Big Steam update rolling out
Valve has launched a significant update for its Steam digital PC game storefront, which includes visual improvements, an overhauled in-game overlay, and additional notification settings.
The most obvious change is that the user interface has been given a fresh coat of paint, including new fonts and colours, and redesigned menus and dialogs.
“The main Steam header and footer, Settings, and the Screenshot Manager are just a few examples of spots with refreshed UI,” Steam stated.
Steam notifications have also been improved to make them richer and more useful.
These changes include the green bell only lighting up when something is “truly new” and the tray view being limited to new notifications.
Older notifications can now be checked by clicking the “View all” button for a historical view.
In addition, new notification-specific settings provide more control over when and where notifications will be shown to users.
New Steam Notifications panel
The revamped Steam in-game overlay features an updated web browser and new notes feature with rich text formatting, image pasting, and offline functionality.
Steam said these notes are saved per game and synchronized to any other PCs and Steam Decks you are logged into.
“They are also accessible outside the in-game overlay, on the game details page,” it said.
Users also get the ability to move and pin overlay panels to different parts of the screen and adjust their opacity for a better viewing experience.
For those playing with a controller other than their mouse and keyboard, a controller configurator will be available in the overlay if a gamepad is connected.
New Steam in-game overlay
On the performance side, Mac and Linux users will be glad to hear that Steam now supports hardware acceleration on these platforms.
What may not be noticeable to users is that the latest client — which will be automatically downloaded upon Steam startup — is built on an entirely new framework.
“This makes it easier and faster for us to ship features across desktop, Steam Deck, Big Picture (mode), and mobile,” the company explained.
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