Been thinking about getting a steam deck. Talk me in or out of it. I’ve got a desktop, but thinking something handheld would be good when I want to sit on the couch. What are your favorite and least favorite things about your steam deck?
It’s great for playing slower paced games, not so great for shooters etc, anything that really relies on the fast accuracy of a mouse (at least in handheld which is all I use mine for). A good way to start working through the backlog of cozy indie freebies we’ve all been pointlessly gathering from Epic.
Big downside for me is the size and weight, I’m a woman with stereotypically slender hands and this thing was definitely designed for someone with a slightly longer reach.
My girlfriend has a similar complaint. Hours upon hours poured into Civilization VI, but after long sessions her arms get tired from holding it up due to the weight. Haven’t heard any complaints about reach though, but maybe that’s not as big of a deal as the weight.
My case has a kick stand. If I’m holding it too long and not docking it I’m not ashamed to just prop it up, hook up an external controller, and keep playing.
For shooters it definitely depends on the game and your preferred play style. Case in point, Halo (both MCC and Infinite) plays well for me since I’ve been playing since OG Xbox days; the Deck makes for a really good handheld experience.
That’s fair, I don’t play a whole lot of them so some probably work better than others. But I’m also shite at them and need all the help I can get, which usually means a mouse 😄
Shooters are wonderful with Gyro. Like Roboquest or Gunfire Reborn with just the right settings can feel amazing. But online shooters like Battlebit Remastered I definitely recommend using a bigger screen for such smaller details in the distance that could kill you.
Also the d-pad, although I have a very early release version, is atrocious. Only useful for inventory and not for actual older games or fighters because the diagonals require ridiculous squeezing to input. I might need to do a tape modification of something.
Other than that, the Deck is absolutely amazing!
You just described what i was looking for. I found myself using my old work laptop to get into some of those slower paced/less resource intensive games while on the couch with the dogs, but it’s pretty awkward and clunky that way.
If you get used to using the touchpads+gyro, shooters are suddenly very fun to play as your accuracy is much batter than with the sticks.
Yeah I do most of my gaming on a laptop but the Deck is much more convenient if I’m playing something fairly simple. Sounds like it’s exactly what you need, you can just rest it on top of whichever dog is currently lying across your lap!
the deck is fantastic for couch lounging or playing in bed
It was honestly a life saver for me. I got Long Covid and became increasingly bed bound. The Deck enabled me to somewhat keep me sanity by playing in bed.
And that way I don’t have to fight with my kids over the desktop PC. Although they sometimes want the Deck for those games that play better with a gamepad.
Simultaneous play also showed the dark side of Steam. Unless one of the devices is offline you cannot play two games from one Steam library at the same time. Luckily I also have many games on Battle.net, GOG and on my old discs, so I can easily move to another game in case of a clash.
I’m currently playing Spider-Man Miles Morales and having a blast.
We had issues with simultaneous play as well. So we ended up with 2 steam libraries and 2 gaming PCs.
Put one of the steam instances into offline mode then you can play on 2 machines.
Yes, I know. Stupid workaround to an artificial problem.
Honestly, I love it for what it is. It nails almost everything I want. Yeah it can get a little hot. Yeah the battery should be improved at some point. But I am 100% happy with what I got.
Only thing I don’t like is certain devs screaming their eyes out about refusing to support Linux, implementing DRM, and that Linux users are ‘cheaters’ (we are not).
Its a new market. Embrace it or be left behind, because I am starting to avoid games that don’t play nicely with Proton
Favorite things:
- Steam library available in my hand
- Impressive capability in a (relatively) compact form factor
- The smell (you’ll know)
Least favorite:
- The urge to spend more time tweaking it than gaming on it (could also be a favorite)
- Limited SSD sizes (see above: tweaking it)
- Battery life (but the capabilities!)
All in all, I had the available cash and it’s been a lot of fun. I’ve definitely wasted more money on less, but I’d get one all over again if I had to.
Looking forward to experiencing ‘the smell’
For me:
Positives:
- It runs Linux, I am a big Linux fan so this is a big plus for me because it helps advance Linux gaming.
- It has better emulation capability than almost anything else.
- It’s more affordable than alternatives.
- It has great battery life vs power especially for emulation.
- It has enough power it can handle almost any game you can think of running at least at 30 FPS.
- It’s pretty comfortable despite it’s large size (that’s what she said).
Negatives:
- Mine had a stuck B button despite them saying Q2 2022 units would have it fixed, I had to sand down the edge of the case where the button would get stuck, sliding the 240 grit sandpaper back and forth between the button and the case with.
- Mine has the noisy Delta fan, this isn’t a huge problem honestly I don’t even find it that noticable but it may bother some people to varying degrees.
- It’s a bit bulky, but it’s also understandable and the large screen is pretty nice.
It’s my favourite gaming handheld device I have ever had. I’d absolutely recommend one.
