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75% of the Most Played Games on Steam Are Playable on the Steam Deck

376 points by ekianjo 4y ago

jadbox 4y ago
This also means that these often played games work on Linux. Now if Nvidia would just give Linux a little more Wayland love...
- smoldesu 4y ago
  KDE's Wayland session on Nvidia hardware is a dream right now. Mutter has a few outstanding issues, but last I tried it was in a usable state. Nvidia can still do better going forward, but but the bridge has to be built from both sides.
dougmwne 4y ago
Bought one of these during the recent sale. It is a marvel. I had been thinking of waiting for an eventual v2, but it's honestly so cool today that it's not worth waiting. For me the main "wow" moments: 1. The first party, deck verified steam experience is super smooth, feeling just like a game console. It's like a switch with a deeper library and better controls. I love the community contributed control layouts as well. 2. The hardware itself is fantastic. The controls are great for both gaming and light desktop computing. Great feel in the hands, pleasant screen for gaming, and really just a much more comfortable experience than sitting at a desk or playing on the TV. It feels like curling up with a good book. 3. Linux with great windows compatibility layer out of the box. You pop it over into desktop mode and you have a Linux machine with ability to run most of the software out there for windows. You plug in a usb-c hub and you have a full desktop, keyboard mouse experience. And if you really have the need, you can dual boot into windows. 4. An insanely helpful community. Tons of knowledge out there for getting it to do anything you can dream of. So many people hacking on their favorite game to improve performance or play experience. Many folks writing auto-config scripts for anything from turning it into a retro gaming powerhouse to tweaking the swap file performance characteristics.
- flatiron 4y ago
  I agree. Last gaming PC I built was 2002. Decided to give the deck a whirl and I’m amazed by it. Playing octopath traveler 2 right now. Even though it has Denuvo antitamper I’ve had 0 issue. Put steam in offline mode and went on a plane and it worked great. Emu deck is also very good. My kids like to play super Mario allstars and they just fire it up like any other game.
- SamuelAdams 4y ago
  I wonder how the power draw compares to say an Xbox or PlayStation. Could the steam deck replace power-hungry consoles using a thunderbolt cable and dock? This could be a big win for Europe as electricity prices are going up considerably.
  - vel0city 4y ago
    The Steam Deck itself is like <20W. A Playstation 5 uses ~200W when playing games. That's before thinking about what your TV power usage is. A Steam Deck could use its own screen within that <20W power envelope, while a Playstation or a docked Deck is going to probably use an extra 100-200W on a TV.
  - pja 4y ago
    If you’re happy with 1080p PS4-ish level performance on the Deck’s 720p screen, sure. It’s probably not going to keep up with a PS4 on a 1080p TV, but Valve has done a lot of optimisation work & the output might be surprisingly “good enough”.
    - dougmwne 4y ago
      The steam deck on paper has higher specs than a PS4. PS4 can push 1.8 tflops on an older architecture and steam deck can do 3.3 on a more modern architecture. People’s real world experience on several games seems to put the Steam deck consistently ahead by a comfortable margin.
      - therealdrag0 4y ago
activitypea 4y ago
> It’s going to be a uphill battle to get to much higher percentages, as the remaining bastion of unsupported titles is mostly the matter of anti-cheat support How is Apex steam deck certified?
- ekianjo 4y ago
  Because they supported the Linux implementation of EAC.
- jeroenhd 4y ago
  EasyAntiCheat, and I believe some other common anticheat libraries, have been made compatible with Proton gaming. They've actually been fir a while thanks to Valve working with the companies behind them, but game studios did need to update their libraries to get that support so older games often lag behind the curve there. Apex Legends was verified on Deck this month. I don't know what changed, but I assume Valve's efforts in the DRM space have paid off.
- gambiting 4y ago
  It runs great - I play it a lot on the deck, it’s a very smooth 60fps experience. Plays better on the controller than it has any right to.
- chaorace 4y ago
  Apex Legends uses Epic Anti-Cheat ("EAC"). Valve collaborated with Epic to get EAC functional in Wine back in September[1]. This Wine support is an opt-in flag at build-time, so many games using EAC still remain incompatible (e.g.: Fortnite). Apex players asked for EAC-on-Wine to be enabled and the developers obliged by checking the checkbox. The reasons for why this is opt-in only are not public knowledge, but I wouldn't be surprised if this was some sort of special reduced-security mode. The APIs available to EAC-on-Wine are more-or-less a strict subset of those available to EAC-on-Windows, after all. FWIW: I don't think any Wine-exclusive exploits have ever been found in the wild. [1]: https://dev.epicgames.com/en-US/news/epic-online-services-launches-anti-cheat-support-for-linux-mac-and-steam-deck https://dev.epicgames.com/en-US/news/epic-online-services-la...
andrewmutz 4y ago
I recently started gaming in Linux after my windows partition borked itself (again) I was pleasantly surprised by the experience. About half my library was available. All the games ran perfectly. Without a doubt, if more game publishers supported Linux, I would never fix that windows partition.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
jeroenhd 4y ago
I've been playing a game on my Deck that's been reported as unplayable (Hitman, the remake) and I can't figure out what's supposed to be wrong with it. The stupid online requirement works, for better or for worse, so it's not DRM. The only thing I can think of is that I can't use the controller to click the Play button on start (need to use the touch screen) but that's rather minor. I've seen other cases where "not working" means "you need to hit Steam+X manually to open the keyboard in certain settings". These playability standards seem rather high, which isn't a bad thing, but can sew the numbers. On the other hand, you an find plenty of stories of users playing verified games that become bad later in the game, presumably because no company is going to spend 100 hours on every game to verify that every single thing works. I haven't run into that yet, though. Steam Deck and Proton really changed gaming on Linux and otherwise. Certain features of well-integrated games (Euro Truck Sim providing a list of named actions for key binds, for example) are unlike anything I've seen elsewhere. The ability to add overlay menus, with multiple levels even, to any game add even more to the way you can play PC games with a controller. At this point, I hope Valve releases a second Steam controller: one that's just the Deck without the PC inside. Coupled with the new Steam Big Picture, I'm confident Steam consoles could take off.
- londons_explore 4y ago
  I've often wondered, for a typical steam game, how big is the burden to make a tiny tweak (for example, making the start button clickable with a button not the touchscreen)? On one end of the scale, it's probably only adding 5 lines of code and could be done in 20 minutes by the right person... But on the other end of the scale, the company that made the game may no longer exist, the employees working on the game may no longer work there, the build environment for the game might be highly custom and take weeks to re-set-up, etc. When re-built, a bunch of QA and testing ought to be redone, especially if the build environment is new and some stuff might not be at the exact same version, etc.
  - londons_explore 4y ago
    Steam has an incentive to make sure that the rebuild effort for their games is very low. One way they could do that is require game developers to upload source code to some source code repo (perhaps a 'code holding company', whose expertise is looking after source code). Code in the repo could be built automatically, ensuring that at any time a hotfix could be made with little friction. When publishers upload to steam, they are also giving the right for steam to make bugfixes if the original developer wont/cant.
1-6 4y ago
I wanted a mini PC so I bought a Steam Deck. I wish it looked a lot less like a gaming console with removable controllers like the Switch but the two track pads are surprisingly usable on the virtual keyboard.
- soulbadguy 4y ago
  Maybe something like the onexplayer 2 (https://onexplayerstore.com/products/onexplayer-2-amd%C2%AE-ryzen%C2%AE-6800u?variant=44351231885606 https://onexplayerstore.com/products/onexplayer-2-amd%C2%AE-...) ? Personally i don't really fancy removable controller as they seam to add a lot of mechanical complexity and bulk to console design.
scambier 4y ago
