Steam is a great service. It was the first online storefront to really find great success. It’s no shock why. It makes the process of buying and owning PC games really darn convenient.
The only issue with it is that it works too well. These days most PC gamers have steam libraries containing hundreds, if not thousands of games. Remembering which games you’ve not played yet can be a headache.
Third-party applications have existed for a while that try to fill in that gap. But now, Steam finally comes with one built-in; the ‘play next’ feature.
Steam Now Helps You Decide What to Play Next
The new feature is called ‘play next’ and was created via Steam Labs. Now when you log into an up-to-date version of Steam you’ll be greeted by a new section on the homepage.
Based on the games you’ve previously played and enjoyed, Steam will now recommend a new game that you own but haven’t played yet. Which should make it a whole lot easier for you to finally clear your backlog.
The new feature is great and really streamlines the Steam experience. But, it also could use a few tweaks here or there to make it truly spectacular.
There Are a Couple of Tweaks the System Could Use
While Steam’s new feature is great, it could use a little tweaking here or there.
Firstly, the recommendations don’t always make sense. Like the time that Harvester was recommended based on having played Shadow Warrior and System Shock 2.
It would also be nice if the feature could have some GOG Galaxy-style integration. It’s great to get these recommendations, but if you’ve already played these games on different systems Steam has no way of knowing.
That’s especially a problem if you have multiple Steam accounts for any reason. I own a shared account with my wife, so anything we’ve played together on there will still be recommended to me. Like the aforementioned Harvester.
Steam’s Play Next Also Needs Some More Visibility
As well as some tweaks play next needs to before visible. While the streamlined version is available on the homepage, you have to click through the Steam storefront to get to the full version.
There should probably also be some way of rating a recommendation, or reshuffling what you’ve been recommended. That way if you’re just not feeling what Steam is suggesting right now you can ask for something different instead.
One last suggestion would be to have the ability to recommend something based on a specific game. Say you’ve just finished your millionth Dark Souls playthrough and want something similar. Being able to get a recommendation at the push of a button would be awesome.
Hopefully, Steam keeps working on this feature in the future and makes it even better.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of CCN.com.
This article was edited by Samburaj Das.
