8 ms·

Valve hit a home run with the first year of Steam Deck

68 points by cunidev 4y ago

titusjohnson 4y ago
Yeah they did. I hit a rut in gaming a couple of years back and the Steam Deck has really revived a lot of the joy I get from single player gaming. I've had a blast installing ancient games from my library and reliving memories. The Deck can really take advantage of all the Xbox forward ported titles that still play better with a controller, and I've picked up a lot of those over the years on sale.
- Agingcoder 4y ago
  I've hesitated buying one. I haven't so far because I've been wondering about two things : text size, which I assume is not designed for small screens by game makers and will make lots of games difficult to play, and noise. Would you mind sharing your experience regarding these two points?
  - goosedragons 4y ago
    For small text size Valve will lower a game's rating from Verified to Playable and it will tell you it's playable because the font is too small (although in my experience still readable for me anyways). With noise it can be about as loud as gaming laptop IME. Not too bad and can easily be drowned out with headphones. However you can often adjust the graphical settings down so it ends up quieter. I usually do that anyways as it improves battery life.
  - thesandlord 4y ago
    I've never had an issue with text size, and there is a shortcut to bring up a magnifier. Then again I haven't played any text heavy RPGs on the deck. Noise isn't an issue with PS3/360 era games and older (make sure you cap the frame rate). Newer games definitely push the system and the fans, but it's equal to a thin gaming PC. I think mine is the newer revision with the better fan, the first run had a louder fan iirc.
  - theogravity 4y ago
    I'm a heavy visual novel player, which involves reading a ton of text (the games are essentially 90% all text), and have never encountered issues when it comes to reading on the Steam Deck. Out of many games I've played, one had impossibly small to read text that wasn't a visual novel, nor was it a triple A title; it was an indy game that I don't think was popular to begin with.
  - titusjohnson 4y ago
    Text size, just fine. A few games have had pixelated text that was obviously meant for a larger screen, but I've had zero issues reading in these cases. Note, I'm not trying to play Civilization VI or some 4X game that _wants_ a big monitor. While the screen is small (bigger than a Switch screen, bigger than my phone) the resolution is great. I'm playing games on it that I last played on a 1024x768, or a CRT TV (Fable). Noise-wise, yeah you can hear the fan kick in but it's not really loud. No issues bothering other people nearby, no issues with the onboard speakers playing over the fan noise. In regards to the Deck not having games designed for it, Valve has done a fantastic job laying the groundwork for this product. Go all the way back to the Steam Controller and Steam Link; while those products were not a huge commercial success for Valve, I can see all the lessons learned paying off with the Deck. Wanna save some battery life and you're on your LAN? Stream the game from your beefy desktop. Controller layout not working? Every button is fully programable and removable. This thing has inputs out the arse. Touchpads, D-Pad, 4 extra under-side triggers. Wanna play a game that's not officially supported? 90% chance some fan has already made a community gamepad layout that's better than what the game maker would have made, you can download it and it works instantly.
sudofail 4y ago
I've been hesitant to buy one just because it seems like the screen is subpar. The OLED Switch screen is beautiful, and I'd really like to see something like that in the Steam Deck before purchasing it.
- Yhippa 4y ago
  The screen is "good enough" IMO. I definitely like the OLED screen better, but everything behind the screen is well worth it. This has to be my favorite tech gadget of the past several years. They really thought through things in terms of usability. If you really want to use it as a Linux machine to do certain things, it's there for you. If you're buying it for a kid to play PC games on, it's just as suitable.
- gloryjulio 4y ago
  Its a meh ips but fortunately u can use a plugin to increase the saturation to make it look better and closer to the bright colors of the OLED. Power of the Linux huh
- smileybarry 4y ago
