2025’s Steam Awards Winners Have Been Revealed, And Clair Didn’t End Up Sweeping
Quinton is a Staff Writer from the United States. In his youth, Quinton was ridiculed for making video game ranking lists instead of paying attention in math class. In adulthood, people sometimes pay him for it. Life’s a trip.
Taking his first steps into the industry in 2020, Quinton has written for several digital publications, but his permanent literary home is right here at TheGamer.
Before striking up a conversation with Quinton, consider the risks: he’ll find a way to transform almost any topic into an analysis of either world history, Star Trek, or – at least this one’s relevant to his career – all his favorite role-playing games.
Congratulations, Hollow Knight: Silksong! You snagged the big thing. And now you’re on sale! Because your big thing was Game of the Year at the Steam Awards 2025, and Steam is a business, and Valve wants money.
Largely unfounded cynicism aside, the Steam Awards are a big part of gaming culture, and they’re absolutely worth celebrating. They’ve historically gone in nicely diverse directions, and while there are only a handful of actual awards, the company makes sure that each award counts. Even if one is very, very, cheeky.
Victory Song
The lede here is probably the fact that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 didn’t win GOTY. It happens! It’s great that other games are getting it. As you’re presumably aware, Sandfall Interactive’s narrative JRPG-style epic has swept and swept and swept. It won countless awards across various ceremonies, and handily secured the highest number of nominations in TGA history. It also won Game of the Year at that most prestigious venue, because, well, of course it did.
I love Expy 33 with all most of my heart (listen, parrying mechanics just aren’t my thing) but it’s sterling to see some of 2025’s other hits win their spots at the wheel. To be clear, it’s already cleaned up rather nicely, all things considered. Six TGA nominations, including a lone win for Best Action/Adventure Game. A trio of nominations at The Golden Joystick Awards, and a nab for the fourth-place finish on GOTY runners-up. I’m of the steadfast belief that just getting noms is enough to cheer from rooftops; think how many games come out every year these days!
But when we look at the competition at The Steam Awards, and we factor in that there are just 11 categories, seeing the perilously long-awaited Silksong snatch not one, but two, of those awards? Snazzy. Game of the Year’s of course the big grab, but Team Cherry also got the, uh, interestingly-titled… “Best Game You Suck At.” Bit rude! But I guess it gets the point across! This is a hard video game, and I reserve the right to be skeptical at anybody who claims otherwise.
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What did Clair Obscur get? Surely, it was at least on the chart? Indeed! Best Soundtrack! And who could argue it’s not at least in the running? Lush, positively lush. The music sticks with me all these months later, and it’ll be on my playlists for years to come.
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