Steam's latest update isn't that exciting, but it does let you take notes now

The latest update for Steam is here, bringing with it a number of quality of life changes and a slightly updated look. Valve announced the desktop update back in April, where the new version has been in beta for some Steam users to try out. In Valve's post from yesterday announcing the update is available for all, it did note that the "most impactful changes in this update aren’t immediately visible," as a lot of the work put into the update was today with how it "[shares] code across the Steam Desktop Client, Big Picture mode, and Steam Deck." According to Valve, these changes should mean that future features should be more quickly implemented and iterated upon.

The biggest change is arguably the redesigned in-game overlay. All of the UI has had a refresh, and there's some new customisability to be found there too. At the bottom of your screen you'll find a new toolbar that lets you bring up all the windows you might find relevant during your play sessions, like a game overview, an "improved" web browser, and what is easily the biggest addition - notes.

Notes are exactly what you think they are, but to explain them anyway, they let you quickly take down notes while you're playing to keep track of quests, where certain items might be, that kind of thing. Obviously you can take notes in literally any other note taking app, but Steam lets you pin the note panel over your game window even when you don't have the overlay running so you can keep an eye on them at all times. You can also pin things like guides, discussions, achievements, or the web browser, so if you run a one monitor setup this does sound pretty useful.

The UI for the client itself has had a very small touch up too - the changes aren't drastically different, as the client didn't feel that outdated, though it is helping to make things pop just that little bit more.

Notifications have also seen an improvement, with Valve saying that the "green bell only lights up when there's truly something new for you." You'll find that the tray view only shows you new notifications, with the ability to view them all. And there's new notifications specific settings, letting you control exactly what you do and don't see, and where you see them.

All in all, a nifty little update, though nothing you'll want to write home about.