The awards are fun when I compare my vote list with my friends’ vote list, but the actual awards are just annoyingly pointless.
The winner of each category is predictable immediately. It will only ever be the game with the highest number of players and the category doesn’t matter.
If GTA6 comes out in 2026 and posts “we are hoping to win the Emotional Indie Platformer Award”, it’s going to win the Emotional Indie Platformer Award.
I only just started Silent Hill F and the coolest visual I have seen was the very first “everything dissolves into the hellish world” scene.
It’s always been a staple of the series, but this time is looks so fucking cool with how it dissolves everything, not just the surface textures.
Kinda wonder if having a newer RTX GPU would make it look better; the settings for Lumen don’t really change how it looks, it just massively drops my framerate 🤷♂️
The win was not without controversy, with fans split on whether Baldur’s Gate 3 really deserved the accolade, with many saying that No Man’s Sky did far more in 2025. While players still love Baldur’s Gate 3, they point out that Hello Games did more to support its game in 2025.
“I hate when people vote for things based on how much they like them rather than how much they deserve them,” one user writes on the Baldur’s Gate 3 subreddit. “BG3 is a great game, sure, but it received one final major update this (last) year. No Man’s Sky received four and it’s still going.”
It’s linear in the same way a sony/ubisoft open world is where there is a single main path but there is a massive quanitity of side content as well. The main difference between bg3 and AAA open worlds is that the side content is better than the average ubisoft side content and the main path can take different routes in different playthroughs.
God I’ve tried three times to enjoy no man’s sky and I just can’t. It’s just endless grinding, no real reward for it, and no way to automate any of the tasks so you can move onto more fun things
Turning an unplayable ripoff game into something that is maybe worth the steam sale price ten years later isn’t a “labor of love” it’s mitigating legal risk from it’s investors.
BG3 added a ton of content since release, to the point where they even brought in the entire voice cast to record additional dialogue.
Unplayable? I bought the game at launch and it played absolutely fine.
Was it a barren wasteland with fuck all to do? Sure, but it worked perfectly fine, the last decade has seen HG turn NMS into one of if not the most comprehensive space adventure game.
Since 2016 they have added various additional stuff like VR support, alongside gameplay enhancements (IE: content like building your own fleet, bases, settlements, expeditions, animal taming etc). All for free.
Personally, I don’t consider the latter to be an indication of a labour of love, but rather an obligation to their fans (because larian are a very good studio, who care for their fans).
I love both games, but BG3 absolutely did not deserve the labour of love category imo, there are simply far more obvious alternatives.
NMS has too many bugs with years of technical debt, incoherent game design choices, broken promises, broken game mechanics, half-baked mechanics, terrible UI, an unrelatable story, and a cardboard universe…
It just doesn’t look like a passion project. HG have made quite a handsome profit from the updates as well.
I’ve been having a blast with Arc, especially as a newcomer to the genre. The PvE aspects (where you work together to defeat massive robots) is incredibly fun. My only complaint so far is that the inventory system can be a bit of a pain.
The arc are ectremely impressive enemies and feel like nothing I’ve ever fought in a game, and the matchmaking system puts you in matvhes with people that have the same level of aggression. So it’s not your regular extraction shooter where NPCs are a sidenote and everyone plays kill on sight and that’s extremely refreshing
My one issue with Alters was if you make certain decisions with what to produce or work on, at certain points, I had to roll back pretty far to undo them to just survive upcoming events. Really cool game otherwise.
It’s definitely flawed. But I found it to be original if nothing else and a breath of fresh air in a sea of extraction shooters, rogueliles and soulslikes. Rather reminded me of Death Stranding when it came out.
I love the story of that game, too, but being unable to progress at those points makes for a good strategy game while also being antithetical to its message, lol.
You weren‘t kidding. These are all real winners for the players. And I wouldn‘t say last year was totally packed. At least not for me but this is a great list of games to add to your pile of shame.