I got mine 2 months ago, and had to send it for RMA this week (one of the speakers is busted). Though I really like it, the finishes are really not great compared to a Nintendo Switch. The plastic feels cheap, the case creaks a bit, one of the triggers squeaks, the buttons clicks are super loud, and well, a speaker broke. There are also a few small software issues that are definitely not deal-breakers, but quickly add up as annoyances. I still find it's a good device, it does what I expected it to do (sometimes even better), but for the price, I expected something a bit more robust.
- jeroenhd 4y ago
  From what I've heard, hardware quality for the individual consoles seems to be a bit of a lottery. Some units arrive with scratched screens, stuck buttons, creaking plastic, all the works, while others are Just Fine. In terms of price, I'm not surprised in the difference in build quality. Nintendo is shipping five year old smartphone boards out for a premium price, that means the plastics can receive quite a bit of love. You couldn't possibly play PC games on Switch level hardware, not even on the 800p screen. As a result, Switch games run just as well or even better on the Deck once an emulator dev puts in the optimisation effort for a Switch game, despite the ARM to x64 translation overhead. The Deck's PC competition all costs twice or three times as much, usually for good reason. There are gaming handhelds out there that will come with good build quality and run Windows so things like DRM are not a problem, but you pay for that luxury. They used to be priced even higher but it's clear the Deck has disrupted this part of the industry quite significantly.
  - kitsunesoba 4y ago
    Nintendo has seemed to have gone the route of Texas Instruments calculators with its handhelds for a long time now. The 3DS must’ve cost almost nothing to make by the time they stopped selling it.
RegularOpossum 4y ago
I adore my Steamdeck. I've had mine for the past six months and during that time I've had to spend more time in hospital waiting rooms than I'd have liked, but it's been an excellent companion. Over the years I've owned many consoles and built a few gaming PCs, but my entire interest in how I interact with games now is portable first. It's funny, I feel like I've gone back to where I started when my first game system was the original Game Boy.
Symmetry 4y ago
The existence of the Steam Deck has been a huge boon for those of us who plan Steam games on regular Linux desktops as well. It seems like nearly every Steam game I'd want to play these days works, and not just from publishers like Paradox who make an effort at compatibility.
- time_to_smile 4y ago
  Just wanted to second this experience. I'm one of those people that has perpetually wanted to use linux as my main desktop, but inevitably find myself dual booting Windows for gaming, and then just making my desktop a Windows gaming box and then using a Macbook for dev work. I think I've had about 3 major runs of trying to be Linux desktop only, and that typically lasts just a month or two. For the past year I've been using exclusively Linux (Pop!_os) as my desktop for everything I do, and that has involved quite a bit of gaming. It's really insane how giant a leap forward Proton (driven by the need for Steam Deck compatibility) is as far as Linux gaming goes. It does occasionally take a bit of tweaking to get things to work just right, but nothing too crazy. It's also worth mentioning that, at least for me, System 76 has really solved the problem of "just open the box and turn it on" support for Linux. Extremely high build quality and most important, seamless support for Nvidia drivers. It is a blast to spend the day building deep learning models and then make use of that nice GPU to play AAA titles at max settings. Any gamer who has been wanting to go full Linux Desktop for a while, it's really quite possible now.
  - duffyjp 4y ago
    I'm in a similar stage as your first paragraph. Macbook for work and a dual boot desktop where Windows only handles games. My linux SSD is on its last legs though, and I've been planning to do a fresh install when I get a new one. I'm using Kubuntu currently but with all the headaches Snap has been giving me I think I'll give Pop!_os a try instead. Everybody that chimed in the other day on the thread about Ubuntu dropping Flatpak was raving about Pop!_os as a sensible alternative. I just wish it didn't have such a silly name. :P
- modeless 4y ago
  I tried Pizza Tower on Ubuntu and it worked perfectly. Then I tried it on Windows and it didn't recognize my gamepad correctly. I felt like I was in bizarro world. Since when does Linux work better out of the box than Windows does? This is the real secret of the Steam Deck's success. And it's something Valve has been working at for a decade now, starting with Steam Machines which completely failed. It's a strategic move to reduce their reliance on Microsoft and it must be great for them to see it succeed now after failing for many years.
Exendroinients 4y ago
Overall the most played games are all on phones. That market absolute dwarves steam. In developing countries nobody have a pc and they all play those mobile games without the existing console/pc market.
- soulbadguy 4y ago
  And that's okay. The world is big enough for all kind of devices/gaming preferences. The idea that valve shouldn't try to capitalize on their dominant position on the PC market because the phone market is larger i don't is a good one. As long as valve makes money, and that valve customers are happy with the product, i saw live and let live
kitsunesoba 4y ago
The Deck seems pretty great even in its first gen, but I’ve been holding off for future revisions not for power (I’m aware that Valve intends to target its current performance level for the foreseeable future), but for a better screen and hopefully an APU manufactured on a smaller process node and thus offering the same performance while being cooler, quieter, and less energy hungry. I don’t need crazy graphical settings (and as such, the Deck’s specs are fine) but I have a strong distaste for fan noise and short battery life, and the only way to get around those with some games right now is to turn settings down super low to the point of being an eyesore. It would be be neat if Valve replaced its fan with one or two of those solid state cooling cards that got posted here a while ago. Seems like a perfect fit for that tech.
- manojlds 4y ago
  Yeah I waited for the v2 Switch and was worth the wait. Improvement in battery (life) is what I prefer
- soulbadguy 4y ago
  > a better screen I would have loved if valve offered a tier with better screen. That would been a worth while upgrade.
  - catdog 4y ago
    Same here, the picture quality is quite mediocre. Also it does not use all the available real estate and could be a bit bigger. Would definitely be a reason to upgrade to a V2 Deck even if the internals stay the same.
    - soulbadguy 4y ago
      I am curious as to how much higher the BOM cost would have been for valves had they decided on a better screen .Surely it can be that high
- jakogut 4y ago
  > It would be be neat if Valve replaced its fan with one or two of those solid state cooling cards that got posted here a while ago. Link for people who didn't see the article, myself included. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34467937 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34467937
ronnier 4y ago
It's still wild to me that I can play Steam games in my Tesla on a big 18" screen. I believe this is just running Steam Deck.
rockbruno 4y ago
As someone who has been primarily a PC gamer since I was a kid and never enjoyed consoles that much, the Steam Deck is mind blowing. It took me a long time to buy it because I usually play games that generally don't fit the handheld style very well and I was unsure how the deck would handle those, but eventually decided to give it a shot. 1) It doesn't matter if a game doesn't fit the handheld style. The deck is by all means a regular computer; plug a USB-C hub with a monitor and a M+KB and you're instantly good to go. I thought this experience would be crappy but the performance is insane for its price point. Obviously you won't be able to max AAA games, but it handles them quite well still. I organized my work desk so that all of my Macbook accessories passed through a single hub, and when I want to play something I simply unplug the hub from my computer and put it into the deck. Instant gaming machine. 2) Whole thing is extremely customisable and full of buttons. If you don't like the controls for a particular game, you can just make your own or download a layout from the community. 3) It actually got me to enjoy the handheld style. The small screen and trying to read really small text bothered me at first, but for some reason I feel that my brain and eyes "adapted" to it. Now, when I play with it on the couch, I get the same "feeling" as if I was playing on a huge screen and it doesn't bother me anymore. Not sure how to describe this, it was a really interesting surprise for me.
