8 ms·

Ask HN: Recommendations for Steam Deck Games

6 points by royletron 4y ago

I've been devouring so many good recommendations and now I am thirsty for more. So far I have obliterated: - Hades - The Cult of The Lamb - Disco Elysium - Thimbleweed Park But I trust people here have many good things to add to the list!

meras 4y ago
All the games you mentioned are excellent! I find Hollow Knight and Celeste to be perfect handheld games.
solardev 4y ago
Get Xbox Game Pass and play all the controller friendly games there Most of the uplay subscription games also support controller You can run most of the games either locally on the deck, streamed from your desktop, or streamed from the internet
- flakyfilibuster 4y ago
  this is my dream - does it work without running windows though?
  - solardev 4y ago
    If you want to stream from the web using GeForce Now: https://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5337/~/how-do-i-use-steam-deck%E2%80%99s-built-in-controls-to-play-games-on-geforce-now%3F https://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5337/~/h... If you want to stream from your gaming PC, just start Steam on the gaming PC, login to the same account, and then your Steam Deck's "PLAY" buttons in the library should have drop-downs that let you select "STREAM" instead. It should work whether the host PC is running Windows or Linux or Mac, but of course you'll have a bigger library selection if the host is on Windows. (To be clear, the host PC can run any Windows game and stream it to Steam Deck running its default OS; no need to add Windows to the Steam Deck).
    - flakyfilibuster 4y ago
      ok, so there is no way to run XBox Gamepass games straight from the Deck (sans streaming) :(
      - solardev 4y ago
        Ahhh I see what you're asking now. Sorry, I misunderstood. Yeah, I think you'd have to run Windows :( Even if the games were supported via Proton, I think (but I'm not sure) that Gamepass adds its own DRM layer. If you do have a separate Windows machine though, streaming actually works very well... better than the Deck on its own... better graphics, way less heat/fan/battery life consumption (since the computer is doing all the hard work). I'd try if you haven't already.
  - fulafel 4y ago
    Xbox Live apparently has some kind of Stadia style cloud streaming, maybe this can work?
flakyfilibuster 4y ago
I'm scared to even mention it - considering it can be very addictive, but have you checked out Vampire Survivors?
- royletron 4y ago
  You recommended this one day ago and I've clocked 4.5 hours already...
  - flakyfilibuster 4y ago
    I'm sorry :( :) :(
- royletron 4y ago
  Just downloaded after a mention somewhere else. Is this going to be like Factorio?
  - TingPing 4y ago
    As a game? They have nothing in common.
midislack 4y ago
Install Exult and play Ultima VII, the greatest RPG of all time!
- royletron 4y ago
  Now this is a recommendation. Thanks
apineda 4y ago
I'm a Rocket League addict myself. I heard Hollow Knight is good on it.
mindcrash 4y ago
RimWorld - which has been completely optimized for the Deck https://store.steampowered.com/app/294100/RimWorld/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/294100/RimWorld/ Factorio - Dev team is currently in process using the knowledge gained from the Switch port to create a fully Deck verified version https://store.steampowered.com/app/427520/Factorio/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/427520/Factorio/
- royletron 4y ago
  I'd love factorio to be deckified. I've had rimworld on the list for a while but never taken the plunge. What's the hook?
  - mindcrash 4y ago
    Rimworld is a very nice base building game, which gained a enormous amount of popularity from the get go due to the similarities to another quite popular game (Dwarf Fortress) and excellent game design (to make the game somewhat challenging every game you play is supervised by a AI director which more or less does the same thing as the one in L4D). The game as also expanded tremendously as of now due to three DLC packages which add a lot of fun gameplay: - Nobility (Royalty) - Belief systems (Ideology) - Pregnancy, biotech and genetic modification (Biotech) The game also has a pretty big modding community. If you like sims you def are going to love it. And if you happen to be interested in a deep dive into the game design principles behind Rimworld Tynan Sylvester (the designer/developer) wrote a entire book about it: https://tynansylvester.com/book/ https://tynansylvester.com/book/
opyate 4y ago
Platformers play really nicely on the deck, so check out Hollow Knight, Dead Cells, and its ilk.

