THE Last of Us Part II, a video game about hardy survivors in a world overrun by a pandemic, has been awarded as 2020’s Ultimate Game of the Year.
For 38 years, the Golden Joystick Awards have singled out outstanding achievers in the world of video games. For 2020, voters had no shortage of great titles to choose from, as evidenced by the game of the year nominees — among them, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Ghost of Tsushima, and Final Fantasy VII: Remake.
But ultimately, it was Last of Us 2 that went the distance.
It also won awards for PlayStation Game of the Year, Best Visual Design, Best Audio, and Best Storytelling. The game’s developers Naughty Dog also won Studio of the Year, which means that Last of Us 2 cleaned up with a total of six trophies in the all-digital event.
"I could not be prouder of this game and the team that put it together, and how we lifted each other up when we needed to," said the game’s creative director Neil Druckmann, who also co-wrote the story.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons was Nintendo Game of the Year, Ori and the Will of the Wisps won for Xbox Game of the Year, and Death Stranding, a formerly PlayStation exlcusive that was brought to Steam this year, won PC Game of the Year. Among Us developer Innersloth was also awarded Breakthrough of the Year.
Except for a few select categories, the Golden Joystick Awards are determined by public online vote. It is different from the upcoming Game Awards, founded by video game journalist Geoff Keighley, where winners are determined by industry representatives.
The Last of Us Part II is also a Game of the Year nominee in the Game Awards, which will be livestreamed on December 10.
Here is the full list of winners for the Golden Joysticks:
Best Storytelling - The Last of Us 2
Best Multiplayer Game - Fall Guys
Best Visual Design - The Last of Us 2
Best Game Expansion - No Man's Sky: Origins
Mobile Game of the Year - Lego Builder's Journey
Best Audio - The Last of Us 2
Best Indie Game - Hades
Still Playing - Minecraft
Studio of the Year - Naughty Dog
Esports Game of the Year - Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
Best New Streamer / Broadcaster - iamBrandon
Best Family Game - Fall Guys
Best Gaming Community - Minecraft
Best Performer - Sandra Saad (Kamala Khan)
Breakthrough Award - Innersloth (Among Us)
Outstanding Contribution - The Gaming Industry
PC Game of the Year - Death Stranding
Best Gaming Hardware - NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080
PlayStation Game of the Year - The Last of Us 2
Xbox Game of the Year - Ori and the Will of the Wisps
Nintendo Game of the Year - Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Most Wanted Game - God of War: Ragnarok
Critic's Choice - Hades
Ultimate Game of the Year - The Last of Us 2
Spin fans unite at the Spin Viber Community! Join the growing community now and complete the experience by subscribing to the Spin Chatbot.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
