The Winners of 2020’s Steam Awards Are Here

I’d really rather not cast my mind back to the hellish year that was 2020, but I think I have a sufficient reason to do so for a little while in this context. You see, back in 2015, Valve introduced what they’re calling the “Steam Awards.” This event serves as a way for the Steam community to recognize and highlight their favorite recent games at year’s end. As of yesterday morning, the list of games that managed to emerge victorious in each category devised by Valve was published. I’d like to share that list with you today, as well as a few of my thoughts on the winners in each category.

First up, we’ve got the equally ubiquitous and obligatory Game of the Year Award. According to the Steam community, 2020’s Game of the Year is Rockstar Games’ immensely popular cowboy simulator known as Red Dead Redemption 2. I suspect Red Dead 2’s victory may be due in some small part to Rockstar recently releasing the multiplayer-only aspect of the game, Red Dead Online, as a standalone entity at a price much lower than that of the full game.

This move could enable players who are curious about the game’s multiplayer capabilities to experience them without shelling out the cash for the full title. In case you’re curious, my original nominee for this category was THQ Nordic and Black Forest Games’ excellent remake of 2005’s Destroy All Humans!, as you might know, if you’ve checked out our Game of the Year staff picks.

Next up comes the VR Game of the Year Award, which was granted to Valve’s Half-Life: Alyx. I’m afraid I can’t really comment on this category or its winner because I own neither a VR headset I can call my own nor a computer powerful enough to handle gaming in virtual reality. Even so, I have a strong suspicion that Alyx winning this particular accolade surprises absolutely no one given the game’s popularity. As we’ve established, I’ve never played a VR game due to external factors, but I still went ahead and nominated a game for this category in the form of Boneworks.

Thirdly, we have the so-called “Labor of Love” award. This one is unique because it was the only category in which Steam users could nominate games that released earlier than 2020 and are still being actively worked on by their developers. The winner of 2020’s “Labor of Love” award is another Valve title, namely Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. CS:GO just saw the release of a massive content update known as “Operation Broken Fang” and I suspect this update was a large reason behind the game being nominated for this award.

For what it’s worth, my personal nomination for this category went to Sid Meier’s Civilization VI due to the continued development of its New Frontier Pass. For those unaware, the New Frontier Pass is a season pass that’s in the process of adding ten months’ worth of major new DLC to the game, both paid and free. I’m honestly fairly disappointed that Civ VI didn’t even make it to the list of finalists for this award, but I readily admit I’m extremely biased in this regard.

Up next, we’ve got the “Better with Friends” Award, the winner of which is none other than Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout. This is another game about which I can’t really say much, as I’ve yet to get around to playing it. I’m sure that my good friend and esteemed colleague Mike would have much more to say about Fall Guys if he were writing this piece in my stead. I’m pleased to see that my personal selection for this award, Borderlands 3, managed to make it to the list of finalists.

Immediately following the “Better with Friends” Award, we’ve got the “Most Innovative Gameplay” Award. This one was granted to Death Stranding, which is yet another game about which I know virtually nothing other than that it was developed by Hideo Kojima and stars Norman Reedus. I’ll direct you to my esteemed colleague Keiran’s video review of this title if you want to hear his take on it. For those curious, my nominee for this category was Unfrozen and Daedalic Entertainment’s Iratus: Lord of the Dead.

Next, we have the “Outstanding Story-Rich Game” Award. This category granted the aforementioned Red Dead Redemption 2 its second and final victory of the lot. I wasn’t aware that it was possible for games to win more than one award per year, but here we are. If you haven’t played Red Dead Redemption 2 and want to see what all the fuss is about, you might be interested to know that Keiran has also reviewed the game over on our YouTube channel. You can check out that video here if you’re so inclined.

Following that, there’s the rather bluntly-titled “Best Game You Suck At” Award. This one went to Apex Legends, yet another title with which I’m completely unfamiliar. There were quite a few worthy candidates on the list of finalists for this category, as I recall, but I’m still a bit surprised to see that Apex Legends ended up clinching it in the end. My original nominee for this accolade was Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3?!, for those who might be wondering.

We’re in the home stretch now, folks. The third-to-last award in this year’s roundup is known as the “Outstanding Visual Style” Award. This one was granted to Ori and the Will of the Wisps. I may not have played this sequel to Ori and the Blind Forest, but considering I’ve played a bit of the original title, I can’t say I’m surprised by the outcome of this award.

The penultimate accolade this year is the “Best Soundtrack” Award. I suspect this will surprise very few people, regardless of whether or not they’re familiar with this game’s franchise. This award ended up going to my aforementioned colleague Mike’s personal Game of the Year, Doom Eternal. My personal suggestion for this award was SpongeBob Squarepants: Battle for Bikini Bottom Rehydrated. In hindsight, that seems like a bit of an odd choice on my part, but I digress.

Finally, we have the newly-added “Sit Back and Relax” Award. This one was clenched by, of all things, EA’s The Sims 4. I can definitely see the appeal of this title and I’m actually glad it won. I must say, though, that I was reasonably certain this award would go to Microsoft Flight Simulator. My last personal nominee for this year’s Steam Awards was Toge Productions visual novel known as Coffee Talk.

There you have it, my friends! There certainly were quite a lot of wonderful games nominated for this year’s Steam Awards. I wish to extend my congratulations to the developers and publishers behind this year’s winning games. On a different note, since Valve has now publicly announced this year’s winners, I suspect they’ll soon have their “2020 Year in Review” blog post published soon. I’m quite curious to see what they might have to say on that topic.