- jszymborski 4y ago
  I too am a "not usually joystick-friendly gaming" kinda person, but the fact that "it's just a PC" really helped alleviate that worry. That being said, I'm surprised how well I can use the joysticks, trackpads, and tocuhscreens to comfortably navigate most games. I still wouldn't play Crusader Kings III w/o a mouse and keyboard, but man it's shocking to me how little I need to break them out.
- dougmwne 4y ago
  I have a 4k TV that’s too far from my couch for optimal viewing, but is what it is. The apparent screen size of the deck on my couch is pretty similar to the TV. I can’t see all that resolution from 10 feet away anyway.
smegsicle 4y ago
year of linux on the gaming console (playstation doesnt count)
- ta8903 4y ago
  Playstation is BSD.
  - smegsicle 4y ago
    and the ps2 and ps3 linux features dont count either
soulbadguy 4y ago
I pre ordered my deck on mostly a whim and also because i couldn't get my hand on a decent graphic card around 2021/2022. I used to think that the idea of portable gaming PC was kinda dumb : It's like a gaming laptop and worst in every way. But i have to admit that i was very wrong, and in the now 8 month i have had the device, it been my main vector for playing games and by a long shot. The interesting thing about this device, at least in my case his that it changed my preferences in term of which game i buy and mostly play. I almost never play big AAA anymore and nowday focus on simple indie/pixel arts/2D games and for that this console really shines. Actually i would love to trade some of that CPU/APU performance for a better AMOLED screen and smaller size. Now if only MSFT could also launch a portable console tied to a game pass subscription... One can only dream
- perryizgr8 4y ago
  > Now if only MSFT could also launch a portable console tied to a game pass subscription... You can install windows on steam deck and use your game pass subscription.
  - soulbadguy 4y ago
    Yeah i tried that, but the experience is not that great. The main issue is that the steam deck inputs only work as steaminput (vs xinput) so only work natively with steam games. I have seen some third party app to convert, but never had the patience to try them.
- juped 4y ago
  Hurry, fix that typo on word 5 before your edit window closes!
  - LewisVerstappen 4y ago
    Is there a variant of Cunningham's law where you intentionally include a funny typo in your first sentence to get extra upvotes?
  - soulbadguy 4y ago
ThorsBane 4y ago
I'm glad Steam made hardware. I'm going to go ahead and buy one of these to support the initiativeveven though I barely play games anymore. Maybe 1 every year or two.
- soulbadguy 4y ago
  I love the steam deck, but if you aren;t really using it what's the point. I am sure there might some indie/small project somewhere who would have better use of your 400-600 than valve. Plus you can get some tax write off:)
- arvigeus 4y ago
  Convenience is key here: play a game for 30-ish minutes, put it to sleep, pick it up the next day and you are right back where you left it. I think Steam Deck is actually more unsuitable for people who play games all the time.
kzz102 4y ago
I don't understand why people at Microsoft's gaming division are not acting like their hair is on fire right now. The only reason I and many people stay on Windows is because of games. The success of Steam Deck makes Linux a major gaming platform, opening the way for PC gaming to migrate to Linux. The only reason I have not switched already is my kids needs to play Minecraft.
- MineBill 4y ago
  Are you talking about Bedrock edition? Because the Java edition runs perfectly fine(maybe even better) on Linux.
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 4y ago
  Honestly I don't think Microsoft cares about Windows, or to the extent they do care they'd rather people not use a Desktop computer at all. Almost every decision since Windows 8 has been to the determent of the user experience on Windows, and it is getting difficult to believe that is accidental at this point.
- neogodless 4y ago
  I think there are a few puzzle pieces to look at... PC gaming Windows licensing is probably not significant to their revenue. For now, most PC gamers still buy laptops/desktops with Windows, or build a desktop and obtain a Windows key. Xbox Game Pass seems to be an important piece of their plan, because subscriptions are gold. They release games that are PC and Xbox compatible (that might work on other systems, e.g. Linux). As long as Xbox Games is selling games, they are less concerned with how the games are played. Giving up the PC Gaming on Windows part of their strategy does not necessarily have a big immediate effect on Microsoft. (But may be short-sighted in the long term.)
- ranger207 4y ago
  Microsoft seems to care less about platforms than apps nowadays. Windows and Xbox are important, but mostly because they get people to buy Office and Microsoft games. On the platform front though, the Steam Deck is for most people purely a gaming device, but their PCs are both gaming devices and workstations. SteamOS only solves the gaming part. Microsoft might be worried about their platforms if they put work into getting the workstation part better, or they might embrace it and dive entirely into selling apps and games
mmh0000 4y ago
I don't own a steam deck (yet). But, I absolutely love that Valve has been pushing Linux quite hard as a gaming platform. Like many of you here, I run Linux as my full-time OS, and because of that, I refuse to support any non-linux software. I'm not a huge gamer, but I do spend several hundred a year on Linux games. I'm very excited for what the future will bring.
hesdeadjim 4y ago
Our game’s Windows build ran basically out of the box. The only failure point was that Unity’s TextMeshPro input fields didn’t trigger the Steam Deck native keyboard UI. Took a little hacking on it, but easy enough. The Steam Deck version of the game might be my favorite platform for it. We can run in high quality mode at a full 60 fps. Don’t even get me started on the garbage pile that is the Nintendo Switch…
- coldpie 4y ago
  > The only failure point was that Unity’s TextMeshPro input fields didn’t trigger the Steam Deck native keyboard UI. Took a little hacking on it, but easy enough. Sounds like you figured it out, so probably you know this, but the soft keyboard can be invoked using either the Steam API, or by triggering it with the standard Windows input accessibility APIs. So it usually works for games that already support soft input on Windows, with no further effort from the dev :) Maybe the TextMeshPro devs would be willing to add accessibility support in future versions, which would fix it on Steam Deck and also benefit Windows users.
koinedad 4y ago
Steam deck is pretty awesome
brundolf 4y ago
With the glaring exception of a lot of multiplayer games :( Anti-cheat is a solvable problem here. Notably, Microsoft got Halo Infinite multiplayer (!) running flawlessly on the steam deck (which I assume means it'll work on a Linux desktop too!) But other big games still haven't bothered to add Linux support to their anti-cheat
livelielife 4y ago
but the Steam Deck is not buyable where I live. :(
BiteCode_dev 4y ago
Just bought Horizon, a game I would have never tried without the Deck, and it's been a blast. With the click on a button, I dive deep inside a the wonderful post apocalyptic hunter-gatherer world they created, in 2 seconds, thanks to the deck flawless sleep mode. Seamless sleep is something you could never dream on a Linux system, and here not only it works, but it gives this nice instant experience of a console, for PC gaming. It's so sweet.
- didsomeonesay 4y ago
  Sleep mode is working so well; i use it as a pause button for Elden Ring (offline mode) - a game where pausing was omitted by design. (I believe they designed it that way due to the multiplayer features, which i don't care about.)
- esturk 4y ago
  I agree it is pretty nice, a minor nic I have with it is that sleep time counts toward the 'hours played' in the steam profile.
  - http-teapot 4y ago
    > sleep time counts toward the 'hours played' in the steam profile That's surprising; when I exit a game, it briefly shows the wrong total and immediately recalculates the value.
flippinburgers 4y ago
It is an awesome piece of hardware. Got mine during the recent sale and play on it almost every night. So quick to wake! Sleep at the touch of a button! Great catalogue of games. Too good and well done Valve!
outime 4y ago
I bought the cheapest one during the recent sale (370 €) and swapped the eMMC with a big SSD in 10 mins. I have only used it for like a week but it has surpassed my rather low expectations. It works really smoothly and had no issues so far, all games I wanted working and all. Who could have told me the first console I’d ever buy myself would be from Valve!
emodendroket 4y ago
