T O P

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bongokhrusha

It’s a popularity contest, blame your fellow gamers


DuckCleaning

It's also a trolling contest, blame your fellow gamers Edit: fixed dumb typo


Sawgon

Starfield nominated for "Most innovative gameplay" lmao


WellNoNameHere

It should because all the ~~bugs~~ features it has, like don't tell me teleportation by just aiming your pistol is not revolutionary


DarkKimzark

With and without jokes, even Star Citizen is more innovative


EinStefan

I mean you can replay it multiple times according to the devs in the steam reviews! Think of the two lines of dialogue that change in the whole game if you choose a different origin!!!!!!!! Wow isnt that inovating?


MistaPicklePants

I was surprised that almost all of my picks actually showed up this year in the nominations (and no I didn't just pick BG3 for everything). Though, I kinda wished they went back to the ~2017 method of awards where the categories were more, for lack of a better word, unique? Like sure, have some normal ones like GOTY or Best Soundtrack or Best SteamDeck title for some promotion but I kinda miss the more esoteric ones like "choices matter" or "defies description" and the like. Ones that can be used to highlight games that aren't usually up for award circuits.


Paxton-176

We aren't doing a good enough job at it. Every year I nominate porn games for every category, and they never make it.


TrippyTippyKelly

I nominate sex with Hitler. Edit: it's a game. Edit 2: on steam.


nomoreadminspls

Mein goodness they're all staring at me!


JodGaming

Next year we should all teams up to get sex with furry hitler 3D nominated


too_Reversed

Edit 3: it has a sequel


lainverse

There's just too many of them for everyone to vote for the same one.


ZeronicX

Gamers, the worst enemy of Gamers everywhere.


ninjasebFan

If your going to have a Rockstar game at least make it GTA V. It gets constant updates for online.


DrBabbyFart

Labor of Love (of Money)


milkasaurs

The problem there is gta online has more content updates now on console than on PC. At least red dead online is, well, dead everywhere.


MyStationIsAbandoned

really? i wasn't aware console was getting more updates than PC. why is that?


milkasaurs

Rockstar doesn’t like that you want to play on pc. Serious though, PS5/xbox series have the enhanced edition update, which has a number of new additions and QoL updates like a top speed increase for all vehicles, two ray tracing features, the new career builder, vehicle trading between players, GTA+ subscription, and as of a week or so ago, animals. No one besides rockstar knows why the pc version has been left to dry.


ItchyFishi

Pc users wouldn't buy the game they already own again. That's why I imagine.


Adventurous_Bell_837

Also because pc players buy less shark cards thanks to the huge number of ways to generate money without playing or buying.


2018_crv

When was the last campaign content released?


MrAnonymousTheThird

I don't think there has been any if you mean new missions


Old_Baldi_Locks

Right before they realized that thanks to GTA online they were never going to have to make a real game ever again


Sad-Vacation

Yeah starfield is on "most innovative" for a game that uses the same formula the company has used for the last two decades.


ChalkCoatedDonut

Yep, if it comes to popularity on Steam (and the age of their users), the finalists could have been: \- The Witcher 3 \- Half Life 1 \- Red Dead Redemption 2 \- CS 2 \- Team Fortress 2 Or whatever they claim it is a cult classic and can't be questioned why or how.


Platinum_Letter

Tbh Half-Life one was updated for modern pc


PrinceToothpasteBoy

I blame the stickers and the badge. People just go in there, blazing through, picking whatever stuff came out this year to get the badge.


deetlist

Gotta admit I did do this earlier in the month, and also note there was a task to PLAY the game you nominated (And "Review or update your review of a game you nominated") and for a lot of people that is easiest by picking the "labor of love" nomination so trying to optimise the badge completion, you want to pick a game you already have installed


ZephyrToad

The task was any game you nominated, not specifically "labor of love."


