The Golden Joystick Awards 2022 took place yesterday, and Obsidian's fantastic garden multiplayer game Grounded took home the 'Xbox Game of the Year' award.
Grounded managed to beat Halo Infinite, Scorn, As Dusk Falls, Sniper Elite 5 and Dying Light 2: Stay Human to secure this award. A bit of a strange list of games there, but a worthy winner in any case!
The 'Ultimate' GOTY award went to FromSoftware's Elden Ring. The same title also picked up awards for 'Best Visual Design' and 'Best Multiplayer', and the developer won studio of the year. Vampire Survivors got the 'Breakthrough Award' and another one of Phil Spencer's favourites Cult of the Lamb got the Best Indie Game, while Manon Gage won the Best Performer award for her role as Marissa Marcel in the outstanding Immortality.
Here are all the winners from this year's event (if you want a full list of nominees, head over to GamesRadar):
- Best Storytelling - Horizon Forbidden West
- Still Playing Award - Genshin Impact
- Best Visual Design - Elden Ring
- Studio of the Year - FromSoftware
- Best Game Expansion - Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course
- Best Early Access Launch - Slime Rancher 2
- Best Indie Game - Cult of the Lamb
- Best Multiplayer Game - Elden Ring
- Best Audio - Metal: Hellsinger
- Best Game Trailer - Goat Simulator 3
- Best Game Community - Final Fantasy 14
- Best Gaming Hardware - Steam Deck
- Breakthrough Award - Vampire Survivors
- Critics' Choice Award - Elden Ring
- Best Performer - Manon Gage (Marissa Marcel, Immortality)
- Nintendo Game of the Year - Pokemon Legends Arceus
- PC Game of the Year - Return to Monkey Island
- PlayStation Game of the Year - Stray
- Xbox Game of the Year - Grounded
- Most Wanted Game - Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
- Ultimate Game of the Year - Elden Ring
Grounded 1.0 was officially released in September after having spent the past couple of years in Game Preview form, and was positively received by critics and fans alike across Xbox and PC.
What do you think of the winners list? Have you played Grounded yet? Comment below.
[source gamesradar.com]
Comments 11
An interesting list but a few absolute howlers.
As @grumpypotato said PC GOTY...
Or PS GOTY they gave it to Stray... Seriously WTF? I liked the game but ultimate goty was 1) ER 2) GOW:R 3) H:FW how do you then give it to Stray... weird AF
Regardless congratulations to all the winners and nominees. Even with all the delays it's been a good year to be a gamer.
Best Storytelling - Horizon Forbidden West
not a chance the story was poor the first game was alot better
Deserved. Grounded is an amazing game.
@trev666 @themightyant I’d vote for Stray over Ragnarok and HFW, personally.
Also, agree that it’s a travesty HFW won for narrative, which was ironically the absolute worst part of the game. XC3 deserved that award.
Not sure how I feel about Grounded winning. I mean, it’s fine. It didn’t have much competition. Personally, despite some glaring flaws, Halo Infinite is still likely the best game of the competition. Seriously though, why did they exclude Immortality from the Xbox Games category? For me, it’d be no contest with that title.
Pokémon arceus switch game of the year , xenoblade chronicles 3 is way better
@somnambulance personal preference sure, we all like different things. But it's just weird that Ragnarok and Forbidden West were voted #2 & #3 on 'Ultimate GOTY' category but snubbed for PS GOTY, and critically there's no contest. But obviously they must be different voting blocks.
Not that any of it matters, it's just subjective opinions, just seemed weird is all.
Not played XC3 properly yet, despite getting it day 1, looking forward to finally digging in over xmas when I have some needed time off.
Horizon Forbidden West winning best storytelling? By that same token, Rings of Power should win Best Writing in the Golden Globes.
HFW was my biggest disappointment in terms of gaming this year and there are plenty better stories in games this year.
Elden Ring for multiplayer goty is weird. Isn't that mostly just a co op option to summon someone else into your game when you find it too hard?
Haven't played elden ring but I still feel confident that grounded or the best call of duty in years deserve this over it.
@Somebody I agree. Elden Ring deserves tonnes of praise but as a multiplayer title? Not sure about that.
@Somebody You can legitimately play long durations of the game in multiplayer. I played a lot of Elden Ring with friends either in my world or in theirs. It’s a social game. While you are essentially a summons, you’re also playing with others. I didn’t think of it as a multiplayer game, per se, but honestly it might be the multiplayer title I enjoyed the most with friends this year, looking back.
@themightyant it’s totally odd to me too. I thought for sure Ragnarok would receive that award, but perhaps too, as this is based on voting, maybe people just stopped voting after the big award? Could be a big indicator? Or not. I dunno. Maybe there’s a bigger loop of Elden Ring/Stray fans than anyone realized. At least I’m not alone in this world. Lol
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