How Black Myth: Wukong Crushed the Steam Awards 2024 and Why I'm Still Laughing

Let me paint you a picture. It's early 2026, and I'm still giggling about the absolute beatdown Black Myth: Wukong delivered at the Steam Awards 2024. You remember that, right? The community-voted lovefest where only 11 categories exist and somehow one game walks away with three of them. Game Science's action RPG didn't just win Game of the Year – it grabbed Best Game You Suck At and Outstanding Story-Rich Game too. That's like showing up to a potluck with a five-star meal, a dessert, and a magic trick that makes everyone forget someone else even brought potato salad.

Now, I know what you're thinking: "But it's 2026, why are we still talking about 2024 awards?" Because it's not every year a game forces Steam's servers to sweat more than a marathon runner in a sauna. Black Myth: Wukong didn't just break records; it bent them into pretzels. At its peak, it held the title for the second-most concurrent players in Steam history, and it helped push the entire platform to an all-time online user record. That's like convincing your entire extended family to join a Zoom call at the same time, except everyone is having fun.

And the awards? A clean sweep that made history. Before Wukong, no game had ever won three Steam Awards in a single year. Sure, Cuphead managed two back in the day, Baldur's Gate 3 charmed its way to two, and Red Dead Redemption 2 grabbed a pair as well. But a hat-trick? Unheard of. Let me put that into perspective with a little table:

Game	Year Won	Awards Won
Black Myth: Wukong	2024	3
Cuphead	2017	2
Baldur's Gate 3	2023	2
Red Dead Redemption 2	2018	2
Any other game ever	Any year	1 or fewer

Look at that lonely single-digit column. Impressive, isn't it? It almost feels like Game Science's boss was secretly directing a billion-dollar blockbuster, and somewhere a certain other award show (cough, The Game Awards) must have shed a single, elegant tear. Remember how the studio head expressed disappointment about not taking home the top prize there? Well, the Steam community basically built a giant golden statue and screamed, "We got you, fam!"

But here's where the story gets even more deliciously ironic. The Best Soundtrack award didn't go to some fresh, orchestral masterpiece from 2024. Nope. It went to Red Dead Redemption – a game that was released in 2010, only finally crawling onto PC in 2024. That's right. A 14-year-old soundtrack beat out everything else. It's like your grandpa entering a dance contest and moonwalking better than everyone. The moral of the story? Good music is eternal, and Rockstar's PC port was basically a time-traveling gift.

The rest of the 2024 winners? A mix of expected champions and delightful surprises. Helldivers 2 snagged Better With Friends – no shock there, given the amount of friendly fire "accidents" that game spawned. Farming Simulator 25 somehow convinced everyone it was the ultimate relaxation tool, proving that virtual crop rotation is the new meditation. And Elden Ring, glorious Elden Ring, won the Labor of Love award, because FromSoftware just can't stop giving us new reasons to die in horrible, soul-crushing ways.

For reference, here's the full list of winners in all their glory:

• Game of the Year: Black Myth: Wukong 🐵

• VR Game of the Year: Metro Awakening VR 🚆

• Labor of Love: Elden Ring ⚔️

• Best Game on Steam Deck: God of War: Ragnarok ⚡

• Better With Friends: Helldivers 2 🪖

• Outstanding Visual Style: Silent Hill 2 🌫️

• Most Innovative Gameplay: Liar's Bar 🃏

• Best Game You Suck At: Black Myth: Wukong 💀

• Best Soundtrack: Red Dead Redemption 🤠

• Outstanding Story-Rich Game: Black Myth: Wukong 📖

• Sit Back and Relax: Farming Simulator 25 🚜

But back to the monkey king. Why did Wukong dominate so thoroughly? Is it the jaw-dropping visuals? The combat that makes you feel like a martial arts god until you get flattened by a random boss? The story that somehow weaves Chinese mythology into a blockbuster punch? It's all of that, plus one unquantifiable ingredient: a global player base that was absolutely starving for something this polished, this unapologetically unique. And in a year stacked with incredible action RPGs, Black Myth still managed to stand so tall you'd need a ladder to see its monkey ears.

And let's not forget the "Best Game You Suck At" award. That's not a backhanded compliment; it's a badge of honor. It's the gaming equivalent of a gym coach saying, "You're terrible, but we love watching you try." Black Myth earned that through sheer difficulty that felt fair yet merciless. How many controllers were thrown? How many rage-quits turned into "just one more try" at 3 a.m.? The number is probably rivaled only by the concurrent player count.

Looking at this in 2026, I can't help but wonder: Will any game ever repeat this triple-threat dominance? The Steam Awards have seen decades of incredible titles, but the sight of one name filling up a third of the winner's podium is a rare spectacle. Maybe the next genre-defining masterpiece is already bubbling up in some developer's cauldron. Or maybe, just maybe, Black Myth: Wukong carved a niche so deep that the rest of us will be reminiscing for another decade.

Whatever happens, I'll keep one eye on my Steam library and the other on award season, waiting for the next time a game decides to win everything short of "Best Use of a Banana Peel." Until then, I'm off to replay Wukong. Wish my reflexes luck – they'll need it.

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