The first major event of the awards season has named Baldur’s Gate 3 the best of the year, with the RPG picking up seven trophies in total.
The Game Awards may be the closest thing video games have to the Oscars, in terms of prominence, but since it’s now in its 41st year The Golden Joysticks are by far the oldest video games awards ceremony in the world.
Held in London on Friday evening, the awards are unusual in that the majority of the 20 categories are decided by public vote, with almost 5 million people picking their favourites over the course of the last few weeks.
In the end, though, it was almost as if no other game turned up, as role-player Baldur’s Gate 3 picked up not just Ultimate Game of the Year, but Best Visual Design, PC Game of the Year, Best Game Community, and Best Storytelling. At the same time, developer Larian Studios won Studio of the Year and Neil Newborn won Best Supporting Performer for his turn as Astarion.
The other winners included the excellent Sea Of Stars for Best Indie Game, Mortal Kombat 1 for Best Multiplayer Game, and Ben Starr for Best Lead Performer, as Clive Rosfield in Final Fantasy 16. Meanwhile, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth was named Most Wanted Game.
Alan Wake 2 won the Critic’s Choice Award and the Breakthrough Award, which is also chosen by a panel of judges and not the general public, when to indie game Cocoon and developer Geometric Interactive.
The Streamers’ Choice aware went to 2020’s Valorant, which seems slightly redundant, while the PlayStation VR2 defied the odds to win the Best Gaming Hardware award.
Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty managed to pick up two awards, despite only being DLC, while the only award for Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom was Nintendo Game of the Year.
The 41st Golden Joystick Awards 2023 winners
- Best Storytelling – Baldur’s Gate 3
- Still Playing Award – No Man’s Sky
- Best Visual Design – Baldur’s Gate 3
- Studio of the Year – Larian Studios
- Best Game Expansion – Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty
- Best VR Game – Horizon Call Of The Mountain
- Best Indie Game – Sea Of Stars
- Best Multiplayer Game – Mortal Kombat 1
- Best Audio – Final Fantasy 16
- Best Game Trailer – Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty – Official Cinematic Trailer
- Streamers’ Choice – Valorant
- Best Game Community – Baldur’s Gate 3
- Best Gaming Hardware – PlayStation VR2
- Breakthrough Award – Cocoon/Geometric Interactive
- Critics’ Choice Award – Alan Wake 2
- Best Lead Performer – Ben Starr – Clive Rosfield, Final Fantasy 16
- Best Supporting Performer – Neil Newbon – Astarion, Baldur’s Gate 3
- Nintendo Game of the Year – The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom
- PC Game of the Year – Baldur’s Gate 3
- Xbox Game of the Year – Starfield
- PlayStation Game of the Year – Resident Evil 4
- Most Wanted Game – Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
- Ultimate Game of the Year – Baldur’s Gate 3
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