  I'm optimistic that the Deck will just have more "mod parts" later on, maybe including a better screen. It's so repair-friendly you can buy hall effect joysticks made for the Deck and switch them out. With the abundance of repurposed displays by Waveshare and co., maybe someone will some day come up with a better display module?
jcpham2 4y ago
Bought one for my kid LAST CHRISTMAS only to be delayed until this year but I'm finally giving it to him for Christmas this year. I've ben sitting on it for months and it is killing me. Really nice unit.
nubb 4y ago
emudeck alone makes the Deck worth every penny. playing ps2 games on a handheld is friggin awesome. my biggest complaint is the battery life but the device charges surprisingly fast.
mgdev 4y ago
I hadn't really gamed in years. Until Steam Deck
staticman2 4y ago
The biggest problem with the Steam Deck is the performance is less than ideal when paired with a 4k tv. I don't mean performance as in "the games run bad" I mean performance as in "I can't get this thing to reliably treat my Oled TV as a primary monitor, Swich to 4k resolution, and shut off the Steam Deck's second screen when I dock it with the official dock." I don't think this system is ever going to be competitive with the Nintendo Switch and the inevitable Switch 2 at seamlessly docking between desktop and handheld mode. (Which I read developers need to support to be approved on the Nintendo Eshop.) On the other hand the Steam Deck can play The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess HD and The Legend of Zelda Wind Waker HD in handheld mode, which for some bizarre reason is not something the Nintendo Switch can currently do.
- chii 4y ago
  > I can't get this thing to reliably treat my Oled TV as a primary monitor... Is this a general problem with the steam deck? Or is it just some quirk of your setup, and not many others have the issue? I'd be surprised if this is a general issue, since the steam deck is just a PC and I've not heard of such problems on a PC tbh.
  - Gigachad 4y ago
    It sounds like the problem is games don’t reliably switch resolution/aspect ratio in the middle of running. This is something you rarely do on a PC and you’d accept having to restart games after plugging in a new monitor.
    - staticman2 4y ago
      That's one of the issue but it's not just the middle of running a game. On the Switch you never have two screens running at once. So Nintendo knows to automatically Switch off screen 1 and start displaying everything on screen 2 when you Switch to Dock mode. On the Deck some people want to plug in the display and use it as a second screen, while some may want to plug it in and use it like a Nintendo Switch for couch gaming. Then there's separate settings for Desktop mode and game mode. If I'm using a gaming PC with a mouse and keyboard at a desk it's not a big deal to change the display settings after I plug the PC in. In contrast if I'm plugging the Deck into a 77 inch OLED and I don't get the default display I want I'm often left hunched over a 7 inch screen next to the OLED, which is annoying.
willio58 4y ago
I'm looking forward to future iterations, that's probably when I'd jump to get one. I know this is far fetched, but what I want is to be able to dock the steamdeck to my 4k dev monitor and get 60+ fps on steam games while using discord. I use a mac for life/work, but do want to game with friends and that would be perfect for me.
- Agingcoder 4y ago
  To be honest, I'd be quite happy if a gaming laptop/extremely compact PC offered me that kind of performance (60fps, 4k, very high settings) and remained extremely silent.
Andaith 4y ago
If there's anybody from Valve reading this, when will the Steam Deck be available in Australia? I'd love to get my hands on one.
aarpmcgee 4y ago
I returned mine for two reasons: 1. The UI is horrendously slow/laggy/crashy. 2. It is yet another disposable device with a battery that cannot be easily replaced[1], which I consider to be unconscionable. Otherwise, I liked it. [1]: https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Steam+Deck+Battery+Replacement/149070 https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Steam+Deck+Battery+Replacement/...
- GekkePrutser 4y ago
  Wow that's pretty bad yeah. Routing cables differently and some pull release adhesive tabs would have made this easily doable and hardly cost any extra.
dan_hawkins 4y ago
I can't believe the current state of Windows API emulation by Proton. I installed Heroic Game Launcher yesterday, got to my GOG account and installed "Control" from there. It's a triple-A title and it works almost flawless (tiny glitches pop up from time to time, no big deal.) Unbelievable!

