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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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:

1. 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.

2. 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 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.

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.

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.

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.

My favourite thing about my Steam Deck is that I can add gyro controls to pretty much any shooter. I've always struggled with using control sticks for fine aiming but now I can just add in motion control and play very well. It really has ignited my passion for shooters. Playing 300 hours of Splatoon 2 on my switch really got me comfortable with motion based aiming and now I couldn't go back.

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:

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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:

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

Favourite thing? It's replaced my Switch for the most part. So not only do you get cheaper games on Steam, but they also run better.
I still use my PC for gaming, too. I just prefer some games on the Steamdeck and others on PC.

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.

Favorite thing: the ability to suspend a game anytime, and pick up exactly where you left off.

Least favorite thing: a tie between the weight and the weak battery life. Never have my hands been so numb after extended sessions on the Steam Deck.

Least: Poor and inconsistent WiFi

Best: Finally enjoy my games without a huge PC or TV, including emulated games

Likes:

• ergonomics: the device is extremely comfortable to use and having full sized joysticks is awesome!
• controls, I find having trackpads make fps games actually bearable, and I will definitely ensure any handhelds I get in the future have them.

Dislikes:

• battery life: pretty simple, in harder emulation and new games less than 2 hours hurts
• CPU: I find only having a max boost clock even for single core processes (like switch emulation) only going up to 3.5ghz a major limiting factor, I think 3.5ghz is a fine target when all cores are being used but I would have liked to see 4ghz for single / dual core use.
• weight: the device is heavy enough to where it can't be used without proping your arms against something which can be a bit of a pain

Favourite:

1. Battery life. While not as good as a phone or even a NS, its still incredidle how long the battery lasts considering that the deck is a full PC playing PC games. For context the battery lasts aprox. 4 h when playing a quite demanding game and up to 6 h in less demanding games.

2. The emulation potential. Apart from beeing able to play PC games you can also emulate a lot of retro or even newer stuff. For example yuzu (a NS emulator) runs most games at a steady 30 fps and the simmilar controller layouts make it easy to controll.

3. The improvments to linux gaming. The steam deck is bringing more attention to linux as a gaming platform. Thanks to the ease of use of tools like Proton I was able to move to linux on my PC.

4. The touchpads. I generaly can't stand playing on a controler in first person games, the touchpads realy help with controls in games built without controler support.

5. The sleep mode. I can just press the power button to put my deck to sleep without loosing progres in games.

Least favourites:

1. The phisical feel of the device. I'm not sure how to best describe it but for some reason my hands don't realy like the matt finish of the deck.

2. The size. While still small for a full pc its quite large for a handheld console. Unlike something like the GB or DS the steam deck is not realy pocketable.

3. The noise. While i understand that a device as powerfull as the steam deck needs active cooling, the fan noise can be quite annoing espetialy in more demanding titles.

Favorite: I can stream games from my desktop flawlessly. Favorite: The Dock makes this a wonderful Kodi box too

Least favorite: The screen is merely OK Least favorite: Battery life could be better when playing new games

Favorite? Pretty much what everybody else says. Portability. Battery life, all things considered. Controls feel great. Amazing handheld for emulation. I have an electric car, and I love being able to use my Steam Deck whenever I'm waiting for my car to charge.

My least favorite? The touchscreen. It's garbage. I was excited thinking I could play Osu on it. Nowhere close. It's not really even accurate enough for higher-level Plants vs. Zombies. You'd think a device like the Steam Deck would be great to dual-booted or virtualize Android on, but with the crappy touch screen, I can't recommend it. But the worst part is trying to use the on-screen keyboard with it. I use my Steam Deck as a PC replacement at work. I'm a sysadmin, I've been using Linux for two decades, but the touchscreen makes even the most basic terminal commands painful to type with the OSK. So if you plan on using it heavily as a PC, or doing a lot of tinkering with it like I do, do yourself a favor and get a physical keyboard for it. Bluetooth ones are okay, but having a full-blown keyboard, mouse, and monitor with USB-C dock is definitely nice if you're using it for more than just a game console.

I mostly play less demanding games and emulators. The emulation stuff is quite good but there are little annoyances that you'll need to deal with using mouse and keyboard. I go through periods where it collects dust and suddenly I'll think of some retro stuff I want to play. Right now I'm doing a play through of the original FF7 on DuckStation.

My favorite thing is that I use mine connected to the dock, but handheld, so that it's the controller to what is on my TV. It also has an ethernet cable connected to the dock. Not sure if this would work for everyone. I sit on the floor on a tatami mat and the 40-something-inch TV is also on the floor. It is heavy, so my hands tend to rest on my folded legs while playing, or I'll put a pillow on my lap for it to be a bit higher.