Three Sony Games Nominated for Ultimate Game of the Year Award at the Golden Joysticks

The reception for Monkey Island is amazing. I hope this means we are in with a shot of another game without such a long wait!

It won't win, but I appreciate the inclusion of Xenoblade Chronicles 3.

@jrt87 that’s your opinion horizon forbidden west was awesome.

Currently HFW for me as will be starting GOWR this weekend. So obviously that could change.

Sifu should have been nominated for game of the year imo. Otherwise pretty good list. I see the obligatory CoD on there lol. If that won I'd have no faith in my fellow gamers. And to be transparent I'm not hating on CoD. They have the formula down to a tee. It's just reiterating the same thing. That shouldn't be a candidate

@4kgk2
Totally agree HFW is a top game. One off the best open worlds I have ever explored.

This is why i always feel these should be done early in the new year, it's a bit soon for God of War, I doubt many of us have even had time to play through it yet or may get it for Xmas, though it's undoubtedly a very good game from what I've played so far.

As of now I'd have to say Gran Turismo 7 is the best game I've played this year, it's one of the few games where the Dualsense really shines and gives useful feedback and has good single player content. I suspect by the end of the year that God of War Ragnarok and Sonic Frontiers may well be in that discussion as I'm having great fun with both but I'm only a few hours in

I was honestly disappointed with Horizon Forbidden West, and even God of War Ragnarok as I'm playing it now. They do not capture the magic of the 1st two games in their series.

It's weird I actually beat and enjoyed both Neon White and Gran Turismo 7 more than Sony's biggest two titles, but to each their own as they say.

Have yet to dive into Elden Ring though. As much as I enjoy them, the Souls games always give me anxiety before and during playthroughs!

Yet to play God of War Ragnarok. Elden Ring and Return to Monkey Island are both 10/10 in my view. Would like Monkey Island to win, if only because I love rooting for the underdog.
Immortality was good but a tad overrated, Bayonetta 3 was superb and would be a worthy winner too.

I just don’t get the fuss over Immortality. I “played” it on GamePass and I just couldn’t get into it. And CoD MW2 gets nominated?!?! 😱 I like the way you say Elden ring is “in with a chance” when it’s one of the front runners 😂

@jrt87 I was disappointed in HFW it's basically more of the same and whilst I enjoyed the original there was some things that needed addressing and this simply doesn't do so. The world is pretty but so unrewarding to explore, like fire gleam walls for example, you see loads early on and when you finally get the ability I went back just to find very basic crafting components and yeah its story just wasn't very interesting. Though on the positive side I will say its fighting mechanics were still fun

@Nightcrawler71 I think the fuss over Immortality is almost a "look at what games can also do" kind of thing. Which, whilst fair, does not automatically make them a good game.

Immortality? Really? Is that even classed as a game. I haven't played Ragnarok yet and won't until Christmas (from the misses), so for me it's out of elden ring and xenoblade chronicles 3, I haven't played an emotional impactful jrpg like XC3 since FF10 so I think il be voting for that when available.

GT7? Really? Not sure I understand that one.

Horizon Forbidden West had a story? I thought it was just running around listening to Aloy tell you what to do during puzzles.

@ApostateMage Games telling you what to do during puzzles is the most annoying thing these days. Plague Tale Requiem has that exact problem for me at the moment during my playthrough. Too many games these days are developed for people with zero patience.

@Dr_Luigi or when you go swimming in a cave for 10 minutes just for some Kryptonite, it just taught me not to explore. I'd rather have something interesting to find, even if it's just skeletons in funny poses like Fallout does

@ApostateMage @pip_muzz yep my pet hate of modern gaming, characters endlessly talking to themselves commenting on what you're literally doing or telling you how to solve a puzzle after 5 seconds

@ApostateMage Mimir in GOWR says hello.

@Kalvort Honestly, I feel the same. But that is coming from someone who has always liked but never loved the GoW franchise. However, I remember really liking the 2018 installment when it released. I should have paid attention to what I felt when I tried to replay it a couple of months ago. All of a sudden, it didn't do much for me any more but I blamed it on me having seen it before. This is coming back at me now with GOWR. don't get me wrong, this is totally a me-thing but I'm not enjoying it very much to be honest. The presentation and the story is what keeps me going but when actually "playing the game", I have to admit it feels like a slog quite often (12 hours in, got it early).

