Cult Of The Lamb Wins Best Indie At Golden Joystick Awards

It’s the most exciting and divisive time of the year: the video game awards season. The most recent award show comes in the form of the Golden Joystick Awards, presented by GamesRadar.

The Golden Joystick Awards is in its 40th year of existence and boasted quite the deserving list of nominees this year, with an even more deserving list of winners.

Unsurprisingly, 2022’s frontrunner for Game of the Year on all fronts Elden Ring went home with four awards (Ultimate Game of the Year, Critics’ Choice Award, Best Multiplayer Game, and Best Visual Design). As an added bonus to that, its creator FromSoftware also went home with Studio of the Year.

In exciting news for the Australian games industry, Melbourne-made banger Cult of the Lamb went home with the Best Indie Game award, which is truly a pleasure to see. Here’s hoping it continues in its awards sweep as it deserves. You can listen to Massive Monster’s acceptance speech below.

We’re so thrilled to have won Best Indie on @cultofthelamb at the @GoldenJoysticks

I think @JayMaxArmstrong, @JulianWilton_ and @ArtJimp put it best… there’s loads more Lamb to come 🙏 Huge thanks to our loving fanbase for the overwhelming support pic.twitter.com/onDXKzHksG

— Massive Monster 🙏🐑 (@MassiveMonster) November 23, 2022

The full list of winners and nominees is listed below, courtesy of Games Radar.

Ultimate Game of the Year

• Elden Ring (WINNER)
• Gran Turismo 7
• Horizon Forbidden West
• Immortality
• Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope
• God of War: Ragnarok
• Return to Monkey Island
• Teardown
• Xenoblade Chronicles 3
• Bayonetta 3
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
• Neon White

Most Wanted Game

• The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (WINNER)
• Final Fantasy XVI
• Assassin’s Creed Mirage
• Dead Island 2
• Forspoken
• Street Fighter 6
• Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
• Warhammer 40,000: Darktide
• Honkai: Star Rail
• Starfield
• Exoprimal
• Redfall
• Hogwarts Legacy
• Mass Effect
• Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
• Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
• Hollow Knight: Silksong
• Kerbal Space Program 2
• Dead Space

Xbox Game of the Year

• Halo Infinite
• Scorn
• Grounded (WINNER)
• As Dusk Falls
• Sniper Elite 5
• Dying Light 2: Stay Human

PlayStation Game of the Year

• Gran Turismo 7
• Horizon Forbidden West
• Stray (WINNER)
• Elden Ring
• The Last Of Us Part I
• Sifu

PC Game of the Year

• Neon White
• Return to Monkey Island (WINNER)
• Hardspace: Shipbreaker
• Teardown
• Total War: Warhammer 3
• Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters

Nintendo Game of the Year

• Xenoblade Chronicles 3
• Pokémon Legends: Arceus (WINNER)
• Kirby and the Forgotten Land
• Live A Live
• Splatoon 3
• Nintendo Switch Sports

Best Performer

• Manon Gage (Marissa Marcel, Immortality) – WINNER
• Ted Raimi (Travis, The Quarry)
• Dominic Armato (Guybrush Threepwood, Return to Monkey Island)
• Angela Bassett (Regalla, Horizon Forbidden West)
• Ashly Burch (Tiny Tina, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands)
• Christopher Judge (Kratos, God of War Ragnarok)

Critics’ Choice Awards

Elden Ring (WINNER)

Breakthrough Award

Vampire Survivors (WINNER)

Best Gaming Hardware

• Playdate
• Steam Deck (WINNER)
• Analogue Pocket
• Backbone One: PlayStation Edition
• Roccat Kone XP
• WD_Black SN850 NVMe SSD for PS5

Best Game Community

• Dreams
• Final Fantasy 14 (WINNER)
• GRID Legends
• No Man’s Sky
• Splatoon 3
• Warframe

Best Game Trailer

• The Callisto Protocol The Truth of Black Iron Trailer
• Goat Simulator 3 Announcement Trailer (WINNER)
• skate. Still Working On It Trailer
• Bloody Hell Hotel Reveal Trailer
• Time Flies Announcement Trailer
• Alan Wake 2 Reveal Trailer

Best Audio

• We Are OFK
• Xenoblade Chronicles 3
• Metal: Hellsinger (WINNER)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge
• Gran Turismo 7
• OlliOlli World

Best Multiplayer Game

• Elden Ring (WINNER)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenue
• MultiVersus
• Splatoon 3
• Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands
• LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga

Best Indie Game

• Cult of the Lamb (WINNER)
• Tunic
• Rollerdrome
• Dorfromantik
• Neon White
• Teardown

Best Early Access Launch

• Disney Dreamlight Valley
• Slime Rancher 2 (WINNER)
• Dune: Spice Wars
• Core Keeper
• Vampire Survivors
• Gloomwood

Best Game Expansion

• Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker
• Destiny 2: The Witch Queen
• Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course (WINNER)
• GTA Online: The Contract
• Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons
• Total War: Warhammer III – Immortal Empires

Studio of the Year

• Roll7
• Terrible Toybox
• Half Mermaid
• FromSoftware Inc. (WINNER)
• Interior / Night
• Tribute Games

Best Visual Design

• Elden Ring (WINNER)
• Horizon Forbidden West
• Cult of the Lamb
• Ghostwire: Tokyo
• A Plague Tale: Requiem
• Lost in Play

Still Playing Award

• Genshin Impact (WINNER)
• The Sims 4
• Destiny 2
• Final Fantasy XIV
• Minecraft
• Fortnite
• Pokémon GO
• Apex Legends
• Lost Ark
• The Elder Scrolls Online

Best Storytelling

• IMMORTALITY
• Return to Monkey Island
• Horizon Forbidden West (WINNER)
• NORCO
• I Was A Teenage Exocolonist
• Wayward Strand

Did your favourites win at the Golden Joystick Awards this year? Or were they snubbed? Let us know!