I can't help but have a lot of thoughts about discoverability on Steam. And discovery of people's work in general, I guess.
After I wrote my thoughts, a few people wrote to me and said "What about Steam Curators? That's a feature that helps you find hidden gems and games that interest you."
Like most Steam features, I feel like it's imperfect and doesn't live up to its potential. But maybe we can make it useful.
Below is a list of Steam Curators you might like to follow. I've also made a Steam Curator myself, and I can add your game to it if you'd like.
Follow IGOC Recommends as a Steam Curator here
Request your game be added to the IGOC Curator page here or by sending me an Ask on Cohost!
Read below for a list of helpful curators!
Steam Curators To Follow
Is it on itch?: A curator that lets you know if a game is available on itch.io. Run by @lotus
PC Gamer: Recommendations from the staff at PC Gamer.
Co-op Cowboys and Co-Optimus: Two Curators that recommend games with multiplayer co-op.
Steam 250: Games that rank on Steam 250's Hidden Gems list, which filters games that have high review scores but low review counts.
J-Indie Arcade: Japanese games that are indie or are from small developers.
Fellow Traveler: Narrative-centric games that are either associated with the Fellow Traveler label or were showcased at LudoNarraCon.
Hella Yuri: Games featuring wlw romance.
YaoiRecs: Games featuring mlm romance.
Under 250: Indie game recommendations for games that have low review counts.
RPG Site: Reviews, both positive and negative, from the staff at RPG Site.
INDIE Live Expo: Games featured in the INDIE Live Expo showcase, a showcase that originated in Japan.
Anthro / Furry Tag: Collects games that have anthro or furry characters.
Derek Likes It: Game recommendations from developer Derek Yu, if you feel your tastes might align.
GeForce Now Friendly: Games that run on GeForce Now, if that's a thing you use.
Rock Paper Shotgun: Recommendations from the staff at Rock Paper Shotgun.
RPGWatch: RPG recommendations by RPG enthusiasts.
Wholesome Games: A quick way to find the Steam pages for games featured in the Wholesome Games Direct or social media accounts.
Games for Lovers: Recommendations for games with local multiplayer.
Hidden Gem Discovery: A hand-picked list of recommendations of lesser-known games.
NVG - LGBT+: Highlights games with LGBT+ representation, and gives warnings against games with queerphobic content.
New Indie Games of Cohost Steam Curator
I've started my own Steam Curator for this blog, Indie Games of Cohost! You can find it here: IGOC Recommends.
The criteria for this curator is basically games by developers who use Cohost. I've started by adding games from the devs I've interviewed for this blog. If you'd like your game removed or the review re-written, feel free to let me know.
If you're a gamedev here on Cohost and have a game [or an upcoming game] on Steam, and would like to be added to the curator, you can request your game be added to the page here. Or, you can send me an Ask here on Cohost with the name of the game you worked on.
I also plan to make one more curator page...one that isn't tied to Cohost in name or criteria, and is basically a "hidden gems with low review counts" page, which will pull from my own experience and the cool game recommendations people have shared on my surveys. With luck I'll keep that one updating for years to come, maybe even outliving IGOC as a concept.
But I haven't thought of a name for that hidden gem curator yet, so I haven't made it. I'll keep you posted when I think of something!
I don't really know what the ethics are of reviewing games as "Recommended" even though I haven't played them myself. For now, I've just been marking them as "Informational." But I might switch it, I'm not sure.
Frustrated with how the Steam homepage works and how curator reccs are spread around the store experience willy-nilly? Ease your pain by just bookmarking this "Curators You Follow" landing page instead of the Steam home page! Once you customize your Steam experience by following a bunch of curators that interest you, it might be a little easier to find stuff you'd actually like.
If you have other suggestions for helpful Steam curators, let me know in the comments.