68 points by cunidev 4y ago

Yeah they did. I hit a rut in gaming a couple of years back and the Steam Deck has really revived a lot of the joy I get from single player gaming. I've had a blast installing ancient games from my library and reliving memories. The Deck can really take advantage of all the Xbox forward ported titles that still play better with a controller, and I've picked up a lot of those over the years on sale.

Agingcoder 4y ago
I've hesitated buying one. I haven't so far because I've been wondering about two things : text size, which I assume is not designed for small screens by game makers and will make lots of games difficult to play, and noise. Would you mind sharing your experience regarding these two points?
- goosedragons 4y ago
  For small text size Valve will lower a game's rating from Verified to Playable and it will tell you it's playable because the font is too small (although in my experience still readable for me anyways). With noise it can be about as loud as gaming laptop IME. Not too bad and can easily be drowned out with headphones. However you can often adjust the graphical settings down so it ends up quieter. I usually do that anyways as it improves battery life.
- thesandlord 4y ago
  I've never had an issue with text size, and there is a shortcut to bring up a magnifier. Then again I haven't played any text heavy RPGs on the deck. Noise isn't an issue with PS3/360 era games and older (make sure you cap the frame rate). Newer games definitely push the system and the fans, but it's equal to a thin gaming PC. I think mine is the newer revision with the better fan, the first run had a louder fan iirc.
- theogravity 4y ago
  I'm a heavy visual novel player, which involves reading a ton of text (the games are essentially 90% all text), and have never encountered issues when it comes to reading on the Steam Deck. Out of many games I've played, one had impossibly small to read text that wasn't a visual novel, nor was it a triple A title; it was an indy game that I don't think was popular to begin with.
- titusjohnson 4y ago
  Text size, just fine. A few games have had pixelated text that was obviously meant for a larger screen, but I've had zero issues reading in these cases. Note, I'm not trying to play Civilization VI or some 4X game that _wants_ a big monitor. While the screen is small (bigger than a Switch screen, bigger than my phone) the resolution is great. I'm playing games on it that I last played on a 1024x768, or a CRT TV (Fable). Noise-wise, yeah you can hear the fan kick in but it's not really loud. No issues bothering other people nearby, no issues with the onboard speakers playing over the fan noise. In regards to the Deck not having games designed for it, Valve has done a fantastic job laying the groundwork for this product. Go all the way back to the Steam Controller and Steam Link; while those products were not a huge commercial success for Valve, I can see all the lessons learned paying off with the Deck. Wanna save some battery life and you're on your LAN? Stream the game from your beefy desktop. Controller layout not working? Every button is fully programable and removable. This thing has inputs out the arse. Touchpads, D-Pad, 4 extra under-side triggers. Wanna play a game that's not officially supported? 90% chance some fan has already made a community gamepad layout that's better than what the game maker would have made, you can download it and it works instantly.

sudofail 4y ago

I've been hesitant to buy one just because it seems like the screen is subpar. The OLED Switch screen is beautiful, and I'd really like to see something like that in the Steam Deck before purchasing it.

Yhippa 4y ago
The screen is "good enough" IMO. I definitely like the OLED screen better, but everything behind the screen is well worth it. This has to be my favorite tech gadget of the past several years. They really thought through things in terms of usability. If you really want to use it as a Linux machine to do certain things, it's there for you. If you're buying it for a kid to play PC games on, it's just as suitable.
gloryjulio 4y ago
Its a meh ips but fortunately u can use a plugin to increase the saturation to make it look better and closer to the bright colors of the OLED. Power of the Linux huh
smileybarry 4y ago
I'm optimistic that the Deck will just have more "mod parts" later on, maybe including a better screen. It's so repair-friendly you can buy hall effect joysticks made for the Deck and switch them out. With the abundance of repurposed displays by Waveshare and co., maybe someone will some day come up with a better display module?

