Decided on by the Steam community, the winners for the 2020 Steam Awards have been announced. See what snagged the Game of the Year award as well as more creative categories, including Best Game You Suck At and Most Innovative Gameplay.
Game of the Year
Red Dead Redemption 2 has been very positively received since its release, boasting over 175 Game of the Year Awards and receiving over 250 perfect scores on Steam. Play as the outlaw Arthur Morgan and choose how rotten you want to be with the game’s morality system. Enjoy adventures with your friends as well in Red Dead Redemption Online, which is included with the game. This open-world Rockstar title beat out Hades, Doom Eternal, Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout, and Death Stranding.
VR Game of the Year
Half-Life: Alyx, which also won for VR/AR game at the Game Awards 2020, takes place between Half-Life and Half-Life 2. The player control Gordon Freeman’s companion in those games, Alyx Vance, in the fight against the aliens known as Combine. With overwhelmingly positive reviews, this Valve game beat out Phasmophobia, The Room VR: A Dark Matter, Thief Simulator VR, and Star Wars: Squadrons.
Labor of Love
This category covers games that the devs are still paying attention to years after its initial release. The winner for 2020 is Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, a team-based game developed by Valve and Hidden Path Entertainment. The original Counter-Strike game from 1999 was the most played online PC at the time of its release. This updated experience from 2012 continues to get updates to this day. The game beat out Among Us, Terraria, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, and No Man’s Sky.
Better with Friends
It’s fun to fight with friends in this category. The winner this year was the Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout. The game allows up to 60 players to duke it out each round in pursuit of a coveted crown. The third season of the game is currently live. The Mediatonic and Devolver Digital game, which surprisingly did not have to contend with Among Us, beat out Sea of Thieves, Borderland 3, Deep Rock Galactic, and Risk of Rain 2.
Most Innovative Gameplay
Death Stranding was awarded for its experimental nature, delivering a new gaming experience. This dystopian world created by the legendary Hideo Kojima follows the journey of Sam Bridges as he tries to reconnect the world. The game features the acting talents of Norman Reedus, Mads Mikkelsen, Léa Seydoux, Lindsay Wagner, and Guillermo del Toro, to name just a few of the familiar faces within the game. This walking simulator won over Control Ultimate Edition, Superliminal, Noita, and Teardown.
Outstanding Story-Rich Game
Red Dead Redemption 2 grabs its second Steam award, this time for Outstanding Story-Rich game. The game beat out Detroit: Become Human, Mafia: Definitive Edition, Metro Exodus, Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition.
Best Game You Suck At
This award is for a game that hardcore games still enjoy despite screaming at it regularly (aka Soulsborne games for me). The winner is Respawn Entertainment’s free-to-play battle royale game, Apex Legends, published by Electronic Arts. The game launched on Steam in November 2020 and received very positive reviews.
Oustanding Visual Style
Ori and the Will of the Wisps, which I also listed as one of the five most anticipated launch day titles for Xbox Series X/S, won for Outstanding Visual Style. The game features beautiful hand-painted artwork developed by Moon Studios and published by Xbox Game Studios. It is the second game in the Ori series. This platform-adventure game won over Battlefield V, There Is No Game: Jam Edition 2015, Marvel’s Avengers, Black Mesa.
Best Soundtrack
Jam out to some heavy metal tunes while slicing and dicing demons in Doom Eternal, the winner of the Best Soundtrack award. The game has very positive reviews overall, and Steam users often tag it with “Great Soundtrack” as one of its perks. It was developed by id Software and published by Bethesda. The game won over Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Helltaker, Need for Speed Heat, and Persona 4 Golden.
Sit Back and Relax
For a relaxing game that you won’t be screaming at, The Sims 4 takes the winning spot for Sit Back and Relax. Create your own Sims, their homes, and control their life or let them run wild. Developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts, this life simulator with very positive reviews beat out Microsoft Flight Simulator, Satisfactory, Untitled Goose Game, and Factorio.
Which games do you think should have won the 2020 Steam Awards? Let us know in the comments below. It is nice to see a list not dominated by The Last of Us Part II. How do you think this compares to the Game Awards 2020 winners? Also, be sure to check out the first annual Video Game Accessibility Awards.
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