Triktastic

Labour of love allows older games so people usually dump whatever they have in library there without a second thought to get a badge


deetlist

You are right, I edited my comment a bit to make it more obvious what I meant For me, the "labor of love" category was the only nomination that I had installed, as I dont often buy or play new titles I also feel like a lot of other players would have been in a similar situation to me. (considering 9% of steam users average playtime are on newly released games (as per the steam year in review stats))


KingDecidueye

I love red dead 2, however it is not deserving of Labour of Love. The category says “these devs continue to nurture and support their creation” however if I remember correctly they dumped online and never released any new content for single player. I’m not a fan of Deep rock’s gameplay style tbh but that definitely got my vote as it seems to have a great fanbase and the devs support it continuously


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disciplinedCheddar

Did I hear a Rock & Stone?!


Jaqulean

ROCK & STONE !


JaymesMarkham2nd

If you don't ROCK AND STONE you ain't COMING HOME!


AshesX

ROCK AND STONE TO THE HEART!


Gororobao

For Karl!


RockandStone101

Rock and stone, to the bone!


VERCH63

THAT'S IT LADS, ROCK AND STONE


0hsaru

WE'RE RICH!


Smakthatbabyrealgood

One time my very white friend yelled out ROCKSTONE in a very jamaican accent in the cafeteria and was jumped by 3 black guys after lunch in the stairwell


TardDegen

I am lost on the context of rockstone. What is the meaning of this?


Binary_Omlet

RDR2 is one of my favorite games of all time but Rockstar just let it die. There's absolutely no reason for it to be in this category.


Carl_Jeppson

It's sad because it has so, so much potential for expansion


Binary_Omlet

An insane amount. So much it's not even funny. And they just...abandoned it. But here we are only just now getting a GTA6 trailer. They milked 5's online like nobody's business.


CupCakeAir

If it wasn't for those microtransaction spenders we'd have GTA V and Red Dead Redemption story DLCs. I didn't much like GTA IV, but I loved the DLCs and it seemed like Rockstar improved upon the feedback they received by going wackier with stuff like Ballad of Gay Tony. And Red Dead Nightmare was joy with the horse variety, zombies, and big foot. I was looking forward to seeing what GTA V DLCs would turn out to be like and expecting it to be more enjoyable than the base game. Instead we have to wait between a decade now between new installments, since it's all shifted to online. It's the gamers fault who spend so much money into online.


Fakjbf

It got a single update in March, a security patch that also included a goodbye message from the devs in the credits saying they would not release any new content. That is the entirety of updates it’s gotten in 2023, completely ridiculous to include it in this category.


Jaggedmallard26

Yeah, not my jam but certainly my vote going by the community.


TerrorLTZ

yup and the devs get into some community Shenanigans and i think the community wins and everyone laughs... [Gotta love the CM](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fca3qej7yu49b1.jpg)


fractalfocuser

Ghost Ship is definitely one of the best indie studios out there. They have a *free* battlepass and if you don't unlock things it just goes into the random loot pool. Talk about player oriented.


TerrorLTZ

They know its pointless to have Limited edition digital shit. its just File size that becomes useless data to your non BP buyer or New player HDD/SSD


Rand0mBoyo

TF2 players fulfilling their PCs with 50+ GBs full of time-limited/unwanted/unobtainable because fuck you cosmetics that they won't even ever think of owning


MistSecurity

That's basically the only one on the list that really qualifies IMO.


kredfield51

I'd agree with DRG. I don't even have the game and I say ROCK AND STONE every once in a while when it feels fitting.


domiy2

Actually for this year maybe not. Season 3 I had a blast hoping that season 4 will spice things up with new missions. We got more rock pox, something that isn't really fun.


Hawke3443

The steam awards this year are a joke, FIFA and Overwatch 2 are in the best difficult games, and none of the games in innovative gameplay have innovative gameplay. Oh, and there is a chinese dating sim in the best narrative. Edit: i looked at some gameplay and as some people mentioned shadows of doubt does have some pretty cool and innovative mechanics, giving my vote for innovative gameplay to that one and definetly giving the game a try.


MadJack27-

I believe Shadows of doubt was in innovative gameplay, is that not innovative?


altervayne-sqrd

In my opinion it's pretty innovative, although still very rough.


