Today I installed the open beta for the new Steam client, and I must say that it looks very clean from a first look. At first glimpse, you will see things that you might like, and you will see things that you may not like. Let’s take a look at the pros and the cons to it.
PROS
The first thing you notice when you enter into the new library is what’s new. It gives you the newest updates to games you have installed on your pc, or that are in your library. On mine, I have about five pages of news for different games without having to go into the actual game screen like the previous version.
The next section is recent games. I know this is probably not something that is needed, but if you are playing only a game or two, then it might be helpful because you can instantly go to your game without having to scroll through the library.
Then the final section of the main screen is your all games category. In this category, you will see all of the games you own on Steam. There is sorting by way of the drop-down menu which was added that allows you to sort in different ways. You can choose from Alphabetical, hours played, Metacritic score and more.
All of your games are still sorted as well in the main menu to the left which is good for the people who like the traditional menu as opposed to searching through the new main list.
You also have the ability to make collections now. You can add your favorites or make a different type of collection to sort your games by, like FPS, or RTS, etc.
CONS
The main area of the library now has large graphical images for each game. While this may be considered by some to be a good thing, I feel that maybe it’s a bit much. It takes up a lot of real estate to have all the game images here, and I feel like maybe it is an attempt to copy some of the other launchers out there. The library list on the left of the screen is literally all you need. To each their own.
Overall, this is a beta, and it is only my impression of the Steam Client at this point. It is not to say that some of the things I like someone else won’t, and some of the things I don’t like someone else definitely will.
