Golden Joystick Awards 2026: the 44th edition named Resident Evil Requiem Game of the Year. Promotional artwork: Golden Joystick Awards / Future.
Resident Evil Requiem was named Ultimate Game of the Year at the Golden Joystick Awards 2026. The 44th edition of the ceremony took place in London on Wednesday, November 11, and ended with four honors connected to Capcom’s game. It also won Console Game of the Year, Best Game Trailer, and Best Lead Performer.
It was not a one-game sweep: MECCHA CHAMELEON, an independent multiplayer hide-and-seek game, also earned four awards. In total, the ceremony recognized 25 categories, with 22 decided by the public and three by panels, according to the organizers’ official announcement. The full winners list appears below.
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Resident Evil Requiem wins the top award
Ultimate Game of the Year is the ceremony’s highest honor. In the 2026 vote, Resident Evil Requiem received 17% of the votes, ahead of Phantom Blade Zero with 16% and Crimson Desert with 15%. These percentages apply only to that vote, according to the results reported by Push Square.
Beyond the top prize, Capcom’s game won Console Game of the Year and Best Game Trailer for the video Evil Has Always Had a Name. Its fourth honor was Best Lead Performer, awarded to Angela Sant’Albano for portraying Grace Ashcroft. This recognizes a performance associated with the game, rather than a fourth technical category.
Released in February, Requiem arrived in the year the series celebrated its 30th anniversary. To follow its history from the 1996 original through the present day, ZAUS.GG offers an overview of Resident Evil’s evolution. This award recognizes the 2026 release, but does not change the history or criteria of other events, such as The Game Awards.
Capcom is named Studio of the Year and collects seven awards
Capcom also won Studio of the Year. Counting honors associated with its games and professionals, the organizers recorded seven awards connected to the company — not seven trophies won exclusively by Resident Evil Requiem.
Alongside the four honors related to Requiem and the studio award, Onimusha: Way of the Sword won Best Audio Design. Grace Saif also received Best Supporting Performer for her portrayal of Diana in PRAGMATA. Together, these distinctions explain Capcom’s presence across the ceremony, from games and performances to audio design.
MECCHA CHAMELEON ties for the most awards
The other title with four wins was MECCHA CHAMELEON, a multiplayer hide-and-seek game in which participants can paint their characters to blend into the environment. It combines improvised disguises with hunting for other players, as described on its official Steam page.
The indie won Best Multiplayer Game and Best Indie Game — Self-Published, both through public voting. It also received Streamers’ Choice and Developers’ Choice, decided by specialist panels. That put it level with Requiem in the number of honors, although the categories and their voting processes are not equivalent.
Crimson Desert, Dispatch, and other highlights of the night
Crimson Desert won PC Game of the Year, while Dispatch earned two categories: Best Storytelling and Best Soundtrack. Games with very different approaches stood out without the votes being concentrated in a single production.
Among the other winners, Subnautica 2 was named Best Early Access Game; CONTROL Resonant won Best Visual Design; and Big Walk received Critics’ Choice. The Witcher 4 won Most Wanted Game, a category that does not require the title to have been released.
In the expansion category, the official announcement lists DOOM: The Dark Ages. Later coverage identifies the winning expansion as Revelations, so the table below keeps the base title used by the organizers while adding the expansion name to clarify the award.
Golden Joystick Awards 2026: complete list of all 25 winners
The list below covers every 2026 winner, using the official category names and preserving proper names. The results were cross-checked against the organizers’ announcement and GamesRadar+’s coverage.
| Category | Winner |
|---|---|
| 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 |
| 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 |
| Best Early Access Game | Subnautica 2 |
| Best Soundtrack | Dispatch |
| Still Playing Award — Mobile | Balatro |
| Still Playing Award — PC & Console | Minecraft |
| Streamers’ Choice (panel) | 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 (panel) | MECCHA CHAMELEON |
| Best Game Adaptation | Iron Lung |
| Best Supporting Performer | Grace Saif (Diana, PRAGMATA) |
| Best Lead Performer | Angela Sant’Albano (Grace Ashcroft, Resident Evil Requiem) |
| Critics’ Choice (panel) | Big Walk |
| Most Wanted Game | The Witcher 4 |
Naming note: In the original announcement, Best Game Expansion is associated with DOOM: The Dark Ages, without the Revelations subtitle. The addition was identified in later coverage. The title PRAGMATA has also been normalized to match the game’s commercial spelling.
How does voting work at the Golden Joystick Awards?
Established in 1983, the Golden Joystick Awards is among the oldest gaming award ceremonies still held today. In 2026, the public selected the winners in 22 of the 25 categories. The remaining three — Streamers’ Choice, Developers’ Choice, and Critics’ Choice — were decided by panels, according to the organizers.
This distinction matters when interpreting the results: Requiem’s top prize comes from a vote open to players, whereas some categories highlight the perspectives of industry professionals, content creators, or critics. The Golden Joystick Awards and The Game Awards are different events, with their own voting systems and results.
The 2026 edition ended with Resident Evil Requiem receiving the top award, but it also recognized an indie multiplayer game, PC releases, soundtracks, performances, and games still in development. The list shows what the Golden Joystick Awards honored that year — not a universal ranking of quality across all games.
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