Here's the winners of the 2022 Steam Awards

Cyberpunk 2077 should get the award for most developer abuse and bugs both at launch and post-one million patches. A crime and a complete joke that it beat Deep Rock Galactic for Labor Of Love.

Also Scorn was robbed of Outstanding Visual Style. Spider-Man MM looks good but it's just a game. Scorn is a masterclass in visual design. Guess it was just too disgusting, which in itself is another testament to its graphical prowess.

Ah, once again showing why these lists are sometimes really weird depending on what the candidates and categories are.
Still WAY better than the ones hosted by a tightly knit clique of friends with aligning interests a select number of professional journalists weighing all options and striving for objectivity and not just their fancy.

Public votes such as these at least give you a better overall picture of what people liked (and how much) - but you sometimes completely lose any meaning of the categories. And then it all just comes down to a competition in popularity.

I'm honestly surprised by how many winners actually fit the category, but a few are head scratchers:
CP 2077 for "labor of love" - uh... fixing your released mess to be on the status it should have been from the get-go is a "labor of love" now? That says more about gamers' acceptance of terrible standards than it does about CD Project, really...
Especially compared to pearls like Deep Rock Galactic, which has been uniquely awesome and indeed full of love since its first day of early access.

Spider-Man for outstanding visual style is weird, too. Sure, it looks great, but its STYLE is just the standard "make it look realistic".

Stray for "Most Innovative Gameplay" is just outright insulting.
Don't get me wrong, it's a very cute game with great atmosphere and an interesting world, but the category is "Innovative Gameplay". And Stray is a walking sim with very mild platforming - with the only thing special about its gameplay being the controlled character being a cat.
Yeah, yeah, the internet loves cats. I am aware - but what a punch to the face of the titles that would have been way more deserving of that particular award.
Most likely this one just came down to "what game is known by more people".

Of course, some of the contenders are head scratchers as well - Mount & Blade II, for example. I love it, great game!
But it's pretty much a carbon copy of M&B I with updated graphics, interface, very few mechanics, etc.
I have a feeling people didn't quite know what to vote into the candidates for that category. It's rather difficult to tell what is innovative if you do not have a very broad knowledge of games.


Last edited by TheSHEEEP on 4 January 2023 at 1:31 pm UTC

I'm just happy that CP2077 finally get some recognision for being the really good game that I think it is, and has been for a long time.

Yes, the consoles were given a version of the game that's been in a sea of problems. That was bad.
But the PC version has been totally playable ever since just a few patches after launch, and only improved from there. Not only bug fixes but tweaks and improvements and additional content aplenty.

And that CDPR kept cool and kept going after THAT shitstorm, well I don't see all devs able to do that.

Now we only awaits the CP2077 DLC this year - that's gonna be xmas all over again :)


Last edited by Beamboom on 5 January 2023 at 9:40 am UTC

Cyberpunk 2077 should get the award for most developer abuse and bugs both at launch and post-one million patches.

When did you last play the game, and on what platform?


Last edited by Beamboom on 4 January 2023 at 3:16 pm UTC

Public votes such as these at least give you a better overall picture of what people liked (and how much) - but you sometimes completely lose any meaning of the categories. And then it all just comes down to a competition in popularity.

Yep. I completely agree with you about Stray. When I saw Stray won most innovative, I thought: "So being a cat in an otherwise straightforward walking sim is innovative now?" And seriously, Stray getting voted more innovative than Neon White or Teardown is just... insulting. Mind you, I really enjoyed Stray and would recommend it to anyone who's interested in it (and knows it's a walking sim that can easily be beaten in 6 hours or less) but it was by far the least innovative of the choices, and I was surprised to see it even get nominated.

Has Cyberpunk had any major content updates since release? From what I've gathered, the updates are mostly bugfixes. No Man's Sky had a massive content update + graphical improvements in 2022, and it's been out for 6 years.

It really does seem like most voters ignored the categories, or have very... interesting ideas about what they meant.

The rest, at least, were (mostly) sensible. I don't think anyone is surprised Elden Ring won the two categories it did, and for me best OST was a tossup between FFVII Remake Intergrade and Persona 5 Royal, since Tunic sadly didn't get nominated. Death Stranding: Director's Cut winning "best on the go" is a bit of a headscratcher, because while it is an amazing game and one of my all-time favorites, it's a game that heavily utilizes online content and has enough visual detail to make playing it on a Steam Deck feel a little awkward to me. (Tunic, on the other hand, was practically made to be played on the Steam Deck.)

