Rebirth’ claimed four gongs–and the incredible indie hit ‘Balatro’ picked up two–but the public favored ‘Black Myth: Wukong’ for GOTY.

Wukong developer Game Science still has "some surprises" up its sleeve, indicating that all shall be revealed before the end of the year. Speculation is split on whether this might mean the inevitable Xbox release (obviously less relevant to our target audience) or the announcement of an expansion or DLC.

Wukong turned out to be one of the surprise hits of the year, and the action-adventure game is currently racking up awards. During an acceptance speech for one of those trophies, the cofounder of the studio behind the game said fans can expect a new surprise next month.

Game Science has the chance to break a Game of The Year Curse if Black Myth: Wukong ends up winning the award next month.

Balatro is the first indie title to win the Ultimate Game of the Year award without the backing of a major publisher in the history of the Golden Joystick Awards. Created by a solo developer known as LocalThunk, the card game Balatro - named after the Latin word for jester or buffoon - is one of the year's biggest success stories.

Wukong is easily one of the biggest games of 2024, but its mixed critical consensus makes it a strange GOTY nominee.

Black Myth: Wukong, the debut game from Chinese developer Game Science, has swept past the likes of Astro Bot, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, and Helldivers 2 to claim the title of Ultimate Game of the Year at the U.K.’s Golden Joystick Awards.

The votes have been cast and counted, and the winner declared: Black Myth: Wukong is the winner of Ultimate Game of the Year at the Golden Joystick Awards 2024. After an astonishing launch that saw Black Myth: Wukong smash concurrent player records on its way to becoming the second highest-played game on Steam ever with more than 2 million players (beating the already astonishing peak set by Palworld earlier in the year,