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The Hollow Knight sequel triumphed in the fan-voted Steam Awards
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After a year in which Hollow Knight: Silksong seemed to trail a distant second to Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 in many Game of the Year tallies — including at The Game Awards, which Clair Obscur dominated — Team Cherry's game has finally stolen a GOTY title from its rival, and it's a big one: Game of the Year in the Steam Awards.
Unlike the main Game Awards categories, the Steam Awards are fan-voted; any non-limited Steam account can submit one ballot. This didn't rule out critics' favorite Clair Obscur, however. Sandfall Interactive's game had enough public support to win the Ultimate Game of the Year category at the fan-voted Golden Joystick Awards, after all.
But Silksong is massively popular on the Steam platform specifically, perhaps leading to its win in Valve's year-end ballot. Its all-time peak player count on Steam is 587,150, some four times bigger than Clair Obscur's peak.
The three other finalists for the top award were all big hits on Steam, too: Dispatch, Arc Raiders, and Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2.
Silksong also won the Best Game You Suck At Award, in a nod to its infamous difficulty. Clair Obscur was voted Best Soundtrack. (This Tokyo Xtreme Racer fan was delighted to note that its impeccable 2000s metal-and-techno video game vibes placed as a finalist in the soundtrack category. Steam voters know where it's at.)
The Midnight Walk is Steam's VR Game of the Year, Baldur's Gate 3 won the Labor of Love Award for continuing updates, Hades 2 won Best Game on Steam Deck, and Peak won the Better With Friends Award, making it the de facto multiplayer winner.
The full list of winners and finalists is below, and is worth combing through for some surprising recommendations: Steam voters have eclectic taste!
Game of the Year
- WINNER: Hollow Knight: Silksong
- Dispatch
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
- Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2
- Arc Raiders
VR Game of the Year
- WINNER: The Midnight Walk
- Pavlov
- Le Mans Ultimate
- F1 25
- Emissary Zero
Labor of Love Award
- WINNER: Baldur's Gate 3
- Helldivers 2
- No Man's Sky
- Dota 2
- Rust
Best Game on Steam Deck Award
- WINNER: Hades 2
- Clover Pit
- Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor
- Digimon Story Time Stranger
- Ball x Pit
Better With Friends Award
- WINNER: Peak
- Battlefield 6
- Schedule 1
- Split Fiction
- REPO
Outstanding Visual Style Award
- WINNER: Silent Hill f
- My Little Puppy
- ENA: Dream BBQ
- Doom: The Dark Ages
- Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
Most Innovative Gameplay Award
- WINNER: Arc Raiders
- Escape From Duckov
- Europa Universalis 5
- Blue Prince
- Mage Arena
Best Game You Suck At Award
- WINNER: Hollow Knight: Silksong
- Where Winds Meet
- Marvel Rivals
- Elden Ring Nightrein
- Path of Exile 2
Best Soundtrack Award
- WINNER: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
- Tokyo Xtreme Racer
- Rift of the Necrodancer
- Deltarune
- Marvel's Spider-Man 2
Outstanding Story-Rich Game Award
- WINNER: Dispatch
- The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered
- No, I'm Not a Human
- Dying Light: The Beast
- Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2
Sit Back and Relax Award
- WINNER: RV There Yet?
- Chill with You: Lo-Fi Story
- Slime Rancher 2
- PowerWash Simulator 2
- Megabonk
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