What just happened? The winners of Valve’s annual Steam Awards have been announced, revealing which titles platform users loved most in 2023. The most unsurprising result was the Game of the Year award going to Baldur’s Gate 3. What was unexpected, however, was Starfield winning the Most Innovative Gameplay award, and Red Dead Redemption, a game not updated in years, winning the Labor of Love award, which is given to older games that continue to be supported post-release.
Baldur’s Gate 3 always looked certain to beat finalists such as Resident Evil 4 and Hogwarts Legacy to win yet another GOTY award on Steam. Larian’s epic RPG dominated at The Game Awards and Golden Joysticks, and would have likely done the same here were it not for Valve limiting the number of categories in which a game can be nominated to two – BG3 also was crowned Outstanding Story-Rich Game.
Also read: 20 Years of Steam: From Half-Life 2 to the Steam Deck
Games up for Steam Awards are nominated by users, who also vote for the final winner. While Baldur’s Gate 3 was an obvious choice, some winners have a whiff of trolling about them. Starfield, for example, a game that entered 2024 with its Recent Reviews rating at Mostly Negative, won the Most Innovative Gameplay Award, beating the likes of Remnant 2 and the very innovative Shadows of Doubt.
But the most unusual winner was in the Labor of Love category. This is awarded to games that are still nurtured and supported by their devs with new content years after release. Beating DOTA 2, Deep Rock Galactic, Rust, and Apex Legends, was Red Dead Redemption 2. A great game, but the final major update for Red Dead Online landed in July 2021 as Rockstar started focusing on GTA VI.
Elsewhere, the year’s best-selling game, Hogwarts Legacy, won the Best Game on Steam Deck Award. Lethal Company was crowned Better With Friends winner. And Atomic Heart won Outstanding Visual Style. SIFU was the Best Game You Suck At, and The Last of Us Part 1 took Best Soundtrack. Elsewhere, Dave the Diver fans celebrated the game winning the Sit Back and Relax award.
