In context: Steam has long let players permanently remove games from their accounts. One user ended up using that option far more than they wanted to as a result of years of depressive and manic episodes. Plenty of the games they deleted were ones they'd played and loved, so they eventually asked Steam Support if any could be brought back. Less than 14 hours later, an agent replied to say the games had been restored.
The user, who goes by 3lizardintrenchcoat on Reddit, shared the support ticket on r/Steam in late November 2025. In it, they admitted the request felt "insane and over the top" before asking whether some of the paid games they had deleted over the years could be brought back.
They also offered an easier fallback in case that wasn't possible. All they wanted was a list of every game they'd ever played on the account, free ones included. As they pointed out, Steam's purchase history only shows games that are still active and that were paid for, so it couldn't fill in the gaps on its own.
An agent named Lucy replied early the next morning, confirming a restore to the user's library. If anything still seemed to be missing, she offered to send over the full list of previously owned games, too.
The story got a second life this week after the Waste.gg account posted a screenshot of the exchange on X. That post described it as a restore of the user's "entire game library" and has since crossed 2.2 million views. Strictly speaking, though, the reply only mentions "your game" in the singular, so exactly how many titles came back hasn't been confirmed.
– Waste.gg (@skinwaste) November 3, 2026
Valve's support team has racked up a few of these moments lately. Back in June, it sent a new dad a free Steam Deck OLED carrying case after his newborn threw up on the original. He had only asked whether he could buy a new one. Gestures like that arguably carry a bit more weight coming from a store that, since 2024, reminds buyers at checkout that a purchase only gets them a license.
Even so, Steam's "permanent" removal tool has never been quite as final as its name suggests. Anyone who remembers a removed game can search for it through Steam Support, choose "It's not in my library," and restore the old license in a couple of clicks. But Steam doesn't provide players with a list of the games they've removed. That's the exact gap this user ran into before support stepped in.