Stray was one of my biggest disappointments, it wasn’t bad but it was bang average.

2.5 hours into GoW and it’s easily the best game I’ve played all year. Elden Ring is not even close to me.

N.i.c.e. god of war and elden ring for game of the year.kratos the g.o.a.t. 🐐 👑.word up son

@4kgk2 same here HFW had a fantastic open world map, addicted game play loop with a huge variety of fun enemies and side content to take on, I just couldn't get off it when on it. Plus it looks gorgeous on PS5

Sad to see Plague Tale Requiem and Sifu aren't even an option. Those are my two runner-ups behind of course Elden Ring for my favorites of the year.

@pip_muzz You can turn that option off in A Plague Tale: Requiem. First thing I did before I started the game.

I always knew people are gonna be having the " more of the same" vibes with GOWR, just like they did with HFW. Hard to please people, and if HFW isn't gonna get any awards then GOWR shouldn't also, to be fair. That leaves Elden Ring taken it then, with the "something new" vibes. Yeah it's DS at its core but the world is special, nothing like finally getting close to the Erdtree.

Wow once again I only played elden ring and xenoblade 3 out of that whole list. And while elden ring is a certified masterpiece, xenoblade turned out to be such a massive disappointment. So elden ring wins again by default of having not played any of those other games

I'm sure bayo 3s a fun time waster tho. One day I'll get to it

Not played everything there.

Elden Ring is my best game this year. It is the game that kept me up till 3AM... and still had to force myself to go to bed.

HFW is a great game, but not Elden Ring level.

Took a break of Xenoblade 3 in Chapter 6... never gone back. The wheels fall off towards the end.

Love GT7. But that is a racing game. No acting, world, character... make a different list

Plague Tale should be on this list before a water down sRPG with a Ubi+Nin Texture Pack (rented it - returned it without finishing it)

Have to play GOW.

How on earth is GT7 in that list?

@TheArt I've no problem with more of the same in general, just for some games things need changing but let's face it gaming has been more of the same for some time now with the odd game mixing up its own formula.

I did enjoy Elden Ring, I say did but I haven't actually finished it, I got about 50 or so hours in and keep meaning to go back to it. It was refreshing not to be pushed around a map chasing a yellow dot and it was a joy to explore I world

@carlos82 Probably the reason why I am so longing for PSVR2 at the moment. A lot of good games but they don't tend to wow me any more mostly. Especially since last gen too many games turned into open world checklist games with RPG light elements I feel. It feels too tacked on in a lot of them imo

I would be extremely happy if God of War or Neon White won. Both represent two different goals and execution of completely different fields of gaming. Both were the peak of gaming for me this year.

One more night to vote and GoWR was only out this week. It shouldn't really win then, should it 😆 not enough people to have experienced the full game.

I'd go for Elden Ring game of the year, despite it's obvious flaws for mainstream gamers like me (I still absolutely loved the experience immensely, even without the usual stuff I'm used to in games, like a cinematic story etc it was just fantastic)

But I'm going with Stray for PlayStation game of the year, if that's possible. Just because it deserves a lot of love...cats da dada da da da da daa daaaa da da da da duh dadaa

I loved both games equally for hugely different reasons 😄😄

@dschons same, playing PSVR games on PS4 are some of my best gaming moments of the last few years and I can't wait for PSVR2

Horizon was boring

3 out of 4 games that are 9s and above for me are from sony. They are on a roll

The only game i played on that list was GT7 lmaoooooo

@dschons Enough !! The talking heed rules

@Smiffy01 I agree, he's a funny character and I actually like him but my God, in some sections he's so incredibly annoying because he simply won't shut up 😆

Elden ring is biggest disappoinment this year. So much hype but failed to live up to a souls game.
Open world part is not good, much copy paste on enemy and bosses.
They failed to deliever on every part and even made game easier so no boss stand out.

@jrt87

Not a great story at all.

But I would vote for it in a “best graphics, sound, and technical” category. The game, despite its problems, is an absolute triumph in terms of technology, visuals, and sound design.

