Steam Update Makes In-Game Overlay Much More Useful

By Tanner Dedmon

Steam's beta client got an update this week, and instead of adding the usual bevy of bugfixes and smaller improvements, this update actually does quite a bit. It's completely renovated the in-game overlay that players can access while they're playing games with some new features that look to take some cues from aspects of the Windows PC Game Bar if users are familiar with that. The changes are only live in the beta version of the client for now, however with the updates in question set to be released to the rest of the Steam users at a later date after they've been tested.

In the blog post detailing what's new in this latest update, Valve said that Steam's in-game overlay was originally meant to be "a quick way to chat with friends" or check out game-related content. Needs for these kinds of features have grown much more since then, however, so Valve's keeping up with the times with a fancy new toolbar that'll be present either at the bottom or side of your overlay when it's in use.

"The new toolbar gives you access to anything you may need in the middle of a game – friends chat, achievements progress, guides, discussions, a browser, and more," Valve said. "We've picked a couple windows by default, and you can pick and personalize the pieces of content you'd like to see in your overlay – settings are saved between games. This toolbar can be switched between an icon view and a list view in Settings."

A new game overview feature will still give you info about what game you're playing right then by sharing details on things like achievements, time played, and more, while a notes app will let you jot down to-do lists while you're playing so that you don't forget anything. Those notes will work in tandem with another feature that allows you to pin windows to your display so that you can have something like a checklist pulled up while you're playing, but you can also pin things like the web browser if you need a guide to consult.

"We've also added the ability to pin windows from the overlay, so that they can appear on top of the game while in-game," Valve explained. "Opacity level is adjustable, and only the contents of the window will be pinned – excluding the title bar and other extraneous UI. This new functionality is available for Notes, Guides, Discussions, and the web browser (yes, you can watch movies while you play games if you really want to)."

Notifications and screenshots have also been worked on in this update along with some changes made under the hood that Valve said should lead to "a quicker implementation and iteration of new features." These changes are all testable now for beta users and will be available for everyone else at a later date.

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