Steam users voted and Hollow Knight: Silksong was selected over Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 for top honors in the Steam Awards 2025. Voting for the Steam Awards 2025 began in November as Steam users nominated eligible titles in 11 unique categories. The last round of voting took place during the Steam Winter Sale.
The 2025 Steam Award categories consisted of evergreen categories such as Game of the Year and Best Soundtrack, along with unique categories such as Best Steam Deck Game and Sit Back and Relax Award. Nominations for the Steam Awards 2025 were selected by eligible Steam users during an initial voting window in late November, with the final round running from December 18th to January 3rd. Each of the 11 Steam Awards categories had five nominees, with games like TOP, Sendand ARC Raiders nominated for several awards.
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Steam Awards 2025 Winners Revealed
Game of the year
- Hollow Knight Silksong
- Arc Raider
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
- Send
- Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2
VR game of the year
- Midnight walk
- EA Sports F1 25
- Envoy Zero
- Le Mans Ultimate
- Pavlov
A labor of love
- Baldur's Gate 3
- Dota 2
- Helldivers 2
- No Man's Sky
- Rust
The best game on Steam Deck
- Hades 2
- Ball x Pit
- Clover pit
- Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor
- Digimon Story: Time Stranger
Better with friends
- TOP
- Battlefield 6
- REPO
- Schedule I
- Split Fiction
Excellent visual style
- Silent Hill f
- Doom: The Dark Ages
- Dream BBQ
- Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
- My little puppy
The most innovative gameplay
- ARC Raiders
- Blue Prince
- Escape from Dučkov
- Europa Universalis 5
- Mage Arena
The best game you'll ever play
- Hollow Knight: Silksong
- Elden Ring: Nightreign
- Marvel Rivals
- Path of Exile 2
- Where the winds meet
The best soundtrack
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
- Deltarune
- Marvel's Spider-Man 2
- Rift of the NecroDancer
- Tokyo Xtreme Racer
An excellent game rich in story
- Send
- Dying Light: The Beast
- Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2
- No, I'm not human
- The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered
Sit back and relax
- RV still there?
- Chill With You: A Lo-Fi Story
- Megabonk
- Powerwash 2 simulator
- Slime Rancher 2
On January 3, after two weeks of voting in the final round, the winners of the Steam Award 2025 were officially revealed. Hollow Knight: Silksong won game of the year over the nominees Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Send, ARC Raidersand Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. In addition to taking home the ultimate Steam Award 2025, Hollow Knight: Silksong it also won the Best Game You Suck At Award. While the category name may sound like a pretentious moniker, the Best Game You Suck At award is often given to a game known for being a challenging experience from the get-go. Although not selected for the 2025 Steam Game of the Year Award, it was critically acclaimed Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 didn't walk away from the Steam Awards empty-handed as it was shortlisted for Best Soundtrack.
The Best Game on Steam Deck Award, which is often won by titles that players can enjoy on the go via Steam Deck, went to Hades 2. The latest project from Supergiant Games is also one of the top-rated Steam titles of 2025, with a 95% to 96% mostly positive rating on Valve's platform at the time of writing. Two other independent titles, TOP and RV still there?won the Better With Friends Award and the Sit Back and Relax Award respectively. Both TOP and RV still there? are online multiplayer games that have captivated players throughout the year 2025.
Although it was first launched in 2023, Baldur's Gate 3 remained a popular title in 2025 thanks to various updates and fan support. This hit RPG from Larian Studios won the 2025 Labor of Love Award with games like Helldivers 2 and No Man's Sky also get nominations. in addition ARC Raiders won the award for most innovative gameplay for titles such as Blue Prince and Europa Universalis 5. With a strong player base averaging over 400,000 active players since launch, the Embark Studios shooter has kept players coming back for more in its first two months of online service.
What is next for some of the awardees?
Hollow Knight: Silksong developer Team Cherry announced in December that the game would receive additional content throughout 2026. The Sea of Sorrow expansion for Hollow Knight: Silksong will be available as a free downloadable update sometime in 2026. The upcoming DLC will add new weapons and areas for the Hornet to explore and new enemies to battle. While Sea of Sorrow will have some water-based themes, other details about it remain elusive at the time of writing.
After the release of The Game Awards 2025 Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 developer Sandfall Interactive surprised fans by releasing a “Thank You Update” for free on all platforms. The patch included some new endgame challenges for players to test what their character is building on, with some battles to actually test Expedition 33 reflective abilities. Although it is not clear whether Expedition 33 will get more content, time will tell what Sandfall's plans are throughout 2026 and beyond.
- Released
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September 4, 2025
- ESRB
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Everyone 10+ / Fantasy violence, mild gore
- Developers
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Team Cherry
- Publishers
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Team Cherry
