It’s a tad rote to extol the virtues of Valve’s Steam Deck in 2024; it’s been the handheld PC that’s had gaming and tech journalists alike wax lyrical about it. Yet here I am, about to tell you why it’s my most-played games device over the past 12 to 18 months.
But first some context. Naturally, as a curious tech journalist and long-time PC gamer I was intrigued by the Steam Deck, and when it launched I chewed over reviews, opinions and its capabilities detailed by folks lucky enough to get one before stock disappeared.
Despite the praise, it took me a while to be convinced by the Steam Deck. I felt it came across as a tad limited in terms of power, battery life and display, as well as compatibility. Plus I’m not a huge on-the-move gamer, and if so I’d use my Nintendo Switch; otherwise I’d stick with my PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X as my gaming machines.
Then the Steam Deck went on sale, grabbing my attention. But I missed this discount, meaning the moment to jump on board this Steam train was missed.
Just when I thought I was out, the Steam Deck pulled me back in, thanks to Valve very nicely popping up and sending me one for testing and so on. And very soon I was hooked.
Steaming ahead
Now, I’d already tried a Steam Deck and was impressed by it, I just wasn’t fully convinced it was for me. Yet having my own Deck that I could set up around my one Steam library changed my perspective in a big way.
No longer was I looking at Elden Ring run at 30 frames per second, instead I was digging into Disco Elysium, Divinity: Original Sin 2, Fallout 4 and more. These were games I’d previously have had to use my PC for, and then sit at my desk where I already spend too much time, or make do with less than optimal Switch ports.
Having the Steam Deck recontextualized how I approached certain games. I was no longer tethered to a monitor or TV, and there’s just something satisfying about lounging in a comfortable chair or bed and digging into a big role-playing game.
And as has been discussed many times before by other journalists, it’s just fun throwing things at the Steam Deck to see what works well and what doesn’t.
However, that was just the beginning. As game compatibility expanded and developers optimized for the Steam Deck, the more capable it became. On top of that, Sony started to bring PlayStation games to PC, with the likes of God of War 2018 and The Last of Us playable on the Deck; suddenly, this wasn’t just a Steam machine but also a pseudo PSP.
As I got sucked into the Steam Deck, I started to dig into more of what it could be coaxed into doing. Some fiddling about and pouring over guides and I now have access to my GOG library and Xbox Cloud Gaming; the latter culminating in me finishing Starfield on the Deck rather than my Series X or powerful gaming PC.
Speaking of which, I’m very lucky to have an enormously powerful PC from custom PC builder Starforge Systems; it’s an incredible machine that makes 1440p to 4K gaming a reality. Yet despite this, I’ve found myself playing the likes Cyberpunk 2077 – a game that relishes ray tracing and Nvidia’s DLSS tech – on my Deck at 720p.
Even writing that sentence makes me sound ridiculous, but I’ve not lost my mind. For starters, Cyberpunk 2077 looks rather good on the Deck; sure not everything is crisp, but in motion it’s still a very good looking game at 720p. Secondly, it simply blows my 38-year-old mind that a machine I can hold in my hands can run a game that gives you a hugely detailed city with a host of simulation in it, and that runs reasonably well; I’m talking 30 fps here.
Thirdly, I refer back to my desk situation – I love PC gaming but I live in a small apartment so my gaming desk is also my work desk. This means I don’t always want to flip from my MacBook and switch to my PC, without some form of break. The Steam Deck is the panacea to that, where I can move from my desk to my sofa and boot up the aforementioned Cyberpunk 2077. And thanks to cloud saves and cross-compatibility, when I want high-end lighting effects and the option to see the muck of Night City in granular detail, I can pick up where I left off on my PC.
This also means it’s a great holiday gaming machine, allowing me to continue a fair chunk of my PC gaming when I go visit family without the need to lug around a hefty gaming laptop.
It’s this flexibility that’s made the Steam Deck my go-to gaming machine over the past 18 months. While the libraries of both the PS5 and Xbox Series X have expanded and now feel next-gen, there’s just something so compelling about the Steam Deck that draws my attention. While there are now a suite of comparable handheld gaming PCs, especially with the Asus ROG Ally, I can’t help but feel Valve has nailed the blending of PC gaming adaptability and range, with the joy of handheld gaming the Switch offers.
Despite the Steam Deck nearing its third birthday, and murmurs of a Steam Deck 2, I still feel there’s more to be had out of it, meaning if you’ve yet to take the plunge on it, then I highly recommend you do as it could really shake up your gaming life.
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