It's honestly been kinda sad seeing Tunic get the shaft in game awards in general this year, especially because it's *usually* been losing out to Stray. Stray is quickly becoming one of those things I actually like but am outwardly hostile towards because of how much it overshadows better things. It is cute, and it is fun, but it sure as hell isn't the Best Indie Game or the Most Innovative Game of 2022 by a long shot.

Actually, you heard it here, folks: Stray officially wins my "Most Overrated Game of 2022" award. Congratulations, Stray!


Last edited by FifteenthPen on 4 January 2023 at 2:56 pm UTC

It really does seem like most voters ignored the categories, or have very... interesting ideas about what they meant.

To be fair, within each category, Steam already had selected a few to vote for. In most cases, I'm pretty sure a lot of people voted for the few titles they knew, or had seen in other platforms, without knowing all the options.


Last edited by Arehandoro on 4 January 2023 at 3:20 pm UTC

I have said this before, and I'll say it again: Forged Alliance might be an amazing game, but its development ended.
The development on BAR, on the other hand, keeps going, and going ... like 0AD, maybe it doesn't sound so laughable anymore? You guys watch.

I wouldn't call Stray a walking simulator (unless you want to call any non-sandbox game a walking simulator), it has stealth elements and nonlinear exploring & fetch quests, but it is not an innovative game.


Last edited by buckysrevenge on 4 January 2023 at 3:51 pm UTC

I'm just happy that CP2077 finally get some recognision for being the really good game that it is, and has been for a long time.

Yes, the consoles were given a version of the game that's been in a sea of problems. That was bad.
But the PC version has been totally playable ever since just a few patches after launch, and only improved from there. Not only bug fixes but tweaks and improvements and additional content aplenty.

And that CDPR kept cool and kept going after THAT shitstorm, well I don't see all devs able to do that.

Now we only awaits the CP2077 DLC this year - that's gonna be xmas all over again :)

It's a bad game, and the 1.6 patch is still buggy.

outstanding visual style was cult of the lamb for me... it was so interesting to see how the world looked with it's own unique art style.

The innovative part of Stray was "you're playing as a cat instead of a human", and its general setting. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed Stray, thought the setting was an interesting idea, and hope we get a sequel (and voted for it because it was the only game in that category I'd played). But I'm of two minds about this award, because, yeah, its gameplay wasn't anything that hasn't been seen in third-person platformers before, but hopefully it winning might make game developers realize that, actually, people are capable of empathizing with a non-human protagonist, and you can make games without a human protagonist and they'll still sell well. I'm already a human 24/7, give me more games (of Stray's quality or better) where I get to play cool animals, or robots, or aliens, or something else that's different.

Can't argue with Elden Ring winning. I expected I'd like the idea, die a bunch of times in the first 4 hours, and give up, just like Demon's Souls (although I put 12 hours into that). 150 hours later, Elden Ring is easily my GOTY, and one of my favourites of all time, I'm sure.

No Man's Sky and Vampire Survivors (edit: and Scorn) got robbed, though.


Last edited by adolson on 4 January 2023 at 9:14 pm UTC

Stray is the feline version of Ecco The Dolphin.......

It really does seem like most voters ignored the categories, or have very... interesting ideas about what they meant.

To be fair, within each category, Steam already had selected a few to vote for. In most cases, I'm pretty sure a lot of people voted for the few titles they knew, or had seen in other platforms, without knowing all the options.

For the initial voting, for the most categories requirement was just that game had been released in 2022. So unless Valve cheated, all nominees were chosen by Steam users.

For the final round to be completely fair though, people should actually play the nominees. Even with sales prices, buying the all games gets quite costly, especially as there are so many AAA games. Alternative would be to watch some lets plays, though that's not exactly same as actually playing the game.

So in the end, this is more of an way to increase sales (though as side effect few games might get extra attention that they would otherwise get). It seems to work as few winter sales in a row have been these awards events.

As for Stray, I agree that its strength is not innovative gameplay, so I voted for Dome Keeper. Though Neon White might have deserved the vote even more as it's quite unique genre mashup, but I opted voting for Linux native title.