I have an early Q3 deck, and I’ve never had any issues with a sticking b-button. So maybe you got unlucky and ended up with one shortly before the change or something.
I gotta admit, two of my friends who pre-ordered on a whim and ended selling theirs had perfect units, and I was looking forward to mine so much and would never sell it, I was the one to get a “faulty” unit I was pretty angry lol.
With that said, after I fixed the button, it’s now been the perfect device for me. I heard the ROG Ally has similar stuck buttons but even worse than the Deck had so that would have made me way more angry lol
The ROG Ally had buttons that would press flat with the faceplate, and had sharp edges. So if you pushed it down unevenly at all it would dip beneath the faceplate and get stuck. Multiple reviewers reported it as a frequent issue, but supposedly Asus was going to fix it before shipping pre-orders.
It’s more than a gaming device, has a linux desktop (I used it as multitrack recorder with a Behringer X32), you can use it docked as a console. Good look and feel, (almost) your whole steam library otg and you support Valve in improving proton which helps linux gamers.
edit: you can install heroic launcher too and access the epic games store
my favorite thing is how open it is. the usb-c port is the latest at the time of finalizing the specs with nothing added or taken away. its a linux desktop you can do damn near anything on. my least favorite is the fact it onl has one usb-c port. literally all they need is a second one.
Best is the sleep function. Combined with it being a dedicated gaming device (I’m not using it for work etc) I can leave a game open on it for weeks. No boot up times, no loading into game times, just press the power button, play as long as I’m able, and back to sleep.
Controls are great too. The addition of the highly versatile trackpads, 4 back buttons, gyro, and steam input settings has ruined other controllers for me. I have a dock but rarely use it because I miss the extra buttons and controls when using a different controller.
What I love about the steam deck:
It can play most of my library flawlessly.
I can relax on the couch and watch TV while I play games.
The buttons and controls are excellent and I can game for several hours.
What I dislike about the steam deck:
Sometimes it gets really hot after an intense gaming session.
The battery life isn’t the greatest. (Although I usually have a charger close by.)
WiFi kinda sucks on it. I use a cheap Ethernet dongle when I need to install games.
Sometimes my eyes hurt and get blurry if I use the deck too long. My advice is to take a break from time to time once I realized that the culprit was the steam deck.
My absolute favorite thing is that it runs Linux. I love being able to ssh into my Steam Deck so I can back up save files, tweak game configs, and just generally do whatever the hell I want with it. I’ve been running Linux exclusively for 6-7 years now, and anything that doesn’t let me easily get a shell via ssh just feels suffocating. I do all of my file management in a shell (absolutely no graphical file managers, I can’t stand them), so the Deck feels like a natural extension of my desktop and laptop with Linux and ssh.
My least favorite thing? Probably the screen. I wish it was brighter. I’d love if SteamOS implemented some burn-in mitigation, because I feel like that would greatly increase the chances of an aftermarket OLED panel being a thing. I know there’d still be some major hurdles (do OLEDs even work with LVDS/whatever protocol is used to push pixels to the Steam Deck’s screen?), but a bright, clear, punchy, replaceable OLED sounds great.
I have to preface this with the fact when I read the announcement for the deck, as a primary linux gamer, I could not believe my eyes and felt as if whoever came up with the specifications had me specifically as the target audience, so I might be a little bit biased. With that said:
Positives:
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There are relatively very few things you can’t do if you are dedicated enough, meaning games/software you can install or devices you can plug in, etc. That comes with the domain of being a pc based on foss software, but it has almost no competition on the cheap, powerful, affordable and well supported handheld space.
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Trackpads. The fact that there are multiple pc-handhelds that have come out and continue to do so, with almost none of them including them is mind-boggling to me. They can provide tons of input types, and I’d consider most games developed for mouse/keyboard to be nearly unplayable without them.
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It’s perfect for many types of games that you may own on steam/gog/itch that you might not want to play on a desktop. For example, I would never sit on my desk to play Celelste or Ori and other platformers, but they were a delight on the deck. In effect it opened up new genres for me, given that I’d never get, for example, a switch.
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Emulation powerhouse. Given the potential to play almost everything that can be emulated, combined with the ease of installation and the possibility of cloud saves, on a handheld, makes it a one stop shop for you emulation needs.
Negatives:
On the hardware side:
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I got the noisy delta fan (which I hear may not necessarily be an issue on currently shipped devices), and it can get a bit grating if you play in a silent room.
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The device, being on the bulky side, can get tiring on my wrists in certain positions, mostly when I hold it up on the same level or above my head.
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The battery can be short for demanding games, but that’s physics for you.
On the software:
A few annoyances left and right, with minor bugs, and things misbehaving. I’ve had it for over a year now and most of my original issues have been fixed. Now we’re waiting for the long-awaited version 3.5 to fix some stuff, and to add proper language support for non-english on the desktop environment side, which I consider a pretty glaring omission.
