As is the case every year, the Golden Joystick Awards ceremony took place in London, honouring the best games which saw a release during 2019.
Two of the year’s biggest games won big during the night: Resident Evil 2 and Days Gone.
What’s interesting is that both these games are set during the zombie apocalypse, and both are played in third-person. Days Gone is an open-world game set in the US Midwest though, while Resident Evil 2 takes place in the fictional Racoon City and is a remake of the classic survival horror game of the same name.
Resident Evil 2 picked up the Game of the Year award, proving that video game fans really liked Capcom’s game (unlike others, the Golden Joystick Awards are mainly voted for by the public), and it actually is one of 2019’s best games so far as we pointed out in our review. Resident Evil 2 also picked up the Best Audio Award, and truth be told this was a game featuring some pretty phenomenal sound all round.
Meanwhile, Days Gone won the PlayStation Game of the Year award. This is at odds with what reviewers thought of the game overall – its Metacritic score stands at 72 – but it seems gamers really loved SIE Bend Studio’s PS4 exclusive this year, which might be getting a sequel as recent rumours suggest.
Days Gone also picked up the Best Storytelling Award.
Getting a nod from the critics was Remedy Entertainment’s Control, which picked up the Critics Choice Award this year, but did not win any public-voted awards.
Looking at individual platforms, Gears 5 was voted top Xbox game by the gaming public, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate won the Nintendo Game of the Year award, and Days Gone was named top PlayStation game of 2019 as stated earlier. World of Warcraft Classic won the PC Game of the Year award, something which shows the staying power of Blizzard’s classy online RPG.
Game designer Yu Suzuki received the Lifetime Achievement Award at this year’s Golden Joystick Awards. This was a well-deserved prize for the man behind games like Hang-On and Virtua Fighter (and who’s most recent game Shenmue 3 launches this week), with Suzuki taking the baton from his compatriot Hidetaka Miyazaki, who won the award last year.
And looking ahead at what’s coming next year, it’s clear Cyberpunk 2020 is in many people’s minds right now as it picked up the Most Wanted Game award, so it would be a great thing if Cyberpunk 2020 and all the other big games scheduled for release in 2020 live up to the hype when they hit shelves next year.
Here follows the full list of winners from this year’s Golden Joystick Awards (via bbc.com):
- Best Storytelling: Days Gone
- Best Multiplayer Game: Apex Legends
- Still Playing Award: Minecraft
- Best Visual Design: Devil May Cry 5
- Best Indie Game: Outer Wilds
- Esports Game of the Year: Fortnite
- Best Audio: Resident Evil 2
- Best Game Expansion: GTA Online – Diamond Casino Update
- Best VR/AR Game: Beat Saber
- Best Gaming Hardware: Nvidia 20-series Super graphics cards
- Best Performer: Logan Marshall-Green
- Studio of the Year: Epic Games
- Best New Streamer/Broadcaster: Ewok
- Breakthrough Award: House House
- Mobile Game of the Year: BTS World
- Outstanding Contribution: Life is Strange
- PC Game of the Year: World of Warcraft Classic
- PlayStation Game of the Year: Days Gone
- Xbox Game of the Year: Gears 5
- Nintendo Game of the Year: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
- Most Wanted Game: Cyberpunk 2077
- Critics Choice Award: Control
- Lifetime Achievement: Yu Suzuki
- Ultimate Game of the Year: Resident Evil 2