Key Highlights:
- Hollow Knight: Silksong won Steam Game of the Year 2025, beating Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.
- Silksong also took Best Game You Suck At, while Expedition 33 won Best Soundtrack.
- Indies and long-supported live games dominated across categories.
The winners of the 2025 Steam Awards have now been officially revealed, following weeks of voting by Steam users during the Winter Sale. As always, the results reflect player sentiment rather than critic panels, and this year’s outcome leaned heavily toward challenging indies, long-supported favourites, and games that built strong communities over time.
The biggest headline is that Hollow Knight: Silksong was voted Steam’s Game of the Year for 2025, beating out nominees including Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, ARC Raiders, Dispatch, and Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. It also picked up the Best Game You Suck At award, a category that usually celebrates games defined by difficulty and persistence. From my perspective, that double win says a lot about what Steam players value. Depth, challenge, and mastery still matter more than spectacle alone.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 did not walk away empty-handed. While it missed out on the top prize, it won Best Soundtrack, which feels fitting given how often its music was singled out throughout the year.
I have seen plenty of discussion around Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 where the score is mentioned before mechanics, which is not something you can say about many modern RPGs. All results were posted on the official Steam site and can be viewed below.
Full list of 2025 Steam Awards Winners
- Game of the Year
- Hollow Knight: Silksong
- VR Game of the Year
- The Midnight Walk
- Labor of Love
- Baldur’s Gate 3
- Best Game on Steam Deck
- Hades II
- 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
- RV There Yet?
A few patterns stand out. Baldur’s Gate 3 winning Labor of Love despite launching back in 2023 underlines how much ongoing support still resonates with players. Larian’s updates and community engagement kept the game relevant well into 2025, and Steam users clearly noticed.
Hades II taking Best Game on Steam Deck also feels inevitable. Supergiant’s design has always suited portable play, and the sequel doubled down on that strength. Meanwhile, ARC Raiders winning Most Innovative Gameplay reflects how strongly its systems-driven approach has landed with players, especially given how crowded the shooter space has become.
Meanwhile, several winners are not done yet. Team Cherry has already confirmed that Hollow Knight: Silksong will receive additional content throughout 2026, including the Sea of Sorrow expansion. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 recently received a free update with new endgame challenges, and it would not be surprising to see Sandfall Interactive continue supporting it given the response.
Overall, the 2025 Steam Awards paint a clear picture. Steam players continue to reward games that respect their time, challenge their skills, and grow over time. Even without the Game of the Year trophy, Expedition 33’s presence across nominations and its soundtrack win show it still made a lasting impression. On Steam, longevity and passion often matter just as much as launch hype.