
Gaming on PC is great. Better than it has ever been, and Steam Hype is here to make it even better.
Between respectably powerful cheap laptops, handhelds like the Steam Deck and the new generation of mini-PCs like the Steam Machine means it’s easier than ever to dip your toes into the vast ocean that is PC games. The hardest part these days is deciding what to play when there’s often upwards of a hundred releases, daily, on Steam alone. Even if you uncharitably assume that 95% is trash, that’s still 5+ notable, worthwhile games. Every. Single. Day.
Just filtering out the wheat from the chaff is a full-time job, and exactly where Steam Hype comes in. With no algorithms, nothing procedural and absolutely zero generative AI, our mission is to have real humans with encyclopedic knowledge of all things PC spotlight the very best and most interesting games over what’s just hot and trending.
Steam Hype is the latest site in the Hookshot network, joining Nintendo Life, Push Square, Pure Xbox and the retro-centric Time Extension to cover all corners of the gaming universe. Hookshot also collaborates with the tech experts at Digital Foundry and is partnered commercially with IGN. As Hookshot’s dedicated PC gaming site, we’ve got news of the latest releases, updates and mod drops, plus weekly roundups and a must-play monthly playlist to help you keep up with the never-ending deluge of new experiences.
Meet The Team

We've also assembled what we believe to be the best team for the job. Leading the charge is Dominic Tarason, a seasoned writer who has worked with the likes of Rock Paper Shotgun, PC Gamer and PCGamesN, and has been curating Steam releases for ages now – you might already follow him on social media for this purpose alone, as he has a sixth sense for sniffing out both "the next big thing" and "the cool thing you missed and should play."
While Tarason brings with him a wise head and years of indispensable experience, our other key team member, Noah, is blessed with youthful exuberance as his superpower. A keen gamer on console and PC for some time now, Noah will bring a fresh perspective to the viral hits that seem to sweep across Steam each and every week. He's already cut his teeth writing for some of the other sites in our network (he's even starred in a Nintendo Life video when he was much younger), and can't wait to get started.
Finally, we have myself, and hopefully I'll be a familiar face to anyone who has been a long-time fan of sites like Nintendo Life and Time Extension.
I've been writing about games for 20 years now, and have contributed to the likes of Retro Gamer, GamesTM (RIP), Eurogamer and IGN during my freelance years. Since stepping up to a full time role in 2012, I've worked as editor on Nintendo Life and Time Extension, and will be assuming a network-wide editorial role with the arrival of Steam Hype.
All three of us can't wait to see what the future brings for this new site. As I'm sure you're keenly aware, the games industry, despite being one of the biggest forms of entertainment on the face of the planet, is going through a rough patch at present. You'd think launching a new website wouldn't be advisable, but we've been building them for over 20 years now – and, as an independent media company, we're reasonably protected from the corporate shenanigans that have rocked so many parts of the gaming landscape recently.
What To Expect
Steam Hype's mantra is "What's Hot? & What's Next on Steam?". Human-led curation is at the heart of what we want to achieve, keeping you up to date with the latest trending games across Steam. While we'll be shining a spotlight on some exciting upcoming stuff, our main focus is what you can play right now, because there's always something fresh to serve up.
We want to respect your time as a reader by getting straight to the point and only telling you about things we believe are worth your time. There are so many games at the moment it can be overwhelming.
If all you read is our Steam Hype Weekly roundup or our monthly Steam Hype Playlist recommendations, we think you'll already be well informed.
Side quests are available, however, with regular community content, opinion pieces and of course, daily news.
We need you to help us understand what content is most useful, and therefore your feedback will directly shape the future of the website. Please join us for the ride!
We’re so excited to show you everything that Steam Hype has to offer, putting our decades of knowledge to make your day a little more hypeworthy. We’ve been here since the era of DOS command lines and boot discs. We were there when the idea of having a sound card was a fancy luxury.
We might be PC gaming dinosaurs, but we’re embracing evolution.
