Future Publishing's annual Golden Joystick Awards is underway, with nominees for (almost) all of its categories now live and ready to receive votes.
Unlike a lot of industry award ceremonies, the Golden Joysticks are decided by public vote. You can have your say on this year's nominees through the link, with voting closing on 1st November.
The only category not yet open for voting is Ultimate Game of the Year, which will be opening on 4th November.
For now, Astro Bot and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth are the most-nominated titles, recognised in five categories each.
Team Asobi itself is up for Studio of the Year, and its 3D platformer is nominated for Visual Design, Audio Design, Soundtrack, and Console Game of the Year. Meanwhile, Rebirth is recognised in Storytelling, Soundtrack, and Console Game of the Year, with a further two nominations for Cody Christian's performance as Cloud and Briana White's Aerith.
We expect this pair of games will be frontrunners in a lot of 2024 awards.
Elsewhere, Helldivers 2 gets the nod in four categories, while the breakout indie hit Balatro nabs three noms.
Looking at the shortlist, there's lots of variety, which speaks to the sheer volume of great games we've seen release this year. Other worthy nominees include Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, Tekken 8, Thank Goodness You're Here, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, and so many others.
For a full list of all the nominations, follow the link. What games are getting your votes this year? Tell us in the comments section below.
[source gamesradar.com]
Comments 38
Astrobot that's my GOTY
Strange how black myth or stellar blade not here
Astrobot is the most fun I've had, with a videogame, in years.
I hope the game wins, so Sony (hopefully) realises that we want more games like this.
We need more 3D platformers on current gen consoles.
Stellar Blade got absolutely robbed on soundtrack. Incredible OST!
This year has been relatively flat overall (my top 10 still feels way too low scoring overall and like frankly about half the list doesn’t belong in a top 10 games list for me) , but, in my mind, we’ve gotten three 10/10s and that’s way above the mark. Two years in a row to have such a feat (for my taste anyway), which I don’t believe has ever happened before. Rebirth, Astro Bot, and Balatro deserve so much love. Will vote this week, even if it seems too early with this week having three megaton releases and it sort of feels like they should be allowed time to soak in (and LiS is at the end of the month too).
No Stellar Blade is quite criminal, also Metaphor Re Fantazio getting nominated yet it's not even out yet....
Can't see anything getting in between ReBirth and Astro Bot for the main prize though.
Both astro and final fantasy rebirth is a good game.i will add black myth wukong also.word up son
ASTRO all the way. At least it has 0 bugs. There must be a new section for "Playable at launch" .
Voted for Astro bot in every category it was included in. Game was amazing.
Astro has become one of my all time favourite games so it's definitely my GOTY ^__^. My thoughts on the FF VII R series are well documented here at this point so I won't go into that 😅. Also don't want to be a contrarian but personally I thought Stellar Blade was junk I don't understand the hype at all
For me Astro and Stellar have been my favorite games this year so far. Both great experiences that deserve to do well and be recognised.
Boycotting this for no Stellar Blade. SHAME!!
Black Myth Wukong and Stellar Blade must have slept in and missed their nominations.
Stellar Blade not getting any nominations, not even for soundtrack, is ridiculously stupid.
@get2sammyb as you know I'm an absolute massive fan of Stellar blade's OST (currently playing it while typing this) and all I can say it's very insulting for it not to be nominated!
No Stellar Blade noms.
LAD Infinite Wealth for narrative?
These awards are whacked.
I like how pc goty has all the indies and smaller games. While console goty has the actual games that usually get picked for this kinda stuff
Metaphor for visual design? Maybe the menus but I don't think that should be enough for a nom and it ain't even out lol. Also pls honkai star rail for the mobile game win! Need them free jades
I really thought Astro would be unstoppable for me this year but Wukong is really creeping up there. It's not without flaws, but I'm enjoying the hell out of it right now
The fact Dragon's Dogma 2 is there but not Black Myth Wukong or Stellar Blade, despite the later two having higher ratings from players and critics alike, shows these awards are already irrelevant.
If the Game Awards is the same thing, it'll also expose them as being irrelevant.
Could be political for the reason these games aren't included. As we know, some journalists have been upset with these two games accusing them of sexism.
