[xnorswap]

The only game that I know that uses steam workshop for mods is Rimworld.

It works okay, but it's a little clunky. Discoverability is weird. It's concept of "recently trending" etc produces some dubious recommendations.

Actually installing mods is kind of okay, but it doesn't handle pre-requisites very well. It'll tell you that you're missing pre-reqs, but it doesn't offer to install them.

It's a positive feedback issue, where because games don't tend to use workshop, it doesn't get much love from valve, and therefore games avoid it.

I don't know how much workshop allows developers to do curation either, so perhaps games would rather partner with a platform they can better influence mod curation.

It's definitely preferable as a user compared to the worst-of-all-worlds that is Stardew Valley modding. There you have a combination of "Here, download this exe, it's fine we promise" (SMAPI), and nexus mods for the discoverability / install / updates of the mods themselves.

[SOLAR_FIELDS]

There was some Hungarian? developer that runs https://rimworldbase.com/. I used to use it before I switched to Steam Workshop since it usually unfortunately falls behind (or at least did when I used it several years ago). That one is better for discoverability at least. The auto-update package management functionality of Steam Workshop is its killer feature. I can click a single button and get the latest updated versions of all my mods.

I'm usually opposed to Steam on principle, opting instead for DRM free options for my games, but it's basically impossible to maintain any decent amount of mods without a manager like what Steam Workshop offers