“Best new feature in years”: Steam makes finding new games easier

After roughly a year of testing, Valve has officially integrated its personalized game calendar into the Steam Store. The company announced the launch in an official Steam post on October 23. The idea should immediately make sense to Steam users: Instead of scrolling through countless new releases, players get a curated selection of games they might actually be interested in. The calendar focuses exclusively on upcoming and recently released titles, leaving older games out of the picture.

What's particularly interesting is how Steam generates its recommendations. Rather than simply looking at users' favorite genres, the algorithm analyzes which games they've spent the most time playing. It then identifies other users with similar gaming habits and checks which additional titles they've wishlisted or already played. The result is a personalized release calendar that looks different for every user. We tried it ourselves – and as the following screenshot shows, the calendar does indeed suggest some relevant games.

According to Valve, the recommendation system is retrained daily, allowing the calendar to adapt as users' preferences change over time. Anyone who isn't entirely satisfied with the suggestions can customize the calendar using various filters. For example, games from a user's wishlist can be highlighted, while Early Access releases and DLC can be included or excluded as desired. The calendar is also available not only on PC, but on smartphones and the Steam Deck.

ⓘ Screenshot

How many relevant suggestions the calendar actually delivers will likely vary from person to person. However, early reactions from the community have been overwhelmingly positive. Many users are describing the tool as something along the lines of the "best new feature in years," with some confirming that they've already discovered games they might otherwise have missed entirely.

As a child in the 90s, my Gameboy was my steady companion. After school, the PlayStation was fired up. When I finally got my first PC, I was completely hooked. My passion for gaming has never waned since. For me, writing for Notebookcheck means reporting on topics that are really close to my heart - in addition to gaming, I also like to write about e-mobility, photovoltaics and innovative gadgets. When I'm not sitting at my computer, I'm probably on water rescue duty on the Baltic coast or trying to counteract the downsides of my geek life - namely sitting for long periods - at the local swimming pool.