Steam Awards 2020 nominees revealed

Even though the high profile Game Awards show has already concluded, there are still more accolades left to give out for the year. As such, Steam has revealed the nominees for six categories in their own awards event for 2020.

The Steam Awards are a crowdsourced awards event where Steam users vote on their favorite games for each category. At the moment, Steam has only revealed the nominees for six categories, with more to come on the 22nd.

A nomination from #SteamAwards for Outstanding Visual Style?! We are about to faint. 🚨https://t.co/fLpC1V43DVVoting begins Dec. 22nd. Stay tuned. pic.twitter.com/WABUHVjr0t

— Ori the Game (@OriTheGame) December 18, 2020

Steam Awards Categories

The Steam Awards might be a crowdsourced awards event, but Steam does at least get to choose the eligible categories. The categories Steam has revealed so far are Most Innovative Gameplay, Outstanding Story-Rich Game, Best Game You Suck At, Outstanding Visual Style, Best Soundtrack Award, and the Sit Back and Relax Award.

For some of these categories, Steam does at the very least limit eligible nominees to games released within the appropriate time frame. Beyond that though, the users are responsible for nominating and voting for the games.

Obviously, this does mean that the awards will skew towards more popular games and more Steam users will have had the chance to play them. If a game seems suspiciously absent, it’s likely because Steam users simply didn’t have enough exposure to that specific game.

Most Innovative Gameplay

• Death Stranding
• Control
• Superliminal
• Noita
• Teardown

Outstanding Story-Rich Game

• Red Dead Redemption II
• Detroit: Become Human
• Mafia: Definitive Edition
• Metro: Exodus
• Horizon: Zero Dawn

Best Game You Suck At

• Apex Legends
• Crusader Kings III
• Ghostrunner
• FIFA 21
• GTFO

Outstanding Visual Style

• Ori and the Will of the Wisps
• Battlefield V
• There Is No Game
• Marvel’s Avengers
• Black Mesa

Best Soundtrack

• Doom Eternal
• Halo: The Master Chief Collection
• Helltaker
• Need For Speed: Heat
• Persona 4: The Golden

Sit Back and Relax

• The Sims 4
• Microsoft Flight Simulator
• Satisfactory
• Untitled Goose Game
• Factorio

The Steam Awards 2020 voting and voter rewards

Me at the moment:#DOOMEternal #Helltaker #SteamAwards pic.twitter.com/XFidCiDO55

— RpgRobot (@Rpgrobot) December 18, 2020

Whenever Steam runs one of these organized events, users can expect it to tie it into the plans for store engagement somehow. Voting will last from December 22nd to January 3rd of the new year. Steam users who participate in the voting will get Steam Award Trading Cards which can be used to make badges or be traded on the Marketplace.

Whether users just want to earn points to customize their profiles or just want to see their favorite games win, it will be worthwhile to see which games take home the trophy for each category.