Elden Ring wins Game of the Year at Golden Joystick Awards 2022

The winners of the 2022 Golden Joystick Awards have been announced, as voted by the public.
Elden Ring took out several awards at the Golden Joystick Awards 2022

Bandai Namco’s Elden Ring and Cult of the Lamb headline the list of winners at the 2022 The Golden Joystick Awards, the world’s longest-running video game award event, organised by games media publisher Future. The award is a People’s Choice award ceremony, meaning it determines category winners entirely by public voting.

While Elden Ring made the most impact, taking out four different awards, the category winners were otherwise quite varied. Cult of the Lamb was awarded Best Indie Game, Metal: Hellsinger took out best Audio, Vampire Survivors won the Breakthrough Award, and newcomer Manon Gage won the award for Best Performer, thanks to her portrayal of Marissa Marcel in Immortalitya well-deserved win, if you ask us.

In regards to the platform-specific award winners, Pokemon Legends Arceus took out the Nintendo Game of the Year Award, feline adventure Stray took out the PlayStation Award, Obisdian’s multiplayer survival game Grounded took out the Xbox award, and Return to Monkey Island grabbed the PC award.

The full list of finalists and winners follows below, courtesy of GamesRadar.


Golden Joystick Awards 2022: Full list of winners and finalists

Ultimate Game of the Year

  • Elden Ring [WINNER]

Critic’s Choice Award

  • Elden Ring [WINNER]

Breakthrough Award

  • Vampire Survivors [WINNER]

Best Audio

  • We Are OFK
  • Xenoblade Chronicles 3
  • Metal: Hellsinger [WINNER]
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge
  • Gran Turismo 7 
  • OlliOlli World

Best Storytelling

  • IMMORTALITY
  • Return to Monkey Island
  • Horizon Forbidden West [WINNER]
  • NORCO
  • I Was A Teenage Exocolonist
  • Wayward Strand

Best Game Community

  • Dreams
  • Final Fantasy XIV [WINNER]
  • GRID Legends
  • No Man’s Sky
  • Splatoon 3
  • Warframe

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 Gaming Hardware

  • Playdate
  • Steam Deck [WINNER]
  • Analogue Pocket
  • Backbone One: PlayStation Edition
  • Roccat Kone XP
  • WD_Black SN850 NVMe SSD for PS5

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 Visual Design

  • Elden Ring [WINNER]
  • Horizon Forbidden West
  • Cult of the Lamb
  • Ghostwire: Tokyo
  • A Plague Tale: Requiem
  • Lost in Play

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
  • The Day Before
  • Mass Effect
  • Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
  • Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
  • Hollow Knight: Silksong
  • Kerbal Space Program 2
  • Dead Space

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

Still Playing

  • Genshin Impact [WINNER]
  • The Sims 4 
  • Destiny 2 
  • Final Fantasy XIV 
  • Minecraft 
  • Fortnite 
  • Pokémon GO 
  • Apex Legends 
  • Lost Ark 
  • The Elder Scrolls Online

Studio of the Year

  • Roll7 
  • Terrible Toybox 
  • Half Mermaid 
  • FromSoftware Inc. [WINNER]
  • Interior / Night 
  • Tribute Games

Best Early Access Launch:

  • Disney Dreamlight Valley 
  • Slime Rancher 2 [WINNER]
  • Dune: Spice Wars 
  • Core Keeper 
  • Vampire Survivors 
  • Gloomwood

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

Edmond was the founding managing editor of GamesHub. He was also previously at GameSpot for 13 years, where he was the Australian Editor and an award-winning video producer. You can follow him @EdmondTran