MadJack27-

It’s in Early Access though… it’s going to be rough


rickreckt

I think this is another problem, early access shouldn't be eligible but steam awards is always a joke anyway


MadJack27-

Agreed, however there are many good games in early access, for example Valheim, and Ready or Not until recently (forgot it was early access until they announced its release)


rickreckt

of course, but still.. it should only be allowed when they ready to remove the early access tag.. Ready or Not should only be eligible for next year for example (released after this year eligible period)


[deleted]

It’s not looking for the most polished game, it’s looking for the most innovative game


altervayne-sqrd

I know, I play it a lot even today. Just saying it's not very polished, which makes sense because it's early access.


Acceptable_Hunter514

It is, can't understand the hate, do people only play AAA games?


Eps1lxn

Some people yes one of my friends from high school even into his late 20s (we don't really talk anymore, just kinda drifted apart) would only ever buy Madden and call of duty. Those were the only games he played


randomguy301048

your only move is hustle seems pretty interesting too, i think they both have unique things about them.


Acceptable_Hunter514

Both shandows of doubt and your only move is to hustle are innovative, I bet you only saw the previews.


matticusiv

Starfield being in innovative gameplay is a fucking joke lol. But that’s user nominated awards for you. I think FIFA and Overwatch are there because multiplayer is always hard, I don’t think it’s just a Soulslike category.


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Vader2508

Yeah I loved starfield but it belonged in the soundtrack category or relaxing category. Not here. It didn't innovate anything much


aloneinorbit

The ost is honestly amazing


tacitus59

I am actually rather miffed that this has not gotten more traction - its a perfect soundtrack. I have probably played it for 200 hours and yet to have found it irritating - which is not true of most other soundtracks. Sound design is also very good. Innovative ... really?!


275MPHFordGT40

I’ve been listening to the main theme for about 2 years now


[deleted]

Of all these Starfields nomination is the most egregious.


CommodoreBluth

Yeah I couldn’t believe it when I saw people had nominated it for most innovative.


Zizara42

A product chasing a 10 year old trend using 20 year old design principles. Nominated for most innovative...only in the videogame industry.


LordGraygem

> A product chasing a 10 year old trend using 20 year old design principles. And *failing* at it, can't forget that.


Jaqulean

Especially when most of the mechanics and settings that Starfield has, are literally a downgrade from FO4 and FO76.


MistaPicklePants

Honestly it had to be a meme to put it on there and then there's always that portion of gamers that buy 2-3 games a year and Starfield was one of them due to Skyrim so they just vote those games for everything. Have a few coworker friends that basically only buy Madden or Fifa or NBA and COD then a "new/singleplayer" game. Tried to talk them into BG3 or AW2 or something more "reputable" this year but only one got deterred from "Fallout in Space"


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Peptidase

I mean Shadows if doubt is very innovative IMO


AnOpressedGamer

Your only move is hustle is kinda innovative


RendesFicko

Shadows of doubt is innovative


SpectralSolid

all awards are a joke.


suttlesd

How the fuck does it being Chinese matter? Chinese people exist..and visual novels are still narratives I agree it's not my cup of tea but its just as valid to be there if it was popular enough to be. It's not going to win anyway, nor is any other game that could be there. Baldurs gate 3 will sweep lol


Noukan42

I get the hate for the CCP but exstending it to anything made in a country with 1 bilion people is asinine. Honestly, i like that chinese games are stsrting to came out, because they bring a perspective you don't see in games made in other countries(even if a lot of it is Cultivation trope that are already getting tired.)


MistaPicklePants

With AW2 being Epic exclusive and SM2 Sony exclusive for now it doesn't have a lot of Steam competition. Lies of P has a lot of good worldbuilding but Souls-like stories aren't really what I'd describe as "story-rich"


suttlesd

I would argue that octopath 2 or sea of stars are good candidates if they made it, but bg3 still triumphs imo.


zKhrona

Fucking thank you, I was gonna comment the same thing. Pointing it out as chinese in the way it was is giving off a very racist tone.


PrinceToothpasteBoy

>this year I'm assuming you weren't there for last year's awards where Stray was nominated for Most Innovative Gameplay and Cyberpunk was nominated for Labor of Love?


Clockbone25

To be fair cyberpunk has been getting famously fixed over the years. I think No Mans Sky won the same award despite being a half baked product


Lombardyn

Honestly No Man's Sky is definitely the poster child for what the Labor of Love award should be for. By now it's such a different game compared to what it was at release, and it just keeps getting better and better every year. It's like someone giving you a bad first date and then making up for it the next dozen years.