@Dr_Luigi

Plague Tale 2 for me was dissapointing

@dschons Haha aye its that false scottish accent that cracks me up, makes groundskeeper willie from the simpsons sound authentic lol

@4kgk2 I thought it was dope as well I liked where they took the story. Can't wait to see what they do next.

@TheArt

It seems people forget sequels aren't new games or IPs.

@carlos82 Lol can't pass the chance to take a swipe at Rockstar can you..."yellow dot". You're the type to leave a whole lot of games unfinished am I right...50hrs in Elden Ring is like seeing 15% of the game. Games have gotten real good, hardly any bad games these days. People don't actually care about FromSoft's stories but gameplay yet we wanna hustle Horizon to have a perfect story.

@bozz yh, marketing..., gt7 and cod mw2, common give me a break.
We know there's lots marketing underneat all this. Not about peak of gaming..

Gt7 is the best racer currently that gets free updates constantly it deserves at least best racer. I agree Cod mw 2 shouldn’t be nominated for nothing even though I enjoy the game.

@TheArt I never even mentioned Rockstar, plenty of games use a yellow dot or any colour to tell you where to go, all I was saying is it was refreshing to have a game not afraid to let you explore. As for how many games I finish, these days its less as I have a family and much more limited time so have to be picky but with Elden Ring I just needed a break but will go back to it.

Going back to Rockstar, the game I was playing most before this week was GTAV and having great fun doing so, I've just done the first plane mission with Trevor and bought the hanger

Few games in that list haven't got a snowballs chance in helheim,

@carlos82 Use that limited time on a few masterpieces. I miss GTAV, I'll go back eventually, right now it's about 2000hrs sauntering in New Hanover looking for secrets in RDR2. I might just start Journey2 of Elden Ring, gotta feel that FAI/INT magic and so many fantastic weapons to try out.

Man, Nintendo had a quiet year. But we love our ports and remakes.

GoW been out like 2 days and already GotY contender!

just voted for elden ring, hell yeah!!

@4kgk2 COD MW2 is the best COD game ever made and one of the best games of the year, especially the campaign.. it is the best campaign in COD games

@Dr_Luigi I'm with you, pour one out for tunic! The sense of exploration and discovery in that world genuinely comes close to elden ring. The fact that this game has a whole language crafted for it is insane. One of the best indie games in years, never mind of this year.

@UltimateOtaku91 I genuinely think that the only way you could tell the story it does is through an interactive game experience. I get fmv isn't for everyone but to effectively make 3 movies in 3 styles with a compelling meta narrative with a small indie team, hell yeah it deserves its place on this list.

@Dr_Luigi

Idk. Frame rate issues, voice acting not as good, controls are still very bad (it's why it has auto aim), lack of enemy variety and it really didn't improve much from the prequel. I liked the 1st story and atmosphere more.

Horizon had much more improvements imo.

@Agramonte Grid Legends had a story mode (the few times racing games have stories and especially in the last few years than the 2000s era of doing them for circuit racers with a racing politics/climbing the ladder story then just 'doing that climbing the ladder part anyway' than your Need for Speed games and other open world racing games stories) and to me it was the best racing game and most people favoured Gran Turismo the same as Forza Horizon 5 because it's the big racing IP while to me GT7 was not worth my time the same as Sport was a disappointment. Fine games but have issues.

The Witness/Superhot are good games without being the action adventure, RPG, shooter genre without voice acting or otherwise. Some games don't need it they aren't worse for it. Not everything is a movie/animation they are games that still have personality/present a world, have character with no characters.

Doki Doki Literature Club was a visual novel people played because it was talked about a lot, free and a parody of tropes no one was going to put Danganronpa V3 there.

I think the other nominations are valid I haven't played any of them though.

@jrt87 agreed bud. Talk about a bloated mess of a game. They literally did a Ubisoft with the game design.

I will say though that the graphics were fantastic on PS5.

I sold my copy immediately after finishing the game. So disappointing.

