Steam’s major desktop update lets you watch Shrek while gaming, if you want to

After several weeks of testing, Valve has officially released a major new update for the Steam desktop client Brings a look more in line with the Steam Deck UI and updates the Big Picture mode to follow the same aesthetic as well.

But appearance is not everything, because the new client brings with it a significant number of new features, most of which are aimed at transforming the game overlay.

The in-game overlay (Shift+Tab) now looks better, but it’s also capable of a ton of useful new features. The toolbar at the bottom now effectively acts as a mini-Steam interface, allowing you to quickly access friends, achievements, guides, discussions, web browsing and more, right from within the game.

You can customize what appears by default and the settings will be saved between games. A great new feature in the updated overlay is the ability to take notes. The Note feature supports rich text, images, and can store multiple notes per game. Notes are saved in the cloud and can be accessed on other platforms, but the feature can also be used offline.

Notes can also be edited outside of the overlay. Even more impressive, you can pin notes to the window. This allows pinned elements to appear after you close the overlay, and you can adjust the size and opacity to your liking.

Pinning also works with some of the other toolbar items, like discussions, achievements, and even guides, so you can follow a guide without constantly having to open the overlay to read it. In fact, it works for the web browser too, so you can even watch a video that’s literally recorded in the background.

As Valve pointed out in the advertisement stand, much of the work done on this will pay off in the future. Steam on desktop (including Big Picture) and Steam Deck now run on a unified code base. This allows the developer to implement features faster for all three, not to mention the look and feel parity that now exists.

Notifications are another area that has been greatly improved. The icon turns green when really relevant notifications appear, and now you can see a more detailed historical view. Now you can also control what notifications you see and where you see them.

The update should download automatically for everyone, but you can force it by manually checking for updates via the Steam menu > Check for Updates.