Dark Souls crowned Ultimate Game of All Time at Golden Joystick Awards

Dark Souls has been named the Ultimate Game of All Time by the Golden Joystick Award voting public.

At the culmination of this year's Golden Joystick Awards, it was revealed that From Software's legendary odyssey into the depths of Lordran has earned the title of Ultimate Game of All Time. It beat out several other major classics including Half-Life 2, Street FIghter 2, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

Check out the full list of nominees below:

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

In response to the award, Dark Souls director Hidetaka Miyazaki talked about how the team at FromSoftware has grown since Dark Souls' creation. He said: "At that time, the staff who joined From Software as a newcomer and started [their] career as game creators from Dark Souls are now growing and becoming the core of the latest work, Elden Ring. In that sense as well, this time, I was deeply moved by the award."
As part of the Golden Joystick Awards 2021, we've been celebrating 50 years of gaming with two very special categories for this year's show: Best Gaming Hardware of All Time and Ultimate Game of All Time.

The list, which is ordered in terms of how many votes each game received, shows just how many all-time classics Dark Souls had to beat in order to earn its crown. In second place, we have arguably one of the most important first-person shooters of all time in Doom, while Link's glorious open-world adventure in Breath of the Wild managed to nab 3rd place. You can find out more about how we chose the shortlist for Ultimate Game of All Time by heading over to our explainer.

In our feature on why Dark Souls is the Best Game of All Time, Joe Donnelly writes: "We'll be talking about Dark Souls in another 10 years, and another 10 years after that again. In Dark Souls, we're told that history repeats itself. But in reality, there will likely never be a game quite like it again."

Want to know what else made the list? Read up on what we think are the best games of all time.