I haven’t played it, but the same elevator pitch is given every time someone describes it on a podcast: it’s like someone made off-brand Half-Life and merged it with the survival genre. I’ve heard a lot of good things.
It’s a first person survival crafter with very strange science vibes.
Imagine you were a scientist on your first day at Black Mesa when Gordon caused the Lambda Incident (this is a Half-Life reference for those uninitiated) and in a kind of Subnautica style need to scrounge the environment for resources to research and crafted supplies and equipment to use to survive and explore further while encountering invaders as well as what are essentially SCPs or Objects of Power (Control/Alan Wake) throughout the facility and other environment all in the hopes of trying to escape with your life.
Okay listen. I know I haven’t played it myself but… Isn’t Arc Raiders just another fucking extraction shooter? How the fuck does it beat Blue Prince for most innovative gameplay?
Well… kinda but not really. The room-placement is only a small part of Blue Prince though and I think turning it into a roguelite was pretty innovative.
Funny story, Tonda Ros actually hadn’t heard of Betrayal until Blue Prince was well into beta testing. These things happen. The true inspiration for it was a choose-your-own-adventure/puzzle book by Christopher Manson called “The Maze”. Manson actually contributed with the art for the paintings in the Gallery in Blue Prince.
This is the first time anyone has described Blue Prince in a way that made me want to play it lol. Not knocking the game, I just figured it would never be up my alley. But I’m a big fan of Betrayal.
It’s innovated in that it’s an extraction shooter that has mass appeal and isn’t a total drag to play but it’s not exactly game breaking mechanics-wise.
I think it’s the multiplayer game of the year. Wouldn’t call it the most innovative game of the year
The nomination phase has a few suggestions for you, based on what you played. But if you don’t like them/want something else, there’s a button for that. Now you’ll know for next year.
While I don’t think it deserves the win over Blue Prince, it does have some interesting gameplay innovations compared to others in the genre, as well as some interesting tech.
In particular, the included PvE element, as well as the sorter session and decreased death penalty makes the game much more accessible. It also helps offer an incentive to not shoot-on-sight, as the bots serve as a common enemy and shared threat. Its a difference between games like PUBG where games are tense, hour-long affair, and something like Fortnite where its colourful, easy to get into, and despite still being competitve, filled with other diversions for those who won’t win.
Silksong winning GOTY and BGYSA is great. Seeing Peak up there was nice too. I was a little surprised to see BG3- great game, but I thought it was EOLed in 2024 after native steam deck support.
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The awards are fun when I compare my vote list with my friends’ vote list, but the actual awards are just annoyingly pointless.
The winner of each category is predictable immediately. It will only ever be the game with the highest number of players and the category doesn’t matter.
If GTA6 comes out in 2026 and posts “we are hoping to win the Emotional Indie Platformer Award”, it’s going to win the Emotional Indie Platformer Award.
I only just started Silent Hill F and the coolest visual I have seen was the very first “everything dissolves into the hellish world” scene.
It’s always been a staple of the series, but this time is looks so fucking cool with how it dissolves everything, not just the surface textures.
Kinda wonder if having a newer RTX GPU would make it look better; the settings for Lumen don’t really change how it looks, it just massively drops my framerate 🤷♂️
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April had a content patch, 12 new subclasses and it enabled crossplay I believe.
https://www.gamesradar.com/games/baldur-s-gate/baldurs-gate-3-wins-steams-labor-of-love-award-following-2-years-of-updates-and-community-support-pretty-f-ing-good-way-to-start-2026/
Limited replayability? It’s top of mind for me when I’m rattling off replayable games.
How tf does bg3 have Limited replayability? Im on my 9th run! Wtf kind of take is this? Put the meds down pal.
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Right… linear… this guy has never played dark urge.
There’s differences in playthroughs, if you choose, but it is linear. The game ultimately railroads you to the same endings.
Tap for spoiler
Goes on to enslave the world is apparently the same thing as killing an eldritch being with an army of friends you amass and being a hero apparently.
