Steam gets a major UI overhaul

Valve has released a major UI overhaul for the Steam client, giving the PC gaming shopfront a slick new look.

We knew a major UI overhaul was coming as far back as late April, when the Steam Client Beta showcased many of the changes. However, now those changes have come to the Steam Client proper, meaning that every Steam user can get a taste of something new.

In a blog post on the release, Valve runs through some of the major changes. The new Steam client is build on a new framework that will make it easier for the company to apply changes across all of the distinct Steam iterations, including the Steam Desktop Client, Big Picture Mode, Steam Deck, and Steam on mobile.

You won’t see any of that, of course, but you will instantly notice a fresh look for the Steam client. Dialogues, menus, fonts, and colours have all been spruced up.

Valve has also made notifications more useful in Steam, with the green bell icon only lighting up when there’s actually something new for you. The tray view will only show new notifications, meanwhile.

Steam’s in-game overlay has also received some serious attention. Shift-Tabbing during a game gives you a new look with a new toolbar, and you can personalise what’s shown. You can also now pin windows from the overlay so that they appear on top of the game while you’re playing, with adjustable opacity.

This should prove particularly useful for the new Notes feature, which provides a lightweight note-taking overlay over your current game. Your notes are saved to each game and synced across devices.

A new Game Overview panel will give you a one stop look at everything happening with a particular game, including achievements, friends playing, guides, and news.

Mac and Linux users haven’t been forgotten in this Steam UI overhaul either, with hardware acceleration now bringing performance up to par with the Windows version.