The Golden Joystick Awards 2025 – 12 Exciting Games Nominated and Voting is Live with a Free Ebook!

As the end of the year approaches, we can prepare for gaming awards. The Golden Joystick Awards has compiled its shortlist of nominees for its Ultimate Game of the Year Award, and we still have a couple of voting days left to pick our favorite games. If you’d like to see your favorite game of the year take home this shiny honor, here are the nominees for Ultimate Game of the Year and how you can vote.

The Golden Joystick Awards Ultimate Game of the Year Nominees

Voting is now open at GamesRadar, and there are twelve nominees shortlisted for Ultimate Game of the Year. The list includes a wide variety of deserving games in many different genres, meaning that almost any gamer should be able to find something to vote for. The twelve nominated games are:

• Blue Prince
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
• Death Stranding 2: On The Beach
• Donkey Kong Bananza
• Ghost of Yōtei
• Hades 2
• Hollow Knight: Silksong
• Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
• Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2
• Peak
• Silent Hill f
• Split Fiction

As you can see, there’s a nice balance between mainstream games and indie darlings. Every game on the list has proven itself worthy of the Ultimate Game of the Year title in one way or the other, meaning that voting for the Golden Joystick Awards should be quite diverse.

How and When to Vote

Voting is for the Golden Joystick Awards open at GamesRadar from November 3 to November 7. Go here and click “Start Voting” to vote for Ultimate Game of the Year. You can select up to three games and rank them according to your preference. 

In addition, there’s a free treat. If you submit your email address when you vote, you can choose to receive one of the following ebooks – for free:

• Retro Gamer Presents: The RPG Book
• The Big Book of Nintendo
• Ultimate Guide to Roblox
• 100 PlayStation Games To Play Before You Die
• Retro Gamer Book of Arcade Classics

After submitting your vote, you will be contacted by email, and you can pick your book. It’s a pretty sweet deal, so get out there and vote before it’s too late!

Now Go Vote!

Hurry up and cast your vote, since voting ends on November 7. It’s not my place to tell you what to vote for, so I’m keeping my mouth shut about what I voted for. I’ll simply say that this year holds a high quality list of nominees, so no matter what game takes home Ultimate Game of the Year in the Golden Joystick Awards, there will be a worthy winner.