To be honest, I have kind of regretted buying one because most of the games I've felt like playing since I got into it either do not work, or work with big caveats (for instance, PGA Tour 2k23 works on the Steam Deck, but your progress is not shared across devices so I'd need to have two separate careers. Sonic Frontiers works but it had some bugs that made it impossible to finish some parts of the game. Wild Hearts just performs too poorly to play). 75% sounds like a lot but I think that can be less good than it sounds in practice. I also just find it too big and bulky and I'm not crazy about how high and small the controls are. It feels like the ARM revolution has a lot to offer as far as making this kind of device nicer.
Kalanos 4y ago
Are these additive or overlapping? e.g. double counting 1 game as both verified and playable Steam Deck Verified: 26 / 97 = 26.8 % Steam Deck Playable: 47 / 97 = 48.4 % Steam Deck Unsupported: 22 / 97 = 22.6 %
thsbrown 4y ago
Just picked one of these up during the sale as well! Primarily because I can see that the steam deck is picking up steam...no pun intended and I thought it would be an awsome opportunity for my game. I'm an indie developer and I've always had plans to port my game from mobile to steam but seeing the steam deck gain so much traction really got me excited! My game is very much a pickup and play type of game and I'm seeing small indie games like that excel on the steam deck. Vampire Survivors and Brotato to name a few. I received my steam deck yesterday and played for a few hours last night. I can't tell you all how excited am to get my game ported over and verified for this thing. It really is an incredible piece of gaming tech and it's got me super excited as an indie game developer! For anyone interested my game is called Command Center Earth. I'm set to launch a huge update next week (2.0.0)! https://www.commandcenterearth.com https://www.commandcenterearth.com
- dougmwne 4y ago
  Valve should get a free/discounted deck into the hands of every developer over a certain number of sales on steam. This is such a great story!
  - thsbrown 4y ago
    Thanks! That would be an amazing idea. I get the feeling though that the scales are starting to tip in their favor where we are going to be needing them more then they are going to be needing us soon haha. Kudos to valve though, it feels like they have been driving toward this dream for a while and they're finally starting to hit the sweet spot with the steamdeck.
baby 4y ago
Mind if I create a subthread on your favorite games to play on the Deck? I'm looking for some new games to play.
- coldpie 4y ago
  RPGs are great. I'm currently playing Octopath Traveler 2. That new Monkey Island game, or any other adventure game, works great on Deck. Don't forget it has a touchscreen for your mouse input! Rhythm games work great, no input lag.
  - baby 4y ago
    I thought about the new Octopath but I thought if I was really going to invest time in an RPG why not go full final fantasy / chrono tiger / etc. It feels like the different characters is a bit of a gimmick, at least in the first one.
    - rc_hackernews 4y ago
      I thought this too before I bought it, but figured “what the hell” and bought it anyway. I haven’t played the first one, but the second one is excellent and is my favorite game of the year so far, and probably last year too. And as already mentioned, it plays great on the Steam Deck. I highly recommend it.
      - baby 4y ago
        OK thanks for the recommendation then :) I might give it a try
    - coldpie 4y ago
      Sure, those're great, too. I've played them a billion times already :)
- tmtvl 4y ago
  If you want to lose thousands of hours building factory complexes in space, check out X3: Albion Prelude (part of the Terran War Pack).
mostlysimilar 4y ago
I've been back and forth on buying one. I want to support Valve so they continue to do great work on things like Linux support, etc. I just wouldn't use it very regularly, I game mostly at my desk with keyboard/mouse or via remote play (Steam Link) on my couch with a controller. Actually my biggest complaint at the moment related to Steam Deck is that the new Big Picture mode is absolutely broken on remote play. Maybe it's because I'm still using a Steam Link (I'd die for a new one to be released) but my god it's awful. So many annoying little bugs since they updated the UI to be the same as the Steam Deck. Usually the remote play experience is slightly wonky but a little bit of tweaking gets me where I need to be, or Valve releases an update that will fix my issues. But I've been dealing with the following ever since the UI update and no fix in sight: - Frequent, like 50%, of games won't have focus upon open. I have to open the Steam Link layer overlay and toggle on mouse controller mode, click the window to focus, and then open the overlay again to turn that mode back off. Often focus stays on Steam, so my controller is moving around in the Steam UI (I can hear the sound effects) instead of the game - Same bug as above but in reverse: when I quit a game and land back in Steam, it isn't focused, and I have to jump through the hoops above - Opening the store page for a game and then pressing B to go back loads the desktop/browser version of the store page instead, which has zero interactivity with my controller (I have to close the store and open it again, losing my place)
- andrewstuart2 4y ago
  I would wager you will be surprised how much you use it. Sleep and resume are very seamless which makes casual gaming a lot easier. I'm a dad of three, and I have been able to game again somewhat casually because if somebody needs something, I can easily hit the power button, take care of things, and power back on and keep going whenever I'm freed up again.
Decabytes 4y ago
Been playing Katamari Damacy Reroll and it is incredible on the Steam Deck. It's only 7.99 right now too. Feels good that when my joysticks start drifting, or my battery gets old I can just replace it. Valve getting the Steam Deck on retail is the next huge steps. Hopefully they are seeding decks to major game studios so they can target the hardware. Looking forward to a Steam Deck 2 with a better battery and OLED screen!
korijn 4y ago
As great as the deck is, it's got two major downsides that you should be aware of before buying: * It's insanely heavy and if I don't support it with a pillow on my lap, my hands and wrists start tingling after about 15 minutes of play. * The dock is absolute garbage and so is the support. It can't charge the deck fast enough AND power itself. With the standard charger the dock powers itself off, and with a more powerful one it stays on but the deck's battery will drain, and you get constant warnings about "a slow charger". I've reported this on the forums and via official support months ago, I've tried two official chargers, and two alternatives (apple and dell), nothing works. The only workaround I have to play on the TV with the dock is to disconnect the charger and play until the battery runs out. I feel like I've been lied to and want to return the dock, but I couldn't get myself to do in in the hopes Valve will reward my trust and patience a fix. But I'm not holding my breath.
- dougmwne 4y ago
  I think you have a hardware defective dock. Try an RMA. No reason you should be having power issues unless you are powering a usb-c display or some other high drain device off the dock.
  - korijn 4y ago
    Turns out the (official) chargers were defective. Got another one and everything works.
esturk 4y ago
For those curious, you can see the Steam Linux OS usage here. [1] As you can see, it (Steam OS Holo) is already 20+% of the Linux OS market share after 1 year. [1] https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/?platform=linux https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/?platform=linux
- wilsonnb3 4y ago
  For reference, Steam still reports Windows at like 96% and Linux at like 1.5%. So that 20% is of the 1.5%, so about .3% of all steam users are on SteamOS Linux.
  - esturk 4y ago
    If you click on the line item "OS Version" (for all 3 platforms), you'll see the "Steam OS Holo" is missing. I suspect the aggregated stat might not be updated properly. For one thing, the top Linux OS is still "Arch Linux 64 bit" at 0.13% when it should be "Steam OS Holo" as you mentioned at 0.254%.
costanzaDynasty 4y ago
Last year I would've said the Steam Deck was kinda a dumb idea. Then I bought someone in my household a Switch. Now I understand and want one.
galkk 4y ago
In addition to all the praises in this chat I can also add another. This is great companion for remote play on my 13900k/4090 desktop
ishyfishyy 4y ago
I love everything about the steam deck, just like everyone else here, with the exception of 2 things, 1. The touch screen hardware is there, but the touchscreen software needs significant improvement. 2. The weight. Holding it for longer than an hour is… hard. Bonus: Steam store on the deck is essentially a webview - clicking on a game from the store home page then clicking back loses all scroll progress. A better integrated store experience would be nice!

