While there are competitors out there like GoG.com and the Epic Games Store, Valve continues to have the number one place to sell PC games with its Steam service. Today, Valve rolled out a new version of its Steam client, and it has quite a few improvements, both on the surface and under the hood.
In a post on the Steam page, Valve says this new update has some framework updates that will allow it to share code across the main PC Steam client, along with the Steam Deck and Big Picture mode. That means new features should be able to be released on those three platforms at the same time.
One of the improvements concerns Steam's game overlay features. Valve says:
It's got a brand-new user interface, adding new utility and allowing for more customizability. There is a new toolbar, giving you access to anything you may need in the middle of a game – friends chat, achievements progress, guides, discussions, a browser, and more.
There's also a new feature called Notes in the game overlay which could be useful for gamers who may need to type in some suggestions on how to get through a particular game sequence. Valve says:
The new Notes feature lets you jot down notes about the game that you’re currently playing. It comes with rich text formatting, the ability to paste images, multiple notes per game, and can even be used in offline mode. These notes are saved per game and are synced across to any other PCs (or Steam Decks!) you are logged into. They are also accessible outside the in-game overlay, on the game details page.
Notifications in Steam have also received some improvements, including the fact that the green bell notification will now only appear if there is something truly new for your Steam library. There's also a new Game Overview feature that is supposed to let you know your current status in Steam, like any achievements you might be about to unlock, which of your Steam friends are online, and more.
Mac and Linux Steam client users should also see a performance boost, as the update will now be able to take advantage of hardware acceleration. You can check out the full patch notes on Steam now.
6 Comments - Add comment