Steam’s Game of the Year for 2025 Shouldn’t Be a Surprise

Steam had a very good year in 2025, with plenty of exciting, unique, and thoroughly enjoyable games hitting the digital platform. The sheer range of quality games was impressive across the year, with the clever puzzle mechanics of The Blue Prince fitting in neatly alongside action juggernauts like ARC Raiders and acclaimed RPGs such as Clair Obscura: Expedition 33. However, it was the latter title that really cleaned up in the critical space in 2025.

Several major organizations, including the Game Awards, saw fit to name Clair Obscura the Game of the Year. It’s a well-earned title, even if it did eventually start to feel like the success of that title was overshadowing plenty of other games worthy of praise. However, one of the last awards of the year has been given out, and over 43 million Steam users have made their voice heard — and their pick instead of Clair Obscura makes perfect sense.

Hollow Knight: Silksong Is Steam’s Game Of The Year

With a peak concurrent player count of over half a million, Hollow Knight: Silksong was one of Steam’s biggest hits in 2025 — and it’s getting to start the new year on a high note thanks to its victory in Steam’s Game of the Year poll. Released in September to strong reviews and great player engagement, Silksong quickly became one of the best-received games of the year. The Metroidvania sequel was incredibly popular with gamers and critics alike, despite the intense difficulty, and remains one of the year’s defining games, even if it’s fallen out of the top-selling titles on Steam at the time of this writing.

However, it seems that the strong art design and tight gameplay were at least enough to make the experience enjoyable even for players who couldn’t get through all the challenges. With 43.8 million votes, Hollow Knight: Silksong easily took the Game of the Year Award, as voted on by Steam users. Silksong beat out ARC Raiders, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Dispatch, and King Come II: Deliverance for the top spot. Gamers have also been able to recognize the challenge of the experience, with Silksong also winning the “Best Game You Suck At” award. It’s an incredibly impressive showing from Silksong, especially considering the sheer number of accolades that some of its competition earned over the course of the year.

Silksong’s Popularity Vote Is A Win Over Clair Obscura

2025 had plenty of great games, but it came to be defined (at least in regard to critical reception) by the success of Clair Obscura: Expedition 33. The sweeping RPG connected with players and critics alike, eventually earning a record number of nominations at the Game Awards and taking home many of the big prizes. However, the game has faced further scrutiny in light of these victories, including claims of the game using generative AI during development — while the developers have clarified that AI was only briefly considered and quickly left behind, the sheen has worn off the title in the eyes of some fans. It even led the game to have its Indie Game Awards “GOTY” title rescinded.

While the title remains hugely popular (and Steam users still selected it to win the Best Soundtrack Award), Clair Obscura has stopped racking up the automatic wins it seemed to be generating late last year. Hollow Knight: Silksong was often in the running with Clair Obsucra for many of the major awards that the Metroidvania lost out on, and often felt overshadowed by the competition. It even reached the point that Hollow Knight: Silksong developers at Team Cherry even openly noted that they expected Clair Obscura to beat them at the Game Awards long before the ceremony was held. As a result, it feels especially gratifying to see Hollow Knight: Silksong come home with the Steam Game of the Year title, and it makes a lot of sense why blowback hit other titles.

Why Silksong Is The Perfect Game For Steam

Even beyond the resurgent appreciation for Hollow Knight: Silksong, the game feels like the right pick for the Steam player base. The game’s focus on refined gameplay that is inherently connected to previous generations of game design makes it a natural fit for the retro crowd, while the strength of the art design lends itself well to the audience more focused on presentation and execution over raw gameplay. The sheer challenge of the game invited players to truly test their limits as players, inviting the kind of engagement that gamers are known for.

Silksong is also ideal for Steam Deck — even though Hades 2 won that Steam Award, Silksong‘s natural design and focus on exploration is a terrific fit for the handheld device. Larger resistance to AI may have also played a factor, with Clair Obscura‘s AI controversy coming to light in the middle of voting. It was also simply one of the most popular games of the year with players, causing Steam and the Xbox Store servers to briefly go down from the deluge of players looking to jump into the experience. While it may not have won some of the more prestigious critical awards, Silksong‘s triumph with the Steam Awards highlights how popular the title really is.