

Last month, Valve revealed its first-ever Steam Awards. They came with a twist: a final category to be plucked from user submissions, many of which ended up being tongue-in-cheek. Now Valveās revealed their selections, and sorry, but no: none of them acknowledge fansā many write-ins of āthe game most in need of a sequel.ā
Despite saying theyād only pick one user-submitted category, Valve ultimately went with four. Those are āThe āBoom Boomā Award,ā āThe āLove/Hate Relationshipā Award,ā āThe āSit Back and Relaxā Award,ā and āThe āBetter With Friendsā Award.ā
Quite a few users wrote-in variations on āGame Most In Need Of A Sequel,ā āBiggest Disappointment,ā and other less lighthearted categories. Unsurprisingly, Valve didnāt pick those, but some people are still disappointed that they didnāt. Or, perhaps more reasonably, theyāre sad Valve didnāt even acknowledge the gravity-gun-like force that sucked in vote after vote.
āSurprise, the GAME THAT DESERVES A SEQUEL award for Half-Life 2: Episode 2, that was probably the most-chosen write-in award by far, is not even mentioned,ā wrote Steam subreddit user big-blue.
Many others echoed that sentiment, some jokingly, some with faces grim and resolved as Dogāor Gordon Freeman, I guessāhimself. Others were more concerned with a hypothetical āBiggest Disappointmentā category, largely because they wanted to vote for No Manās Sky.
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Given, however, that Valve has done their damnedest to pretend Half-Life never existed for years now, their non-reaction really isnāt surprising. Still, I can understand why people are feeling down. Valve, a notoriously non-communicative company, finally gave them an open channel to communicate their thoughts and feelings. They had a chance to say something and maybe be heard. Was it realistic to believe Valve would acknowledge a giant, braying trojan horse for Half-Life? Of course not. But you can see why people got their hopes up, and nothing stings more than having hopes dashed. Ā
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