2026 marks the 44th year of the annual Golden Joystick Awards, with this year’s ceremony set to take place on the 11th of November. While fans have been able to vote across most of the categories for the past month, the ‘Ultimate Game of the Year’ nominees had been kept under wraps. Finally, the shortlist for 2026’s GOTY has now been released – with voting officially live right now.
Making the announcement via a press release, The Golden Joystick Awards have now opened up public voting for this year’s Ultimate Game of the Year. Available to check out between now and Friday the 30th of October, the nominees for GOTY are as follows:
- 007 First Light
- Big Walk
- CONTROL Resonant
- Crimson Desert
- Dispatch
- Forza Horizon 6
- Phantom Blade Zero
- Pokémon Pokopia
- PRAGMATA
- Resident Evil Requiem
- STAR WARS: Galactic Racer
- The Blood of Dawnwalker
The inclusion of Phantom Blade Zero is particularly interesting, as the game has technically not been released yet, with the much anticipated action-RPG officially launching on the 29th of October – just one day prior to voting being closed. That said, critic reviews for the game have gone live, with Phantom Blade Zero currently landing at an impressive 88 on Metacritic (and a 90 on OpenCritic).
Alongside the nominees, it was also announced that this year’s Golden Joystick Awards will be hosted by Alix Wilton Regan, AKA Lara Croft from the upcoming Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis.
Representing a strong line-up of highly varied titles, it will be interesting to see which of the above wind up taking home the Ultimate Game of the Year award.
KitGuru says: What do you think of the nominees? Are there any notable games missing? Should Phantom Blade Zero be eligible? Let us know down below.
