Valve has released its annual Best Of for Steam, and it's a list populated with all the usual suspects you've come to see a lot on 2023 round-up lists — with one amusing exception.
We'll begin with the stuff you're expecting. Baldur's Gate 3, one of the year's biggest games, and possibly the biggest leap forward for the RPG genre since the release of Witcher 3, is a strong mainstay. It sits in the Platinum tier — the top ranking — for most of the available lists, and is perched atop the mighty Top Sellers list, which measures games by gross revenue. It's followed closely by free-to-play action RPG MMO Lost Ark, and Cyberpunk 2077, both of which also make regular appearances in the rankings.
The Most Played category is dominated by free-to-play games, as you'd expect, with Lost Ark, Apex Legends, and Among Us-clone Goose Goose Duck sitting happily in the top five. But breaking into the top five were two of the biggest releases of the year: Baldur's Gate 3 (again), and Hogwarts Legacy. The controversial Harry Potter game clearly had a bumper year on Steam, with strong platinum showings in several categories. Another controversial game is Starfield, which makes a number of appearances, but has since fallen off dramatically after a strong release, and now has seen its Steam rating drop to Mostly Negative. However, there's still hope for Bethesda's embattled RPG: No Man's Sky makes a couple of appearances in the list, proving there's always a chance for initially poorly received space sims to make a dramatic comeback.
So far, so expected: But there's a fun surprise found in the Steam Deck category. Nestled happily at ninth place in the Platinum tier is Half-Life. Yes, the original Half-Life. Likely boosted by its anniversary this year (and subsequent free giveaway) Steam Deck users clearly jumped on the chance to play the classic shooter again, and why shouldn't they? It's a true classic in every sense and it's great to see such a venerable game being played again. Witcher 3 sits atop the Steam Deck category, proving there's life in the old witcher yet, and really, the Steam Deck category should be a shopping list of sorts for any Steam Deck owner, given the amount of excellent games in here.
You can check out the Best of Steam round-up for yourself, and while you're at it, there's also still a chance to grab a few bargains in the Steam Winter Sale, which ends on January 4.