This is an interesting year for the Steam Awards.
First, it feels like many important games haven’t been released this year compared to other years. I’m assuming something called a pandemic might have something to do with that.
For another, some of these important games come out on different platforms and therefore Steam awards. Final Fantasy 7 Remake immediately came to mind, as well as the newer and possibly relatively popular Assassin’s Creed Valhalla as another example.
Then Animal Crossing: New Horizons took over people’s lives in the first half of the year and is completely absent on Steam.
In addition to this, the ridiculously popular Stranger Between Us, who definitely became a zeitgeist in 2020 (which I felt like the only lone monk who disagreed) is not quite appropriate either. Apparently, it was released in 2018 and this year it was only reinvented and revived by publishers.
So we’re getting a smaller-than-usual list that goes further down by the necessity of having a Steam release date in 2020.
And oh, did I mention that I am just a patient gamer who buys something at the big discount and therefore plays the total zero big popular game released in 2020?
Steam recommended the appropriate “games you played in 2020” like Fae Tactics and Metal Unit – it came in a Humble Bundle or otherwise and tasted tested for about an hour. There’s nothing against both games (although Metal Unit is still in early access), but they don’t even make a void on the radar of the awards that aim to reinforce the idea of extremely small offspring and the collective public.
Yes, it’s definitely a very special and interesting year for Steam Award nominations.
To add salt to the wound, Warframe is no longer worthy of the Labor of Love award, sweeping this category for good, knows how many years it has been running. So I went to the other obvious hold.
Presumably, Terraria could be another popular contender for this category, it had a major recent update and it even allowed me to speed up the game for a while. But then, “This game is still getting new content after all these years” and – last – the last update of the journey isn’t exactly mixed up, right?
Then we have the standard dilemma of overlapping games that can easily qualify for multiple prizes and somehow try to segment them.
This year, the popular multiplayer game fashion that comes to mind as things that publishers have skipped: Fall Guys, Among Us (mentioned above), and Phasmophobia. Almost all multiplayer games are “Better With Friends” by definition.
(I mean, is there anything better with enemies or people you don’t really like? Sea of Thieves? Eve Online? A MOBA? Neptune’s Pride / Solium Infernum? But but … I know the joy comes without stabbing you in the back. , right? Not a stranger. But I deviate from the point ..)
After a brief period of self-discussion, I passed this on to the lighter-hearted Fall Guys for the many friends he allowed in a game.
I felt fasmophobia also deserved an emphasis on overcoming the innovation frontier in successfully bringing and using voice chat / voice recognition as an essential part of the game. (Other games have tried before this, but have not been as popular.)
Another super obvious game that had to fall into some sort of category was Hades.
The game seemed to have captured the consciousness of almost every player in existence. There are only 1.1% negative comments on Steam. If this isn’t close to being universally appealing, I don’t know what happened.
To keep being a patient player for this game, difficult. (Maybe the winter / Christmas sale can reach 33%. Let’s see if I can wait until the 50% discount.)
Game of the Year contestant? Exactly. Movie soundtrack? Probably. Suck You Game? Most probably. This is a roguelike, after all, included in the design.
But ultimately I gave this category:
It stands out undeniably with its looks. Most Super Giant games are. They are visually different and dripping, no, they gush out with style and flair.
The other visual style contender was Ori and the Will of the Wisps. The game of light and color in that game’s screenshots is immersive.
But then there was a single soundtrack that I would definitely be willing to sit down for 3 hours and put it back in loop while juggling the soundtrack of Hades, Ori and Doom Eternal on Youtube.
I saw Factorio on the list, which was released in 2020 – implicitly – as I moved to the “I’m divorcing, let’s abuse Steam release dates because they’re already so unfair” zone.
It was easy. Have you seen my spaghetti sole in 2019? (And I’m pretty late for the Factorio party.) One day, when I have enough courage, I’ll try again.
The Story Rich Game was difficult. So hard. The Final Fantasy 7 remake was the obvious contender, but you know, console exclusive. Ever so polarizing Last of Us 2? Yeah, you know what happened.
(Ghost of Tsushima won’t exactly be my first choice for the story game on its own, but hey, this is a popular game released in 2020 – controversial for the same reason.)
I briefly looked at Vampire: The Masquerade – Coteries of New York (I did a taste test as part of the Humble Bundle and I found the place decent but not jarring). Then I read Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Heart of the Forest’s Steam page, which seemed like a more positive review, but it didn’t hit me as something I could vote for for the invisible sight.
In the end, I decided to abuse Steam release dates a little bit more and go for something I played on the PS4 that I knew had a solid emotional story.
Think about it, if we’re abusing Steam release dates for PS4 games, while writing this blog, another obvious contender for the story-rich game came to my mind. Detroit: Be Human. But come on, it was released on PS4, then on Epic last year and finally on Steam. At this point it is difficult to accept it as ‘new’. (At least HZD was released simultaneously on both Epic and Steam, which makes it somewhat suspiciously ‘new’ to the PC.)
I saved the Sit Back and Relax Award for an indie that I have been waiting patiently and craving. I love coffee and cafe culture. It appears on my street. I need some more #patientgamer – can be packaged at some point!
VR Game? You must be kidding. I’m still waiting to build a PC with Windows 10. Covid key to 2020 plans or something. Who has spare cash for a VR goggle? Who can watch VR games without having a VR headset?
What are you saying? I have to vote for all categories to complete this pointless little task checkbox to get a pointless (but shiny) award / badge / xp?
* goes to Steam’s VR section in hopes of finding something uncovered *
Don’t worry Valve. I understand shilling for your platform.
(It looks pretty good. I don’t know.)
And, of course, lastly, in another review of abusing Steam release dates for PS4 games, it was preoccupied with competing with Hades for Game of the Year and was also considered for the Innovative Game, and perhaps, but not exactly, the Game Rich.
Let’s face it. As I understand Hades is an actor game. In terms of execution, it looks technically perfect in terms of fast strike action, challenge, repetition, visually superiority and connecting game mechanics to its story and design. It excels in application.
But on theaters? Is it in innovation and crossing borders? Being this kind of classic out there that polarizes and confuses some people for being a little too forward-thinking?
Let’s put it like this. I am ready to set up a computer that will run Windows 10 in order to play Death Stranding. I don’t think I will make the same effort for Hades. I would get it when I got to it.
My threshold price for Hades is probably 33-50% off. If I had a computer that can play Death Stranding, I would buy it right away at the launch price.
Then there’s a complete eerie sync between Death Stranding’s themes – isolation and connectivity, working class and deliverables, life and death, and the real world of 2020’s all apocalyptic.
Looking at it this way, how could it not be Game of the Game. Year?