@jrt87 ...Oi !!! I've stopped drinking that stuff now and I've moved on from Ladbrokes I'll have you know!! 🤬🤬

@Dr_Luigi I think HFW more than earns it’s spot. It has the best sidequests in an open world game since Witcher 3,the cauldrons were massively improved and were real dungeons,the world actually incentivizes exploring with weapons and armor able to be found,the world wasn’t filled with an over abundance of filler like most open world games,it told a really good story and the graphics and animations were top of the line for an open world game.

@jrt87 don’t you get tired of the game living rent free in your head? The game was a massive success and received extremely well by critics and gamers so just move on

@4kgk2 I have to disagree with GT7 being the best racer, Forza Horizon 5 is miles ahead for me in terms of graphics and the sheer scope of the game, plus its more fun and more accessible to those just getting into car games, I don't usually go for racing games but forza offered something different and I enjoyed it. GT7 was good but it was more generic, pick a race, do it, back to the menu to pick another race etc.

@carlos82 lol did you play the game because I don’t know how you could say that otherwise. The sidequests were a massive improvement over the first and the best since Witcher 3,the animations were massively improved,the world was def worth exploring especially compared to zero dawn which gave you freak all for exploring while HFW gave you weapons,armor and hidden sidequests and events,the cauldrons were massively improved and felt like real dungeons finally,the towns actually felt like real places and lived in with tons going on and the combat was better and deeper with more options.

I don't understand the hate HFW is getting, the first game was amazing and HFW improved on it in every area. Had some of the best side quests I've ever done, especially that Las Vegas one, beautiful.

@somnambulance well give it a chance because I’ve played it and it absolutely smokes those games especially immortality which is just lol.

@BRT15 I swear people like you didn’t play the game and are just hating because none of that was true. How did they Ubisoft the world when there is only 20 something sidequests that are all high quality,like 5 or 6 great dungeons,barely any collectibles,like 15 enemy outposts to clear across the huge map and they actually had story to them and made sense to be there and hidden sidequests and events to stumble across while exploring. Like you either didn’t play the game or don’t know what a Ubisoft game is like because Ubisoft games are 100 plus hour bloated games with tons of mindless filler and that doesn’t describe HFW one bit you can get the plat in like 50 hours and the filler is kept to the absolute bare minimum.

@Smiffy01 is the voice actor not Scottish lol sounds authentic to me

@dark_knightmare2 well obviously I did otherwise how was I able to describe what I didn't like? If you enjoyed it then great, I just felt it was a very by the numbers open world that's all, visually it looks great and the combat is very good but it never felt rewarding to me to explore and I can't remember much of the side quests to be honest. Now The Witcher 3, many of them have stuck with me since playing and that's absolutely superb from a story telling perspective

@Dr_Luigi I wouldn’t call the hunting grounds filler at all there’s only like 5 or so and the strike game was fun and once again not filler just because you didn’t like them considering there was only a handful of players to defeat. You can break down any open world games sidequests to it most basic component to make them sound bad. Witcher 3 which was oh someone I love is missing I think a monster got them or Elden ring go find this person and listen to them cryptically speak for a min and do it all over again. It’s the story,acting,animations etc around them that make them memorable and some of the best since Witcher 3. The shards and materials were important to upgrading and buying things not the most sexy thing but they were worth exploring for not to mention there was tons of armor and weapons to find while exploring along with hidden sidequests and events.

@carlos82 idk I’ve caught out tons of people over the years talking like they played a game only to find out they watched a walkthrough. How wasn’t it rewarding to explore when you could find tons of weapons and armor or hidden sidequests and events. Witcher 3 like i said has great sidequests and open world games having them is hard which is why it took 7 freaking years for another open world game in HFW to have them almost on par with that game.

@ApostateMage I genuinely had no idea! Thanks for the info. I still wish games didn't default to "idiot Mode" but good to know there's an option at least

@Dr_Luigi the crafting materials did improve the game because they improved your weapons and armor. The main quest gives some nice weapons and armor but some of the best are hidden in the open world which made exploring rewarding and worth it. Filler is a Ubisoft game copy and pasting the same activity 30 or more times with no context which HFW absolutely does not do.

@dark_knightmare2 wow mate, looking at your comments I'm not even gonna engage in a discussion with you. If you loved the game, good for you.

I loved the first game and after putting more than 50 hours into the game, I was thoroughly disappointed. As I said I thought they added so much bloat to the game in the name of more is better that it became a Ubisoft game and I stand by that.

