Black Myth: Wukong Sweeps 2024 Steam Awards As Narrative Gaming Makes Strong Showing Overall

[Cpt.Jank]

Every year, Valve holds The Steam Game Awards, a community-driven initiative to recognize the best games that were launched in that year. Valve has just released the results for the 2024 Steam Game Awards, which are determined by community vote—as opposed to events like The Game Awards, which feature a jury selection—and split into individual categories. This year, though, the overall winner for Game of the Year was Black Myth Wukong, which beat out other finalists: Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, Balatro, and Helldivers 2 for top spot. Game of the Year wasn't Wukong's only victory, either, with the game also taking home the "Outstanding Story-Rich Game Award," which seems logical given its overall victory, and the cleverly named "Best Game You Suck At Award," which is meant to highlight the best difficult game of the year. In this category, Black Myth Wukong was up against Dragon Ball Z Sparkling Zero, The Finals, Ghost of Tsushima, and Tekken 8, which is again a very diverse mix of games and genres, so it's somewhat interesting to see a narrative-driven game like Wukong come out ahead here.

The rest of the Steam Game Awards 2024 was less of a one-man show, with Metro Awakening VR taking Best VR Game of the Year, Elden Ring nabbing the Labor of Love Award, and God of War Ragnarök taking the Best Game on Steam Deck Award. Helldivers 2 won Better with Friends, while Silent Hill 2 took home the Outstanding Visual Style Award, Liar's Bar won Most Innovative Gameplay, Red Dead Redemption won Best Soundtrack Award, and Farming Simulator 25 was crowned with the Sit Back and Relax award, beating out the likes or Webfishing, House Flipper 2, and Tiny Glade. One of the more surprising "minor" awards winners here is God of War Ragnarök taking home Best Game on Steam Deck, since you often hear in discourse around the Steam Deck that it's not suitable for AAA gaming, and God of War is only two years old at the time of writing, meaning it is still very demanding, with an NVIDIA GTX 1060 6 GB quoted as the minimum recommended GPU to play the game.


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[Prima.Vera]

Well, the game is mediocre at best, I have refunded it after 10 mins of playing.
The awards are due to massive voting by biased Chinese players and influences, just so it can win those fake awards. Seriously, there were so much better games out there like GOW, Dragon Age, Indiana Jones, Fristpunk 2, Avatar the game, etc, etc

 

[nguyen]

Well, the game is mediocre at best, I have refunded it after 10 mins of playing.
The awards are due to massive voting by biased Chinese players and influences, just so it can win those fake awards. Seriously, there were so much better games out there like GOW, Dragon Age, Indiana Jones, Fristpunk 2, Avatar the game, etc, etc

All those games you listed don't even hold a candle vs Wukong.
BTW wukong sold more than 4mil copies outside of China, so it's not just chinese gamers voting for it
Also Dragon Age is a joke right?

 

[AcE]

I didn’t play the game but I heard more than enough praise about it, so probably deserved.

 

[theouto]

I cannot believe that tiny glade got beaten by farming simulator 25. The world has gone mad, mad I say!

 

[Gucky]

All those games you listed don't even hold a candle vs Wukong.
BTW wukong sold more than 4mil copies outside of China, so it's not just chinese gamers voting for it

4mil vs >20mil (maybe even >50mil) in china... go figure...
920k out of 1.1mil are chinese reviews on the game. ~90%...
So yeah I also think that many people from china voted for the game.

I'm not saying it is bad or anything, I haven't played it yet.
I am just saying that most (>80%) of players that bought Wukong are chinese and their many votes influenced the award.
It is also one of the very few AAA-Games completely out of china.

Waiting for a discount to play it.

Also Dragon Age is a joke right?

I hope so, its not a good game. Gameplay is mediocre, Story is mediocre, SOME writing is very bad (you know which ones).
I am not hating or cancelling the game, I just don't like it.

I cannot believe that tiny glade got beaten by farming simulator 25. The world has gone mad, mad I say!

I also didn't understand the "hype" around Balatro. Outside of the Game Awards I have never heard of it. And its out since February...
And nobody mentions Factorio: Space Age.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Well, the game is mediocre at best

That's what I thought too. It doesn't live up to the hype at all. And award worthy? Hell no. Of course, look at what it was competing against..

 

[AcE]

Awards aren’t that important folks. They are as easily ignored as the Oscar’s , even easier…

 

[lexluthermiester]

Awards aren’t that important folks. They are as easily ignored as the Oscar’s , even easier…

Excellent point! The Oscar's are a joke most of the time anyway.

 

[TechLurker]

Considering the competition among most new games released this year, Black Myth Wukong sweeping the wins wasn't surprising. Granted, I wonder how much of it was from sincere praise or just because it's one of the few games that didn't get political, given how politicized games have become in recent years.

With that said, my bet's on Stellar Blade sweeping Steam Awards next year when it releases on PC.

 

[oxrufiioxo]

Considering the competition among most new games released this year, Black Myth Wukong sweeping the wins wasn't surprising. Granted, I wonder how much of it was from sincere praise or just because it's one of the few games that didn't get political, given how politicized games have become in recent years.

With that said, my bet's on Stellar Blade sweeping Steam Awards next year when it releases on PC.

Idk Jan/Feb alone look more interesting than all of 2024 did to me anyways.

 

[starfals]

I cannot believe that tiny glade got beaten by farming simulator 25. The world has gone mad, mad I say!

Farming sim has been a thing for far too long now lol. Anyways, i agree with you. Tiny glade is amazing and gorgeous!

