Valve is updating Steam’s tag system again, adding 17 new tags and removing 28 older ones as it tries to improve game discovery and store recommendations.
Steam tags are used by developers and players to describe games by genre, theme, style, and content. They also help Steam decide how games appear in recommendations and store hubs. Valve says the latest update is meant to make tags clearer, more useful, and less confusing.
The new list includes several tags that reflect current gaming trends. Bullet Heaven is one of the biggest additions, describing games where players focus on upgrades while the character automatically attacks waves of enemies. This tag should help separate Vampire Survivors style games from traditional Bullet Hell games.
Other new tags focus on cozy and lifestyle games, including Organizing, Cleaning, Decorating, Zoo, Animals, Wolves, and Capybaras. Valve is also adding Wuxia and Xianxia, which should help players find games built around Chinese fantasy, martial arts, cultivation, and supernatural power growth.
| New Steam tag | What it describes |
|---|---|
| Bullet Heaven | Auto attacking games focused on upgrades and enemy hordes |
| Desktop Companion | Small screen games that stay open while you do other tasks |
| Organizing | Tidying, unpacking, and placing items |
| Cleaning | Removing dirt and grime |
| Decorating | Placing furniture and objects creatively |
| Wuxia | Martial arts fantasy with sects and inner qi |
| Xianxia | Cultivation fantasy with supernatural growth |
| Poker | Betting, bluffing, and card play |
| Language Learning | Games built around learning languages |
Valve is also removing several older tags. These include NSFW, Mature, LEGO, Warhammer 40K, Dungeons & Dragons, Masterpiece, Well Written, Cult Classic, Kickstarter, Crowdfunded, Movie, Documentary, and Feature Film.
Some removals are based on overlap. Valve says tags like NSFW and Mature already have better alternatives, such as Gore or Violent. Other tags were removed because they were too subjective, such as Masterpiece and Well Written. Intellectual property tags like LEGO and Warhammer 40K are also being cut from the general tag list.
| Removed tag type | Examples |
|---|---|
| Subjective tags | Masterpiece, Well Written, Cult Classic |
| Mature content tags | NSFW, Mature, Blood |
| IP based tags | LEGO, Warhammer 40K, Dungeons & Dragons |
| Media format tags | Movie, Documentary, Feature Film |
| Funding or tool tags | Kickstarter, Crowdfunded, GameMaker, RPGMaker |
Valve is also renaming and merging some existing tags. Clicker is now Incremental, which better covers games where numbers keep rising over time. Conversation has been renamed Dialogue Heavy. Pool has become Billiards because players were using it for games with swimming pools. Jet is being merged into Flight, while Unforgiving is being merged into Difficult.
Players who excluded certain tags from their Steam store results should not need to redo everything. Valve says excluded tag choices will migrate to the new versions where needed.
The update also shows how huge Steam’s catalog has become. Valve says Singleplayer is applied to more than 98,000 games, covering around 62 percent of Steam. Indie appears on more than 82,000 games, or about 53 percent of the platform.
This may seem like a small store update, but tags matter a lot on Steam. They shape recommendations, discovery queues, search results, and store hubs. Cleaner tags should help players find games more easily while giving developers better ways to describe what their games actually are.
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