles 3
- Pokémon Legends: Arceus (WINNER)
- Kirby and the Forgotten Land
- Live A Live
- Splatoon 3
- Nintendo Switch Sports
PC Game of the Year
- Neon White
- Return to Monkey Island (WINNER)
- Hardspace: Shipbreaker
- Teardown
- Total War: Warhammer 3
- Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters
PlayStation Game of the Year
- Gran Turismo 7
- Horizon Forbidden West
- Stray (WINNER)
- Elden Ring
- The Last Of Us Part I
- Sifu
Xbox Game of the Year
- Halo Infinite
- Scorn
- Grounded (WINNER)
- As Dusk Falls
- Sniper Elite 5
- Dying Light 2: Stay Human
Most Wanted Game
- The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (WINNER)
- Final Fantasy XVI
- Assassin’s Creed Mirage
- Dead Island 2
- Forspoken
- Street Fighter 6
- Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
- Warhammer 40,000: Darktide
- Honkai: Star Rail
- Starfield
- Exoprimal
- Redfall
- Hogwarts Legacy
- Mass Effect
- Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
- Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
- Hollow Knight: Silksong
- Kerbal Space Program 2
- Dead Space
Ultimate Game of the Year
- Elden Ring (WINNER)
- Gran Turismo 7
- Horizon Forbidden West
- Immortality
- Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope
- God of War: Ragnarok
- Return to Monkey Island
- Teardown
- Xenoblade Chronicles 3
- Bayonetta 3
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
- Neon White
I guess you people will play just ANY indie game.
It would be a lot nicer if Sonic Frontiers won the Joy-Stick award this year and some people or media didn’t show the game some compassion.
It probably released too late. I don’t even see the new God of War game. Maybe they are eligible next year?
God of war is there. It got beat out by Elden Ring in the Ultimate Game of the year Award.
That or it’s because Sonic Frontiers is nothing more than a cookie cutter game were you can only play as Sonic. Sonic is dead dude.
Yeah probably. It could be the real reason why they make this game release a bit late.
Maybe next year.
Keep crying :)
Are you kidding? Sonic isn’t material for GOTY…now Kirby is!!!!
Please, stop being delusional.
I doubt it was to late for Sonic Frontiers to be a nominee, God of War Ragnarok was a nominee for GOTY and it released November 9th and Sonic Frontiers released November 8th. The new God of War is listed under Ultimate Game of The Year, it was a nominee, i doubt it was to late for Sonic Frontiers when it released the day before GoW Ragnarok.
I didn’t see that God of War was at the bottom there. I guess Sonic Frontiers was passed over.
Pokemon over Xenoblade 3 and Kirby, and Bayonetta isn’t in that list but switch sports is? Though Bayonetta is in an Ultimate Game nominee? Regardless of the confusing setup there, I feel Kirby is the game that recieved the highest praise to complaint ratio for Nintendo. I heard good things about Xeno, Arceus and Bayonetta but Kirby seemed like it had unanimous praise from most. Kirby gets my best game for all skill levels award. Can be easy but also tough if you want to 100% it, and just a joy all around.