Resident Evil Requiem won Ultimate Game of the Year at the Golden Joystick Awards 2026. The ceremony was on November 11, and GamesRadar, which runs the awards, has posted the winners in all 25 categories.
The funny part is who Requiem had to share the spotlight with. Capcom's big horror game won four awards. So did Meccha Chameleon, a hide-and-seek game made by two people in a couple of months. That's the story of the night.
The big ones
| Ultimate Game of the Year | Resident Evil Requiem |
| Console Game of the Year | Resident Evil Requiem |
| PC Game of the Year | Crimson Desert |
| Studio of the Year | Capcom |
| Most Wanted Game | The Witcher 4 |
| Critics' Choice Award | Big Walk |
Requiem beat 11 other games for the top award, including Crimson Desert, Phantom Blade Zero, 007: First Light, Control Resonant, Pragmata, Dispatch, Forza Horizon 6 and Pokémon Pokopia. It came out back in February, so it held on all year against a lot of newer releases.
How the Golden Joysticks work
The Golden Joysticks are run by GamesRadar and its owner, Future, and they've been going for decades. Most of the categories are voted on by the public. A few, like Streamer's Choice and Developers' Choice, are picked by a jury instead. That mix is why you can get a huge-budget game and a tiny indie both doing well on the same night. They're often winning different kinds of awards, voted on by different people.
So when you look at the list below, keep in mind that most of it came from player votes. Meccha Chameleon's Best Multiplayer and Best Indie wins, for example, were both player-voted.
Every winner
Here's the full list, in the order GamesRadar posted it:
- Best Storytelling: Dispatch
- Best Audio Design: Onimusha: Way of the Sword
- Best Multiplayer Game: Meccha Chameleon
- Best Visual Design: Control Resonant
- Best Game Expansion: DOOM: The Dark Ages, Revelations
- Best Indie Game, Self-Published: Meccha Chameleon
- Best Indie Game: Valheim
- Best Gaming Hardware: Steam Controller
- Studio of the Year: Capcom
- Best Early Access Game: Subnautica 2
- Best Soundtrack: Dispatch
- Still Playing Award, Mobile: Balatro
- Still Playing Award, PC and Console: Minecraft
- Streamer's Choice Award: Meccha Chameleon
- Best Game Trailer: Resident Evil Requiem, "Evil Has Always Had a Name"
- Best Remake/Remaster: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered
- Developers' Choice: Meccha Chameleon
- Best Game Adaptation: Iron Lung
- Best Supporting Performer: Grace Saif (Pragmata)
- Best Lead Performer: Angela Sant'Albano (Resident Evil Requiem)
- PC Game of the Year: Crimson Desert
- Console Game of the Year: Resident Evil Requiem
- Critics' Choice Award: Big Walk
- Most Wanted Game: The Witcher 4
- Ultimate Game of the Year: Resident Evil Requiem
Requiem vs Meccha Chameleon
Resident Evil Requiem took four: Ultimate Game of the Year, Console Game of the Year, Best Game Trailer, and Best Lead Performer for Angela Sant'Albano, who plays Grace Ashcroft. You could count Capcom's Studio of the Year as a fifth, but Capcom's Pragmata and Onimusha: Way of the Sword won awards too, so that one's shared.
Meccha Chameleon also took four: Best Multiplayer Game and Best Indie Game (Self-Published), which are player-voted, plus Streamer's Choice and Developers' Choice, which are picked by a jury. It's a hide-and-seek game where you paint yourself to blend into the map and hide in plain sight. GamesRadar says it was made by a team of two in Japan, in just a couple of months.
A two-person game tying one of the biggest series in gaming is a pretty great result, whatever you think of either game.
Other things worth noticing
No clean sweep this time. Last year Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 won almost everything it was up for. This year the awards got spread around a lot more.
CD Projekt Red had a good night without even releasing a new game. The Witcher 4 won Most Wanted, and The Witcher 3 Remastered took Best Remake/Remaster.
Valheim won Best Indie Game. It first came out in early access back in 2021, so it's been around a while.
Valve won hardware with the Steam Controller, and old favourites Minecraft and Balatro won the Still Playing awards.
GTA 6 wasn't in it. It doesn't come out until November 19, so it'll be a factor in the other big awards later this year, not this one. If you're getting ready for that, our GTA 6 launch checklist has everything.
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Want to play the winners?
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If you haven't tried the big winner yet, Resident Evil Requiem is on PS5, and it's been out since February. Crimson Desert took the PC award but it's on consoles too. And if you want something you can pick up for ten minutes and lose three hours to, Balatro won Still Playing on mobile for a reason.
FAQ
What won Game of the Year at the Golden Joystick Awards 2026?
Resident Evil Requiem won Ultimate Game of the Year at the ceremony on November 11, 2026.
Which game won the most Golden Joysticks in 2026?
Resident Evil Requiem and Meccha Chameleon tied with four awards each.
What won PC Game of the Year?
Crimson Desert.
Sources
- GamesRadar: All the Golden Joystick Awards 2026 winners revealed gamesradar.com
- GamesRadar: Resident Evil Requiem wins Ultimate Game of the Year gamesradar.com
- GamesRadar: Resident Evil Requiem ties with Meccha Chameleon as the biggest winner gamesradar.com
Written by the WIZY creator
A lifelong gamer and Warhammer painter, and the maker of the WIZY RPG game. I write about games, hardware, Warhammer and crypto in plain English, and I check every fact against its source.
