The finalists for the Steam Awards have been announced and I’m very happy to see they include three Kickstarter titles. Tabletop Simulator, Undertale and Darkest Dungeon are among the 52 games shortlisted in 12 different categories. Admittedly the awards themselves aren’t too serious (one of the categories is “Best Use Of A Farm Animal” for example) but it’s still a respectable achievement.

Undertale

Crucially the Steam Awards are not just limited to games released in 2016 but ANY game on the platform. With over 10,000 games to choose from that represents a significant amount of love for these three Kickstarter releases, especially as the awards are decided by the Steam community. Over 15 million nominations were made to whittle them down to a final few, with the final votes to be made from December 22nd to December 29th. Voting for each category will be open for 24 hours with the winners announced on New Year’s Eve.

Darkest Dungeon is a Kickstarter funded RPG that was just released to Steam Early Access.

However, while developers Berserk Games, Red Hook Studios and tobyfox can be proud of getting this far I can’t see them winning any of their respective categories. They’re each up against some hugely successful and popular games, and given these awards are voted for by Steam community I’d quote them some pretty long odds. But saying that, the developers (and of course their backers too) are probably thrilled to be listed alongside such illustrious titles.

December 27th 10 AM PST
The “Game Within A Game Award” Award
-Garry’s Mod
-Grand Theft Auto V
-The Stanley Parable
-Tabletop Simulator
-The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt


December 28th 10 AM PST
The “I’m Not Crying, There’s Something In My Eye” Award
-Life Is Strange
-To the Moon
-This War of Mine
-Undertale
-The Walking Dead


December 30th 10 AM PST
The “Love/Hate Relationship” Award
-Dark Souls III
-Darkest Dungeon
-Dota 2
-Geometry Dash
-Super Meat Boy

An honorable mention also goes to Blood and Bacon, which features in the “Best Use Of A Farm Animal” category. While the FPS shooter did make an appearance on Kickstarter back in 2013, it was cancelled with only $112 raised from 4 backers. Things work out well in the end as it’s proved a big hit on Steam (helped by the fact is costs less than $1 to buy).

About the Author

Dan Miller

Dan’s gaming habit began in the 1980s with the NES and since joining Kickstarter in 2014 he’s backed over 100 crowdfunded projects - more than half of which were for video games. Hailing from the UK, he also writes for BrashGames.co.uk

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