Valve on Monday finally released a long-requested feature: Steam user reviews. While Steam users have long been able to share their opinions of games in the Steam forums and via the service’s Recommendations feature, the new Reviews section allows these opinions to be displayed directly on each game’s store page.
The Reviews feature is still in beta, but is open to all Steam users. Gamers can only rate titles they own or have played on Steam (via Game Library sharing, for example) but there are no numeric scales with which to rate. Instead, gamers are free to type out a written review of a game or app, and then give the title either a “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” rating, an extension of the old Recommendations system. Users also have the choice of whether to make their reviews visible to everyone on Steam or to limit them to friends only.
Reviews can be found at the bottom of each game’s store page, and users can rate the helpfulness of each review, allowing the best to rise to the top of the list. Those with existing Recommendations will have their entries automatically upgraded to a “review,” but Steam will mark them as “friends only” unless otherwise changed by the user.
To get started with Steam Reviews, you’ll need to log in with your Steam account. From there you can begin leaving reviews for games you’ve played as well as view and rate reviews from other users. There’s no word yet on when the feature will leave beta status, or what features might be added or changed.