Resident Evil Village has won its first Game of the Year accolade at this evening's Golden Joystick Awards, where it was crowned the Ultimate Game of the Year and the PlayStation Game of the Year. It then also won the Best Audio and Best Performer (Maggie Robertson as Lady Dimitrescu) categories. The Golden Joystick Awards are decided by a public vote, meaning the games that won were decided by the fans and players. The Critics Choice Award went to Deathloop.

Elsewhere, Life Is Strange: True Colors took home the award for Best Storytelling, Death's Door was crowned the Best Indie Game, and the PlayStation 5 console was the Best Gaming Hardware according to voters. Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart had the Best Visual Design, the Iki island expansion for Ghost of Tsushima was named the Best Game Expansion, and Returnal developer Housemarque took home the Breakthrough Award. The Ultimate Game of All Time was also voted on, with the winner being Dark Souls.

The complete list of awards and winners is as follows:

Liam grew up with a PlayStation controller in his hands and a love for Metal Gear Solid. Nowadays, he can be found playing the latest and greatest PS5 games as well as supporting Derby County. That last detail is his downfall.

Ultimate Hardware of All Time — PC

Given what PC is, I certainly hope so.

Good on RE8. Methinks this may be a foreshadowing.

Only 5 hours into RE:8 and can already tell that yeah, it’s GOTY worthy.

Ooh, I better get round to starting Resi 8 then, I just need to get enough done of this bloody dissertation that I can take a break 😂

In a quiet launch year (as per usual) where there was no behemoths this game was the standout game for the year. Slick

Bang average 🤫 just like Lady Dimetrescu

Returnal should have been "PlayStation Game of the Year", not REVillage, that some BS right there, but whatever...

Also REVillage winning both "PlayStation Game of the Year" and "Ultimate Game of the Year" is redundant...

Definitely deserves it great game can't wait for the dlc 👌🏻

Haven’t played RE8 yet so might just have to take a look if it’s that good. I do think Returnal deserved PS game of the year at least though if not the top spot.

Congrats to all the winners!

I keep hovering over it in my wishlist. If it's that good I may have to go for it (especially with that Black Friday discount).

Easy choice. REvillage is an amazing Game. Also congratz to Maggie Robertson. Fantastic job.

It is $20 at Walmart right now.

I liked RE8 and it’s probably the ‘right’ winner overall, I just wished it was longer and more fleshed out. I didn’t connect with the story, characters or locations like I expected (and wanted to). It moved far too quickly to leave a lasting impression but I still enjoyed it. I’d love them to release an expanded cut at double the length and with more exploring and puzzles.

I'd have Metroid Dread and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart of ahead of it, but RE: Village is still an awesome game and it was great to get a mainline Resident Evil so early into this new generation of consoles. Very strong year overall for Capcom with this game, Monster Hunter Rise and MH Stories 2 as well the Western releases of The Great Ace Attorney collection.

I think people are not right on their minds. The pandemic really fried some heads to think this game even has a chance, let alone win lol

I had setup to play resident evil 7 straight into 8, after 7 I couldn't start 8. It was too on rails, repetitive, and considering how one dimensional and watered down it was, it felt so drug out even though it's a really short game. Resident evil has an identy crisis.

Unless RE 8 is a drastic improvement which the reviews didn't suggest, I can't see how this game deserves goty. I will eventually play it, but after 7 it's a tough sell.

No complaints from me, it's my personal goty as well. Looks like everyone deserving won something at least well, also the "Ultimate Hardware of All Time" award is kind of silly.

Its a great game but best playstation game of the last year it is not.

Decent game, but compared to Resi 7, it's definitely a big let down. The fact that they toned down the horror (in a zombie game) just adds up to the list. Story was subpar and I didn't feel any connection to any of the characters. I would rate it as a 7/10. Resi 7 however, is a strong 8.5/10. (enemy variety was a major issue for me).

Sweet, game well deserved it with how fun the story and game was

@fR_eeBritney I don't know I think if it was longer it would've dragged on which isn't good for horror. Horror games are at their best when they're shorter from around 6 to 10 hours.

Congrats! I really enjoyed Resident Evil VIllage (it also more than earned that best audio award).

an actual award for 'most wanted game' 🙄

@Victor_Meldrew As opposed to awarding the least wanted game?

Any ***** award for most wanted game: Eldin ring Elden ring sales in about a weak: Maybe a milion? God of war ragnarok in the first weekend: 3 milion units sold.

