Psychonauts 2 is your Xbox Game of the Year at the Golden Joysticks 2021

Psychonauts 2 has invaded all the minds of voters to secure its position as the Xbox Game of the Year at the Golden Joystick Awards

Of course, the brilliance of Double Fine's long-anticipated sequel meant that no mind manipulation was required to ensure the win. No, Raz's latest adventure didn't need help at all to win out over the likes of Yakuza spin-off Lost Judgment or stunning Annapurna title The Artful Escape.

The full list of nominees was as follows:

  • Lost Judgment
  • Microsoft Flight Simulator
  • Psychonauts 2 (winner)
  • The Artful Escape
  • The Ascent
  • 12 Minutes

Psychonauts 2 is the long-awaited sequel to the cult classic title released in 2005. It was originally funded via Kickstarter in 2015, but was eventually published this year under the Microsoft Game Studios banner after it acquired Double Fine in June 2019. However, it turned out it was more than worth the wait, with Double Fine delivering a game that's an utterly brilliant, constantly creative, plaformer.

In our review, we called Psychonauts 2 a "time sink", before clarifying that's not a negative thing at all.

"Developer Double Fine has delivered a generous and expansive adventure full of heart and humor. Psychonauts 2 is a time sink in the truest sense, in that your time will sink into the ether as you play. Minutes will turn to hours with ease, and before you know it, the credits are rolling and your cheekbones are sore from all the smiling. Double Fine's psychodyssey defies all expectations. And what expectations they were."

Psychonauts 2 is available now on PC, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X. It is also available on Game Pass for Xbox and PC. 

Sam Loveridge
Brand Director, 12DOVE

Sam Loveridge is the Brand Director and former Global Editor-in-Chief of GamesRadar. She 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.

Read more
Indiana Jones and The Great Circle - Indiana peers out from the shadows in stealth
Best Xbox Series X games to experience on Microsoft's flagship console
Frostpunk 2
We already picked our best games of the year, but here's the ones you can play through PC Game Pass today
Year In Review 2024: Astro Bot winks towards the camera with a rocket-powered dog on his back
From Astro Bot to Black Myth: Wukong, the best action-adventure games of 2024 made us sweat
The two characters in Split Fiction holding their hands up in surrender in a futuristic city
Split Fiction, the new game from the It Takes Two devs, launches to Overwhelmingly Positive reviews on Steam and is the highest rated game on Metacritic this year
Metaphor: ReFantazio's protagonist smiles at his fairy companion, Gallica in an anime-style cutscene.
After dominating 2024 with Sonic, Persona, Yakuza, and Metaphor, Sega is the first company to become the year's best-rated publisher 3 times
Year in Review: Kay Vess walks towards a wrecked ship in Star Wars Outlaws
From Dragon's Dogma 2 to Star Wars Outlaws, here's the best open world games of 2024
Latest in Adventure
Screenshot of Herdling, showing the weird yaks heading toward a sunset horizon.
With 18,000 glowing Steam reviews on their lovely debut game, this indie team's game about leading cute fantasy yaks up a mountain is instantly one to watch
The two characters in Split Fiction holding their hands up in surrender in a futuristic city
Split Fiction, the new game from the It Takes Two devs, launches to Overwhelmingly Positive reviews on Steam and is the highest rated game on Metacritic this year
Exploring and fighting in Blades of Fire
Blades of Fire plays like a lost Xbox 360-era mashup between God of War and Soulslikes, and it's coming from the studio behind Metroid Dread
Pokemon Legends: Z-A screenshot
Pokemon Legends: Z-A looks to finally bring my anime-inspired dreams of truly active combat to life
Zoomed in art of the Sudowoodo illustration rare card in Pokemon TCG Pocket.
Pokemon's literal god of the universe is almost unstoppable in TCG Pocket – the only thing that can save us is a smiley tree and a concussed dinosaur
Charizard in the Pokemon anime.
Pokemon fans prove they'll buy anything as a Cheeto shaped like a Charizard sells for almost $90k
Latest in News
Balatro
Balatro creator started "properly playing the game myself about a week before launch" and had "a pretty emotional moment" where he realized it's "actually fun"
Death Stranding 2 Collector's Edition
Hideo Kojima reveals Death Stranding 2: On the Beach release date, and the Collector's Edition includes exactly what I predicted it would
Kingmakers
Kingmakers is a strategy game about taking on medieval armies with a gun, but its devs thought the giant mech was too much
The Witcher 3 lead says "not many games" were trying to match the RPG back in 2015, and that meant "there was a risk" to making it in the first place
The Blood of Dawnwalker
The Witcher 3 dev says his new vampire RPG Blood of Dawnwalker wants to challenge genre conventions, but only if "we're changing them to actually achieve some goal"
Daredevil recap: The Defenders
Marvel fans are discussing which of the Netflix series characters would have survived the Blip