Steam rejigs tags in a potential win for game visibility. And, more importantly, capybaras

There are certainly some weird and wonderful Steam tags. ‘Cult Classic’ has always struck me as a little bit odd: Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 1 is tagged as a ‘Classic,’ but surely, if any game is the literal definition of ‘Cult Classic,’ it’s Troika’s RPG. Then there’s ‘Illuminati,’ which prompts even more questions. Is this game made by the Illuminati? Is it only for the Illuminati? How would I ever know, I’m not Beyoncé. In a recent purge, Valve has gone through Steam’s game tags and purged 28, adding 17 more while also merging some that effectively mean the same thing. Bye bye, NSFW.

In its latest blog post, Valve confirms that it’s finally added a ‘Bullet Heaven’ tag, likely in response to the wave of Vampire Survivors-likes that have spawned in the wake of poncle’s 2022 classic (not cult classic).

There’s also ‘Wuxia,’ ‘Xianxia,’ and ‘Samurai,’ to better classify Eastern-set games, ‘Organizing’ and ‘Cleaning’ for all of you Powerwash Sim fiends, and a new tag for ‘Animals’ as a united entity, as well as specific categories for ‘Wolves’ and, most importantly, ‘Capybaras.’ “The largest and possibly most adorable rodent species,” the tag’s description reads: absolute perfection.

On the removal list are tags that “no longer serve a good purpose for establishing connections between games or describing unique and useful elements of content in the game.” It also notes that a lot of the tags “have alternative options,” and “have a high degree of overlap.”

The latter part of this applies to the likes of not safe for work (NSFW) games, as well as mature-listed games. Valve believes that the “‘NSFW’ tag and the ‘Mature’ tag have a very high degree of overlap with more descriptive tags such as ‘Gore,’ ‘Violent,’ and ‘Sexual Content.'” I question why ‘Hentai’ is still a tag then; I am aware that there are nuances of course, but that one feels like it’s easily wrapped into ‘Sexual Content.’

Other tags like ‘Well-Written’ and ‘Masterpiece’ are also biting the dust, as Valve notes that these are highly subjective, potentially “resulting in disagreements and inconsistent application.” ‘Cult Classic’ is also getting nuked, presumably for that same reason; if you tell me Bloodlines 1 isn’t a cult classic, for example, I think we’ll end up exchanging words.

‘Ambient’ and ‘Drama’ simply aren’t getting used, while IP-focused tags like LEGO, Dungeons and Dragons, and Warhammer 40k are also being removed. If you’re looking for a Warhammer 40k game, you’re probably aware that it’s in that franchise both from your own knowledge, and the big ‘WARHAMMER 40K’ in the title.

In terms of modifications, ‘Pool’ becomes ‘Billiards’ as it was “was humorously applied to games with a swimming pool,” ‘Jet’ is being merged with ‘Flight,’ and animals have now been pluralized across the board for consistency. You can check out the full list of changes here.

Interestingly, Valve also confirms that ‘single-player’ is the biggest tag on Steam applied to 98,000 games, or 62% of the platform’s titles. ‘Indie’ comes in second at 82,000 games (53%), then ‘Action,’ ‘Casual,’ and ‘Adventure’ respectively. That latter stat just proves that breaking through as an indie dev is an absolute nightmare, and that number is growing exponentially every single day.

Visibility has become a serious issue on Valve’s platform, but hopefully more streamlined tags mean that we’ll be able to find the games we want a lot quicker. I, for one, will be making good use of ‘Capybaras,’ because lets be real, who doesn’t just want a Steam feed filled with those giant, guinea pig-looking guys?