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Every Monday morning I scroll by way of the earlier week’s new video games on Steam. I’ve all the time loved doing this. It can floor area of interest gems I would in any other case not have discovered, and it is also helpful for detecting new traits of their infancy.
But if I’m completely sincere, the explanation I’ve all the time cherished to flick thru Steam’s raw and unfiltered new launch listing is as a result of it is enjoyable: Steam is hilarious and weird. For each earnestly developed roguelite deckbuilder or metroidvania there’s one thing like, I dunno, Fuck’s Quest 2, or Milk inside a bag of milk inside a bag of milk. Lost within the murkier corners of Steam, untouched by suggestion algorithms, are among the strangest, most distinctive items of software program you are prone to ever see, most of which will not ever make the entrance web page.
Most folks do not see these video games. What we see on Steam’s entrance web page is overwhelmingly decided by what Steam already is aware of about our gaming habits, or what’s trending in our area, or what’s discounted. Which is more and more for the perfect, as a result of in 2026—and I hate to complain about this—Steam bulges with extra ineffective, tasteless, low-effort churn than ever earlier than. It more and more seems like a waste of time scratching beneath the guardrailed, algorithmic floor.
Take Store Simulator Pettikkada and Chiggas – Survival of the Mitiest as examples. That the capsule artwork is AI generated for each is principally unquestionable the second you see it. Pettikkada has that acquainted near-photographic illustrated realism that smacks vaguely of Grand Theft Auto loading display artwork, whereas Chiggas adopts the wide-eyed Pixar tack, a method so ubiquitous in fashionable tradition that it is principally grow to be a generative AI default setting. Click by way of to the shop pages themselves and the screenshots reveal an audacious disjuncture between capsule artwork and the sport you truly get.
I do acknowledge that this distinction has been a function of field artwork for the reason that starting of the medium. Atari 2600 field artwork by no means appeared just like the Atari 2600 sport on the cartridge, for instance. Doom didn’t look like this. But key artwork created with generative AI has that sure grotesquely generic patina which instantly tells you that clicking by way of shall be pointless and maybe dangerous to your senses.
These video games are all by completely different builders:
In the distant olden days earlier than generative AI, a sport’s Steam capsule artwork and the overall professionalism or care afforded to it, may sign right away whether or not a sport was probably a 99 cent asset flip or a potential unsung indie gem. Now there’s higher ambiguity. Chiggas may very properly have the identical manufacturing values as The Smurfs – Dreams, till we click on by way of to the web page itself and uncover its low cost, rudimentary in-game screenshots.
I believe most individuals would agree {that a} sport’s Steam capsule artwork is a massively essential determinant for whether or not they click on by way of to a retailer web page or not. Capsule artwork tells us what sort of sport we’re in all probability going to see once we click on, nevertheless it additionally captures the spirit of the factor: the ambiance of the sport, its artwork model, its style, whether or not it will make us snicker, rage, shudder in terror, zone out, and so forth.
The capsule artwork for the video games above do none of these issues. Like most generative AI, these photographs aren’t designed to steer or entice: they exist to fill house. They’re steely, medical, affectless, chillingly inhuman, and most offensively: they’re freaking ugly. They instantly signpost waste.
And there’s increasingly more of this churn with each passing week, progressively undermining the pleasures of curious Steam customers who wish to dig deeper for unsung gems. In 2026, your new favourite sport might stay eternally ignored, wedged between a vape retailer simulator and Total Simp Death.
Will Valve ever enable us to reliably filter out AI-generated churn? It’s arduous to think about nobody in Bellevue has observed how ugly the shop has grow to be. Surely it is solely a matter of time?
Top Steam video games by income (June 9 – 16)
Steam releases its prime sellers charts on Wednesdays, so the under chart would not consider some late week releases that may have been large, although it wasn’t a giant week for splashy blockbusters.
|
Rank |
Game |
|---|---|
|
1 |
Counter-Strike 2 |
|
2 |
Meccha Chameleon |
|
3 |
Destiny 2 |
|
4 |
Forza Horizon 6 |
|
5 |
Steam Deck |
|
6 |
Path of Exile 2 |
|
7 |
EA Sports FC 26 |
|
8 |
Marvel Rivals |
|
9 |
Wuthering Waves |
|
10 |
Destiny 2: Renegades |
The apparent outlier right here is Meccha Chameleon. It’s a multiplayer hide-and-seek sport starring white, featureless our bodies who should mix in with their atmosphere utilizing paint brushes. Since releasing on June 10, the $6 sport has offered 7 million copies. Elie Gould wrote about it last week.
Interestingly, its Japanese creator Lemorion has been very prolific: it has released six games since late 2024. None of them have achieved wherever close to the success of Meccha Chameleon, not even this free-to-play Penguin-themed take on Exit 8. Meccha Chameleon’s quick predecessor, Link Penguins, launched solely two months in the past and can also be an internet multiplayer sport.
Destiny 2 continues to see a resurgence for the reason that announcement of its sunsetting. EA FC 26 is currently 80%, therefore its return to the chart.
Last week’s Steam deep cuts
Steam assessment of the week
“Slop 👍”
BigFloppa332, with poetic succinctness, on Slop Fighter.
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