Also my game of the year. If you don't think so, what's yours? Pretty cowardly to say RE8 doesn't deserve it, but then not say which game you think does.

Besides ultamate game ever to dark souls? C'mon What were the others competitors?

Metroid Dread, but re8 deserve it too

> Best Storytelling — Life is Strange: True Colors

I think they are mixing up Best with Most

@Onigumo Metroid Dread was awesome. The only reason I'd go RE8 over MD is that I felt like MD played things a little too safe, and didn't innovate as much as maybe it could have. I kept hoping for a really interesting new mechanic or powerup, but every time it was something familiar. Additionally, the parry mechanic during boss fights is basically just a bunch of QTEs in disguise, and I think people will remember this less fondly over time. Still an awesome game overall, and an absolutely respectable pick imho.

Nice, agree with this one 😃

Ratchet ps5 and metroid dread is great too.

That's why regular gamers being voters to its absolute is nonsense. RE Village was a superb game, but best audio? That is factually wrong. Returnal has the best audio. Professional critics would have voted Returnal for best audio with no doubt, but as it is a popularity contest, most gamers probably skipped Returnal and might not even know that name, while Resident Evil is a household name even if them voters haven't played it, they at least know its title - Resident Evil.

Regardless, how I feel, congrats to the winners and nominees.

Oh well it’s started. Every site and their mother site going to give ‘awards’ for the next few months. Free back patting and promotion for everyone and then every other publisher / studio will post again and again for even longer the beautiful stories of how they got 127 awards for this and that game. 🥱

i guess the timing worked out well for them

nope not for me was terrible after you got to the factory

Deathloop is my GotY so far with Death’s Door very close behind it. Considering DD was a small indie team, I’d be willing to bump it above Deathloop just for what they managed to create. Congrats to all of the winners, I’m sure most of it was well deserved!

Well deserved as its amazing and my GOTY as well. Overall strong selection of winners and nice to see DS win big.

Village is by far the best game of the year.

I'm a huge fan of the series and have been since playing the RE2 demo in 98 — and enjoyed Village — but not GOTY material by any stretch.

Not a vintage year but I'd probably place Rift Apart and Metroid Dread ahead of it, myself.

Will pushsquare do something like GOTY winner from pushsquare community ?

@Orochilocka it's also the lowest rated of the 6 or 7 nominees. Casuals are a plague upon the industry. Ofc the most popular game is going to get the fan vote. What a joke.

@everynowandben Returnal easily deserves and RE8 does not.

RE8 is also the lowest rated while being the most hyped. Hard to do when u get points just for hype.

R&C also deserves it over RE8. The fact that RE8 beat those two for best PS game shows how much of a joke the casual masses are. Clowns.

@NeonTiger True Colors looks like a Telltale game yet it's 60-80 dollars. The protagonist looks awful and her superpower is emotion. It has clothing DLC as well. Yikes. I want no part of that.

@iamtylerdurden1 I don’t know what you mean by ‘lowest rated.’ I personally don’t care about ‘ratings’ and having played all the games on the nominee list, RE:8 is my favourite. What’s that got to do with your opinion or anyone else’s?

@JJ2 like Resident Evil needs the promotion..

It hurts when a game that's already a household name gets the nod over more deserving games that actually need the publicity.

Returnal needs at least 30 GotY awards to gain traction. Unfortunately the fans are largely casual and most of the voting is fan based. Shame.

@AFCC Its amazing how opinions work isn't it, clearly many including myself think its GOTY worthy while you don't so get over it.

@iamtylerdurden1 The salt from you is going well with my breakfest.

@tselliot how about we don't make up stupid nonsensical categories, what an absolutely bizarre point of view, do enjoy it though

Don't know about GOTY, but Village definately makes it into my top list for the year. It's just such silly fun.

Xbox Game of the Year — Psychonauts 2 Hahaha. Ok Halo and Forza are too late for this awards but it just shows how weak the first year was in the Xbox. All this hype with their 12 Tf, Dolby vision gaming… nice marketing stuff but nothing exciting to play.

@JAMes-BroWWWn nope not factually wrong,just wrong in your opinion. Try and not get the two mixed up

There really are some morons amongst hardcore gamers aren’t there? Who think there opinions are right and everyone else’s is wrong. You are the ones that give gamers a bad name IMO

not GOTY for me personally, after the Benevenito House section it fell off a cliff for me.

I was very disappointed with re8, too short ,not scary (apart from the wtf baby) and the ending was pure cod ,looks great ,sounds great but ultimately it wasn't resident evil ,hopefully they will go back to the terror that was resi 7 next time.