jcpham2 4y ago

Bought one for my kid LAST CHRISTMAS only to be delayed until this year but I'm finally giving it to him for Christmas this year. I've ben sitting on it for months and it is killing me. Really nice unit.

nubb 4y ago

emudeck alone makes the Deck worth every penny. playing ps2 games on a handheld is friggin awesome. my biggest complaint is the battery life but the device charges surprisingly fast.

mgdev 4y ago

I hadn't really gamed in years. Until Steam Deck

staticman2 4y ago

The biggest problem with the Steam Deck is the performance is less than ideal when paired with a 4k tv. I don't mean performance as in "the games run bad" I mean performance as in "I can't get this thing to reliably treat my Oled TV as a primary monitor, Swich to 4k resolution, and shut off the Steam Deck's second screen when I dock it with the official dock." I don't think this system is ever going to be competitive with the Nintendo Switch and the inevitable Switch 2 at seamlessly docking between desktop and handheld mode. (Which I read developers need to support to be approved on the Nintendo Eshop.) On the other hand the Steam Deck can play The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess HD and The Legend of Zelda Wind Waker HD in handheld mode, which for some bizarre reason is not something the Nintendo Switch can currently do.

chii 4y ago
> I can't get this thing to reliably treat my Oled TV as a primary monitor... Is this a general problem with the steam deck? Or is it just some quirk of your setup, and not many others have the issue? I'd be surprised if this is a general issue, since the steam deck is just a PC and I've not heard of such problems on a PC tbh.
- Gigachad 4y ago
  It sounds like the problem is games don’t reliably switch resolution/aspect ratio in the middle of running. This is something you rarely do on a PC and you’d accept having to restart games after plugging in a new monitor.
  - staticman2 4y ago
    That's one of the issue but it's not just the middle of running a game. On the Switch you never have two screens running at once. So Nintendo knows to automatically Switch off screen 1 and start displaying everything on screen 2 when you Switch to Dock mode. On the Deck some people want to plug in the display and use it as a second screen, while some may want to plug it in and use it like a Nintendo Switch for couch gaming. Then there's separate settings for Desktop mode and game mode. If I'm using a gaming PC with a mouse and keyboard at a desk it's not a big deal to change the display settings after I plug the PC in. In contrast if I'm plugging the Deck into a 77 inch OLED and I don't get the default display I want I'm often left hunched over a 7 inch screen next to the OLED, which is annoying.

willio58 4y ago

I'm looking forward to future iterations, that's probably when I'd jump to get one. I know this is far fetched, but what I want is to be able to dock the steamdeck to my 4k dev monitor and get 60+ fps on steam games while using discord. I use a mac for life/work, but do want to game with friends and that would be perfect for me.

Agingcoder 4y ago
To be honest, I'd be quite happy if a gaming laptop/extremely compact PC offered me that kind of performance (60fps, 4k, very high settings) and remained extremely silent.

Andaith 4y ago

If there's anybody from Valve reading this, when will the Steam Deck be available in Australia? I'd love to get my hands on one.

aarpmcgee 4y ago

I returned mine for two reasons: 1. The UI is horrendously slow/laggy/crashy. 2. It is yet another disposable device with a battery that cannot be easily replaced[1], which I consider to be unconscionable. Otherwise, I liked it. [1]: https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Steam+Deck+Battery+Replacement/149070 https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Steam+Deck+Battery+Replacement/...

GekkePrutser 4y ago
Wow that's pretty bad yeah. Routing cables differently and some pull release adhesive tabs would have made this easily doable and hardly cost any extra.

dan_hawkins 4y ago

I can't believe the current state of Windows API emulation by Proton. I installed Heroic Game Launcher yesterday, got to my GOG account and installed "Control" from there. It's a triple-A title and it works almost flawless (tiny glitches pop up from time to time, no big deal.) Unbelievable!