Golden Joystick Awards 2026 Shortlist Is Out: Every PC and Console Game of the Year Nominee
The 44th Golden Joystick Awards have entered their public voting phase, with GamesRadar+ confirming the shortlist across 21 categories after nominations first went out on September 25. Fans can now cast votes for the publicly decided awards through October 23, covering everything from PC and Console Game of the Year to Best Gaming Hardware and the Most Wanted Game, ahead of a ceremony airing live from London on November 11.
PC Game of the Year Nominees
Ten games are competing for the publicly voted PC Game of the Year trophy, spanning everything from a decade old survival staple to one of the year’s most talked about dark fantasy RPGs:
- Big Walk
- Crimson Desert
- Escape from Tarkov
- Esoteric Ebb
- Meccha Chameleon
- Mewgenics
- Order of the Sinking Star
- Star Wars Zero Company
- The Blood of Dawnwalker
- Valheim
The Blood of Dawnwalker, from former Witcher 3 developers at Rebel Wolves, is among this year’s PC Game of the Year nominees.
Console Game of the Year Nominees
The console side of the category pulls from a similarly wide mix of genres and platforms:
- 007 First Light
- Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave
- Forza Horizon 6
- LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight
- Nioh 3
- Onimusha: Way of the Sword
- Pokémon Pokopia
- PRAGMATA
- Resident Evil Requiem
- Saros
Best Remake or Remaster, and Best Gaming Hardware
Golden Joystick’s remake and remaster category is packed this year, with six nominees covering old and new consoles alike: Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced, Gothic 1 Remake, Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 2, Star Fox, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered, and Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter.
Best Gaming Hardware is a shorter, six way race between the Logitech G PRO X2 SUPERSTRIKE, Razer Viper V4 Pro, Secretlab ATLAS, Sony INZONE M10S II, Steam Controller, and Turtle Beach Stealth Pro II.
Crimson Desert, Pearl Abyss’s open world action RPG, is also shortlisted for PC Game of the Year.
The Most Wanted Game Shortlist
As usual, the Most Wanted Game category looks ahead rather than back, and this year’s 20 strong shortlist reads like a list of the next few years’ biggest releases:
- Alien: Isolation 2
- ANANTA
- Black Myth: Zhong Kui
- EXODUS
- Fable
- Final Fantasy 7 Revelation
- God of War Laufey
- Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet
- Kingdom Hearts 5
- METRO 2039
- NO LAW
- Persona 6
- Resident Evil Veronica
- STRANGER THAN HEAVEN
- Stuntman: Hollywood
- The Expanse: Osiris Reborn
- The Witcher 4
- Tides of Annihilation
- Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis
- Total War: Warhammer 40,000
How and When to Vote
Voting for this year’s publicly decided categories is open now on GamesRadar’s official Golden Joystick Awards hub and closes October 23 at 4pm PT, 7pm ET, and midnight BST. A separate shortlist for the night’s biggest prize, Ultimate Game of the Year, is set to be revealed on October 26, when voting for that category opens on its own shorter window. Winners across every category are scheduled to be announced live at a ceremony in London on November 11, closing out this year’s awards season.
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Picture Source: Rebel Wolves, Pearl Abyss