It’s linear in the same way a sony/ubisoft open world is where there is a single main path but there is a massive quanitity of side content as well. The main difference between bg3 and AAA open worlds is that the side content is better than the average ubisoft side content and the main path can take different routes in different playthroughs.
No Man’s Sky has added thousands of generic resource gathering tasks by now!
I have tried playing it maybe half a dozen times and come to the same conclusion each time: “This is it?”
It’s a great game for wasting your time in the most banal tasks possible, but not much more.
God I’ve tried three times to enjoy no man’s sky and I just can’t. It’s just endless grinding, no real reward for it, and no way to automate any of the tasks so you can move onto more fun things
Turning an unplayable ripoff game into something that is maybe worth the steam sale price ten years later isn’t a “labor of love” it’s mitigating legal risk from it’s investors.
BG3 added a ton of content since release, to the point where they even brought in the entire voice cast to record additional dialogue.
Unplayable? I bought the game at launch and it played absolutely fine.
Was it a barren wasteland with fuck all to do? Sure, but it worked perfectly fine, the last decade has seen HG turn NMS into one of if not the most comprehensive space adventure game.
Since 2016 they have added various additional stuff like VR support, alongside gameplay enhancements (IE: content like building your own fleet, bases, settlements, expeditions, animal taming etc). All for free.
Conversely, larian has repeatedly stated that they do not want to do additional content for BG3; with every patch release it’s “this is it, we’re done with this now”, and when quizzed on additional content, such as dlc, The studio claims the Devs were elated to cancel BG3 dlc in favour of making a different game entirely.
Personally, I don’t consider the latter to be an indication of a labour of love, but rather an obligation to their fans (because larian are a very good studio, who care for their fans).
I love both games, but BG3 absolutely did not deserve the labour of love category imo, there are simply far more obvious alternatives.
NMS has too many bugs with years of technical debt, incoherent game design choices, broken promises, broken game mechanics, half-baked mechanics, terrible UI, an unrelatable story, and a cardboard universe…
It just doesn’t look like a passion project. HG have made quite a handsome profit from the updates as well.
Hasn’t No Man’s Sky won before? I don’t think you could vote for ones that had won before
I was one of the runners-up, and I definitely voted for it… so, either it can win more than once or it didn’t win previously.
BG3 got a native steam deck version that has improved the game quite a lot.
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Blue Prince is way deeper than I was expecting… It seems beating the game is only scratching the surface.
I’ve been having a blast with Arc, especially as a newcomer to the genre. The PvE aspects (where you work together to defeat massive robots) is incredibly fun. My only complaint so far is that the inventory system can be a bit of a pain.
Damn, they did my boy The Alters dirty. Not a single win.
Also, Arc Raiders most innovative? Isn’t it just an (admittedly improved) extraction shooter?
The arc are ectremely impressive enemies and feel like nothing I’ve ever fought in a game, and the matchmaking system puts you in matvhes with people that have the same level of aggression. So it’s not your regular extraction shooter where NPCs are a sidenote and everyone plays kill on sight and that’s extremely refreshing
My one issue with Alters was if you make certain decisions with what to produce or work on, at certain points, I had to roll back pretty far to undo them to just survive upcoming events. Really cool game otherwise.
It’s definitely flawed. But I found it to be original if nothing else and a breath of fresh air in a sea of extraction shooters, rogueliles and soulslikes. Rather reminded me of Death Stranding when it came out.
I love the story of that game, too, but being unable to progress at those points makes for a good strategy game while also being antithetical to its message, lol.
I was a little sad that Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 didn’t win anything. That was my personal GOTY
You weren‘t kidding. These are all real winners for the players. And I wouldn‘t say last year was totally packed. At least not for me but this is a great list of games to add to your pile of shame.
Screw Silksong, Abiotic Factor should’ve won game of the year! I had a lot of fun with it and it really felt like the devs put a lot of heart into it.