@TruestoryYep If all it did was copy the Metacritic scores then it would be irrelevant because we can just look at the Metacritic scores already. That said, and while in general they haven't just gone off the highest rated games, Black Myth Wukong and Stellar Blade both have 81 on MC whereas Dragon's Dogma 2 has 86; in this case you have the critical reception the wrong way around.
The games are nominated by people from "PC Gamer, FGS, Edge magazine, Retro Gamer, GamesRadar and a variety of industry experts" according to their site. I'd trust that more than whatever games happened to get review bombed least, or suffers least from illiterate gibberish like "Nothing especiall Normal graphics,weak story, bad level design,it was a waste of time and money for me" (one of the recent negative reviews I just saw while checking the critic scores).
Push Square gave (GOTY) REBIRTH an 8.
Absolutely hilarious.
Well I tried to vote but the amount of adverts on the pages are a joke making it incredibly annoying. So I gave up but my goty is easily Rebirth
Where's Black myth wukong and stellar blade? Both are great games made by first time (single player AAA) developers and had great receptions by fans, and yet it's not even nominated?
Astrobot GOTY easily.
A few games got robbed of nominations here though...
Rebirth, Stellar Blade and Astro are the best titles I played this year alongside Balatro. That’s your PlayStation “bad year” 😅
Justice for Stellar Blade OST!
Edit: Voted for Rebirth (Sorry Astro 🥹)
@voltum3l Robert has his own taste but many loved the game - it’s close to a 10 for me.
JRPGs I played this year:
Persona 3 Reload: 7,5
Final Fantasy XVI: 8,5
Octopath Traveller 2: 9
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth: 9,5
KillerBoy wrote:
Not really. They are both enjoyable games, but not really GOTY material? They may be some individual's GOTY but they only just scrape into the Top 100 best rated games of the year at 88 & 98 respectively on Metacritic.
But Black Myth: Wukong IS nominated for best visual design. Stellar Blade maybe missed out for best soundtrack, but there is stiff competition in that category.
@Mikey856
Ive started using adblocker on my samsung internet because too many sites started taking the p!
Though to be fair I have allowed an option called something along the lines of fair advertising standard, that allows ads that meet a certain standard.... i dont see many!
EDIT: "Acceptable Ads" is what its called.
Astro Bot is the easy GOTY for me, but I love Rebirth too. I wouldn't mind seeing either win GOTY here.
@get2sammyb Yes that maybe so but
Cooling Fan
Memory
GPUUUUU
SSD
Both are my GOTY, I really can't decide. :/
> Golden Joystick Awards 2023 nominations criteria
The game must have been released between November 11, 2023 and October 4, 2024 (when core 2024 voting begins)
> See Metaphor Fantazio in the 'best visual design' nomination when the game will be out in October 11
Why Metaphor got nominated?
And honestly, while Metaphor UI looks stylish and some enemies design looks creepy af but the overall visual looks ok. Heck, i say Kunitsu Gami has better visual and more original design than Metaphor or Hellblade 2.
It's sad how Kunitsu Gami underappreciated / overlooked by many gamers, especially when Capcom finally got out from their comfort zone again to create a new IP that not just looks beautiful but also fun to play. From the making of videos, Capcom really put a lot of effort on making Kunitsu Gami like clothes, music, and making props / miniatures + sfx specificly for the game. Here's the videos if anyone interested to watch:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=B-atP9Csjhw
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=p4H9kqaZPVE
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_68LGXhzJzM
Oh well...
Astro Bot is great but I don't even thing Rebirth is the best JRPG this year, I much preferred Infinite Wealth and Metaphor looks like it could be better than both
Jeeeeez nothing for Stellar Blade? Pretty outrageous tbh
@Rich33 I’ve got it already but mine is set to block YouTube adverts instead as I use it a lot at work on my headphones so no ads on that is a godsend lol
I voted Astrobot were possible 😊 especially sound design is out of this world!!! Levels like retro rampage illustrate this so much (like punching LEGO)
@Brundleflies21 BOT OF WAR (btw cooling fan music is cooling springs)
How about a Best Trophy list/Worst Trophy list category?
FF7Rebirth hands down worst nightmare slog of a trophy list, while Astrobot takes the crown with an absolutely perfect trophy list.
@Sanquine In your world maybe but in mine it FAN.
Any more insubordination like that and I might have to GPUUUUUUUUU and tell you what to do.
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