The Steam Calendar Is a Convenient and Personalized Way to Keep Track of New Games.
One of my favorite tabs to browse when browsing new PC games on the Steam store is the “Popular Upcoming” tab, but over the years it’s become much less useful. While it’s supposed to show me which games are coming soon, there are simply too many games and too many types of players for it to keep track. My tastes probably don’t align with yours, and limiting my viewing to a small selection of popular games can leave out less interesting titles that might be more appealing to some players. That’s why I’m so excited about the new “Personal Calendar” page on Steam .
Released last night, it’s technically an experiment, but it’s already looking great. Essentially, instead of the standard list of ten games like the “Popular Upcoming Games” tab (I have no idea how Valve chooses them, by the way), it displays a personalized selection of recently released and upcoming games, organized by a daily calendar and spread over the next eight weeks. The details vary depending on your settings, but for me, it’s much more useful than the “Popular Upcoming Games” tab.
To check this, click here to open the web version, or open the Steam PC client and next to the search bar, go to Special Sections > Steam Labs > 016 Personal Calendar .
When you first open the calendar, you’ll see 100 games, divided into those released last month, those released in the last seven days, and those yet to be released. At the time of writing, I see recommended games up until December 12th, which gives me a pretty good idea of what to expect. If you’re paying attention, you might have noticed that the Personal Calendar doesn’t take weekends into account, which, according to Valve, is because most games aren’t released on weekends. If Valve recommends a game that releases on a weekend, it will appear the following Monday.
As for the curation, I’m happy with it. Unlike the “Popular Upcoming” tab, the “Personal Calendar” uses a combination of your wishlist and the time you’ve spent playing specific games to decide what to show you, creating a list that suits your tastes. I’ve been playing a lot of platformers and RPGs lately, and lo and behold, my “Personal Calendar” immediately opened up to suggestions like Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles and Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake . These are bigger titles, but there are also smaller options I might otherwise have missed, and this already seems like a great way to ensure I don’t miss a game I’ll enjoy. I even appreciate the heads-up on recently released games that are easy to think about once and forget about.
My only gripe is that the default list of 100 games seems a bit excessive. Fortunately, you can narrow the list of suggested games to 10-50 (at the top of the page, under “Number of Games “). This also allows you to narrow the algorithm, showing only the ones it thinks you’ll like the most. Or, if you want to see as many options as possible, you can customize the calendar to display 250 or 500 games. There’s also the option to show only games with certain tags, as well as exclude games you’ve wishlisted or already purchased.
Essentially, the Personal Calendar is like a personalized and convenient version of the “Month’s Most Important Game Releases” video, except now you don’t have to constantly rewind or restart the video to choose what to play. However, Valve claims that the Calendar algorithm is retrained daily, so don’t expect to see the same games every time you watch it. If you see a game you’re interested in but aren’t ready to buy yet, adding it to your wishlist is still the best option.