It might need misplaced out at Geoff Keighley’s Recreation Awards, however Hole Knight Silksong has claimed the highest spot on PC, taking house the Recreation of the Yr prize within the 2025 Steam Awards. The annual contest is voted for by customers, making it a great pattern of what was loved by the most individuals. Sure, it is a bit of a recognition contest at occasions, however with the Valve storefront nonetheless overwhelmingly the go-to place for PC gaming, it is helpful to take a measure of the viewers. Whereas it could not add to its spectacular GOTY win rely right here, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 nonetheless managed to sneak in a well-deserved prize for finest soundtrack, so let’s check out what gained elsewhere.
As talked about, the highest prize went to Hole Knight Silksong, which managed to beat out Expedition 33, Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, Arc Raiders, and Dispatch within the remaining vote. It was my private choose as effectively, so I am very pleased; our personal staff-voted gong right here at PCGamesN went to Clair Obscur (a recreation I actually have loads of love for), however you may learn my entry for Silksong if you wish to see why it ended up primary in my coronary heart. Workforce Cherry additionally picked up the ‘Greatest Recreation You Suck At’ award, making the Metroidvania the one recreation to snag two wins.
Maybe it should not be too shocking – whereas Valve did not give us a direct top-to-bottom listing of highest earners in its end-of-year gross sales report, Silksong managed to make it into the ‘platinum’ tier of the highest 12 sellers, alongside Arc Raiders and KCD2. Expedition 33 and Dispatch each fell into the ‘gold’ slot, placing them a bit of additional down among the many second group of 12. Given Silksong’s low value level of simply $20 (with it at present solely $16 within the Steam Winter Sale), that implies it bought an terrible lot of copies on PC.
Elsewhere, Baldur’s Gate 3 picked up the ‘Labor of Love’ award for long-term help, beating out some sturdy heavy hitters in No Man’s Sky, Rust, Helldivers 2, and Dota 2. NMS particularly has had one among its most spectacular years but, with the introduction of co-op ships utterly reworking the sport. Nonetheless, with Larian rounding out its main updates in 2025 and shifting over to work on a brand new Divinity recreation, it is more likely to be the final 12 months that BG3 would have had the prospect to select this one up. “This feels actually good,” CEO Swen Vincke wrote on social media, “Thanks!”
Hades 2 walked out because the ‘Greatest Recreation on Steam Deck,’ Dispatch swooped in as a late contender to seize ‘Excellent Story-Wealthy Recreation’ (I am pouring one out for KCD2 right here, but it surely was a tricky struggle), and Expedition 33 earned itself the ‘Greatest Soundtrack’ award. In a 12 months completely stacked with the lovingly dubbed ‘friendslop,’ Peak was a worthy winner for ‘Higher With Pals’ – it is actually the one I see myself coming again to most frequently in 2026.
Silent Hill f managed to assert a victory for ‘Excellent Visible Type,’ which I might agree with – it is one of many solely video games I’ve ever needed to look away from as a result of I felt bodily unwell, and whereas that is an odd praise handy out, it is undoubtedly what developer NeoBards was going for. Fellow atmospheric horror story The Midnight Stroll grabbed the prize for ‘VR Recreation of the Yr,’ whereas cozy co-op driving recreation RV There But gained the ‘Sit Again and Calm down’ award.
Maybe probably the most shocking winner within the awards was Arc Raiders, which took house ‘Most Revolutionary Gameplay.’ There is definitely a great argument for the way Embark Studios managed to broaden the enchantment of the extraction shooter to a a lot wider viewers, but it surely additionally most likely had the advantage of that large participant rely to come back out forward of Mage Area, a recreation the place you forged spells together with your voice, and the much-lauded Blue Prince (our personal end-of-year quantity two). That mentioned, maybe it was simply the one place folks had been capable of give Arc Raiders its flowers.
All in all, it is one other affirmation that 2025 was a 12 months the place smaller studios and distinctive, extra formidable creations gained out over the normal triple-A heavy hitters. Sure, Rockstar is working out of video games to enter given what number of wins it is claimed beforehand, no less than till GTA 6 lastly arrives. Nevertheless it’s nice to see these distinctive names finish the 12 months on high, and acts as one other reminder that PC is a superb place for even the smallest groups to thrive if they’ve a robust sufficient concept. Here is hoping for extra of that in 2026 – I am very a lot of the assumption that lots of my high ten in twelve months will likely be video games none of us learn about as we speak.
