Along with other updates, Valve recently released a significant UI revamp for the Steam Beta’s In-Game Overlay. It also includes a traveling notepad, which is a really fantastic concept.
Yes, you most likely already have a Notepad application on your computer, but does it automatically open the correct file for each game you play? Could you overlay it over your game so that it shows up while you play? Does it automatically sync over the cloud from PC to PC? All of that, as well as working offline, is what Valve claims the new Notes app does.
Here we have a tweet related to this topic:
Steam now has a built-in cloud notepad you can pin atop your game https://t.co/f6bxXHXvHs pic.twitter.com/fagcozaLrh
— The Verge (@verge) April 28, 2023
It’s not the only window you can now add to a game, according to Valve, which also claims that Guides, Discussions, and the Steam web browser can all be dragged into play with varying degrees of transparency, allowing you to watch videos while playing games.
- Mighty Doom Release Date: Is This Game Will Released Soon?
- Octopath Traveler 2: Story, Release Date, Gameplay And Everything You Need to Know
When you open the overlay, you’ll also notice an updated notifications tab, screenshot manager, toolbar for quick access to “anything you may need in the middle of a game,” and a new Game Overview. The patch also includes minor UI changes to various areas of the interface and optional hardware acceleration for the Linux and Mac versions of Steam. You can view Valve’s whole update post with additional screenshots here.
However, as of right now, the Deck only has them in its Linux desktop mode. Valve claims to be launching these kinds of changes simultaneously across Steam Desktop, Big Picture Mode, and Steam Deck. Lawrence Yang from Valve has confirmed that later, the Deck gameplay mode will also include capabilities like the Notes mode.
