Return to Monkey Island wins PC Game of the Year at the Golden Joystick Awards

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Nostalgia wins out as Guybrush Threepwood takes home the gong on PC

Return to Monkey Island has captured the hearts and minds of PC gamers this year, winning the PC Game of the Year award at the Golden Joystick Awards.

Always a tough category to call, and to whittle down to a few as well, PC gaming has been as diverse as ever in 2022. The full list of nominees containing strategies, 'anti-crafting' dismantling games, as well as the eventual point-and-click winner, was as follows:

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

However, I'm not sure anyone would begrudge the point-and-click classic's return to our PCs winning the big prize, despite its esteemed company.

In our review of the game, Josh West distilled his thoughts down into a sweet summary: "Return to Monkey Island is a heartfelt and nostalgic return to a point-and-click adventure series that had long been left behind. It's fun, smart, and intuitive, with a story and presentation that is surprisingly self-aware. Whether this is your first brush with Guybrush Threepwood or your sixth, Return to Monkey Island is a swashbuckling adventure you won't want to miss."

We found that the game "not only breathes new life into a beloved world but is able to make it feel relevant again in a new generation", reviving the point-and-click adventure genre beautifully by serving as, what Josh called "an intricately crafted time capsule – a reminder of the heart, wit, and humor that has always underpinned the best point-and-click adventure games". 

Discover the best games of 2022 at the best prices by checking out the Golden Joystick Awards Steam sale page

Rob Dwiar
Rob Dwiar
Managing Editor, TechRadar Gaming

Rob is the Managing Editor of sister site, TechRadar Gaming, and has been in the games and tech industry for nearly a decade. Prior to a stint as Gaming Editor at WePC in 2023, Rob was the Commissioning Editor for Hardware at GamesRadar+ for two years, and was on the hardware team for more than four years, since its inception in late 2018. He is also a writer on games and has had work published over the last nine years or so at the likes of Eurogamer, RockPaperShotgun, PCGN, and more. He is also a keen golfer and reviewer of golf watches and tech, and a qualified landscape and garden designer, the latter enabling him to be an expert on the virtual landscapes and environments of games.