Valve Unveils New Steam Labs “Experiment 010”

If you’re at all interested in and/or familiar with how the more technical side of Steam operates, you might know of the Steam Labs “experiments” that Valve periodically develops and implements. As of December 9th, 2020, there are now a total of ten such experiments. Two of these have been marked as “shelved” and are no longer available, but the remaining eight are still functional. You might recall that I wrote about the “Play Next” system, alternately known as “Experiment 008,” all the way back in mid-February.

As mentioned, we are now up to “Experiment 010,” which Valve is simply titling “Browsing Steam.” In a blog post that officially announces the existence and preliminary implementation of this new set of features, Valve states that they “aim to increase the surface area of the store by introducing a broader set of ways to browse Steam’s catalog of games from the outset.” Valve goes on to add that this system can do what it sets out to accomplish with “no login or complex searching required.”

To that end, Valve has introduced two new menus within the Steam Store. The “New and Noteworthy” tab serves to appeal to users who, according to Valve, “rely on our charts for quick snapshots of what’s new and popular on Steam.” This menu also readily displays other things that Steam users might want to know about (hence the “noteworthy” part of the name). Players can find such things as publisher sales, game festivals, and “other seasonal celebrations” under the “New and Noteworthy” tab. I would imagine that news about events such as the Summer and Winter sales would also be found here.

Additionally, this experiment includes a new “Categories” tab. As you might imagine, this menu displays various genres in which games can be classified. What you might not expect, as I certainly didn’t, is the level of detail with which this tab goes about its assigned functions. You can see the entire menu in the screenshot below this paragraph. That should give you a particularly clear idea of what this new “Categories” system can show you, even if you’re not exactly sure where to start looking for your next new game.

I find myself particularly awestruck by the “Categories” tab, to be quite honest. I greatly appreciate the fact that this menu breaks down strategy games into all of the genre’s various “flavors” instead of just lumping games, such as the turn-based Civilization VI, in with grand strategy titles like Crusader Kings III. I personally think that for the uninitiated strategy game fan, throwing everything under a simple banner labeled “strategy” would be akin to throwing players into the deep end of the metaphorical pool and expecting them to learn to swim. I would argue the same can be said for most game genres, really.

Overall, I most certainly like what the look of this new Steam Labs experiment has to offer. I personally hope Valve begins rolling it out for more widespread use soon, although I completely understand if they would rather wait until the new year to do so. I’m curious to hear what you think about the concept of this potential new Steam update, dear reader. Please feel free to share your thoughts in this article’s comments!