Golden Joystick Awards 2026: all the winners
Resident Evil Requiem won Ultimate Game of the Year, Meccha Chameleon took four awards and Big Walk won Critics' Choice at the Golden Joysticks.
12th Nov 2026 09:15
Image via lemorion_1224
Golden Joystick Awards 2026: all the winners
Resident Evil Requiem won Ultimate Game of the Year, Meccha Chameleon took four awards and Big Walk won Critics' Choice at the Golden Joysticks.
12th Nov 2026 09:15
Image via lemorion_1224
The 2026 Golden Joystick Awards have handed out their trophies, and while Resident Evil Requiem walked away with Ultimate Game of the Year, the night's biggest surprise was a $5.99 hide-and-seek game where you paint yourself to blend in with the scenery.
The 44th Golden Joysticks took place in London on Wednesday, November 11, and most categories were decided by a public vote, with PC Gamer, Bleeding Cool and others publishing the full list of winners once the show wrapped up.
Capcom had a very good evening, as Resident Evil Requiem won Ultimate Game of the Year, Console Game of the Year and Best Game Trailer, while Angela Sant'Albano won Best Lead Performer for playing Grace Ashcroft and Capcom itself was named Studio of the Year.
A chameleon that refused to blend in
The real scene-stealer was Meccha Chameleon, a hide-and-seek game from developer lemorion_1224 that came out on Steam in June, which picked up four awards, namely Best Multiplayer Game, Best Indie Game (Self-Published), Streamer's Choice and Developers' Choice, so it's fair to say it didn't quite manage to stay hidden.
Elsewhere, House House's Big Walk took the Critics' Choice award, Crimson Desert won PC Game of the Year, Dispatch scooped both Best Storytelling and Best Soundtrack, and The Witcher 4 was voted Most Wanted Game.
Here are the main winners, as reported by PC Gamer and Bleeding Cool.
| Award | Winner |
| Ultimate Game of the Year | Resident Evil Requiem |
| Console Game of the Year | Resident Evil Requiem |
| PC Game of the Year | Crimson Desert |
| Critics' Choice | Big Walk |
| Studio of the Year | Capcom |
| Most Wanted Game | The Witcher 4 |
| Best Multiplayer Game | Meccha Chameleon |
| Best Indie Game | Valheim |
| Best Indie Game (Self-Published) | Meccha Chameleon |
| Developers' Choice | Meccha Chameleon |
| Streamer's Choice | Meccha Chameleon |
| Best Storytelling | Dispatch |
| Best Soundtrack | Dispatch |
| Best Audio Design | Onimusha: Way of the Sword |
| Best Visual Design | Control Resonant |
| Best Early Access Game | Subnautica 2 |
| Best Gaming Hardware | Steam Controller |
| Best Game Trailer | Resident Evil Requiem |
| Best Lead Performer | Angela Sant'Albano (Grace Ashcroft, Resident Evil Requiem) |
| Best Supporting Performer | Grace Saif (Diana, Pragmata) |
| Still Playing (Mobile) | Balatro |
| Still Playing (PC and Console) | Minecraft |
Minecraft and Balatro picking up the Still Playing awards won't surprise anyone who's lost an evening to either, and Valheim taking Best Indie Game is a reminder that a few Vikings can go a long way.
If you missed the build-up, our Golden Joysticks 2026 preview has the full list of Ultimate Game of the Year nominees.
Well, congratulations to all the winners, and we suspect a lot of people are about to go and buy a paint-yourself chameleon game to see what all the fuss is about.
About The Author
Jake Bannister
Jake is GGRecon's Co-Founder and Operations Director. You'll find him covering our word game brain teasers, as well as sports games such as Football Manager and EA FC. He's also that teammate on your Rocket League team spamming "Wow!".
