This guide is for people who have just built or bought a gaming PC, or who are coming from consoles or mobile and keep hearing "just get it on Steam." By the end you will know what Steam actually is, how to set up an account and the client sensibly, where your purchases live, which built-in features are worth turning on from day one, and the beginner mistakes that cause the most trouble later.
Anyone who has been gaming since the days of boxed discs and printed serial numbers remembers digging through drawers for install media every time they changed computers. Steam moved that whole process online, which is a large part of why it became a default install on so many gaming PCs.
What Steam Is
Steam is a digital distribution platform launched in 2003 by Valve, the American studio behind the Half-Life, Counter-Strike and Portal series and Dota 2. It started mainly as a way to deliver updates for Valve's own games, then opened up to other developers and publishers and grew into one of the main ways PC games are sold.
In practice Steam does three jobs at once:
- A store: browse, buy and pre-order games and downloadable content (DLC), with prices shown in your local currency where Steam supports it.
- A library and launcher: it downloads, updates and starts the games you own.
- A community: friends, chat, user reviews, discussion forums, the Workshop for mods, screenshots and guides all live in the same place.
Getting Set Up: Account and Client
Both the account and the client are free. A sensible order of operations:
- Type store.steampowered.com into your browser yourself rather than following an ad or a link someone sent you.
- Choose "Sign in", then create a new account and verify your email address.
- Understand that your account name (used to sign in) and your profile name (what others see) are different. Keep the account name private and avoid making it identical to your public nickname.
- Download the Steam installer from the official site, install it and sign in.
- Install the official Steam mobile app, turn on the Steam Guard Mobile Authenticator and write down the recovery code somewhere safe. Our account security guide (Steam Account Security) walks through this in detail.
- In the client's Settings, choose your language and set a default install location. If you have a larger secondary drive, add it as a library folder under the storage settings.
Reading a Store Page
Beginners tend to look at the cover art and the price. These parts of a store page usually matter more:
- User reviews: Steam shows both recent and all-time review summaries. Recent reviews tell you how the game is doing after its latest updates.
- Supported languages: interface, full audio and subtitles are listed separately. Traditional and Simplified Chinese are listed as different languages, so check carefully if that matters to you.
- System requirements: minimum and recommended specs. Compare them against your graphics card, processor and memory.
- Early Access: these games are still in development, so content and stability may be incomplete.
- Editions and bundles: a game may be sold as a standard edition, a deluxe edition and a bundle with DLC. Compare what each one actually contains.
Paying for games
Steam accepts credit and debit cards and a range of regional payment methods, plus prepaid Steam Wallet cards sold in many retail stores. In some countries, including Taiwan, wallet codes are commonly bought at convenience stores. The options available to you are shown at checkout and change over time.
The Library: Where Your Games Live
Once you buy a game it is tied to your account and appears in the Library tab of the client. You can sign in on another computer and download it again, with no disc required. Keep in mind that what you buy is a license to play, not a physical item, and activated games generally cannot be resold or moved to another account.
Useful things to know about the library:
- Right-click a game and choose "Manage" to browse local files, verify the integrity of game files or uninstall.
- You can create collections to group games by genre, progress or anything else.
- Uninstalling never removes the game from your account. You can reinstall at any time.
Built-in Features Worth Knowing
Steam Cloud
Games that support Steam Cloud sync their saves automatically, so your progress follows you to a new PC. Not every game supports it; check the feature list on the store page.
Refunds
Steam has an official refund process. The standard guideline is a request within 14 days of purchase and with less than 2 hours of playtime; check Steam's official support pages for the current rules. It is a safety net for a purchase that does not work out, not a substitute for a demo.
Wishlist
Add games you are interested in to your wishlist and Steam can notify you when they go on sale. Our wishlist guide (Steam Wishlist Guide) covers the settings.
Workshop, discussions and guides
Many games support the Steam Workshop, where you can subscribe to community-made mods, maps and cosmetic items. When you run into a problem, a game's community hub often has guides written by other players.
Steam Input
The client includes a controller configuration layer that lets you remap buttons for many gamepads, which is especially handy for games without native controller support.
Steam Deck and other platforms
In 2022 Valve released the Steam Deck, a handheld PC running the Linux-based SteamOS that can play compatible games from your existing library. The desktop client runs on Windows, macOS and Linux, though each game's supported operating systems are listed individually on its store page.
Two Meanings of "Free"
"Free" on Steam can mean two different things. Free-to-play games are always free and usually funded by in-game purchases. Separately, paid games are sometimes given away for a limited time, and anything you claim during that window stays in your library permanently. Our site tracks the second kind on our free games page (Free Games).
Common Mistakes
- Signing in through a link someone sent you: "free game" or "vote for my team" links are a classic route to fake login pages. Always sign in through the official site or the client.
- Not checking languages before buying: many games lack a language you might assume is included.
- Judging a deal by the percentage alone: a big number does not make a game a good fit. Read the reviews and be honest about whether you will play it.
- Sharing your account or password: if a shared account is compromised or breaks the rules, the account holder bears the loss. For families, Steam has official family sharing features.
- Skipping two-factor authentication: without the mobile authenticator your account is easier to steal, and some trading features are restricted.
FAQ
Q: Does Steam charge a monthly fee?
No. The account and the client are free; you pay only for what you buy. Individual games may have their own subscriptions or in-game purchases, but that is up to each game.
Q: Can I resell or transfer games I bought on Steam?
Games activated on your account generally cannot be transferred. If you want to give someone a game, choose "Purchase as a gift" at checkout and it will be delivered to their account.
Q: Do I need to buy my games again on a new PC?
No. Install Steam on the new computer, sign in with the same account and download your games again. Saves sync too for games that support Steam Cloud.
Q: Can I buy games without a credit card?
Usually yes. Prepaid Steam Wallet cards and various local payment methods are supported in many regions. The checkout page shows what is available where you live.
Q: Do Steam games always need an internet connection?
Online multiplayer obviously does. Many single-player games can run in Steam's offline mode, provided you have signed in on that computer while online beforehand. Some games add their own online requirements, which are noted on the store page.