The 42nd Golden Joystick Awards recognized Black Myth: Wukong as the best game of 2024, despite mixed reviews from critics.
Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth became the winner of the evening with four awards out of seven nominations. The game won in the categories «Best Story» and «Best Music». Cody Christian, who voiced Cloud, won the award for Best Lead Actor, and Briana White won for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Aerith.
Helldivers 2 won three awards out of five nominations: «Best Multiplayer Game», «Best Trailer», and «Console Game of the Year». Additionally, the project received a special award from critics.
Black Myth: Wukong from Chinese studio Game Science unexpectedly won the title of «Absolute Game of the Year», with 82 points on Opencritic and 81 points for PC and 76 points for PS5 on Metacritic. These are the lowest scores for a winner in this category in the history of the award.
Team Asobi Studio with Astro Bot won two awards — for sound design and the title of «Studio of the Year».
See the full list of winners:
- Best sound design — Astro Bot
- Best Music — Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth
- Best Story — Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth
- Best Multiplayer Game — Helldivers 2
- Best Visual Design — Black Myth: Wukong
- Best indie game — Balatro
- Best self-published indie game — Another Crab’s Treasure
- Studio of the Year — Team Asobi (Astro Bot)
- Best Actor — Cody Christian (Cloud, Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth)
- Best Supporting Actress — Briana White (Aerith, Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth)
- Breakthrough of the year (critics’ choice) — Balatro
- Game still being played (consoles and PC) — Minecraft
- The game still being played (on mobile) — Honkai: Star Rail
- Game of the Year for PC — Satisfactory
- Console Game of the Year — Helldivers 2
- The most anticipated game — GTA 6
- Critics’ Choice — Helldivers 2
- The best addition — Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree
- The best gaming hardware — Steam Deck OLED
- Best Early Access Game — Lethal Company
- Best trailer — Helldivers 2
- Selecting streamers — Chained Together
- The best adaptation of the game — Fallout
- Absolute Game of the Year — Black Myth: Wukong