Sure, we have a Game of the Year pick. (It’s Deathloop.) The Game Awards has a pick. (It’s It Takes Two.) I have a pick. (They wouldn’t let me put Metroid Dread on the PCGN list, sadly.) You probably have a pick, too. (Please don’t email me about it.) But why listen to any of those sources when you can get your GOTY from the votes of millions of Steam users?
Well, according to Steam users, Resident Evil Village is the best game of 2021. Players voted it past the likes of Valheim, New World, Cyberpunk 2077, and Forza Horizon 5 for top honours in this year’s Steam Awards. I awarded an 8/10 in our Resident Evil Village review – it’s outstanding in its scares and action, though it’s let down a bit by a weak second half. Yet that’s true for basically every Resident Evil game, isn’t it?
It’s particularly notable to see Village take top honours from Steam users, given the early controversy over the game’s performance issues on PC. In the company of flawed megahits like New World and Cyberpunk 2077, maybe PC players in aggregate aren’t quite so unforgiving of technical flaws as we’d always imagined.
Here’s the full list of nominees, with winners in bold. You can check each game out over on Steam.
Game of the Year
- Valheim
- New World
- Cyberpunk 2077
- Resident Evil Village
- Forza Horizon 5
VR Game of the Year
- Sniper Elite VR
- Cooking Simulator VR
- Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond
- I Expect You to Die 2
- Blair Witch VR Edition
Labor of Love
- Dota 2
- Terraria
- Rust
- No Man’s Sky
- Apex Legends
Better With Friends
- Valheim
- Back 4 Blood
- Halo Infinite
- It Takes Two
- Crab Game
Outstanding Visual Style
- Psychonauts 2
- Subnautica: Below Zero
- Little Nightmares II
- Bright Memory: Infinite
- Forza Horizon 5
Most Innovative Gameplay
- Inscryption
- Twelve Minutes
- Moncage
- Deathloop
- Loop Hero
Best Game You Suck At
- World War Z: Aftermath
- Naraka Bladepoint
- Nioh 2
- Age of Empires IV
- Battlefield 2042
Best Soundtrack
- Guardians of the Galaxy
- Nier Replicant
- Persona 5 Strikers
- Guilty Gear Strive
- Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Hinokami Chronicles
Outstanding Story-rich game
- Life is Strange: True Colors
- Cyberpunk 2077
- Resident Evil Village
- Days Gone
- Mass Effect: Legendary Edition
Sit Back and Relax
- Unpacking
- Potion Craft
- Farming Simulator 22
- Townscaper
- Dorfromantik
For more of the best new PC games, you can follow that link.