[source steamhype.com]
Comments 93
PC is a fascinating platform. I would have preferred something like PC Hype unless you're sponsored by Steam? Even more considering that, while many people use Steam, many others around these sites are big on Xbox Play Anywhere and several PC storefronts, such as GOG.
Hookshot finally gets a PC site! Congratulations on the launch, this is really exciting
I'm always overwhelmed by everything on Steam, so this is going to be really useful for finding hidden gems for my ROG Xbox Ally X.
@Banjo- we're putting a focus on Valve hardware — as the easiest point of entry — similar to a console, and therefore we decided to focus on Steam too, hence the name. We're not really going to have any focus on general PC hardware here, as we're all about the games.
Thank you guys for covering the whole industry. Playdate site next?
@somnambulance we got you covered (kind of) https://www.timeextension.com/tags/playdate
Extremely happy to finally see PC site on hookshot! PCgamer desperately needs a competition.
Congratulations on the launch! Very excited to see this project grow!
Congrats on the launch! The (steam) hype is real! 🔥
Wahey, congrats on the launch gang! So excited to see where Steam Hype goes 🔥🔥🔥
Congrats on the new Site! Steam Deck/Steam Machine User here.
@antdickens The sponsorship was kind of a joke. Valve would not even sponsor their own console. 😜
It is sad to see all other PC platforms excluded, though.
Congrats on your launch! I was wondering how much longer it was going to take.
Rad!! Congrats and looking forward to this!
@Penguinpengy haha, thanks for being an Early Access tester Sorry it took a little longer.
Good timing as I’m looking to move to steam deck 2 by the time the ps5 gen ends.
Look forward to making this a regular site to visit as I do with the other hookshot sites!
@Banjo- Agreed - GOG definitely deserves its flowers and all of the coverage it can get.
congrats on the full launch!
So when the next Xbox gets the Steam store baked into its UI are Pure Xbox & Steam Hype going to have fight?
Hehe just joking and best of luck with the new site.
@RTGX our monthly Steam Hype Playlist feature will give you a good flavour of the games we're covering, and absolutely won't be focused on the "big hitters".
Congrats on the launch, I'm excited to see where this goes!
For the GOG fans maybe an extra site with a name that doesn't confuse anyone... how about goggle.com?
Great!!, I like your style in the web page and your job with the news, features and more as in your sister's pages; I waited this for the PC gaming and well, wish grated!!, I hope you a excellent journey!!
Now, a Android/IOs gaming?, because really there are games, maybe a little, yes, But, there are.
Wonderful idea! Now I have all platforms under one trusted source plus retro!
@RTGX Maybe Gog Hype, Xbox on PC Hype or my favourite, Epic Hype! 🚀
@RTGX Yup
Interesting. Will you cover all PC platforms on Steam (including macOS, Linux, Steam Deck) or just Windows?
Welcome welcome 🙂
Congratulations! Not a PC player but I hope those who are enjoy Steam Hype!
@Jeaz Steam Deck/Machine are a must for us, closely followed by Windows. But we'll cover mac/linux as much as we can. Hopefully it'll be somewhat universal one day
Super cool to see you guys open up a PC site! PC is my primary gaming spot so the site will be great for me.
Glad we are out of stealth mode and there will be more than 1-2 of us commenting on the articles. Excited to see how this site goes on over the years!
@RTGX I hear you. I would say that Epic is the least consistent of the big PC storefronts, but the name Epic Hype is kind of redundant and funny. My favourite PC store is Xbox because of Play Anywhere. But yep, Xbox and Steam are just part of the PC platform, which might become the future of gaming besides casual mobile gaming.
I was around for the launch of Nintendolife, then Push Square, Pure Xbox ( it's death and resurrection), Time Extension and now Steam Hype.
I believe I was also around for the launch of either WiiWare World or VC Reviews but my memory is a little hazy there. Back in the day all my browsing was via the Wii Browser.
