The 40th Annual Golden Joystick Awards took place yesterday, and by and large, Elden Ring had a very good night. One of the unique features of the Joystick Awards is that almost all categories are decided by public vote, and this year more than 3 million people voted. And when it comes to the PC Game of the Year category, democracy triumphed over pomp and pageantry.

"Return to Monkey Island" won the award over "Neon White," "Hardspace," "Shipbreaker" and "Teardown": "Shipbreaker," "Teardown," "Total War: Warhammer 3" and "Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate Daemonhunters" won the award. Best wishes, Games Workshop fans! This surprised me greatly, but what followed was truly heartwarming, if you can forgive this cynical old man for a moment.

I would never have thought that Ron Gilbert or Dave Grossman would ever pick up the gong again.

"I want to thank the fans who voted for 'Return for Money Island' for Best Hardware in 2022," Gilbert said.

"I'm very proud of it," Gilbert said.

"We are thrilled, humbled, and frankly a little surprised. 'We thank the audience for ultimately making that choice. Creating a game like this is like having a child. You put your heart and soul into it for years, give it your all, most of the time you don't know what you're doing, make a lot of mistakes, and just do the best you can. Eventually, the day comes when you bring it out into the world: ...... and hope that people love it as much as you do."

The whole thing about "Return to Monkey Island" is that it was a return. This most beloved of settings has suffered over the years from numerous productions that have passed from hand to hand and failed to live up to their legacy. But behind this production was the original team of Ron Gilbert and Dave Grossman, who produced the previous two films before leaving LucasArts.