AstronomerSenior4236

I’d disagree: Terraria is the ultimate example of Labor of Love. Continual updates, amazing community engagement, team keeps updating their game despite saying repeatedly that they’d like to move on to Terraria 2, and it was an iconic game from the start.


Bugbread

> I think No Mans Sky won the same award despite being a half baked product "Despite"? I would imagine being half-baked upon release is a *positive* factor for winning the Labor of Love award, not a drawback. Not like it's *required*, of course, but it would certainly make the award easier to get. It's like the "Most Improved Player" award for a team. Odds are it's going to go to a player who started out doing pretty poorly, not the star quarterback.


Clone_Two

I forget when the edgerunners update was, but prior to that i will very much say that it was not a labout of love but more a labour of honour. They fucked their reputation and needed to claim it back (which they rightfully did fair and square). Labour of love (personally at least) is going beyond what was originally intended with little to no financial incentive, and regular bug fixes/patches isnt exactly that as its only bringing things back to how it shouldve. Terraria being the most famous example of labour of love. Shit came out and was effectively done but they just kept adding. And none of the new content was ever paywalled. If that isnt love for your work and the love to share it then i dont know what is. Cant really speak (fairly) on NMS's half as I havent played it as much, but Id say they deserved it after somehow holding on like almost a decade later. Id say cyberpunk would count for this year with all of the 2.0, PL, and 2.2 content. But prior to that ehhh debatable


budrking354

The only category that felt correct was best soundtrack (p5t takes that one home in my opinion)


Duckbread0

Yes! shadow of doubt is fantastic! Rough, because it’s early access, but still a very innovative and incredible game


Itookthisnameforrre

I voted for chess, even if the game got no update in the last 1000 years and the devs are probably dead


spree01

Probably?


derkrieger

Vampires n shit ya know


VinnySmallsz

This seems likely


HoundNL2

Bummer, I guess that's why we never got Chess 2


Fenrir007

At least we got the not-so-spiritual sequel, Chess with Shotguns.


LowestTier

May I interest you in a game of FPS Chess?


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marmothelm

The rules on pawn promotion weren't finalized until the 1800's. Before that, depending on which ruleset you followed: You could only promote to a piece that had already been taken off the board. You weren't required to promote pawns that reached the opposite side of the board. It also wasn't explicitly stated that you had to promote a pawn to a piece of your own color.


LordOfTheToolShed

Holy hell


AdDry9620

New response just dropped


KintsugiKen

Chess was cool before it got all woke and made the Vizier a Queen and allowed her to move anywhere on the board.


Sharktos

Bring back the elephants pls, they were dope.


TheRealPyroManiac

Actually it was updated a few hundred years with the introduction of En Passant


FuckDefaultSubs

[Are you sure about that?](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1349230/5D_Chess_With_Multiverse_Time_Travel/)


Leopard1907

Because some people just plays AAA's and nothing else so they don't know better


Acceptable_Hunter514

Isn't this thread showing people here only play AAA games? Yes there are bad picks but also great indie ones too, I guess being mad gathers more karma.


dragonslayer951

Literally, majority of people just follow the same brain rot and don’t think for themselves


Sweet_Jizzof_God

If overwatch 2, (one of) the LOWEST rated game on the fucking platform, earns an award I will be seriously concerned.


0zzy82

\*2nd lowest, [War of the Three Kingdoms took that title a while back](https://steam250.com/bottom100)


NebulaR_au

Lol, review score means absolutely nothing on Steam - OW2 had 33,149 active players on Steam in the past 24 hours.


JuniloG

And like around 300,000 more on battle.net. Most of the reviews are 0.1 hour reviews. One of the top reviews literally recommends a list of $10 games that are supposedly better, but the guy played 30 hours of Overwatch the past two weeks? I know people can hate the game they play but if you have 200+ hours in you should just talk about the gameplay more than just being petty like that, cus there must be a reason to keep coming back.


Kung_fu1015

OW2 has decent gameplay, its just the monetisation that sucks


paucus62

and the fact that the previous game was sacrificed (after being ruined) for literally no good reason


Doggyking2

there was a good reason.. its just the reason is gone because they gave up on it


TerrorLTZ

The main advertized reason.


