Curious how people view the steam deck and if most/all their games are supported?
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The only things I’ve found that just straight up don’t work on the deck are things with draconian anti-cheat (which don’t work on Linux in general, not just the deck), and very old titles that have weirdly restrictive resolutions or control schemes or whathaveyou. Some games require some tweaking (mostly around controls, occasionally changing the Proton version, which is very easy to do within Steam), but generally that’s been minor. The things that don’t work well are typically things you wouldn’t expect to work anyway.
It’s worth noting that it makes it very easy to remap controls, even for games that don’t natively support controllers or don’t let you remap the controls at all normally. You can also invoke an onscreen keyboard as needed (for e.g. typing names). The controller mapping is very strong; it’s not limited only to single buttons; you can create custom contextual radial menus, for instance, so even games that need many more unique controls than the Deck has buttons work fine with some tweaking. You can also view / download / rate other users’ control mappings for any game that has them, so you don’t even need to do the work yourself.
It’s a fantastic piece of hardware for gaming. Looks great, feels great. It’s a bit large (won’t fit in a pocket, obviously), but that shouldn’t be a problem for anyone who would reasonably want a handheld gaming PC. It’s not a phone or a Gameboy.
I was without a desktop PC for a week or so due to a hardware failure, and was able to do everything I needed to do on the Steam Deck (with a USB mouse/keyboard, plugged into a monitor via a dock). So it’s a great piece of hardware even for that.
and very old titles that have weirdly restrictive resolutions or control schemes or whathaveyou.
This is correct, but as an addendum, for a lot of very old games (that don’t fall into that previous category), it’s usually easier to get them working under Linux than it is under Windows. Go figure.
The funny thing is that we started buying MORE games after getting it and filtering steam for the ones that work best.
It completely replaced the Nintendo Switch as our party platform, we have been adding piles of local multi player games to it and using multiple Xbox controllers with it docked around the main TV most of the time.
I think when it comes to how many titles work it is going to depend on your gaming preferences. If you play a lot of EA games or Ubisoft games it is clunky to get their store loaders going sometimes or at a min you get prompted to sign in via onscreen keyboard which is a PITA sometimes and there is lower support.
Steam native games however are great.
I love mine, but if you’re not a gamer it probably won’t be a good device for you.
The biggest advantages of the Deck (in my opinion) are it’s portability, and the ability to suspend mid game. I used to play games primarily on my computer, but as a father I had to mostly drop playing games. I can’t afford to lock myself away from my wife/kids for long periods of time, and there are frequently interruptions (kids crying, someone’s hungry, wife needs help, etc) that makes it hard to know how long I have to play before I need to be able to stop playing. Due to this, I had stopped playing PC games almost completely. I still played phone and Nintendo Switch games some, but these both have downsides (most phone games suck and the controls limit what games are viable, nintendo switch games are overpriced and I have to compete with the kids for it).
The steam deck solved my game issues, and really let me play games freely again. I can play for short bursts, and if I need to stop I can just suspend and pick up in the same place later. It’s been a great device for me, but I was someone who wanted to be playing games and lacked time/freedom to do it.
In comparison though, when I upgraded to an OLED deck I sold my LCD deck, and I know that the person I sold it to hasn’t gotten very much use out of it. He’s generally less into games than I am, and when he wants to play he can play on his PC without issues. He didn’t have much of a use-case for the Steam Deck outside of trips.
So in summary, the deck is a fantastic piece of hardware, but it’s really dependent on what you want out of a device that will determine if it’s something that will be good for you personally.
I bought my OLED deck a few months ago, and whatever the opposite of buyer’s remorse is, that’s what I have. I love it more every day and I think the ideal Personal Media Device. I travel a lot and I have tons of games, movies, and even ebooks on the device which completely changes the complexion of long flights for me.
It’s so customizable and versatile.
I use mine to play some Steam games and to run emulators. I haven’t had any compatibility issues, but I also tend to stick to games that are Steam Deck verified.
As far as how good it is, it’s the only handheld pc I’ve used personally, but from reviews and discussions I’ve seen, despite other handhelds being more powerful, Steam Deck is a solid contender because of its price point and SteamOS being purpose-built for a handheld, whereas Windows is not.
I have a gaming PC with an R7 5800X and an RTX 3080 hooked up to a 38” Ultrawide monitor
Since I got my Steam Deck, the PC setup mostly collects dust. Being able to lay on the couch and play games while watching TV shows with my SO became a lot more appealing than going into another room to sit upright at a desk. Games in bed while watching Saturday morning cartoons? Yes please!
As far as games are concerned, the majority of things run at acceptable framerates. For the exceptions, you can always stream from a PC over the network and the battery life is incredible when you play that way. This also applies to games with restrictive anti-cheat.
It’s great for offline, singleplayer games. Unfortunately some multiplayer games just refuse to work on Linux, because of the anti-cheat. But I mostly use my Steam Deck when I’m traveling and have a very poor or no internet connection, so I can only play singleplayer games anyway.
I love mine. I have a pc i havnt used for gaming in years because its in another room. Bought a steam deck, now i get to play all my pc games on the couch
Honestly it’s become my gaming PC. It’s weird to say but the piece of kit has held its own and at this point if I want to okay a pc game in the living room I turn to the steamdeck more than anything else.
This is what I use it as, not portable but as a console replacement
I have over 1,000 games on Steam and I’ve yet to run into any game that doesn’t just work, outside of a very limited few online games, which I wouldn’t really want to be playing on the Steam Deck anyway since those games are generally played on mouse and keyboard. And VR games, but that should be a given lol.
The Steam Deck is a great piece of hardware, I use it as a regular computer for recording audiobooks, I used it for gaming and it’s been stellar
Every now and then you run into games where you lose a ton of time trying to figure out a good controller mapping to play it properly, but in terms of working, most stuff do.
Oh and the battery can drain out pretty fast too.
I’ve definitely gone to far with that, but I kinda of enjoy it. The amount of options there are particularly with being able to map a button to the mouse moving somewhere, clicking, and moving back, have made some games feel like they have native controller support when they don’t
Love mine too! I held off until the oled refresh. I’m going to continuously get the latest version now that I’m totally convinced it’s the most superior gaming format.
Its no 4090 ti but it ain’t trying to be and it’s only going to get better. I’ve been playing through my backlog and everything I chuck at it runs amazing.
It’s fantastic, especially for non-gamers.
There’s a huge library of cozy games, and arcade games, and retro games, and adventure RPGs, exploration games, puzzle games that all run terrific on a SteamDeck.
The average randomly selected game from my Steam Library has run fine for me, on my SteamDeck.
If they ever make a smaller model with a clam shell to protect the screen, it’ll be the perfect game system.
I got the steam deck to play older games and games that aren’t on my console of choice.
None of the games I play have given me any trouble, but I find myself starting each new game with a ritual of performance optimization tweaks. It could be anything from adjusting graphical settings to capping frame rates to changing the default resolution scaling, and sometimes I’ll revisit these during my playthrough. It doesn’t bother me all that much, but playing on a proper console is less hassle.
Not all of the games are supported on the controller. I use it alot with a mouse and keyboard too. Sold my gaming laptop. Didn’t need it anymore
