Valve has officially overhauled its categorization system, implementing a massive update to how games are identified on the digital storefront. In a recent announcement, Steam confirmed it has removed 28 tags, added 17 new ones, and merged or updated several others to refine the platform's discovery engine.

According to Valve, these changes aim to help players identify titles that match their specific interests while allowing Steam to generate more accurate recommendations. "Tags help developers better describe their game to players, but also help Steam understand what kind of game it is," the company stated in a recent blog post.

New Steam Tags and Categorization Changes

The update introduces several niche categories to capture evolving gaming trends and specific sub-genres. By refining these descriptors, Valve hopes to bridge the gap between player intent and game content.

New Steam tags added in the May 2026 update include:

  • Bullet Heaven: The inverse of Bullet Hell; focuses on upgrades while automatically attacking hordes.
  • Desktop Companion: Games that occupy only part of your screen while you multitask.
  • Organizing/Cleaning/Decorating: Satisfying gameplay focused on tidying, de-cluttering, or arranging items.
  • Wuxia & Xianxia: Historical and fantasy adventures involving martial arts, sects, and supernatural cultivation.
  • Falling Blocks: Specifically for games involving arranging and rotating blocks from above.
  • Espionage & Samurai: Dedicated tags for spy thrillers and Japanese warrior-themed titles.
  • Animals: Specific niche tags including Wolves, Capybaras, and Zoo.
  • Other additions: Poker, Language Learning, Cult, and more.

The addition of the Capybaras tag has already seen community reaction, with one user joking on Reddit that it might be "the best marketing" a game has ever received.

Removing Redundant and Subjective Steam Tags

A significant portion of this update involves the removal of tags that Valve deemed ineffective or too broad. Many of the removed labels were either highly subjective or lacked the specificity needed to help players find unique content.

The following tags have been removed from the Steam store:

  • Subjective terms: Masterpiece, Well-Written, and Drama.
  • Specific IPs: LEGO, Games Workshop, and Warhammer 40K.
  • Redundant/Overlapping categories: Kickstarter, Crowdfunded, Documentary, and Feature Film.
  • Niche or outdated labels: 3D Vision, Ambient, Roguevania, and RPGMaker.

Valve explained that many of these removed tags have already been superseded by alternative options on the platform that offer better overlap and more descriptive clarity.

Refining Existing Labels for Better Search

Beyond simple additions and subtractions, Steam has performed several "renaming" operations to improve search accuracy. The term Clicker has been rebranded as Incremental to better reflect games focused on rising numbers. Similarly, Conversation is now Dialogue Heavy to provide clearer context for players.

Other notable adjustments include:

  • Pool has been renamed to Billiards to avoid confusion with swimming pools.
  • Jet was merged into Flight because the former lacked uniqueness.
  • Unforgiving was merged into Difficult due to overlapping usage.
  • Several tags, such as Dogs, Foxes, and Vampires, were made plural to maintain consistency across the store.