Not only has Epic released its Linux client, but Valve is also updating Steam For Linux to 64-bit. This is a welcome change for some users, since the initial 32-bit version of Steam For Linux launched over 13 years ago, on Valentine's Day of 2013. Though the Steam Client for Windows was only updated to 64-bit at the start of this year. That shift also meant Steam no longer worked on 32-bit systems, but only an estimated 0.01% of Steam users were still stuck on 32-bit Windows 10 when Valve announced the decision in September last year.
In addition to updating its Linux client, Valve has also been making other updated to Steam lately. Epic boasted about speed increases to its client that made it launch faster than Steam, only to be knocked back down in under 24 hours by a mainline Steam update according to some benchmarks. The same update also introduced "Big Art" and screensaver functionality to Big Picture Mode, along with dozens of performance and UI fixes.
The updated client is also bringing a new feature to Steam called Achievement Sets. These allow you to organize, group, and separately count stats for game or DLC content. The Achievements page itself has also been redesigned.
Besides that, the additions in the latest Steam Client Beta update are largely minor. There are some cool tidbits here and there, though, including edge case memory leak fixes, better offline support for the activity feed, and even "Display Style" stretching and zooming for Remote Play. The Display Style setting could be great for streaming an Ultrawide PC to a 16:9 laptop without needing to adjust in-game settings, for example.
Valve is clearly proud of its work on the new Big Art Mode too, since the the feature is now automatically enabled with "High Contrast" in Big Picture Mode with this update. For the enthusiasts among you who want all the details, the latest stable update patch notes better contextualizes the broader efforts Valve is making to polish Steam at the mooment.
Christopher Harper is a tech writer with over a decade of experience writing how-tos and news. Off work, he stays sharp with gym time & stylish action games.