Starfield has had a rocky post-launch period with mixed reviews and no Game of the Year wins aside from its Xbox title. The 2023 Steam Awards are now in with all of Valve’s player-voted wins though, and Bethesda’s massive interstellar RPG is taking one of the event’s titles home. Despite a recent uptick in negative feedback on Steam, Starfield now boasts the Most Innovative Gameplay Award.
While the Steam Awards event crowns Baldur’s Gate 3 as its Game of the Year, Starfield wins in a category unique to Valve’s annual celebration as the RPG entry with the most innovative gameplay of 2023 after going up against other big releases for the title, such as soulslike Remnant 2. “The community has spoken and the votes have been counted,” Steam’s reveal page reads.”
Fans initially voiced surprise at the nomination, with a popular Reddit thread and other such posts detailing players’ thoughts. Some comments criticize Starfield as a nominee, one reading, “Gonna need a list of these innovations.” Others push back and cite features such as the ship-building system in Bethesda’s game as innovations or others like its gravity jumps as being novel.
It now seems that voting players looked to those innovative elements and the game’s bright future with its multitude of 2024 updates, as Starfield not only scored a nomination but won the Most Innovative Gameplay Award on Steam itself, which the 2023 Steam Awards event describes as one that’s looking for a game with a studio “at the front lines of creative experimentation.”
The winning game, in this case, Starfield, must bring “a fresh perspective and brain-breaking surprises.” The blurb also states that the voted-upon game should have “delighted, inspired, and entertained with newness never played before.” With an expansion on the way and various fan-requested features coming, there is still even more “newness” to come. We may then see the game’s recent reviews change from mostly negative to something more positive.
For now, you can check out our PC games of the year to find out which entries we personally feel deserve this year’s big wins. Some of our choices may surprise you. Alternatively, look at a few of the most exciting upcoming PC games if you want more to look forward to than Starfield’s 2024 updates.
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