The Steam Awards Winners 2018

During the end of year Steam sale gamers were asked to vote on the top games in various categories. The results are now in.

When it came to the Game of the Year, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) beat the likes of Monster Hunter World, Kingdom Come: Deliverance, Hitman 2 and Assassin's Creed Odyssey to be the "Winner winner chicken dinner." As one of the most played games on Steam it's sheer popularity ensured victory for the Battle Royale.

VR Game of the Year went to the RPG classic The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR proving once again that people still love being the Dragonborn. Skyrim beat out VR Chat, Fallout 4, Superhot VR and the fantastic Beat Saber.

The Labor of Love Award (or Labour for us who speak English) was a category for games that have continued to see ongoing support and meaningful additions and improvement to the game long after its release. GTA V took the crown for this amidst the likes of No Man's Sky, Path of Exile, Dota 2 and Stardew Valley. The more cynical among us might point out that GTA V's support is largely financially motivated, but hey, there is a good reason why this game is still among the top sellers on Steam.

CD Projekt Red was voted the Best Developer in 2018, beating out Ubisoft, Bethesda, Rockstar Games, Digital Extremes Ltd, Square Enix, Capcom, Paradox Interactive, BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment and Klei. It seems that the developer is still basking in the wonderful glow of The Witcher 3's success and the now the mounting hype of Cyberpunk 2077. Oh yes and they released Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales which was well reviewed but didn't sell as well as hoped. Possibly because everyone's still trying to finish The Witcher 3 before grabbing it.

On the topic of The Witcher 3, it clinched the Best Environment Award for its breath-taking scenery. From the simple country of White Orchard, the wastes of Velen, the bustling city of Novigrad, the rugged beauty of Kaer Morhen and the Skellige Isles to the picturesque view of Toussaint, players still find themselves captivated by The Witcher 3's world. It beat out the other detailed worlds of Subnautica, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Farcry 5 and Dark Souls III.

The Better with Friends category contains games that are exactly that, better with your friends. Rainbow Six: Siege took the friendly honours here beating out the feisty-heisty Payday 2, brutal Dead by Daylight, competitive CS:GO and chaotic Overcooked 2.

The Best Alternate History award went to the fantastic, but not quite historically accurate Assassin's Creed: Odyssey. It managed to Spartan-kick the likes of Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, Hearts of Iron IV, Civilization VI and Fallout 4 to the side in order to take top honours here. Fun fact: It was the only title in this list without a number.

And finally! The Most Fun You Can Have With A Machine Award. And no, this was not some way for Valve to sneak in some of the ubiquitous anime visual novel games into the awards. Here we had games like Euro Truck Simulator 2, NieR: Automata, Factorio and Space Engineers but the most fun, as judged by the Steam community, was to be had flinging around remote controlled cars after a giant football in Rocket League!