@OorWullie I remember buying games on Amazon and Ebay on the Wii browser. 😂
@Banjo- It's mad eh, a different time. I plotted my move from Netherlands to Thailand on it. 18 years later, I'm still here.
@Banjo- It's a matter of practicality for the most part. The vast majority of the money spent on PC games happens on Steam, although we'll mention deals on other sites when appropriate. But also Steam narrows things down enough so that we can possibly keep up with things. We've got one full-time writer (me!) and 100+ game releases EVERY SINGLE DAY.
Did you know that some days, Itch gets 5000+ from a single game jam? That's one day in gaming. Unless you've got the means to clone another fifty of me, that's a no-go for now.
Hell yea! Congrats on the launch
I can’t wait to join the PC Master Race this year after being console peasant.
@RTGX Right. I also play on Series X most of the time. They must be ironing Xbox on PC out as we speak in time for the launch of Helix.
@OorWullie You could not have chosen a more exotic country. 😁 I had another account back then. I joined Nintendo Life a bit after the release of Wii and it was very useful for following Virtual Console and WiiWare releases, although reviews tended to be too generous.
@DominicTarason You'd better learn how to filter Steam's store! With up to 2,200 releases per month, that's a job in itself.
74% according to the latest data. Xbox on PC has 8% of the PC market. Epic just 3% (8% including free games). The remaining market share is fragmented among the other stores.
Not a fan of the name but I suppose Valve owns all the good ones. 🤷🏻♂️
Will all of Sammy’s port begging for gacha game articles wind up here? 😂 (You guys really should give Sammy his own gacha game site next. 😁)
I guess my biggest concern about this place, the comments become all about whose console of choice deserves a game more. Though I suppose if it’s only the PC master race visiting the place that won’t become a problem.
My PC gaming days are behind me, and console maybe not to far behind, but good luck to you guys, the world needs some decent competition to IGN and you guys have always run a family friendly ship. 🍾
Nice. A PC site is very welcome addition!
I'm always interested to know what's going on in the Steam world, so thank you guys for dipping a toe in. I'm looking forward to what you got!
Oh wow! Good luck! I’m not a PC gamer myself, but I’ll check by now and again.
@RazielReaver Oh, we're peasants here too, but it's a bit more egalitarian.
Nice work guys! I'll leave the downers for Nintendo Life 😹
I'm curious about this Retroid Pocket Duo and GameNative and how well Steam games will work, especially in comparison to my phone. I want to play certain games, but am looking for a benchmark or baseline to follow.
Congratulations on another site! 🎉
I was a Nintendo-only guy, but once the Steam Deck was announced, I started making a Steam wishlist. This development is very exciting!
Oh I get it. Hype rhymes with pipe!
YES!!
i just got a Steamdeck last year (my very first "capable" gaming PC) and I've felt like an absolute fish out of water ever since! This is PERFECT! ✌️❤️
Be amazing if we get the ‘no disc, no buy’ comments on Steam games! 🤣
@DominicTarason I know by calling yourself peasants you are firmly establishing a stance against PC master race stuff and please, please keep that up. I’ve been gaming on PC for over 30 years and talk about that and console peasants is awful and just heightens any divides. I’ve loved the tone of the site so far so please don’t change!
Congratz on the Launch!
Thank you so much for this! I've been wishing for years that someone would do for PC games what Nintendo Life and Time Extension do for their corners of gaming — human curation, actual personality, and people who clearly love the medium. Finally it exists. Congratulations on the launch, you've got a new daily reader here.
Nice! As someone who is primarily a console gamer this will help me learn more about Steam to go along with my Steam Deck.
I've had a Steam account that I barely used for 14 years until I bought the Steam Deck a few years ago.
Hopefully I learn about some great hidden gems for my Steam Deck.
I understand it was probably due to some back end tech reason I probably wouldn't understand, but when I went to Nintendo Life earlier today and saw I'd been signed out, I thought I'd been banned again 🤣
Cool to see a PC-focused site from Hookshot. Your sites are always laid out well and easy for my blind-ass self to read.