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My absolute favorite parts of the deck are the bang for your buck and the input options.
The Deck might not be the most powerful gaming device out there - heck, not even the most powerful x86-based gaming handheld - but it is suprisingly performant nonetheless. Part of that is the 1280x800 screen, which sounds small if you are used to 1080p or even 4k screens, but allowed Valve to use a less powerhungry APU, which resulted in the battery lasting a bit longer.
And frankly, the part where the Deck absolutely shines is the fact that they gave it trackpads with haptic feedback, gyro controls and a touchscreen plus the four extra triggers on the back. The gyro is perfect for shooters, and the touchpads for games that would normally need long mouse movements, or assigning them to radial menus or whatever. And you can just remap everything on a game-by-game basis.
The only flaws in my mind - nitpicks, really - are twofold:
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It has the USB-C port at the top, so you cannot just slot the Deck into a dock and be done with it. As someone coming from a Switch, it is a slight loss of convenience.
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You cannot use external GPUs*, so if docked, the Deck might struggle to play games on 4k. I think the ROG Ally had the right idea by allowing you to use a dock with a GPU in it, which gives you greater portability on the go and a beefy GPU when docked. I wish the Steam Deck could do the same thing.
Another thing that depends on the user is that with the stock Steam OS, some games will not work despite Proton because of anticheat software or DRM that is incompatible, but that one can be easily mitigated by installing Windows, if you absolutely have to. Personally, I strongly recommend sticking with Steam OS though, but that’s from the perspective of someone who usually plays singleplayer games anyway.
- Yes, I know, you can do a hardware mod that replaces I think the SSD with a GPU, but it’s still not as easy as plugging in a USB-C cable and be done with it.
I agree with everything here. I just want to leave behind a little nugget for anyone searching in the future that runs across this after searching 4k.
My deck would run 4k for a few minutes on my TV. Then it would disconnect from the dock. I actually didn’t realize I had it in 4k because I had set it to 1280x800 manually on another dock back when I got it.
I had a hard time figuring out why my new dock seemed to be busted. A friend who had recently ran into the same issue told me to change my resolution and suddenly everything worked.
All I could find searching for it was people complaining that their dock cut out on them intermittently.
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Comfort is my #1. I gave away my gaming PC because being able to play games on the couch, or in my bed, or outside on the hammock is fantastic.
Next is portability. Not only for the above, but the ability to travel and everything without compromising my gaming ability is huge. It’s helped my homebody self get out and visit more interesting places, since I have the comfort blanket of my games with me.
Controls are third. The medley of buttons handles so much, and the dual track pads are both versatile and make typing at reasonable speeds possible. Plus the ability to remap anything and to make virtual menus has made features that wouldn’t be accessible on normal controllers very easy.
Another hammock gamer! Being able to work on my steam backlog while in the hammock is literally a game changer.
Gone is the decision between gaming and getting sun - I’m doing both, on my balcony. I love it.
Right? I have the curse where I love being outdoors, but all my hobbies (games, tabletop) only really work indoors. Feeling some sun and a breeze while still playing games I love has been a game changer
I live in a co-op, so for me it’s nice that I can enjoy my games while still hanging in the common space and getting social interaction as opposed to be squirreled away into my room. And I’ve even got to revive the LAN party, as I just bring my deck to wherever the other person’s setup is!
I have young kids, so being able to play anywhere and still be aware of my surroundings, and being able to suspend and then pick up and play again almost immediately has meant I’ve been able to actually play long form singleplayer games. It’s the single best gaming purchase I’ve ever made.
Me and the wife are planning on kids so it’s probably going to be the first thing I pick up if she ever gets pregnant.
Parent protip, the u shaped breast feeding support pillows also make perfect steam deck support pillows
I love it. It’s really opened the door for me as far as playing those more “comfy” games. Like I wouldn’t have enjoyed Dredge as much as I did if I weren’t curled up on the couch playing it. I have a long list of games that I’ve bought and intended to play, but sitting upright at my desk just wasn’t it.
As far as games I’ve finally gotten to, I’d count
- Guardians of the Galaxy
- Dredge
- Darkest Dungeon
- Dorfromantik
- Mad Max
- Loop Hero
But if you’re trying to move any more competitive games to it, I’d advise against. I haven’t had much luck playing Apex or the like, it’s been very cumbersome for me. That may just be the ergonomics not being ideal for me though, my hands are kinda too big for this thing.
That’s exactly what I was looking for. I just wrapped up loop hero, found myself wishing I was on a handheld with it.
I can’t wait to try Mad Max, but it hasn’t been on sale since I added it to my wishlist and I don’t buy games at full price on principle.
Actually according to https://isthereanydeal.com/game/madmax/info/ it’s 80% off right now at GMG! Shops like gmg are legit steam key sellers, the keys are coming from the game publisher.
