Horizon Call of the Mountain climbs to Best VR game at the Golden Joystick Awards

Horizon Call of the Mountain winning at the Golden Joystick Awards 2023
(Image credit: Sony)

Horizon Call of the Mountain has taken home the gong for Best VR Game at this year's Golden Joystick Awards 2023 powered by Intel. 

The Horizon series has always been a big winner at the Golden Joysticks over the years, so it's wonderful to see that translate to Aloy and co's first foray into virtual reality with a story that launched alongside the PSVR 2 back in February. 

It beat out the likes of C-Smash VRS and Synapse to take home the award but you can see the full list of Golden Joystick Awards 2023 nominees for Best VR game of the year below:

  • C-Smash VRS
  • Horizon Call of the Mountain (winner)
  • Synapse
  • Vertigo 2 VR
  • F1 23 VR
  • The Light Brigade

In our Horizon Call of the Mountain review, we called Firesprite Games and Guerrilla Games' joint venture "a touch of magic" in its ability to translate the Horizon experience into a first-person, incredibly tactile VR game. "It's stunning, captivating, and never loses sight of what made Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West so special."

It hit all the right notes for us on the GamesRadar+ team offering an excellent, fresh take on Guerrilla's robo-dino series with a completely new protagonist alongside some returning faces. Horizon: Call of the Mountain also did some really fun things to celebrate the features of the PSVR 2 as well - and not just in how dang pretty the game is. 

It's been a pretty huge year for VR, which is why this award has made a comeback for the 2023 Golden Joysticks after a few years on hiatus. With the PSVR 2 launching in February and Meta launching the Quest 3 in the last few months, virtual reality is certainly having a huge moment this year.

Discover the best games of 2023 at the best prices by checking out the Golden Joystick Awards Steam sale page

Sam Loveridge
Global Editor-in-Chief, GamesRadar+

Sam Loveridge is the Global Editor-in-Chief of GamesRadar, and joined the team in August 2017. Sam came to GamesRadar after working at TrustedReviews, Digital Spy, and Fandom, following the completion of an MA in Journalism. In her time, she's also had appearances on The Guardian, BBC, and more. Her experience has seen her cover console and PC games, along with gaming hardware, for a decade, and for GamesRadar, she's in charge of the site's overall direction, managing the team, and making sure it's the best it can be. Her gaming passions lie with weird simulation games, big open-world RPGs, and beautifully crafted indies. She plays across all platforms, and specializes in titles like Pokemon, Assassin's Creed, The Sims, and more. Basically, she loves all games that aren't sports or fighting titles! In her spare time, Sam likes to live like Stardew Valley by cooking and baking, growing vegetables, and enjoying life in the countryside.