It’s a fun game but Game of the Year? Nah.

@Reeneman and RE Village won for PS so how is it any different? Only the Switch had an actual exclusive win.

@WallyWest what about Rift Apart and Ghost of Tsushima? Fantastic Ps exclusives. Also Deathloop (at least a time exclusive on consoles).

@Odium Deathloop ist currently available for 30€ in Germany as Black Friday offering. I’m not sure about the concept - do you think I should buy it?

It depends which way you look at it. If sony want to charge £70 for games, then those games have to show why they are worth £15 more than Resi, £20 more than Elden ring! I paid 50 for Returnal and thats honestly what it is worth, i payed £70 for R&C and felt ripped off.

So, im happy that Resi won as it was a great game at a fair price and you can't ask for more than that.

Whilst I accept that this is a PlayStation site, and so you do expect to see some bias in the comments, @Reeneman, if you think about the awards, they could be viewed as kind of ridiculous. Resident Evil 8 was voted the best game released on the PS5 in the past year, yet it was also released on the Xbox. So whilst I accept that Psychonauts was maybe an odd choice of best game to release on the Xbox, it must follow that it was viewed to be better than Resident Evil 8, yes? But what is also odd is the Pyschonauts also released on the PS5 but was not seen as the best game to release on that platform. The whole thing is off, as were the actual games you could vote on...

@Reeneman I don't get what you're trying to say? Also GoT is a remaster of a PS4 game and not a new game, Deathloop while fun doesn't deserve any best off award except maybe voice acting. Returnal is the only PS5 game what deserved best PS5 game but RE Village beat it, Horizon 5 is the best Xbox game this year but it missed the cut off so PN2 took the award instead.

Yea I mean these awards are obviously stupid. Not worth using anything from here to bash Xbox or vice versa. I was amused that both consoles “game of the year” was a multiplat. The fact that someone still managed to turn that into laughing at Xbox just… par for the course these days 🤦‍♂️

Besides, Psychonauts 2 was actually my (single player) game of the year. With It Takes Two probably being my overall number 1.

@Fiendish-Beaver yeah lol, logically resi evil 8 should also be xbox game of the year, or pyschonauts should be ultimate game of the year. Unless resi evil 8 had a pants xbox port or something.

Edit to further add to the confusion, pyschonauts came out on playstation too, I'm always forgetting that.

@iamtylerdurden1 Why do you think Returnal and R&C do deserve it though?

@Balosi - If you look at the nominees, Resi Evil Village was only nominated in the Playstation category (as was Deathloop), much like how Psychonauts was only nominated in the Xbox category. Not sure if they've mistakenly thought those were exclusive to those consoles, or just associated those games with those consoles, but for whatever reason, that's what's happened.

@everynowandben - There are a few I'd pick over Resi Evil Village, but so far, my personal pick for GOTY is probably Psychonauts 2.

I must've not taken a good look at the nominations when they were announced, because looking at them now, it's clear they're somewhat problematic, especially when it comes to multi-platform titles. From such a shaky foundation, it's a surprise the results didn't turn out worse. On the plus side, it was nice to see FFXIV win some awards, and while Returnal was once again snubbed, Housemarque at least managed to get an award for themselves.

@FullMetalWesker I haven't played Psychonauts 2 yet, but it seems like it's a must play. I'll have to bump it up my priority list. Would you recommend playing the original first, or does it not really matter?

@everynowandben I didn’t play the original, and I still thought Psychonauts 2 was incredible. I do think there were a couple of confusing story beats to start that would have been explained by the first, or at least I would have been more familiar with character names, but it still worked as a complete game by itself. I know you weren’t asking me but just wanted to weigh in.

@Reeneman I wasn’t sure about whether I’d like it or not leading up to it, but I decided to take the risk and grab it on release. I loved it. But there’s a couple of big caveats to that. First, I’ve seen complaints about it being more linear than you’d expect, which I agree with, but I actually liked that. Figuring out where people would be and when is the core of the gameplay and how you do that is fairly open, but when you go to kill the targets seems to be set in stone. Also, people complained about the run time saying it was too short. I played it for about 15-20 hours and I thought that was a good length, it didn’t over stay it’s welcome, but I felt I got my money’s worth from it. Finally, the ending has been a point of contention, I have no defense for this… it’s weird and isn’t great. If you can get past those few factors I highly recommend it. It was a lot of fun finding clues on how to kill everyone and when. Julianna made for a good change in tactics mid level. Also, getting better gear and figuring out my play style was a ton of fun. For the price, if any of that sounds interesting and you can get past what I said, it is well worth it, in my opinion. I hope that helps you decide one way or the other!

