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The first Game Of The Year nominations have been released for the Golden Joysticks, with Blue Prince set to go up against Silent Hill f.
With less than two months left of 2025, we’re starting to approach both the festive season and the seasonal joy of Game Of The Year nominations.
While we’ll have to wait until December for The Game Awards, and the end of the year for GameCentral’s overall winners, the Golden Joystick Awards has released its shortlist for Ultimate Game Of The Year – which you can vote on here.
There are 12 games on the list, and along with expected names like Hollow Knight: Silksong and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, there are some surprises too.
Along with Death Stranding 2: On The Beach, the list features co-op climbing game PEAK, Split Fiction, Ghost Of Yōtei, and Indiana Jones And The Great Circle. The latter was technically released in 2024, but as it came out in December, it is eligible for this year’s list.
Other contenders include Donkey Kong Bananza, puzzle adventure Blue Prince, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, Silent Hill f, and Hades 2.
There are some notable omissions – we’d happily take Citizen Sleeper 2 or Shinobi: Art Of Vengeance over Death Stranding 2 – but it’s a pretty solid list otherwise.
Absolutely delighted to announce that the phenomenal @maggiethebard will be hosting the #GoldenJoystickAwards! ✨🕹️ Here she is with your Ultimate Game of the Year shortlist… which game should be crowned the winner?Vote for your game of the year here:… pic.twitter.com/2NybXDbbOI
— Golden Joysticks (@GoldenJoysticks) November 3, 2025
Absolutely delighted to announce that the phenomenal @maggiethebard will be hosting the #GoldenJoystickAwards! ✨🕹️ Here she is with your Ultimate Game of the Year shortlist… which game should be crowned the winner?Vote for your game of the year here:… pic.twitter.com/2NybXDbbOI
Unlike most of these awards, the Golden Joystick Awards are voted by the public, with voting on this specific category open from now until Friday, November 7. Voting on other categories closed on October 31, 2025.
The event itself takes place November 20, 2025 in London, UK, and will be hosted by Maggie Robertson, aka the voice actress for Lady Dimitrescu in Resident Evil Village.
While the public voting usually makes the Golden Joysticks an outlier on the gaming award season calendar, it nevertheless will be the first indicator of how others awards might go, such as The Game Awards or the BAFTAs next year.
- Hades 2
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
- Blue Prince
- Silent Hill f
- Death Stranding 2: On The Beach
- Hollow Knight: Silksong
- PEAK
- Indiana Jones And The Great Circle
- Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2
- Split Fiction
- Ghost of Yōtei
- Donkey Kong Bananza