Steam’s had a facelift, reducing clutter in the store and tinkering the behind-the-scenes statistics to increase the likelihood of showing you something you’re actually interested in. There’s more information on display, and it seems like it’s easier to read. Well done, Valve. Now make a game, please.
See how quick you can hunt down our list of the best free Steam games now.
Across the left side of Steam, there are now a collection of quick-access options, letting you go straight to a recommendations page, new releases, tags, recently viewed and more.
As for new releases, they now have an entire page dedicated to them – you just have to click through that sidebar. Once on the new releases page, there are featured games towards the top, best sellers just below and popular launches further down. Click a tab and you can see all of the fresh titles.
Back on the main page, the featured recommended game at the top of the page now has much more information, along with screenshots and tags. It’ll also tell you why it was recommended, and by whom. Plus, Valve have tweaked the algorithm to determine what to show based on your playtime, what your friends recommend, what curators you follow, and more.
Filtering out recommended games by tags is also now a thing, so if you’re not a fan of visual novels, strategy games or whatever else niche genre you might hate, you can discount them completely. You monster.
It’s all about personalisation. That’s why there’s a carousel for your friends right on the homepage now, too, showing you what games your mates have been playing, buying or browsing. All those hours playing Shower With Your Dad Simulator are going to catch up with you, basically.
Check out the changes by loading up Steam. Alternatively,Valve also put a post up highlighting the new features.