Dark Souls Wins Ultimate Game Of All Time At Golden Joystick Awards

The Golden Joystick Awards have awarded Dark Souls the title of The Ultimate Game of All Time, a special category introduced to celebrate 50 years of gaming.

The game beat out several other iconic titles, such as the original Doom (1993) as well as Street Fighter II and Super Mario 64.

Here’s the full list of nominees for the Golden Joystick Ultimate Game of All Time award:

• Dark Souls (Winner)
• Doom (1993)
• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
• Half-Life 2
• Minecraft
• Street Fighter II
• Tetris
• The Last of Us
• Super Mario 64
• Metal Gear Solid
• Halo: Combat Evolved
• Super Mario Bros. 3
• Grand Theft Auto V
• Portal
• Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
• Pac Man
• Super Mario Kart
• Space Invaders
• Sim City (1989)
• Pokémon GO

It’s not really surprising that Dark Souls would take the Ultimate Game of All Time award at the Golden Joystick Awards. While it may not have been a massive commercial success, it’s cultural impact can’t really be understated.

Following up From Software’s Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls went on to create a market for more difficult and punishing RPGs. While far from being new, Dark Souls went on to popularize what would be known as the Soulsborne genre- which in itself was popular enough to spawn many more genre entries, often mixing in Metroidvania elements with titles like Blasphemous and Death’s Gambit.

Meanwhile, From Software themselves haven’t just been sitting on their laurels, with the Dark Souls series spawning two sequels, and the studio creating genre follow-ups Bloodborne and Elden Ring.

Still, the competition in the category was stiff- aside from the nostalgia powerhouses like Space Invaders, there’s a strong argument to be made for other entries like Metal Gear Solid and Street Fighter II for just sheer design ingenuity.

Join Us!