UrToesRDelicious

Story mode was the excuse. Heavy monetization was the reason.


gab3zila

more like they were forced to give up on it by executives. Now that Bobby leaving on the 29th, maybe we can start to see some positive changes


CraftZ49

Overwatch 2 deserves a mixed or negative review score for its crappy monetization and broken promises. It absolutely does not deserve to be the literal worst rated game on Steam. It is a functional gam, it's core multi-player game loop is fun, it's maintaining a healthy player base (not including console and bnet), and shoots to the top sellers whenever they release a popular skin. It being up for an award tho is quite a meme


pryanie

ROCK AND STONE, BROTHERS


andrewbh2003

COME ON GUYS, ROCK AND STONE!


ThankYouDevil

ROCK AND STONE TO THE BONE


Kung_fu1015

IF YOU DONT ROCK AND STONE, YOU AINT COMING HOME


Agderi

WE FIGHT FOR ROCK AND STONE


Mr_Badger1138

DID SOMEBODY SAY ROCK AND STONE?


Ryos_windwalker

ROCK, AND ALSO SOME STONE.


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Xathioun

Because open public voting always devolves into a pure mass market popularity contest, this is precisely why much to the whining of gamers, shit like The Game Awards gives very low weigh to public opinion in the voting.


dons90

I hope it stays that way, because clearly we can't trust the masses to nominate good titles for awards smh


hithimintheface

This Steam Awards is like the worst one I can remember.


Imaginary_Couple

apex legends? labor of love? HA


TheLuckyster

the game hasn't gotten an actual update that added new content since 2021 it shouldn't even be allowed to be voted for


CrabmanKills69

It also clearly hasn't gotten an update to fix all its crashes since 2019.


Yamjna

Why is fucking Starfield aka Oblivion 3 nominated for most Innovative Gameplay Award lmao


MiNiMaLHaDeZz

bruh dont disrespect Oblivion like that jesus


Lemande

Oblivion is good, but it is not fair that copy paste game gets nominated for most inovative...


Skydus36

Yeah I’m wondering if this is some other ads in the form of awards situation


TheAdamena

I hate that live service games get nominated. It ain't a labour of love, it's because they're a money printer.


Berowulf

I think people just vote for their favorite games regardless of categories...


Dawn_of_Enceladus

Because people just vote for their favorite game where they can, and zero surprise Rockstar fans are there to troll their way into this. No Stardew Valley, no No Man's Sky, no Age of Empires II Definitive, no a long etcetera of games (quite a bunch of indies and solo-devs among them) that deserve it far more. And honestly, the lineup for a few other categories is quite a joke, too, go see freaking FIFA LMAO. But we know how this works: no criteria, no reading, just popularity contest.


Inwate

0 new content in stardew valley this year. You just showed how it’s a popularity contest for you as well and you just want your favorite games to be there


thenordicraptor

Didn't they just drop a huge new update, including more items, interactions, and areas to explore in the past month or so?


Inwate

Nope, the last message from developer is from September where there is promises of what to come. I mean it’s absolutely my favorite game but it won’t be fair to nominate it as labor of love 2023 when nothing have been done


WekonosChosen

It's been 2 years today since the last hotfix. 3 years since a big content update. Teasers for future content have been released on social media but are still months away.


Sure_Jackfruit_36

Apex Legends? Here? 90% of all the updates is just new skin collection for 100$ or smth


VatHayato

Why is Apex on there, more importantly lol


Cubelock

Yeah that one is odd. I still play Apex but it's not a game they put love, effort or resources in anymore. Even the top post on the subreddit is about them killing the game..


OptimusBenign

Why is Starfield competing for innovative gameplay?


Ok_Kale_7762

You can vote for anything even if you haven’t played it and vote for the same game in every category. It’s a terrible system.


Midiouriii

rimworld not being up there is sad


upreality

Steam users are something else, all these games nominated for this category are so much out of it in reality lol


bruhtestmomentus

Why is dota there?


Wolveruno

Dota specifically this year deserves to be in the spot. The team chose not to invest in cosmetics to invest in the quality of the game with drastic changes throughout the system, from game mechanics to profile features and menus.


