How to Downgrade a Steam Game: All the Steps You Need to Take
If you’ve purchased a game on Steam, you probably cherish your copy. After all, only you can decide if the game is worth keeping or not. However, not every game is made equally.
Some are designed to be played on certain hardware at a certain time of day with supervision. If you play them too much or too hard, they get boring fast. They might even be broken and not worth playing anymore. For example, some games are so difficult to keep playing that they almost discourage users from replaying them again and again. Obviously, this is something most people won’t tolerate for long. It’s why many gamers turn to downgrading their steam games once they have finished playing them or don’t play them anymore.
What is downgrading a Steam game?
Downgrading a game is essentially the process of returning a purchased game to the original version that you purchased. You can downgrade a game if you feel you’ve played the game enough or that it’s too difficult for you. When you downgrade a game, you lose all the progress that you have made in the game.
Therefore, if you have recently completed a game, you will have to start again from scratch. You may also find that some of the achievements are unachievable by you. This is because some of the achievements are linked to specific Steam games and will only become available once you have upgraded them to a certain level. Downgrading is also known as “uninstalling” a game from your Steam library. It is a great option for those of you that are finished with the game and you want to get your money back.
However, if you aren’t careful, you may also lose all of your achievements in the process. Downgrading doesn’t always work. Sometimes you can’t get it to work and you lose your progress. It’s best to only do this as a last resort.
How to downgrade a Steam game
Downgrading a game is as simple as downloading Steam’s original game installer and re-installing the game. There are no complicated steps you have to follow. You can follow this step-by-step guide to help you. If you have installed a game with Steam, navigate to the game’s library on Steam. Right-click on the game and select “Properties”.
In the “General” tab, click on the “Local game storage” and choose the drive where the game files are located. On the same tab, click on the “Show additional details” and write down the path. You will need this path in the next step. Open your Steam installation. Navigate to “Games” and select the game that you want to downgrade. Right-click on the game that you want to downgrade and select “Create Steam Stub”. This will create a new Steam game with only the required files to play the game.
Which games allow you to downgrade?
There is no definite answer to this question and it completely depends on the game developer. However, there are some games that allow you to downgrade to older versions. These games are exclusively designed so that you can downgrade to an older version and even uninstall the game.
Some examples of such games are:
– Civilization VI: You can downgrade your game to get access to the older Civ VI version.
– The Sims 4: You can downgrade your game to get access to the older Sims 4 version.
– Overwatch: You can downgrade your game to a non-expiring version of the game where you can earn a full set of rewards without spending anything.
Downgrading options
If you are downgrading a game, you have a few options available to you.
– Downgrade to a previous version of the game. This option is available if the game allows you to downgrade to an older version.
– Downgrade to an older, non-expiring version of the game. This option is available if the game allows you to downgrade to an older version.
– Uninstall the game. This option is available only if the game allows you to uninstall the game.
Pros and cons of downgrading a game
Downgrading a game is an excellent option if you have finished with a game and you don’t want to spend money on a new copy. You will save a lot of money. On the downside, you might lose some of the achievements from the game and some of the Steam Trading Cards. You might also find that some Steam Community features are broken and not worth completing.
It is recommended that you only downgrade a game if you feel you have completed playing the game completely. You also need to understand that you might have trouble getting some of the achievements from the game again. You can also downgrade a game only if you don’t care about the achievements. You can then just play the game casually and don’t mind losing Trading Cards and achievements.
Final Words
If you are done playing a game on Steam, you can downgrade it to get your money back. Downgrading is an excellent way to get your money back on a game that you’re done with. It’s also a great way to backup your game libraries and make sure that you have a copy of any games that you’re interested in playing in the future.
