The shortlist for 2026’s Golden Joystick Awards is out, including PC Game of the Year, and you can vote now

The Golden Joystick Awards have been running for so long there was a period where they awarded separate prizes for 8-bit and 16-bit games in each category. In 1988, rail shooter Operation Wolf was the 8-bit Computer Game of the Year, while the Bitmap Brothers’ futuresport Speedball took home 16-bit Computer Game of the Year.

The shortlist of nominees in publicly voted categories for this year’s 44th annual Golden Joystick Awards have been announced. (The nominees for Ultimate Game of the Year won’t be revealed until October 26, when voting will open in that category too.) Of particular interest to us are the 10 games chosen for PC Game of the Year.

• Big Walk
• Crimson Desert
• Escape from Tarkov
• Esoteric Ebb
• Meccha Chameleon
• Mewgenics
• Order of the Sinking Star
• Star War Zero Company
• The Blood of Dawnwalker
• Valheim

To qualify these games had to be released between November 1, 2025, and September 25, 2026, unless pre-release versions could be made available to the judges before the deadline. What’s your pick, and is there something you think deserved to make the cut that’s missing here?

You can vote on those, and other categories including Best Storytelling, Best Multiplayer Game, Best Visual Design, Best Indie Game, and Best Indie Game – Self Published over at GamesRadar. Voting closes on October 23 at 4pm PT / 7pm ET / midnight BST, and the winners will be revealed at a ceremony held on November 11.