What kind of game is it? What’s it about?
I haven’t played it, but the same elevator pitch is given every time someone describes it on a podcast: it’s like someone made off-brand Half-Life and merged it with the survival genre. I’ve heard a lot of good things.
It’s a first person survival crafter with very strange science vibes.
Imagine you were a scientist on your first day at Black Mesa when Gordon caused the Lambda Incident (this is a Half-Life reference for those uninitiated) and in a kind of Subnautica style need to scrounge the environment for resources to research and crafted supplies and equipment to use to survive and explore further while encountering invaders as well as what are essentially SCPs or Objects of Power (Control/Alan Wake) throughout the facility and other environment all in the hopes of trying to escape with your life.
You lost me at crafter. Zero interest in that kind of gameplay.
Okay listen. I know I haven’t played it myself but… Isn’t Arc Raiders just another fucking extraction shooter? How the fuck does it beat Blue Prince for most innovative gameplay?
Isn’t Blue Prince just Betrayal at House on the Hill the video game?
Well… kinda but not really. The room-placement is only a small part of Blue Prince though and I think turning it into a roguelite was pretty innovative.
Funny story, Tonda Ros actually hadn’t heard of Betrayal until Blue Prince was well into beta testing. These things happen. The true inspiration for it was a choose-your-own-adventure/puzzle book by Christopher Manson called “The Maze”. Manson actually contributed with the art for the paintings in the Gallery in Blue Prince.
This is the first time anyone has described Blue Prince in a way that made me want to play it lol. Not knocking the game, I just figured it would never be up my alley. But I’m a big fan of Betrayal.
Steam awards are pretty much always like this. Popularity over the actual category itself.
“Innovative” means “hey, I think I’ve heard of this title!”.
Steam Awards is a popularity contest.
Arc is definitely the “yep, steam voters have shit taste” one of the bunch.
Yeah, the rest I can understand, Arc Raiders is anything but innovative.
It’s innovated in that it’s an extraction shooter that has mass appeal and isn’t a total drag to play but it’s not exactly game breaking mechanics-wise.
I think it’s the multiplayer game of the year. Wouldn’t call it the most innovative game of the year
Because people have no idea what innovative means. Nor does Valve, since Arc Raiders was in the category.
Valve doesn’t decide anything, the whole Steam awards are voted by the community. It’s a popularity contest.
No because we can’t add our own picks. You choose from a limited selection.
The top 4 picks are decided by user nomination a ~month before.
Huh I still don’t remember ever getting an open ended choice.
The nomination phase has a few suggestions for you, based on what you played. But if you don’t like them/want something else, there’s a button for that. Now you’ll know for next year.
While I don’t think it deserves the win over Blue Prince, it does have some interesting gameplay innovations compared to others in the genre, as well as some interesting tech.
In particular, the included PvE element, as well as the sorter session and decreased death penalty makes the game much more accessible. It also helps offer an incentive to not shoot-on-sight, as the bots serve as a common enemy and shared threat. Its a difference between games like PUBG where games are tense, hour-long affair, and something like Fortnite where its colourful, easy to get into, and despite still being competitve, filled with other diversions for those who won’t win.
It also sold way better than Blue Prince did. The Steam awards are always going to be weighed heavily in favour of the better selling games.
RV There Yet isn’t really that chill. It’s also highly frustrating at times.
It winning was really surprising to me. It was fun for like 15 minutes. I guess… people like it? It’s a meme? Idk.
It’s also trying to ride the success of Peak
I am very disappointed that this game promotes smoking. So it’s an instant non-starter for me.
I really wish Baby Steps had won something.
I got three right.
Silksong winning GOTY and BGYSA is great. Seeing Peak up there was nice too. I was a little surprised to see BG3- great game, but I thought it was EOLed in 2024 after native steam deck support.
Main thing I’m sad about is deltarune not winning the soundtrack category.
The fuck is the VR winner.
There hasn’t really been that many VR games lately.