The votes are in. After a massive round of community input with nearly 44 million votes counted, Valve has announced the winners of the 2025 Steam Awards.
TL;DR
Steam Awards 2025 results — Silksong dominates, indies shine, players speak loud
Nearly 44 million votes decided the 2025 Steam Awards, with Hollow Knight: Silksong taking the top prize and indie-to-mid-size games dominating the results.
The big winner
- Game of the Year: Hollow Knight: Silksong
- Best Game You Suck At: Hollow Knight: Silksong
- Fans rewarded difficulty, style, and long-awaited delivery.
Other major winners
- Best Game on Steam Deck: Hades 2
- Labour of Love: Baldur’s Gate 3
- Outstanding Story-Rich Game: Dispatch
- Most Innovative Gameplay: Arc Raiders
- Outstanding Visual Style: Silent Hill f
- Best Soundtrack: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
- VR Game of the Year: The Midnight Walk
- Sit Back and Relax: RV There Yet?
Players vs. critics
- Critic darlings like Blue Prince and major releases like Battlefield 6 won nothing.
- Community votes favored fun, challenge, and long-term support over hype.
Indie and mid-size studios ruled
- Silksong, Arc Raiders, and RV There Yet? proved smaller studios can lead the year.
- Arc Raiders also ranked among Steam’s top holiday sellers.
- Big budgets were not required to win big categories.
What this signals for 2026
- Players reward risk-taking, strong identity, and post-launch support.
- Difficulty, originality, and polish matter more than brand power.
- Steam’s audience continues to shape the market directly.
Important tips: The 2025 Steam Awards confirm a clear trend — games that respect players, innovate boldly, and deliver lasting value outperform marketing-heavy releases when the community gets the final say.
Leading the pack is Hollow Knight: Silksong, which earned the title of Game of the Year. It is a result that got people talking. Silksong finally released, and not only that, it walked away with the biggest award of the year. After years of speculation and anticipation, it looks like the fans showed up for Team Cherry in a big way.
The Full Breakdown: Silksong’s Two Wins and Who Else Scored
Silksong did not just win Game of the Year. It also won Best Game You Suck At, a category that suits it well. The game looks great and plays hard. It is stylish, tough, and unforgiving, and that is exactly why it resonated. Getting knocked down and still coming back for more seems to be part of the appeal.
| Game | Release | Genre | Developer | Video | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Hollow Knight Silksong | 2025-09-04 | Indie & Adventure | Team Cherry | |
 | The Midnight Walk | 2025-05-08 | VR, Horror, Adventure | MoonHood | |
 | Baldurs Gate 3 | 2020-10-06 | Adventure & Tactical | Larian Studios | |
 | Hades II | 2024-05 | Role-playing (RPG) & Indie | Supergiant Games | |
 | Peak | 2025-06-16 | Friend-Slop, Indie | Aggro Crab Games | |
 | Silent Hill F | 2025-09-25 | Horror | NeoBards Entertainment | |
 | Arc Raiders | 2025-10-30 | Extraction Shooter | Embark Studios | |
 | Clair Obscur Expedition 33 | 2025-04-24 | Role-playing (RPG) | Sandfall Interactive | |
 | Dispatch | 2025 | Adventure | AdHock Studio | |
 | RV There Yet? | 2025-10-21 | Friend-Slop, Indie | Nuggets Entertainment |
Arc Raiders won Most Innovative Gameplay. Its blend of mechanics and unusual structure stood out. Silent Hill f took Outstanding Visual Style, which makes sense for anyone who saw how eerie and detailed the environments were. On the audio side, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 claimed Best Soundtrack. It beat out several strong contenders to get there.
Full List of 2025 Steam Award Winners
- Game of the Year: Hollow Knight: Silksong
- VR Game of the Year: The Midnight Walk
- Labour of Love: Baldur’s Gate 3
- Best Game on Steam Deck: Hades 2
- Better with Friends: Peak
- Outstanding Visual Style: Silent Hill f
- Most Innovative Gameplay: Arc Raiders
- Best Game You Suck At: Hollow Knight: Silksong
- Best Soundtrack: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
- Outstanding Story-Rich Game: Dispatch
- Sit Back and Relax Award: RV There Yet?
Notable Highlights: Hades 2, Dispatch, and Baldur’s Gate 3 Keep Momentum
Hades 2 winning Best Game on Steam Deck makes perfect sense. It is fast, focused, and runs well in handheld form. For anyone looking to clear a few rooms on the commute or sneak in a run at night, it is one of the easiest picks.
Dispatch winning Outstanding Story-Rich Game is a reminder that good narrative still holds weight. People still care about dialogue, pacing, and tone when it is done right.
Baldur’s Gate 3 picked up the Labour of Love Award. That is a strong statement from the community, especially considering how long the game has been out. Players clearly noticed the continued updates and support from Larian Studios, and they rewarded that effort.
Where the Critics and the Players Split
This year had over 43 million votes, and that kind of turnout always highlights the gap between press picks and what players actually want.
Blue Prince was Eurogamer’s Game of the Year. On Steam, it won nothing.
The same happened with Battlefield 6, Elden Ring: Nightreign, Where Winds Meet, and Split Fiction. All of them made headlines, but none of them won. It shows that a big name, strong marketing, or high review scores do not always move the needle for the people actually playing the games.
Indie and Mid-Size Games Took Over in 2025
Smaller studios had a massive showing. The success of titles like RV There Yet? and The Midnight Walk proves that indie games are not just filler between triple-A releases. They are often the main event. Hollow Knight: Silksong and Arc Raiders both come from studios that are not considered big-budget powerhouses, and both games won major categories.
Arc Raiders did not just impress with gameplay. It was one of Steam’s best-selling games during the holiday period, ranked high in revenue from December 23 to December 30, right next to Battlefield 6 and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and this is a big deal.
What This Means for 2026
Heading into 2026, the takeaway is clear. Players are putting their time and money into games that take risks, respect their audience, and keep delivering after launch. Whether you like punishing platformers or low-pressure road trip games, the Steam Awards list from 2025 had something worth checking out.