376 points by ekianjo 4y ago

This also means that these often played games work on Linux. Now if Nvidia would just give Linux a little more Wayland love...

smoldesu 4y ago
KDE's Wayland session on Nvidia hardware is a dream right now. Mutter has a few outstanding issues, but last I tried it was in a usable state. Nvidia can still do better going forward, but but the bridge has to be built from both sides.

dougmwne 4y ago

Bought one of these during the recent sale. It is a marvel. I had been thinking of waiting for an eventual v2, but it's honestly so cool today that it's not worth waiting. For me the main "wow" moments: 1. The first party, deck verified steam experience is super smooth, feeling just like a game console. It's like a switch with a deeper library and better controls. I love the community contributed control layouts as well. 2. The hardware itself is fantastic. The controls are great for both gaming and light desktop computing. Great feel in the hands, pleasant screen for gaming, and really just a much more comfortable experience than sitting at a desk or playing on the TV. It feels like curling up with a good book. 3. Linux with great windows compatibility layer out of the box. You pop it over into desktop mode and you have a Linux machine with ability to run most of the software out there for windows. You plug in a usb-c hub and you have a full desktop, keyboard mouse experience. And if you really have the need, you can dual boot into windows. 4. An insanely helpful community. Tons of knowledge out there for getting it to do anything you can dream of. So many people hacking on their favorite game to improve performance or play experience. Many folks writing auto-config scripts for anything from turning it into a retro gaming powerhouse to tweaking the swap file performance characteristics.

flatiron 4y ago
I agree. Last gaming PC I built was 2002. Decided to give the deck a whirl and I’m amazed by it. Playing octopath traveler 2 right now. Even though it has Denuvo antitamper I’ve had 0 issue. Put steam in offline mode and went on a plane and it worked great. Emu deck is also very good. My kids like to play super Mario allstars and they just fire it up like any other game.
SamuelAdams 4y ago
I wonder how the power draw compares to say an Xbox or PlayStation. Could the steam deck replace power-hungry consoles using a thunderbolt cable and dock? This could be a big win for Europe as electricity prices are going up considerably.
- vel0city 4y ago
  The Steam Deck itself is like <20W. A Playstation 5 uses ~200W when playing games. That's before thinking about what your TV power usage is. A Steam Deck could use its own screen within that <20W power envelope, while a Playstation or a docked Deck is going to probably use an extra 100-200W on a TV.
- pja 4y ago
  If you’re happy with 1080p PS4-ish level performance on the Deck’s 720p screen, sure. It’s probably not going to keep up with a PS4 on a 1080p TV, but Valve has done a lot of optimisation work & the output might be surprisingly “good enough”.
  - dougmwne 4y ago
    The steam deck on paper has higher specs than a PS4. PS4 can push 1.8 tflops on an older architecture and steam deck can do 3.3 on a more modern architecture. People’s real world experience on several games seems to put the Steam deck consistently ahead by a comfortable margin.
    - therealdrag0 4y ago

activitypea 4y ago

> It’s going to be a uphill battle to get to much higher percentages, as the remaining bastion of unsupported titles is mostly the matter of anti-cheat support How is Apex steam deck certified?

