The Steam Awards are always slightly odd, because they’re user-voted and they often favour games with large online playerbases. The clearest example of that this year is maybe Forza Horizon 5 winning “outstanding visual style.” It’s a very pretty game, for sure, but is its style outstanding? The runners up included Subnautica Below Zero, Little Nightmares 2, Bright Memory: Infinite, and Psychonauts 2 which honestly probably should have won. Resident Evil Village took Game Of The Year, but perhaps most interesting is that Cyberpunk 2077 won “outstanding story-rich game”. Are people mad about that? Honestly, it deserves it. I liked Cyberpunk 2077 plenty when I reviewed it, but it has grown in my estimation over the past year of thinking about it. I finally decided to replay it over the Christmas break and its story shines - even while the RPG systems, shooting and bugs continue to disappoint slightly. On the top sellers list, Cyberpunk 2077 could only manage to land in the “Silver” category. The top-sellers were mostly made up of long-running service games - Siege, CSGO, GTA5, Dota 2, etc. - but there were a few new entries such as Naraka Bladepoint and Valheim. Along the top of the page you’ll find filters that let you look at just 2021’s new releases, which presents a more interesting list albeit one still filled with longrunning series. Congrats to Wildermyth, which is in the Platinum tier for games which graduated from early access last year. You can hit the links above for lots more lists and picks, but here’s the full list of Steam Awards winners:
Game Of The Year: Resident Evil Village VR Game Of The Year: Cooking Simulator VR Labor Of Love: Terraria Better With Friends: It Takes Two Outstanding Visual Style: Forza Horizon 5 Most Innovative Gameplay: Deathloop Best Game You Suck At: Nioh 2 - The Complete Edition Best Soundtrack: Marvel’s Guardians Of The Galaxy Outstanding Story-Rich Game: Cyberpunk 2077 Sit Back And Relax: Farming Simulator 2022
