The new Steam Library is now available to everyone

[Karlston]

The new Steam Library is now available to everyone

As folks may remember, Valve decided to take the wraps off the Steam client's new Library interface design last month, following numerous rumors, leaks, and hints. The new UI made its debut in the beta channel, although it was open to anyone willing to test it out. Now, it's finally available to everybody - no need to be a beta tester.

The current iteration of Steam's new Library UI

Beyond the different translucent elements added to each game's landing page, as well as throughout the client, the Library has also been split into two distinct sections: Home, and Collections.

 

The former houses your usual game list on the left - which can be sorted in a number of ways, along with a "What's new" section at the top - detailing game updates, upcoming events, and more -, followed by a section dedicated to recent games (either played or added to the library), and then customizable sections called Shelves. These can contain anything from a particular collection, to games with a certain tag.

 

The latter displays, in a grid, the collections you create to make it easier to find the games you've bought. These collections are of two types: standard and dynamic. The first type is no different than categories of yesteryear, meaning that you need to manually add or remove games if you want the collection to update. Dynamic collections make use of one or more tags, which allows them to automatically update, based on the changes you make to your game library. Say you create a collection for single-player RPGs. Anytime you buy a game that fits this description, it'll automatically be added to the relevant collection.

 

This is just scratching the surface of all that is new, and while the UI itself has undergone some slight changes (mostly polishing), the fundamentals that we've showcased in the hands-on with the open beta remain unchanged. Do keep in mind that Valve will still be tweaking the UI based on feedback, but for now, this is what we get.

 

 

Source: The new Steam Library is now available to everyone  (Neowin)