ekianjo 4y ago
Because they supported the Linux implementation of EAC.
jeroenhd 4y ago
EasyAntiCheat, and I believe some other common anticheat libraries, have been made compatible with Proton gaming. They've actually been fir a while thanks to Valve working with the companies behind them, but game studios did need to update their libraries to get that support so older games often lag behind the curve there. Apex Legends was verified on Deck this month. I don't know what changed, but I assume Valve's efforts in the DRM space have paid off.
gambiting 4y ago
It runs great - I play it a lot on the deck, it’s a very smooth 60fps experience. Plays better on the controller than it has any right to.
chaorace 4y ago
Apex Legends uses Epic Anti-Cheat ("EAC"). Valve collaborated with Epic to get EAC functional in Wine back in September[1]. This Wine support is an opt-in flag at build-time, so many games using EAC still remain incompatible (e.g.: Fortnite). Apex players asked for EAC-on-Wine to be enabled and the developers obliged by checking the checkbox. The reasons for why this is opt-in only are not public knowledge, but I wouldn't be surprised if this was some sort of special reduced-security mode. The APIs available to EAC-on-Wine are more-or-less a strict subset of those available to EAC-on-Windows, after all. FWIW: I don't think any Wine-exclusive exploits have ever been found in the wild. [1]: https://dev.epicgames.com/en-US/news/epic-online-services-launches-anti-cheat-support-for-linux-mac-and-steam-deck https://dev.epicgames.com/en-US/news/epic-online-services-la...

andrewmutz 4y ago

I recently started gaming in Linux after my windows partition borked itself (again) I was pleasantly surprised by the experience. About half my library was available. All the games ran perfectly. Without a doubt, if more game publishers supported Linux, I would never fix that windows partition.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

jeroenhd 4y ago

I've been playing a game on my Deck that's been reported as unplayable (Hitman, the remake) and I can't figure out what's supposed to be wrong with it. The stupid online requirement works, for better or for worse, so it's not DRM. The only thing I can think of is that I can't use the controller to click the Play button on start (need to use the touch screen) but that's rather minor. I've seen other cases where "not working" means "you need to hit Steam+X manually to open the keyboard in certain settings". These playability standards seem rather high, which isn't a bad thing, but can sew the numbers. On the other hand, you an find plenty of stories of users playing verified games that become bad later in the game, presumably because no company is going to spend 100 hours on every game to verify that every single thing works. I haven't run into that yet, though. Steam Deck and Proton really changed gaming on Linux and otherwise. Certain features of well-integrated games (Euro Truck Sim providing a list of named actions for key binds, for example) are unlike anything I've seen elsewhere. The ability to add overlay menus, with multiple levels even, to any game add even more to the way you can play PC games with a controller. At this point, I hope Valve releases a second Steam controller: one that's just the Deck without the PC inside. Coupled with the new Steam Big Picture, I'm confident Steam consoles could take off.

londons_explore 4y ago
I've often wondered, for a typical steam game, how big is the burden to make a tiny tweak (for example, making the start button clickable with a button not the touchscreen)? On one end of the scale, it's probably only adding 5 lines of code and could be done in 20 minutes by the right person... But on the other end of the scale, the company that made the game may no longer exist, the employees working on the game may no longer work there, the build environment for the game might be highly custom and take weeks to re-set-up, etc. When re-built, a bunch of QA and testing ought to be redone, especially if the build environment is new and some stuff might not be at the exact same version, etc.
- londons_explore 4y ago
  Steam has an incentive to make sure that the rebuild effort for their games is very low. One way they could do that is require game developers to upload source code to some source code repo (perhaps a 'code holding company', whose expertise is looking after source code). Code in the repo could be built automatically, ensuring that at any time a hotfix could be made with little friction. When publishers upload to steam, they are also giving the right for steam to make bugfixes if the original developer wont/cant.

1-6 4y ago

I wanted a mini PC so I bought a Steam Deck. I wish it looked a lot less like a gaming console with removable controllers like the Switch but the two track pads are surprisingly usable on the virtual keyboard.

soulbadguy 4y ago
Maybe something like the onexplayer 2 (https://onexplayerstore.com/products/onexplayer-2-amd%C2%AE-ryzen%C2%AE-6800u?variant=44351231885606 https://onexplayerstore.com/products/onexplayer-2-amd%C2%AE-...) ? Personally i don't really fancy removable controller as they seam to add a lot of mechanical complexity and bulk to console design.

scambier 4y ago

I got mine 2 months ago, and had to send it for RMA this week (one of the speakers is busted). Though I really like it, the finishes are really not great compared to a Nintendo Switch. The plastic feels cheap, the case creaks a bit, one of the triggers squeaks, the buttons clicks are super loud, and well, a speaker broke. There are also a few small software issues that are definitely not deal-breakers, but quickly add up as annoyances. I still find it's a good device, it does what I expected it to do (sometimes even better), but for the price, I expected something a bit more robust.

jeroenhd 4y ago
From what I've heard, hardware quality for the individual consoles seems to be a bit of a lottery. Some units arrive with scratched screens, stuck buttons, creaking plastic, all the works, while others are Just Fine. In terms of price, I'm not surprised in the difference in build quality. Nintendo is shipping five year old smartphone boards out for a premium price, that means the plastics can receive quite a bit of love. You couldn't possibly play PC games on Switch level hardware, not even on the 800p screen. As a result, Switch games run just as well or even better on the Deck once an emulator dev puts in the optimisation effort for a Switch game, despite the ARM to x64 translation overhead. The Deck's PC competition all costs twice or three times as much, usually for good reason. There are gaming handhelds out there that will come with good build quality and run Windows so things like DRM are not a problem, but you pay for that luxury. They used to be priced even higher but it's clear the Deck has disrupted this part of the industry quite significantly.
- kitsunesoba 4y ago
  Nintendo has seemed to have gone the route of Texas Instruments calculators with its handhelds for a long time now. The 3DS must’ve cost almost nothing to make by the time they stopped selling it.

RegularOpossum 4y ago

I adore my Steamdeck. I've had mine for the past six months and during that time I've had to spend more time in hospital waiting rooms than I'd have liked, but it's been an excellent companion. Over the years I've owned many consoles and built a few gaming PCs, but my entire interest in how I interact with games now is portable first. It's funny, I feel like I've gone back to where I started when my first game system was the original Game Boy.

Symmetry 4y ago

The existence of the Steam Deck has been a huge boon for those of us who plan Steam games on regular Linux desktops as well. It seems like nearly every Steam game I'd want to play these days works, and not just from publishers like Paradox who make an effort at compatibility.

