As a video game player, sometimes you want to find something new to play, but can’t quite nail down specifically what you’re looking for without a little browsing. The problem with that, though, is rooting through the stuff you’re not interested in when trying to find it.

Valve is looking to make this process a little easier, thanks to an update added into its PC-based Steam service.

The company has unveiled a new “discovery” update, which serves as one of the site’s biggest updates in the past few years. With it, users will not only be able to discover games that are better suited for their style of play, but publishers will also be able to shine a spotlight on their products, which could otherwise be overlooked in a highly overloaded game market.

By looking through their queue, users of Steam will be able to see a number of recent game listings, along with a reason as to why they’re recommended to begin with (like if they played a similar game in the past, or have an abundance of titles in the genre in their game library). Users can then shop through said titles, and if there isn’t a game that suits their fancy, they can easily hit an “I’m not interested” button and move on to the next selection.

A new block of the service is also devoted to curators, which are put together by moderators in any Steam community group. With it, a certain recommendation list can be followed with ease, if a user wants to see what their friends have been playing, or what’s particularly popular in said community.

The mixture of recommended titles will include old and new games alike, should gamers be looking for a nostalgic favorite or something new. For instance, if platforming action games are being sought out, recommendations can go anywhere from Sonic Generations to the recently released Shovel Knight, depending on preference.

This model could pave the way for other game services to utilize in the future, making it that much easier for game players to find what they’re looking for — without rooting through file after file.

The update should be available to all users soon, if not already.

Source:  Ars Technica