@dschons one of my biggest issues with the 2018 GoW was how simplified the puzzles were. I hope Ragnarok doesn't have the same problem of every puzzle being "leave the axe here".
Mimir was definitely a symptom of "gaming simplification" for me. I hope Ragnarok doesn't do the same.
One of my favourite God of War memories is the incredibly clever MC Escher style puzzle of Hera's Garden in GoW 3. For all the bombastic set piece violence, there was always very clever puzzly downtime in the earlier games.

@Would_you_kindly Maybe just sounds a bit "forced" scottish or stereotypically scottish to me you know like "shortbread tin scottish , och aye the noo type nonsense we palm off to the tourists in edinburgh haha

@dark_knightmare2 I wouldn't say I've played a game if I hadn't, my PSN is in my bio and you can see the 23 trophies I got for it.

The game effectively taught me not to bother as when getting abilities to break certain barriers and going back to explore them and I never found anything worthwhile and often it was very basic crafting materials. As I said, if your experience and feelings are different then great and I don't think it's a bad game, just not for me

@dschons sounds awesome. I don't rate GoW18 that highly but definitely saw the blueprint for what should be an amazing game. I'm hoping Ragnarok delivers. Better puzzle design would definitely be a step in that direction (it's already confirmed the bosses are bigger and better of course 👍😃)

@UltimateOtaku91 I'm definitely on the side of GT7 here, though I'm more of a track based racer. Forza Horizon is a lot of fun but I preferred 4 over 5, the seasons added some nice variety and I felt its progression system was a lot better too

@carlos82 gt7 would be a fine game if it wasn't for the fact you can't play it offline also that ticket prize thing is obviously set to just give you the smallest reward every time lol I do like the dualsense features though

@pip_muzz I liked God of War 2018 but wouldn't put it up there amongst my favourite PS4 games but just a few hours in to Ragnarok and I think this is a much better game, enemy variety and bosses are already a lot better and I like where the story is going

Elden Ring for me, haven't played enough of GoW to decide where i place it.

@BRT15 please explain the bloat especially comparing it to Ubisoft bloat which is just factually not true and comical to say. My previous comment showed that it wasn’t bloated with minimal filler yet you continue to put your hands over your ears and act like the game is some bloated mess. I swear some of you talk like you didn’t even play the game but whatever like you said this conversation isn’t going to go anywhere so have a nice day

@Would_you_kindly yeah the online thing is dumb and could well be a major concern in the future and that prize thing winds me up 😂

That said the Dualsense is amazing with it and I've played a bit with a wheel and it was superb, if this gets PSVR2 support then it'll be amazing

@carlos82 I loved 2018 one of the best games last gen and ever but you’re right ragnorok is better in almost every way

@jrt87 my dude where did I say the crafting was the best ever because that’s not true. You want negatives I’ll give you negatives the climbing could have been improved more as well as the melee,the arena def could have been better,the mounts could have controlled better and not got hung up on things so much,the upgrade requirements were too steep and grindy which story difficulty helped but that shouldn’t have to be the answer etc. I’m not some moron like most gamers I will admit faults in games that I love so is that good enough for you? My other top games this year elden ring and ragnorok both have problems too. Elden rings back half is horrible,the bosses are the weakest in a souls game,the world has entirely too much filler and repeats and the chalice like dungeons in the open world are bad. Ragnorok gear system could have been more improved,the first five hours or so are slow and too similar to the 2018 game,the axe doesn’t feel as weighty as in 2018,the hardest difficulty is still not balanced properly etc. All that doesn’t change the fact those two games are some of the best this year and some of the best to ever do it. Funny that it supposedly alienated so many people but opinions on it are always mostly positive and the game sold extremely well and continues to chart but yeah you’re right the game is seen by most as a massive disappointment

@Kalvort Elden Ring is a lot more forgiving than other Souls games, so put your anxiety to one side and jump in!

