Posted: 4/29/2025 9:53:06 PM EDT
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I work night shift these days and between reports and phone calls there is a lot of downtime on weekends. I typically use my laptop or just watch TV on my phone, but I'd like to pick something like this up for gaming. I was using the Xbox app and streaming to a tablet but since they've done away with the app and make you go through a browser now I've noticed too much lag in games and would rather have something actually installed on a device instead of streaming. Anyway, what do you have and what games do you play? |
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I have the original steam deck from the first batch of releases. I have only found a very few games that have performance issues on it. The vast majority of games support it, even if it doesn't explicitly say it does. Games that require you to type anything, even your name, will be unverified simply for that fact, even though there is a on screen keyboard. It's just how the games are rated. The only issue you will come across is battery life. If you're going to take it for extended periods of time, ensure its plugged in. For example: Lunar remaster that just came out, its an pixel sprite based RPG, no super impressive graphics, battery lasts about 2.5~ hours. Persona 3 I got about 2 hours, and something like Elden Ring (yes I played it on the deck just to say I could lol) I got about an hour, might have been slightly less. Elden Ring burns through the battery. You can change settings to increase your battery life like locking the GPU power to a lower output, turn off Wifi/Bluetooth, set frames to 30-45, but even then there is only so much you can do. Of course, a battery pack or plugging it into the charger eliminates that issue, and it also boosts performance by allowing you to run it full throttle instead of limiting the gpu/cpu. Steam Deck is by far my favorite go to device for on the go gaming, not because it's super comfortable, great sound, or even performance, but because I can use my entire steam library. Any game I want to play, and again I've not found many that I can't play on it, I just install it and enjoy. With cloud saves, I can play on the PC and save, then load up on the steam deck either at home before I leave, or on my phone hotspot and download the save, and continue where I left off, it's great. I also emulate on it, I have a ton of SNES games, several of the old Pokemon games, Zelda Wind Waker and Twilight Princess from the Wii-U, and even played some Switch Emulation on it to play Xenoblade 3 lol. While not the absolute best in handheld gaming, for the price, this thing is a BEAST. OLED version is probably the way to go, I wish I had gotten one, but I'm happy with what I have and don't want to buy another one lol. |
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I play mainly rogue likes on my LCD steam deck; but I did play through the intro of Cyberpunk on it just for grins, with suitable settings, it seemed to run just fine for my taste. I've also played some No Man's Sky, and Control on the deck with reasonable quality. Jatobi covered the topic pretty throughly. I carry an Anker mini 65watt charger and power the deck that way (my laptop also takes 65watts). |
| Another vote for the steam deck here. I also play a lot of rougelikes and card games on it. One cool feature, when I’m at home, like on the couch, my pc can do the processing and stream the game to the deck, smooth 60fps in any title and 5-6 hours of battery if the PC is doing the heavy lifting. |
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Award: 24/365's Most Impressed by Basements
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| Steam deck. Battery doesn’t last long at all. It is actually hard for me to play some games on there because I have gotten so used to mouse and keyboard. I like playing racing games, the uncharted series, the last of us, red dead 2 and metal gear solid. Graphics are surprisingly good for a handheld. I’m really happy I bought it. Taken it on vacations for downtime. I have bought one additional micro sd card to take with me that I have downloaded games to. |
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Two Steam Decks here. I ordered one on the first release, then I gave it to the wife when I ordered the OLED version. It is an awesome unit and the OS runs the most efficiently compared to Windows devices. The only downfall is that you won't we able to play some games. It's not many, but usually due to games that have anti-cheats that are not Linux compatible. I have even run games without issue that weren't supposed to be Steam Deck compatible. Another positive to the Steam Deck is the aftermarket support. Every part can be purchased and replaced by the end user (Or sent in if you desire). Some of the Windows machines look awesome, and would be able to play the games that the Steam Deck can't. The problem with them is that Windows OS is not made for a handheld, so some things may be clunky/less efficient. I don't think you can go wrong with any of them, but the Steam Deck OS is super user friendly. |