ABOUT
The value desk for Steam.
Steam BANGERS scores every game on Steam for one thing: whether the price matches what you get. One number, 0 to 100. The BANG Score.
Games are art, and worth is subjective. Length is a design choice, not a measure of value. The score reads value-fit: the price against how a game reviews and how long it was built to be. A great short game is a BANGER. A long game that drags is not.
It is an absolute score, not a curve. A game's number does not change because some other game launched.
What goes in
- Value: the price against how long the game really is, floored by what its genre is supposed to be, so a short game built to be short is not punished for it.
- Reviews: the Steam review score, the strongest signal of whether a game delivers. Reviews set the ceiling; price and length only move you within it.
- Engagement: how far players actually get, from public achievement stats. It only reserves the very top of the scale, it does not sink a game.
- Monetization: in-app purchases drag the score down, graded by how aggressive they are. Cosmetic is a light touch; loot boxes and pay-to-win are heavy. Source: PCGamingWiki.
We weigh these into one number. We never publish the weights: the recipe is the one part that stays ours. Everything else, including the data sources, is on the table.
The tiers
How to read a verdict
Every game page opens with one command, derived from the tier and the game's own BANGER price. It means exactly what it says:
- BUY IT: a BANGER or worth it at today's price. No waiting game to play.
- WAIT: the game gets there at a lower price. The page names the exact price to watch for.
- NO RUSH: fair value. Buy it if you want it; a sale just makes it sweeter.
- SKIP IT: the value is not there at any realistic price.
Below the verdict, each input wears a grade from S to D, read from the buyer's side: an S in Reviews means the reviews push the score up hard, a D in Engagement means few players ever finish it. A ▼ marks a dock (monetization, early access, a missing input). The grades explain the score; they never change it.
The honest parts
- Value is estimated from the current price, not what you paid. Dollars-per-hour uses the game's length, not your personal playtime.
- A great game at a steep price-per-hour is still only "worth it", not a BANGER. That part is on purpose.
- A game needs enough reviews to be scored at all. Better a gap than a guess.
- Scores rebuild about every hour from fresh crawl data; the home and each game page show when it was last updated.
What it does not do
- Not affiliated with Valve or Steam.
- No tracking of your library or personal-purchase data. Sign in with Steam is opt-in, only for your own picks.
From the heart
Games are subjective, and one number can't hold what a game means to you. Some of my favorite games of all time aren't BANGERS, for one reason or another: too short for the price, a niche that reviews never rewarded, a slow burn the math doesn't catch. I love them anyway, and a low score doesn't make me wrong about that.
So don't take a low score personally. The BANG Score answers one narrow question for one specific person: the budget-conscious gamer working out where a limited dollar should go. That was me, counting out twenty dollars and needing it to count. A "skip" only means the price is ahead of the value right now, for someone on a budget. If a game looks like your thing, buy it. The right game is always worth the money.
Common questions
What is the BANG Score?
The BANG Score rates every game on Steam from 0 to 100 for one thing: whether the price matches what you get. It reads value for money, not taste.
How is the BANG Score calculated?
It weighs the current price against how long the game really is, the Steam review score, how far players actually get from public achievement stats, and how aggressive the in-app purchases are. The exact weights stay private; every data source is public.
Is the BANG Score the same as a review score?
No. A review score measures whether a game is good. The BANG Score measures whether it is worth the money. A great game at a steep price per hour can still be only worth it, not a BANGER.
Where does the data come from?
Valve and Steam, HowLongToBeat for length, SteamSpy for ownership, IsThereAnyDeal for price history, and PCGamingWiki for monetization mechanics.
How often is it updated?
Scores rebuild about every hour from fresh crawl data, so prices and scores stay current. The home page and every game page show when they were last updated.
Is Steam BANGERS free?
Yes. Every score and page is free to read. There is also a free API and an MCP server so developers and AI assistants can query a game's value.
Contact
Found a bug, a wrong score, or have an idea? Email support@steambangers.com.