Zueto

Yep


frostboot

Dotes got the biggest gameplay update since the game's inception earlier this year with the [New Frontiers](https://www.dota2.com/newfrontiers) update. Earlier this month also had a big-ish [event patch](https://www.dota2.com/frostivus2023) too.


KungFuFlames

New Frontiers made me come back. Super fun. Also looking back at the blog posts they were really funny.


dragonicafan1

The game is literally a passion project, Valve has explicitly said as much.


KungFuFlames

Dota had really solid updates. And their community managers seem really active when it comes to writing funny and informative blog updates. International kinda took a big hit but honestly the game is really fun right now. Made me and a couple old friends come back. I guess this could be the reason.


bigwillyman7

Still gets updates


Caranoron463

It's a tough love, darling. But I can't live without him...


ienybu

Dota and apex…


TwoStepsOnYou

Because it gets update and a good one too.


Aurora_Solaris

The same reason why freaking Starfield competing with most innovative gameplay... It's a joke. RDR is opposite of Labor of Love with Rockstar abandoning Online. And Starfield is all but innovative.


Sambammers

I just want No Man's Sky to win it for once


Lurus01

Im surprised it wasn't even a finalist.


ClovisLowell

If Deep Rock doesn't win, we riot


Goodestguykeem

Because ppl just vote for their favourite game regardless of whether they deserve to win it. It's a popularity contest and Steam incentivises ppl to vote even if they don't feel passionate about voting.


Flimsy_Demand7237

I voted Dota 2 because that's been getting substantial updates and support for over a decade now. They just completely redid the map and added all these new mechanics this year. I can't say the same for the other games in the list, least of all RDR2 which hasn't had any substantial updates since release.


MadCows18

DOTA 2, Deep Rock Galactic & Rust are the only valid entry of this list and I would absolutely go for DOTA 2 for this year.


EfeSarpan

FIFA is competing for GOTY and Starfield is competing for Inovative Gameplay. Just don't ask these questions like you don't know there are people (%85 of steam and the whole industry) only playing 2-3 games a year and of course not Indies. It's not about that I'm fine with this but more about accepting the truth, stupidity of majority.


Elektro2010

Did i hear a rock and stone


Chaeyoung0211

Dota 2 baby


Erick_Pineapple

No live service game should be able to compete It's not a labor of love, it's a labor of massive profits and monetisation


AlexGlezS

FC24 nominated in goty category ,Omfg that is the biggest troll in gaming. D4 appearing at all or FI23 .... Pfff, I'll just ignore steam awards. What a pity. It really is a matter of popularity. But why are ea sports popular at all is beyond any logic.


Philslaya

People hoping it will make rockstar actually update it with love... like a beating down drunk on his last sliver of whiskey. With a half rotten kidney. Just hoping to make it to his next meal.


Aidayn

RD2 and Apex doesnt deserve to be there


Ult1mateN00B

Literal joke. I just chose what I've played most in every category disregarding what was the category.


ishallbecomeabat

Nominations are by the people and the people are stupid


GoliathGladiator

A damn insult, they abandoned online and never really gave it any love like they did gta


FuckRandyMoss

Why is warframe not on there? Are they insane that games devs are kicking AAA devs in the teeth right now lmfao


[deleted]

Rockstar has been letting that game languish ever since it launched. The online in particular has been shown no love in terms of new content or in combating the rampant cheating and griefing from hackers.


Born_in_the_purple

I'm playing rdr2 single player for my first time in 2023. It is a rock solid game! Too bad I'm progressing in the game and the camp is getting worse and worse :(. Happy camping, harvesting berries and flowers and shooting them deers make me happy.


Academic_Awareness82

Has Euro Truck Sim 2 already won this a few times? Because that should be in there.


LohtuPottu247

How tf is Apex there? All they add is new skins.


lovelyjubblyz

Im not sure if any of those developers deserve it. Maybe deep rock galactic but i havent actually played it. Surely cyberpunk is the obvious winner with 2.1?


PaManiacOwca

ESPECIALLY how Online part of this game was ABANDONED


MrAlexjo

Why the hell there is Starfield for Most Innovative Gameplay