 

[Upgrayedd]

Awards aren’t that important folks. They are as easily ignored as the Oscar’s , even easier…

When RDR2 lost to GoW in 2018 is when I just totally lost interest in the awards

 

[usiname]

Well, the game is mediocre at best, I have refunded it after 10 mins of playing.
The awards are due to massive voting by biased Chinese players and influences, just so it can win those fake awards. Seriously, there were so much better games out there like GOW, Dragon Age, Indiana Jones, Fristpunk 2, Avatar the game, etc, etc

You returned the game after 10 min of playing? No, you are not biased...
Dragon age for game of the year? No, you are not biased...

 

[oxrufiioxo]

You returned the game after 10 min of playing? No, you are not biased...
Dragon age for game of the year? No, you are not biased...

People can like what they like though Dragon age I'm guessing out of the 5 people who bought it at least 1of its buyers really liked it.

My wife thinks BMW was trash while to me it was probably my 2nd or 3rd favorite thing I've played this year everyone has their own taste.

I agree 10m isn't enough to even judge a game and the first 10m of Wukong is actually pretty bad ass if you have the hardware to make it shine ofc.

 

[lexluthermiester]

You returned the game after 10 min of playing? No, you are not biased...
Dragon age for game of the year? No, you are not biased...

I would have done the same had it been my copy.

 

[AcE]

Excellent point! The Oscar's are a joke most of the time anyway.

I mean I honestly don’t care about awards anymore since I stopped watching the Oscars years ago (like stopping a forced habit), but for video games I would in the case if I cared only maybe care about the Game Awards or IGN? Not even sure, but Steam? Dude, it’s a game shop, I wouldn’t ever care about Steam awards. Not everything must be (should be) decided by a huge user poll. If you always go by user polls, not consider expert polls in life, it’s like you’re just a follower of the mass, is that great? I don’t think so. The way the mass thinks is too simple, their taste is too simple.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

I mean I vote in the Steam Awards purely to get cards and badges and stuff. I voted in every single category and the newest game I played all year was Horizon Zero Dawn...

Most people aren't buying and playing current year releases but we can all still vote anyhow.

It didn't even occur to me that anyone would take those awards seriously at all.

Ofc millions of Chinese players voted Wukong top game. Hell it's really more a testament to their restraint or Valve's algorithm that Wukong didn't win every single award.

 

[bencrutz]

a lot of people liked it, got voted, and yall mad
just because the majority who voted it most likely chinese people you think it shouldn't count? we shouldn't considered them as gamers who have can vote for the game they fond of?

 

[the54thvoid]

I've never put stock in awards or glory competitions. Whether it's a panel of out-of-touch critics or a populist vote, awards can't tell you a damn thing about a game. If it comes down to a public vote. it's not a surprise a country with 1.4 billion people votes for a game made by them, and some would say, for them (culturally).

As has been referenced in this thread by the differing opinions on games (even within families), it's pretty clear you buy what you want to buy, play what you enjoy, and ignore the prats 'telling' you what's good or bad.

 

[oxrufiioxo]

I've never put stock in awards or glory competitions. Whether it's a panel of out-of-touch critics or a populist vote, awards can't tell you a damn thing about a game. If it comes down to a public vote. it's not a surprise a country with 1.4 billion people votes for a game made by them, and some would say, for them (culturally).

As has been referenced in this thread by the differing opinions on games (even within families), it's pretty clear you buy what you want to buy, play what you enjoy, and ignore the prats 'telling' you what's good or bad.

Although it would seem most non Chinese people enjoyed BMW also.... The truth is there will never be a game ever that is universally liked even the consensus best games of all time have people that call them crap and that is 100% ok.

Personally if I was the only person that like a specific game and it won zero awards I wouldn't care I would just be enjoying the game....

 

[Zazigalka]

Never played Wukong (on my list), but it has good critic/user socres here in Poland (7.5-8.5 from critics, around 90% positive from users), so no, it's not just the Chinese apparently - and you know the Polish will always use Witcher as reference for RPGs, so the standards are really high (basically it's on a scale from 1 to 9, higher is impossible unless it's the witcher) . It might not be the greatest game you ever played, but saying it's that bad is just ridiculous. What I like in general about this news is that story-driven games are still appreciated.

 

[oxrufiioxo]

Never played Wukong (on my list), but it has good critic/user socres here in Poland, so no, it's not just the Chinese apparently.
What I like is that story-driven games are still appreciated.

For a minute there it seemed like 90% of the crap being shoveled our way was to sell battle passes or GAS type games and while I do not mind them in moderation I am pretty bummed that the high production value 10-15 hour single player type game that is just fun start to finish without 10000 fetch quest seem to not be popular anymore. Games like MGS/RE/DMC/Uncharted/God of war PS2/3 era type games. Talking more about original idea versions of them not the Remasters/Remakes.

 

[Zazigalka]

I prefer 10hrs of a good single player than 100hrs of multi, but that's me, I hardly have time to play working as much as I do. It sucks when you have money for all the pc gear you want but no time to play.

 

[Dr. Dro]

Game is sick, no pretentious statement or holier than thou attitude from the devs, graphics are amazing... totally deserved the multiple awards that it received. I'm passing on really playing it until I manage to buy my 5090 though, and that might take a while. It's just too demanding for the RTX 4080, especially at 4K.

Regarding awards, Steam's are probably the most trustworthy, considered that it is voted for by the people, unlike on The Game Awards show (which is decided by "industry insiders", to put it as mildly as I can).