Sweet, a Steam specialized website, good idea ! I hope to see a lot of indies covered, hoping to see a few games I didn't hear about yet.
Congratulations on the launch. I wish you all the very best with this new venture!
Congrats guys! Will follow with interest. I'm more a GOG and Linux guy these days but as this will cover Linux by proxy, I'll be eagerly following. Obviously Valve is pretty important to my platform.
I was wondering when you guys were going to announce this site. This is awesome especially since the way consoles are currently going I am leaning more and more towards PC especially with a Steam Machine. Looking forward to seeing what you guys cover.
Excellent!
Been waiting for a site like this 😁👍👍
Cheers guys 🥳
Interesting, but on PC, I use GoG.
I can not use Windows with internet in 2026, so if I can not copy the installer into a internetless laptop, I will not play.
Plus, with this polemic about Sony and digital, I refuse to use a glorified rent store.
But since I like you guys, I will read for times to times.
Nice!! SO excited to finally have a PC/Steam focused Hookshot site.
Can I ask, how pleasant of a coincidence was it that the Steam Frame reveal just so happened to occur on the SAME DAY as your website launch?
(Or, was that planned somehow..?)
Cool, took y'all this long to finally make one for PC. Will this site be covering Linux, Mac, and portable PCs (AYA Neo, GPD Win, MSI Claw, etc.) as well or just exclusively Steam games and Steam related hardware?
This just made my day!
Nice i play on all systems so will defo be checking in and reading.
Sometimes I feel like the only Steam hater in the world, but I got into a dispute with Valve’s customer service and ended up deleting my account in frustration. Needless to say, I lost access to every game I “bought” from them (probably around two dozen titles).
I’m still a PC gamer, but as a consumer, I prioritize storefronts like GOG, Epic (which, for all its problems, technically sells a lot of DRM-free games), and even itch.io. If all of those storefronts disappeared tomorrow, I could still play most of my PC gaming library.
PC is supposed to be an open platform, so why put a company that treats access to your purchases like a privilege and not a right on such a high pedestal by calling your brand-new PC gaming site “Steam Hype”? Or are you really only interested in covering Valve’s closed ecosystem when competing storefronts need our support now more than ever?
Take it from someone who learned the hard way: the only one who wins when Steam is synonymous with PC gaming is Valve.
@Bot_Bot_69 How about Good Old Hype as a name? 🤭
Fascinating addition, this site. Unfortunately, my PC is now too old to be relevant, and my potential interest in the Steam Machine died with its underwhelming performance and overwhelming price. I'm how more curious about the convergence of Windows and consoles in gaming handheld market. I'm still not sold on Steam as a viable OS while the ROG Xbox Ally was a promising first step. I do believe the future battle will be in software than hardware.
Yes, as others say, the site name is odd. While I understand the rationale of distancing from "PC" because that is a specific type of hardware whereas Steam is a fairly universal platform and independent of device, it does alienate other platforms and sectors, especially future ones. Ultimately, it probably doesn't really matter. Whether a PC geek, GOG enthusiast, or Steam Deck owner, you probably come here regardless. The content matters more than the name.
Congrats on the launch, and I LOVE IT!!! Just not looking forward to every article having people complaining about Steam itself. Hoooo boy.
Missed opportunity to call the site Steam Punks 😂
Seems like a sensible move with an inevitable rise in PC users on the horizon.
This is cool. I'm not a massive Steam player because the games selection is overwhelming and the recommendations are very soulless feeling, so I'm looking forward to these articles!!
Congrats on the launch guys!
Awesome. Congrats on the launch and looking forward to what you do with the site! Given launchers and streaming tools available on Steam Deck (so Linux in general) this is basically coverage of anything playable on any Valve hardware 🙂
What does "partnered commercially with IGN" mean?
Happy to finally have a PC destination within Hookshot!
