Resident Evil Requiem took Ultimate Game of the Year at the 2026 Golden Joysticks. See the full winners list and the indie that tied it with four awards.
Resident Evil Requiem won Ultimate Game of the Year at the Golden Joystick Awards on Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026, according to GamesRadar's report from the ceremony. It was the night's top prize, picked from 12 nominees, and it was one of four trophies the Capcom horror game took home.
The night was closer than the headline suggests. Here is the full picture, including the game that matched Requiem trophy for trophy.
Who won Ultimate Game of the Year at the 2026 Golden Joystick Awards?
Resident Evil Requiem did. GamesRadar says it beat a field that included Crimson Desert, Phantom Blade Zero, 007: First Light, Control Resonant, Pragmata, Star Wars: Galactic Racer, The Blood of Dawnwalker, Big Walk, Dispatch, Forza Horizon 6 and Pokemon Pokopia.
Requiem's other wins, per GamesRadar: Console Game of the Year, Best Game Trailer for its "Evil" promo, and Best Lead Performer for Angela Sant'Albano, who plays Grace Ashcroft. Capcom also took Studio of the Year, a prize GamesRadar says it shared with Pragmata and Onimusha: Way of the Sword.
What else won on the night?
There was no single sweep this year. GamesRadar notes that last year Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 won nearly everything it was nominated for, while 2026 spread the trophies across big releases and small indies. PC Gamer reports that Crimson Desert took PC Game of the Year. Here are the headline categories from GamesRadar's list of 25 winners:
- Ultimate Game of the Year: Resident Evil Requiem
- Console Game of the Year: Resident Evil Requiem
- PC Game of the Year: Crimson Desert
- Most Wanted Game: The Witcher 4
- Critics' Choice Award: Big Walk
- Best Storytelling: Dispatch
- Best Multiplayer Game: Meccha Chameleon
- Best Indie Game: Valheim
- Best Gaming Hardware: Steam Controller
- Best Early Access Game: Subnautica 2
Other winners include Dispatch for Best Soundtrack, CONTROL: Resonant for Best Visual Design, Onimusha: Way of the Sword for Best Audio Design, and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Remastered for Best Remake/Remaster. Grace Saif won Best Supporting Performer for Pragmata. Balatro took the mobile Still Playing Award and Minecraft the PC and console one.
Which game was the real surprise?
Meccha Chameleon, the hide-and-seek multiplayer game. GamesRadar says it collected four awards, two voted by players and two by juries, which tied Requiem's four. They were Best Multiplayer Game, Best Indie Game (Self-Published), Streamer's Choice and Developers' Choice. GamesRadar's own tally, counting the shared Studio of the Year prize as a fraction, still puts Requiem narrowly ahead.
What it means for U.S. players
Awards like this are fan-voted and juried, so they tell you what the community is loud about, not which game is objectively best. Still, this list is a decent shopping guide for the holidays. If you skipped Requiem when it launched in February, it is now one of the year's most decorated games. Check your platform's store for the current price and any sale, because we did not verify one for this story.
The timing is the other angle. GamesRadar points out that GTA 6, due Nov. 19, looms over the rest of the awards season and may make it hard for Requiem to win every major game of the year prize. That is GamesRadar's view and a fair one: nothing in this lineup has faced a launch that size yet. Our take is that the Joysticks matter most as a signal of fan sentiment, and a December backlog will look different once GTA 6 is out.
Related reading
Picture credit: Capcom