Well, none of the winners are the sorts of games that I would ever enjoy playing, but good on them for the wins.

I do feel that it's a shame that Vampire Survivors didn't win Best Game On The Go, though!

but hopefully it winning might make game developers realize that, actually, people are capable of empathizing with a non-human protagonist, and you can make games without a human protagonist and they'll still sell well. I'm already a human 24/7, give me more games (of Stray's quality or better) where I get to play cool animals, or robots, or aliens, or something else that's different.

This was the norm in gaming back when I was growing up - pity that we don't see more of it now!

I recently saw a description for this - "video games as video games", describing the medium when it's used for fantastical things, rather than for emulating things that exist in real-life in some form. Space Invaders is considered to be the first game of that kind.

Stray is the feline version of Ecco The Dolphin.......

Ecco was one of my childhood games, but unfortunately I never found it to be very much fun - I ended up concluding that people were bigging it up because they felt that someone making a game with a dolphin in it was automatically artistic and that this would somehow legitimise the medium, as if they somehow felt self-conscious about it.

Still, on the bright side, at least developers are now making "more Eccos" - there was a time about 20 or so years ago where everything had to get turned into a Vexx, a Haven: Call of the King, or a Bomberman: Act Zero, and it felt like nothing optimistic, bright, or different was allowed at all.

It's a bad game, and the 1.6 patch is still buggy.

If you honestly think it's a bad game (and you've actually played it) then you'd think so regardless of the very very minor bugs that may still be present since logically you can't possibly like the content itself - of whom you of course are in every right to not do, just like I never really got into Skyrim.

But don't present that opinion like it's a fact.

As for me I have ~400 hours in that game, multiple playthroughs - and I usually never play a game more than once. It's the best game I've played since... Since the Bioware heydays. I still love exploring the map, it's the first game where I *never* use fast travel. I much rather just take the bike to the destination and enjoy the travel.


Last edited by Beamboom on 5 January 2023 at 1:13 pm UTC

I think way more confusing than "Death Stranding Director's Cut" ist "Hitman 3" as the VR Game of the Year. It's a really horrible VR port that shouldn't exist in it's current form. Although I think both got voted for by people who don't have VR or a Steam Deck and people picked the IP they liked the best or in case of VR known at all.

I recently saw a description for this - "video games as video games", describing the medium when it's used for fantastical things, rather than for emulating things that exist in real-life in some form. Space Invaders is considered to be the first game of that kind.

That's an interesting way of thinking about/classifying games–thanks!

That's an interesting way of thinking about/classifying games–thanks!

Hey, glad to spread it! Pity I can't find the original place I saw/heard it, now, though, else I'd share that too.

It's a bad game, and the 1.6 patch is still buggy.

If you honestly think it's a bad game (and you've actually played it) then you'd think so regardless of the very very minor bugs that may still be present since logically you can't possibly like the content itself - of whom you of course are in every right to not do, just like I never really got into Skyrim.

But don't present that opinion like it's a fact.

As for me I have ~400 hours in that game, multiple playthroughs - and I usually never play a game more than once. It's the best game I've played since... Since the Bioware heydays. I still love exploring the map, it's the first game where I *never* use fast travel. I much rather just take the bike to the destination and enjoy the travel.

Really it's not the bugs making it a bad game.
Well, the driving is totally broken (yes, like Saints Row 2 broken or even more), the gameplay is uninteresting, and what makes it even worse is all the good content - i only played it a second time since the artists and writers still clearly did the excellent job they did on the witchers - is buried under stale uninteresting gameplay. The difficulty is also broken, although to be fair that may just be a "modern game" thing, where the enemies can barely hurt you on very hard. I think the way they did the character building could be fun if your choices mattered at all. But they don't, except for maybe the brawling sidequest which is difficult to impossible to finish without investing to the corresponding abilities/attributes. I loved the main story, and most of the "bigger" side stories, but i think they hurt their game a lot by focusing on graphics - made it inaccessible for many people and they could've spent their money on more missions or creative content instead, which would've made the game a fair bit better. I had another rant about it recently, and maybe they can still fix it with the Phantom Liberty expansion/dlc, but i don't have high hopes. I'd love if enemies merging with cargo crates and the occasional rendering bug would be this games biggest problems. But it's not, it's almost everything else. Which is a shame, since the artwork and the writing is good, but the game is not.