time_to_smile 4y ago
Just wanted to second this experience. I'm one of those people that has perpetually wanted to use linux as my main desktop, but inevitably find myself dual booting Windows for gaming, and then just making my desktop a Windows gaming box and then using a Macbook for dev work. I think I've had about 3 major runs of trying to be Linux desktop only, and that typically lasts just a month or two. For the past year I've been using exclusively Linux (Pop!_os) as my desktop for everything I do, and that has involved quite a bit of gaming. It's really insane how giant a leap forward Proton (driven by the need for Steam Deck compatibility) is as far as Linux gaming goes. It does occasionally take a bit of tweaking to get things to work just right, but nothing too crazy. It's also worth mentioning that, at least for me, System 76 has really solved the problem of "just open the box and turn it on" support for Linux. Extremely high build quality and most important, seamless support for Nvidia drivers. It is a blast to spend the day building deep learning models and then make use of that nice GPU to play AAA titles at max settings. Any gamer who has been wanting to go full Linux Desktop for a while, it's really quite possible now.
- duffyjp 4y ago
  I'm in a similar stage as your first paragraph. Macbook for work and a dual boot desktop where Windows only handles games. My linux SSD is on its last legs though, and I've been planning to do a fresh install when I get a new one. I'm using Kubuntu currently but with all the headaches Snap has been giving me I think I'll give Pop!_os a try instead. Everybody that chimed in the other day on the thread about Ubuntu dropping Flatpak was raving about Pop!_os as a sensible alternative. I just wish it didn't have such a silly name. :P
modeless 4y ago
I tried Pizza Tower on Ubuntu and it worked perfectly. Then I tried it on Windows and it didn't recognize my gamepad correctly. I felt like I was in bizarro world. Since when does Linux work better out of the box than Windows does? This is the real secret of the Steam Deck's success. And it's something Valve has been working at for a decade now, starting with Steam Machines which completely failed. It's a strategic move to reduce their reliance on Microsoft and it must be great for them to see it succeed now after failing for many years.

Exendroinients 4y ago

Overall the most played games are all on phones. That market absolute dwarves steam. In developing countries nobody have a pc and they all play those mobile games without the existing console/pc market.

soulbadguy 4y ago
And that's okay. The world is big enough for all kind of devices/gaming preferences. The idea that valve shouldn't try to capitalize on their dominant position on the PC market because the phone market is larger i don't is a good one. As long as valve makes money, and that valve customers are happy with the product, i saw live and let live

kitsunesoba 4y ago

The Deck seems pretty great even in its first gen, but I’ve been holding off for future revisions not for power (I’m aware that Valve intends to target its current performance level for the foreseeable future), but for a better screen and hopefully an APU manufactured on a smaller process node and thus offering the same performance while being cooler, quieter, and less energy hungry. I don’t need crazy graphical settings (and as such, the Deck’s specs are fine) but I have a strong distaste for fan noise and short battery life, and the only way to get around those with some games right now is to turn settings down super low to the point of being an eyesore. It would be be neat if Valve replaced its fan with one or two of those solid state cooling cards that got posted here a while ago. Seems like a perfect fit for that tech.

manojlds 4y ago
Yeah I waited for the v2 Switch and was worth the wait. Improvement in battery (life) is what I prefer
soulbadguy 4y ago
> a better screen I would have loved if valve offered a tier with better screen. That would been a worth while upgrade.
- catdog 4y ago
  Same here, the picture quality is quite mediocre. Also it does not use all the available real estate and could be a bit bigger. Would definitely be a reason to upgrade to a V2 Deck even if the internals stay the same.
  - soulbadguy 4y ago
    I am curious as to how much higher the BOM cost would have been for valves had they decided on a better screen .Surely it can be that high
jakogut 4y ago
> It would be be neat if Valve replaced its fan with one or two of those solid state cooling cards that got posted here a while ago. Link for people who didn't see the article, myself included. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34467937 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34467937

ronnier 4y ago

It's still wild to me that I can play Steam games in my Tesla on a big 18" screen. I believe this is just running Steam Deck.

rockbruno 4y ago

As someone who has been primarily a PC gamer since I was a kid and never enjoyed consoles that much, the Steam Deck is mind blowing. It took me a long time to buy it because I usually play games that generally don't fit the handheld style very well and I was unsure how the deck would handle those, but eventually decided to give it a shot. 1) It doesn't matter if a game doesn't fit the handheld style. The deck is by all means a regular computer; plug a USB-C hub with a monitor and a M+KB and you're instantly good to go. I thought this experience would be crappy but the performance is insane for its price point. Obviously you won't be able to max AAA games, but it handles them quite well still. I organized my work desk so that all of my Macbook accessories passed through a single hub, and when I want to play something I simply unplug the hub from my computer and put it into the deck. Instant gaming machine. 2) Whole thing is extremely customisable and full of buttons. If you don't like the controls for a particular game, you can just make your own or download a layout from the community. 3) It actually got me to enjoy the handheld style. The small screen and trying to read really small text bothered me at first, but for some reason I feel that my brain and eyes "adapted" to it. Now, when I play with it on the couch, I get the same "feeling" as if I was playing on a huge screen and it doesn't bother me anymore. Not sure how to describe this, it was a really interesting surprise for me.

jszymborski 4y ago
I too am a "not usually joystick-friendly gaming" kinda person, but the fact that "it's just a PC" really helped alleviate that worry. That being said, I'm surprised how well I can use the joysticks, trackpads, and tocuhscreens to comfortably navigate most games. I still wouldn't play Crusader Kings III w/o a mouse and keyboard, but man it's shocking to me how little I need to break them out.
dougmwne 4y ago
I have a 4k TV that’s too far from my couch for optimal viewing, but is what it is. The apparent screen size of the deck on my couch is pretty similar to the TV. I can’t see all that resolution from 10 feet away anyway.

smegsicle 4y ago

year of linux on the gaming console (playstation doesnt count)

ta8903 4y ago
Playstation is BSD.
- smegsicle 4y ago
  and the ps2 and ps3 linux features dont count either

soulbadguy 4y ago

I pre ordered my deck on mostly a whim and also because i couldn't get my hand on a decent graphic card around 2021/2022. I used to think that the idea of portable gaming PC was kinda dumb : It's like a gaming laptop and worst in every way. But i have to admit that i was very wrong, and in the now 8 month i have had the device, it been my main vector for playing games and by a long shot. The interesting thing about this device, at least in my case his that it changed my preferences in term of which game i buy and mostly play. I almost never play big AAA anymore and nowday focus on simple indie/pixel arts/2D games and for that this console really shines. Actually i would love to trade some of that CPU/APU performance for a better AMOLED screen and smaller size. Now if only MSFT could also launch a portable console tied to a game pass subscription... One can only dream

perryizgr8 4y ago
> Now if only MSFT could also launch a portable console tied to a game pass subscription... You can install windows on steam deck and use your game pass subscription.
- soulbadguy 4y ago
  Yeah i tried that, but the experience is not that great. The main issue is that the steam deck inputs only work as steaminput (vs xinput) so only work natively with steam games. I have seen some third party app to convert, but never had the patience to try them.
juped 4y ago
Hurry, fix that typo on word 5 before your edit window closes!
- LewisVerstappen 4y ago
  Is there a variant of Cunningham's law where you intentionally include a funny typo in your first sentence to get extra upvotes?
- soulbadguy 4y ago

ThorsBane 4y ago

I'm glad Steam made hardware. I'm going to go ahead and buy one of these to support the initiativeveven though I barely play games anymore. Maybe 1 every year or two.

soulbadguy 4y ago
I love the steam deck, but if you aren;t really using it what's the point. I am sure there might some indie/small project somewhere who would have better use of your 400-600 than valve. Plus you can get some tax write off:)
arvigeus 4y ago
Convenience is key here: play a game for 30-ish minutes, put it to sleep, pick it up the next day and you are right back where you left it. I think Steam Deck is actually more unsuitable for people who play games all the time.

kzz102 4y ago

I don't understand why people at Microsoft's gaming division are not acting like their hair is on fire right now. The only reason I and many people stay on Windows is because of games. The success of Steam Deck makes Linux a major gaming platform, opening the way for PC gaming to migrate to Linux. The only reason I have not switched already is my kids needs to play Minecraft.

