Steam Appraiser — Main Darkness

Professional price evaluation for Steam games and wishlists based on age, reviews, and market value

"Steam Appraiser" evaluates the price and grades of games based on their age, user reviews, and market value to help users make informed decisions about purchasing games. The calculator takes into account a game's potential lifetime and adjusts it based on user reviews to provide an accurate evaluation of the game's worth (deprecated values).

V1.4 release update: includes management of the Steam categories with different overlays, 4 theme, classic, glass (transparent), black marble, silver white (white glass). Overlays now can be resized and draggable.

Steam Appraiser is designed to help gamers avoid making impulsive purchases based solely on discounts. Instead, it encourages them to consider a game's actual worth before buying.

🏷️ Discount Ratings
Not all discounts are created equal. Most of the time, editors are just returning the price to what it should already be. Here's how we rate them:

• POOR — The discount doesn't even reach the deprecated price. Still better than full price, but maybe there are more honest editors than this one — check alternatives. (Above deprecated price + 5%)
• FAIR — Most discounts are just editors returning the price to a normal deprecated price in a competitive market. Nothing grand or to be thankful about, this is around what should be the "normal" price. (Around deprecated price ± 5%)
• WARM — This is under the deprecated price and it's an honest move to offer a real discount. (Below deprecated price by 5%)
• NICE — This is a nice discount. (Below deprecated price by 20%+)
• EPIC — Wow getting hyped... or not. (Below deprecated price by 35%+)
• LEGENDARY — Difficult to find something discounted more than that. (Below deprecated price by 50%+)

📊 Grading System
Games are graded from S+ (best) to F (worst) based on multiple factors:
S+ / S — Exceptional and treasured.
A+ / A — Very solid choice.
B+ / B — Honest.
C — Risky... U sure ?
D — Poor value, check reviews?
E / F / F- — Just walk away...

🔢 How It Works
The estimated fair price is built on a dynamic depreciation model:

Game Age: Based on a ~7 year potential lifetime, using an exponential depreciation curve.
Review Score: Praiseworthy games earn a longer lifetime (10–11 years), while painful experiences shorten it (4–6 years).

Global Review Count and community rating: Popular games maintain their value better.
After reviews, "AAA studio rating" has been removed from the calculus — I didn't find any conclusive evidence about impact on lifetime and value.

💡 How to Use
Browse Steam as normal
The overlay appears automatically on game pages
Check the grade (large letter) for an instant assessment
View estimated fair price vs current price
Click "Would you like to know more?" for the detailed breakdown
Use Parameters to change visual style

⚙️ Features
Multiple Styles: Standard, Glass, Black Marble, or Silver White themes
Draggable: Move the overlay by dragging the header
Resizable: Dynamic resize
Compact Frames: See grades on wishlist and category pages
Smart Detection: Handles free games, unknown discounts, and special cases
International Languages: Working on expanding language support

⚠️ Limitations
This is a mathematical model — even with a finer and flexible approach it will always have limits and will not keep up with exceptions and weird games.

• Scraping by nature: This is a scraping tool. Even made resilient and adaptable, the scraping → parsing → calculating → grading pipeline can take time to refresh if you scroll at high speed.
• Niche games may not follow standard pricing patterns
• Regional pricing differences are not accounted for
• Your personal value assessment may differ — and that's nice !