Wow this has made my day I voted for re village on all 4 categories it deserves the awards

Absolutely, @K1LLEGAL, logically, it is difficult to laugh at Psychonauts 2 having won the game of the year on the Xbox, when to do so it had to beat Resident Evil 8, which was the winner on the PS5. The entire things makes no sense really...

@Reeneman So a PS4 port and a 3D platformer that isn’t as good as Psychonauts 2?

Well deserved. It's one of 2021's best titles.

Ah resident evil village the PlayStation exclusive............... 🤔

@AFCC Yeah... Not saying it is a bad game but GOTY standards used to be much higher. IMO a game must be critically acclaimed with a 90+ Metacritic score to be considered for GOTY.

It's a shame that GTA Trilogy missed the cut off point.

@OneWingedAngel not only that but the game is also worse than Resi 7 in almost every single aspect! I think this game was, sadly, a step back! Also there are a ton of games better than Resi 8 this year lol wtf

@iamtylerdurden1 Sure. I don’t disagree there. Publishers and sites always welcome more of those though. Anyway I’ll shut up about awards for the rest of the year now. Haha. I gave my opinion. I don’t think it’s in most gamers interest at all is all. They benefit many ‘others’.

Resident Evil Village was my GOTY, I hadn't played RE7 Biohazard until one week before the release of RE Village so literally back to back and really enjoyed them both. Well deserved.

Most of the voters would have voted for a game they would have played because you can't seriously vote best audio on a game you haven't experienced. I never played returns but I always buy housemarqe games just not this one yet! But knowing housemarqe games yes the audio is exceptionally brilliant.

@Reeneman and yet "best playstation game" was a multiplatform game. Doh.

Yeah...I dunno about RE8, bought the game day one and felt underwhelming. I give it that it has some really good sound quality, especially, if you play with Sennheiser headphones.

I thought Returnal should have gotten the nod. Hitman 3 honestly is getting no love from anyone. That game looked gorgeous on the PS5.

Wait, let me catch my breath....

@Haruki_NLI that's what I was thinking... Still, that's some great marketing: "THE ULTIMATE, GREATEST, OF ALLLLLL TIME!!!"

@Reeneman laughing at Xbox when an Xbox Studios game wins that platforms GOTY when Sony puts out R&C Rift Apart and Returnal & a 3rd party game gets the top nod on Playstation, don't really get that tbh 🙃

@AFCC So lets see, RE8 had better gameplay, far better character development and personality for Ethan, much better atmosphere, the Duke is also a fantastic character after RE4, and far more enemy variety than re7 could hope to have. It was absolutely a step in the right direction. To say it wasn't is wrong. Now is it all good? No. Like everyone else said the horror is definitely weaker here. It was at its best when during Dimitrescu and Beneviento and I would've liked it if we had the choice for which side villain we could go to after Dimitrescu.

Resi turned into Tetsuo in the factory, that was a big lol. a big meh from me

@Onigumo If Elden Ring isn't another Cyberpunk

@Nepp67 personality for Ethan? He is so annoying in Resi 8, he doesn't stfu and always says dumb stuff that is pretty obvious for anyone watching! I hated how much he talked in this one

@AFCC Majority would certainly beg to differ then.

They did an outstanding job overall, but I don't think they have an identity crisis, I believe it's three games, shortened and rolled into one. People love RE4: They added RE4 elements and style. People love RE2: The castle section has that aspect, too. Some new people to the fandom enjoyed the FPH and cinematic style of RE7. RE7 was far removed from the traditional style of RE. First 2 hours of gameplay is on rails, but later opens up to searching and exploring a castle like RE2 police department. Then moves into the village, with many aspects a lot like RE4. Lastly, it switches back to a linear, RE7 experience. It's very much 3 styles of games rolled into one, all each RE identities, not a crisis at all. If anyone disliked RE2, they'd probably not like the first portion. IF anyone disliked RE4, they'd have issues after the castle and then if they hated 7, they'd hate the ending. Simple really: If you love all of RE, it is easily GOTY and nothing to complain about.

@lmotaku I'm an RE4 sl**, but enjoyed RE2 more than 7. The last part felt tedious to get through, because it wasn't a 9/10 to 10/10 experience for me, more like a 6-7/10. Overall 70% of the game was 9.5/10 to me, with a 6 ending. Happy with the story result of the ending.

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