6 points by royletron 4y ago

meras 4y ago

All the games you mentioned are excellent! I find Hollow Knight and Celeste to be perfect handheld games.

solardev 4y ago

Get Xbox Game Pass and play all the controller friendly games there Most of the uplay subscription games also support controller You can run most of the games either locally on the deck, streamed from your desktop, or streamed from the internet

flakyfilibuster 4y ago
this is my dream - does it work without running windows though?
- solardev 4y ago
  If you want to stream from the web using GeForce Now: https://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5337/~/how-do-i-use-steam-deck%E2%80%99s-built-in-controls-to-play-games-on-geforce-now%3F https://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5337/~/h... If you want to stream from your gaming PC, just start Steam on the gaming PC, login to the same account, and then your Steam Deck's "PLAY" buttons in the library should have drop-downs that let you select "STREAM" instead. It should work whether the host PC is running Windows or Linux or Mac, but of course you'll have a bigger library selection if the host is on Windows. (To be clear, the host PC can run any Windows game and stream it to Steam Deck running its default OS; no need to add Windows to the Steam Deck).
  - flakyfilibuster 4y ago
    ok, so there is no way to run XBox Gamepass games straight from the Deck (sans streaming) :(
    - solardev 4y ago
      Ahhh I see what you're asking now. Sorry, I misunderstood. Yeah, I think you'd have to run Windows :( Even if the games were supported via Proton, I think (but I'm not sure) that Gamepass adds its own DRM layer. If you do have a separate Windows machine though, streaming actually works very well... better than the Deck on its own... better graphics, way less heat/fan/battery life consumption (since the computer is doing all the hard work). I'd try if you haven't already.
- fulafel 4y ago
  Xbox Live apparently has some kind of Stadia style cloud streaming, maybe this can work?

flakyfilibuster 4y ago

I'm scared to even mention it - considering it can be very addictive, but have you checked out Vampire Survivors?

royletron 4y ago
You recommended this one day ago and I've clocked 4.5 hours already...
- flakyfilibuster 4y ago
  I'm sorry :( :) :(
royletron 4y ago
Just downloaded after a mention somewhere else. Is this going to be like Factorio?
- TingPing 4y ago
  As a game? They have nothing in common.

midislack 4y ago

Install Exult and play Ultima VII, the greatest RPG of all time!

royletron 4y ago
Now this is a recommendation. Thanks

apineda 4y ago

I'm a Rocket League addict myself. I heard Hollow Knight is good on it.

mindcrash 4y ago

RimWorld - which has been completely optimized for the Deck https://store.steampowered.com/app/294100/RimWorld/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/294100/RimWorld/ Factorio - Dev team is currently in process using the knowledge gained from the Switch port to create a fully Deck verified version https://store.steampowered.com/app/427520/Factorio/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/427520/Factorio/

royletron 4y ago
I'd love factorio to be deckified. I've had rimworld on the list for a while but never taken the plunge. What's the hook?
- mindcrash 4y ago
  Rimworld is a very nice base building game, which gained a enormous amount of popularity from the get go due to the similarities to another quite popular game (Dwarf Fortress) and excellent game design (to make the game somewhat challenging every game you play is supervised by a AI director which more or less does the same thing as the one in L4D). The game as also expanded tremendously as of now due to three DLC packages which add a lot of fun gameplay: - Nobility (Royalty) - Belief systems (Ideology) - Pregnancy, biotech and genetic modification (Biotech) The game also has a pretty big modding community. If you like sims you def are going to love it. And if you happen to be interested in a deep dive into the game design principles behind Rimworld Tynan Sylvester (the designer/developer) wrote a entire book about it: https://tynansylvester.com/book/ https://tynansylvester.com/book/

opyate 4y ago

Platformers play really nicely on the deck, so check out Hollow Knight, Dead Cells, and its ilk.