Been hovering over the "buy" button for a Rog Ally X for some time now so I'll be lurking on here for the forseeable, I don't doubt
Congratulations! Not familiar with hookshot (nice to meet everyone!) but Dominic is one of my favorite curators and reviews who has led me to a handful of absolutely stellar experiences. Looking forward to visiting the site frequently.
Great news, mainly a lurker, but a big fan of Nintendo Life, Push Square, Pure Xbox and Time Extension. One happy guy today.
Delighted to see you guys. Long time supporter on Push and Pure and recently got a Steam Machine, so your site seems ideal!
This is awesome congrats on the launch!
I have been a fan of NintendoLife for years now since whenever I discovered it after I got back into gaming around 2018 with a Nintendo New 3DS XL and then the Switch and Switch 2. Early this year I added a low (-ish) cost gaming laptop so I could partake in the GOG and Steam ecosystems, so I am excited that there is now a Hookshot site covering the PC gaming space!
Nice. I split my gaming pretty evenly between PC/Steam Deck and Switch 2, so a site like this is perfect for me.
@Ralizah So many games for me to choose from on Steam…😆
@Daggot we partnered with Gamer Network back when Eurogamer was independent. Essentially, they represent our sites when it comes to selling ads. When IGN acquired Gamer Network, they also acquired the contract that lets them represent our sites for ad sales, along with a minority shareholding. This is detailed in our Ownership & Funding policy. Aside from ad sales, we operate independently.
Awriiiight let's gooooooo!
I dont like the word "hype" or the consonant cluster "mhyp" in the URL.
Was "Steam Age" already taken?
How about Steam Power?
Happy to see a news site for the little games. Hope to see it grow.
I wonder if they'll dedicate one page to the Epic Games Store and another to GOG.
@antdickens appreciated
Congrats! Coming from the Nintendo Life network, I'm sure the quality will be incredible.
Hope you bring sections like "What are you playing this weekend?" as I always discover gems there.
Glad to be here!
@antdickens Just wanted to let you know I was just going through my spam folder and had a reply from here - steamhype - in the spam folder. Probably just b/c the site is new but I thought I’d let you know in case there’s something on your end. Never had a reply email from NL or PS in spam before, not even early on.
I told my email program - yahoo app on iPad - it wasn’t spam so it moved it over. I’ll let you know if it happens again if I find my way to the site.
@rjejr yeah, it'll be because it's a new domain — annoyingly we've done everything on the technical side to confirm/validate the domain, but some email providers will still mark as spam when they don't recognise it. Thanks though!
@antdickens Just thought I’d let you know your reply came through ok. I’m guessing my email program was smart enough to figure it out after I told it the last one wasn’t spam.
Oh and I commented on an article on the site, found my way there from the partner link at the bottom of the page. I didn’t really have much to say but I always feel bad for the writers having 0 or 1 comments. I was basically the only person commenting on Sammy’s site for about a year before you merged the sites and things picked up on PS.
So, you promoting this place on social media? I’m not on Twitter much anymore but I can go give you a follow and a shout out, can’t hurt. I’m mostly on Bluesky and Instagram. I suppose I can go look you up on my own.
@antdickens Ok so I followed SH on BS where you’ve already passed 1k so congrats on that. Twitter where you’re only at 63 which is weird b/c that seems much more a gamer place to me than BS but I’m happy for you b/c Twitter is evil. And I think I was 6th or 16th on IG, maybe the underscore is slowing you down, but that’s ok no one is going on IG for anything other than Sammy’s booth babe photos. 😂
Thinks that everything for me. Good luck.
Congratulations on the new site guys. Looking forward to seeing what you cook up.
Though on the other hand I already spend far too long on Hookshot, my productivity curses you!
The duality of life.
So a PC games site that is focussed on the Steam Machine and Steam store seems quite niche for a very open part of the gaming landscape that is the PC, but OK, I'll keep an eye on this.
Good luck, I hope it goes well, I enjoy your sister sites.
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