Just a quick note to say mine is coming today which is very timely because I’m getting on a plane to Europe tomorrow. I got the 256GB version.
I’ll post my thoughts on it in the next couple days.
FWIW I am almost exclusively a console gamer and have no idea what to expect with this thing. The OS is supposed to be easy to use but it sounds like there is still some amount of performance tweaking to do for different games, which I’m not good at. A friend has it and knows his way around Linux and really likes it. I’m nervous about figuring out how to install games that I didn’t get through steam, like Diablo and what not.
The initial Steam Deck reviews have all been much better than I anticipated, though it seems there’s still plenty of room for improvement. I’ll almost certainly get one after another iteration or two of the base model.
Even Valve was hoping this would trigger competition to get on board. I mean, the goal here is that if more people get these things, more games will be bought from Valve. Yes, Epic and others will sell more, too, but more people buying PC games if they are mobile consoles, the better.
I wonder who they’re expecting real competition from. There’s other, and even arguably “better”, handheld PC devices from smaller manufacturers but they’re all over a thousand bucks and some pushing two grand. None of them are going to be able to compete with Valve to make a similarly priced device. Maybe Dell if they wanted an Alienware portable but I can’t think of anyone else who would combine the resources, development capacity and interest in that space (like I doubt HP would do it). Microsoft could but I’d think they’d be making a portable Xbox device first. Maybe Razer or Nvidia?
I am thinking I might do so as well, except I worry that the price might go up.
Reviews I’ve read are that you get some ridiculously powerful hardware for the price, but it’s extremely buggy. So it seems to be sensible to wait for them to work out the kinks. I just hope they don’t start charging people more for it.
Mine arrived, it works amazingly well for “verified” games but also works with most everything I’ve tried. The main difficulties are mouse/keyboard inputs on certain games.
I thought it would be wonky or laggy but it hardly ever is, things load fast and games run very smoothly just like in Windows, and the overall Steam menu is just a button press away to configure things.
I run mine hooked to a TV and XBox wireless controllers, my main difficulties have been non-verified games that don’t 100% use controller. I ordered a $10 wireless mouse to keep at my couch to help with games that need mouse input for the main menu etc.
Just an update. I’ve had mine for 2 months now and it’s pretty much the only system I’ve played since it arrived. Taking Elden Ring and No Man’s Sky on the road is quite nice. I can play NMS at 60fps on standard settings for about 2hrs maybe? Elden Ring at 30fps for the same. Rouge Legacy 2 I can play for several hours. I have figured out how to get it to output correctly to the TV and can run ER and NMS at 1920x1080. I played almost all of ER, about 100hrs, on the deck in portable mode. Switched over to my desktop and 65”OLED for the final push thru the end bosses.
The Switch is still “more portable” , the deck in its case is very large in a backpack with laptop and iPad etc… and the battery is definitely longer lasting in the Switch but this thing is pretty nice and I’ve taken to it much easier than expected.
For the record I have Xbox Series X, PS5, Switch OLED and a pretty capable gamin desktop at home but mostly play on deck because I can sit on the couch with my wife or lay in bed and play. Instantly boots and sleeps too.
ETA: I did figure out how to load Epic Games on there. A bit of a pain if you don’t know your way around Linux but not too bad with Heroic launcher
I got one, less for handheld mode and more for a latency-free version of the Steam Link which I have gotten lots of occassional use from over the years but which has never been able to replace sitting at my desk.
It should be arriving later today. I didn’t realize it would get here so fast - I need to order a dock!
Got my deck yesterday, no dock yet. I decided to give titles I started and missed out on finishing for one reason or another a new home on the Deck.
Started with Frostpunk, but sadly the controls were a bit wonky and I didn’t feel like taking the time to fix them just then.
Next I tried Subnautica: Below Zero, and it has been absolutely amazing. The devs actually provide some steam deck support, so that helps. It runs smooth, the controls are great, I’m loving it.
Prey is another game that is supposed to be a gold standard in steam deck compatibility, and I played a couple hours of it in 2017 before putting it down for some reason, but I’m psyched to pick it up next (Subnautica was a fairly short game, I assume BZ isn’t too much longer).
When I’m in the mood for something totally different, Jurassic World Evolution 2’s limited creative tools are probably perfect for a controller.
I can’t really picture how you run Frostpunk on what amounts to joystick controls. That feels like a mouse-only game to me. Do you just drive the mouse pointer around the screen with the thumb sticks?
I loved Frostpunk, but fair warning: If you have the expansions, don’t just try out endless mode on easy. That literally ruined the game for me, and I’ve never been back since. The plan had been to try easy first and then do an endless on hard mode, but the pointlessness of it all had already been revealed to me.
There are little pads under the thumbsticks, kinda like laptop track pads but a bit smaller. You use them to move the mouse, and honestly that part works fine. The problem was with rotating and zooming the camera. Both joysticks scroll around the map, and you have to use buttons to zoom and rotate. My brain refuses to accept this, and wants to use one joystick to scroll and one to look.
I’m really quite tempted by one of these. I’m taking an exam for a professional certification soon, and I might reward myself with a Steam Deck if I pass. Excellent motivation!
Excellent idea! And if it helps motivate you, I am LOVING my deck. I’ve mostly been playing Subnautica, with little bits of Elite Dangerous or No Man’s Sky. I’ve been playing both in handheld mode and docked to my TV with a Nintendo Pro Controller. I’ve synched my Epic Games and GOG lists to it as well. I’ve synched bluetooth headsets and USB headsets while docked. And through it all, ease of use has been the biggest feature. Everything just works.
It’s everything I’ve always wanted - all the convenience of a pick-up-the-controller-and-go console, all the flexibility of a PC, without the awkwardness of the Steam Link setup I had before. And everything I never knew I wanted - I’d always wished I could play my PC games from the couch with ease, but it never even occured to me to wish that I could play them handheld. Now that I can - WOW. It’s awesome.
A year later and the Steam Deck has been quite the success – which one would have been justified to doubt following the Steam Box and Steam Controller, neither of which really took off. Valve just released the new version of the deck today with largely the same performance but an OLED display and better battery life.
They also discounted the previous LCD screen models and the 64GB ($349) and 512GB ($449) are on clearance as they’ll be discontinued for the OLED models. The 256GB LCD model (currently $399) looks like it’ll remain in production though.
OLED models are $549/$649 for the 512GB and 1TB models.
Problem with Steam Controller was no sticks, it had dual trackpads. That sucks. It had and still has its fans, and a trackpad certainly can be useful to have on a game controller, but most people still want actual physical sticks, too. Which the Deck solved by just giving you both.
If I got one, would I be able to install games from other launchers? In my first post to this thread, I seemed to think running Epic or Origin or whatever would work, but do they?
I claim those free games on Epic weekly and I also run some games through other launchers. It would be kind of a deal breaker if it is limited to Steam.
Yes, this works and is only minorly annoying. You launch into Desktop mode, get the third party launcher, download your game, and add it to Steam as a non steam game to launch it from the Steam menu in the future. There is also a 4th(?) party app which is a launcher that you can log into your Epic, GOG, etc profiles with, and then install games and add them to your Steam library with literally 1 click.
The only drawback is that to uninstall, update, etc you have to go back into Desktop Mode and launch that other launcher.