@dark_knightmare2 People act like the Witcher 3 also didn't have repetitive tasks like scanning places with Witcher senses and ultimately slaying a monster, rinse and repeat. No matter what, there's always a level of repetition somewhere in any game. HFW highly improves in a lot of areas over HZD; Cauldrons and overriding codes aren't straightforward, side quests are like main missions with a lot of story, massive variety of enemies and weapons, crazy graphics for a fast paced open world game. God you'd think this is a game which is less than 80 and not 88 on Metacritic looking at these comments. No wonder these PlayStation Studios are going all live service games with unappreciative comments like these.

Elden Ring. That is all.

Not a fan of any of these to be honest.

@dark_knightmare2 Factually? Dude this all subjective opinions not facts. I agree HFW suffers like the first game from the Ubi blueprint, there's nothing deep or rewarding with its side quests and they are no better then what you get in later AC or Far Cry games.

@TheArt Yeah an 8/10 is about right for HFW and that's certainly not GOTY worthy.

@TheArt right sometimes I think it’s fanboys of other consoles or game series that say some of these things because it’s comes off like they didn’t even play the game and just watched a few hours of a stream and think they know the whole game because some comments are so factually wrong it’s wild. Now people can legitimately not like a game I have no problem with that it’s when someone is talking about things that’s obviously not true that gets me rankled up. In the end it doesn’t matter Sony will stay winning with their exclusives like they have since the ps3 gen and us fans continue to enjoy some of the best games on the market.

@WallyWest lol this comment is clown shoes. The sidequests in HFW are like main quests and nowhere near Ubisoft like hell after combat that’s the one thing gamers and reviews from critics praised. Every sidequests story is rewarding and you almost always get new weapons or armor with some even changing the environment which I always appreciate in an open world game. It’s not subjective when people are straight up stating things that are absolutely not true. I have no problem with someone not liking a game but some of these comments come across like the person didn’t even play the game because they are so factually wrong it’s wild.

Elden Ring. Easily.

What a ps biased list. Why is gt7 on there but no plague tale requiem. Dont give me "maybe it missed the slot to be nominated" return to monkey island only just released. Seems paid for biased sony.

@dark_knightmare2 Dude its subjective your opinions like mine on the side quests are subjective. I think they follow the Ubi blueprint, they are no better then what AC Odyssey does for them. A weapon or armour reward i will never use doesn't make them great. They do their job of filling out the game but other then the Plainsong side quest i can't remember any of them because 90% of them just blur together.

@CapGod Well, perhaps they should not be nominated to game of the year if they are not exceptional games.

My game of the year is GT7. It’s simply incredible and the online racing at time is just amazing and I can’t get enough of it. So good in fact I invested over £2000 on my Fanatec sim rig and Playseat Trophy (upgraded from T300, T3PA pedals and Playseat Challenge).

I know very little chance and I’m in the minority, but as much as I loved Elden Ring (not as good as Bloodborne, Sekiro, or Demons Souls in my view) and as much as I am loving GoW Ragnarok, GT7 just keeps on giving me hours and hours of enjoyment (500+ hours and counting).

@jrt87 stop hating it deserves to be there. the storytelling is top notch

@carlos82 more of the same is exactly what a sequel is supposed to be. same for god of war Ragnarök. the world is very rewarding in fleshing out the world and characters to having rewards like new weapons. hard disagree on the story not being interesting lol. sounds like it just wasn't for you.

@ApostateMage funny thought the same about cyberpunk except it had nothing but bugs galore. buggiest game ever made.

@pip_muzz You have excellent taste in games sir.

@jrt87 no once again I have no problem with someone not liking a game what I have a problem with is people straight up saying things that aren’t true or being hyperbolic about certain things.

@WallyWest ok that’s your opinion even though it’s wild like the sidequest where you helped rebuild a settlement was memorable or helped set up a settlement in the ruins of Vegas and got to take a beautiful hot air balloon ride at the end that then went somewhere unexpected but you’re right they are so ubi like. I guess the majority of reviewers and gamers just didn’t recognize that.

@ROBLIVION only to people who don't pay attention. it was amazing for most.

@BRT15 no way you loved the first game and was disappointed with the sequel lol. nostalgia is clouding you because the sequel is objectively better in every way and it's not even close. no fetch quests or bloat like in the first game. zero dawn was more like ubisoft game ironically.

I read yesterday Ragnarok wasn’t nominated as it came out too late???