MineBill 4y ago
Are you talking about Bedrock edition? Because the Java edition runs perfectly fine(maybe even better) on Linux.
AnIdiotOnTheNet 4y ago
Honestly I don't think Microsoft cares about Windows, or to the extent they do care they'd rather people not use a Desktop computer at all. Almost every decision since Windows 8 has been to the determent of the user experience on Windows, and it is getting difficult to believe that is accidental at this point.
neogodless 4y ago
I think there are a few puzzle pieces to look at... PC gaming Windows licensing is probably not significant to their revenue. For now, most PC gamers still buy laptops/desktops with Windows, or build a desktop and obtain a Windows key. Xbox Game Pass seems to be an important piece of their plan, because subscriptions are gold. They release games that are PC and Xbox compatible (that might work on other systems, e.g. Linux). As long as Xbox Games is selling games, they are less concerned with how the games are played. Giving up the PC Gaming on Windows part of their strategy does not necessarily have a big immediate effect on Microsoft. (But may be short-sighted in the long term.)
ranger207 4y ago
Microsoft seems to care less about platforms than apps nowadays. Windows and Xbox are important, but mostly because they get people to buy Office and Microsoft games. On the platform front though, the Steam Deck is for most people purely a gaming device, but their PCs are both gaming devices and workstations. SteamOS only solves the gaming part. Microsoft might be worried about their platforms if they put work into getting the workstation part better, or they might embrace it and dive entirely into selling apps and games

mmh0000 4y ago

I don't own a steam deck (yet). But, I absolutely love that Valve has been pushing Linux quite hard as a gaming platform. Like many of you here, I run Linux as my full-time OS, and because of that, I refuse to support any non-linux software. I'm not a huge gamer, but I do spend several hundred a year on Linux games. I'm very excited for what the future will bring.

hesdeadjim 4y ago

Our game’s Windows build ran basically out of the box. The only failure point was that Unity’s TextMeshPro input fields didn’t trigger the Steam Deck native keyboard UI. Took a little hacking on it, but easy enough. The Steam Deck version of the game might be my favorite platform for it. We can run in high quality mode at a full 60 fps. Don’t even get me started on the garbage pile that is the Nintendo Switch…

coldpie 4y ago
> The only failure point was that Unity’s TextMeshPro input fields didn’t trigger the Steam Deck native keyboard UI. Took a little hacking on it, but easy enough. Sounds like you figured it out, so probably you know this, but the soft keyboard can be invoked using either the Steam API, or by triggering it with the standard Windows input accessibility APIs. So it usually works for games that already support soft input on Windows, with no further effort from the dev :) Maybe the TextMeshPro devs would be willing to add accessibility support in future versions, which would fix it on Steam Deck and also benefit Windows users.

koinedad 4y ago

Steam deck is pretty awesome

brundolf 4y ago

With the glaring exception of a lot of multiplayer games :( Anti-cheat is a solvable problem here. Notably, Microsoft got Halo Infinite multiplayer (!) running flawlessly on the steam deck (which I assume means it'll work on a Linux desktop too!) But other big games still haven't bothered to add Linux support to their anti-cheat

livelielife 4y ago

but the Steam Deck is not buyable where I live. :(

BiteCode_dev 4y ago

Just bought Horizon, a game I would have never tried without the Deck, and it's been a blast. With the click on a button, I dive deep inside a the wonderful post apocalyptic hunter-gatherer world they created, in 2 seconds, thanks to the deck flawless sleep mode. Seamless sleep is something you could never dream on a Linux system, and here not only it works, but it gives this nice instant experience of a console, for PC gaming. It's so sweet.

didsomeonesay 4y ago
Sleep mode is working so well; i use it as a pause button for Elden Ring (offline mode) - a game where pausing was omitted by design. (I believe they designed it that way due to the multiplayer features, which i don't care about.)
esturk 4y ago
I agree it is pretty nice, a minor nic I have with it is that sleep time counts toward the 'hours played' in the steam profile.
- http-teapot 4y ago
  > sleep time counts toward the 'hours played' in the steam profile That's surprising; when I exit a game, it briefly shows the wrong total and immediately recalculates the value.

flippinburgers 4y ago

It is an awesome piece of hardware. Got mine during the recent sale and play on it almost every night. So quick to wake! Sleep at the touch of a button! Great catalogue of games. Too good and well done Valve!

outime 4y ago

I bought the cheapest one during the recent sale (370 €) and swapped the eMMC with a big SSD in 10 mins. I have only used it for like a week but it has surpassed my rather low expectations. It works really smoothly and had no issues so far, all games I wanted working and all. Who could have told me the first console I’d ever buy myself would be from Valve!

emodendroket 4y ago

To be honest, I have kind of regretted buying one because most of the games I've felt like playing since I got into it either do not work, or work with big caveats (for instance, PGA Tour 2k23 works on the Steam Deck, but your progress is not shared across devices so I'd need to have two separate careers. Sonic Frontiers works but it had some bugs that made it impossible to finish some parts of the game. Wild Hearts just performs too poorly to play). 75% sounds like a lot but I think that can be less good than it sounds in practice. I also just find it too big and bulky and I'm not crazy about how high and small the controls are. It feels like the ARM revolution has a lot to offer as far as making this kind of device nicer.

Kalanos 4y ago

Are these additive or overlapping? e.g. double counting 1 game as both verified and playable Steam Deck Verified: 26 / 97 = 26.8 % Steam Deck Playable: 47 / 97 = 48.4 % Steam Deck Unsupported: 22 / 97 = 22.6 %

thsbrown 4y ago

Just picked one of these up during the sale as well! Primarily because I can see that the steam deck is picking up steam...no pun intended and I thought it would be an awsome opportunity for my game. I'm an indie developer and I've always had plans to port my game from mobile to steam but seeing the steam deck gain so much traction really got me excited! My game is very much a pickup and play type of game and I'm seeing small indie games like that excel on the steam deck. Vampire Survivors and Brotato to name a few. I received my steam deck yesterday and played for a few hours last night. I can't tell you all how excited am to get my game ported over and verified for this thing. It really is an incredible piece of gaming tech and it's got me super excited as an indie game developer! For anyone interested my game is called Command Center Earth. I'm set to launch a huge update next week (2.0.0)! https://www.commandcenterearth.com https://www.commandcenterearth.com

dougmwne 4y ago
Valve should get a free/discounted deck into the hands of every developer over a certain number of sales on steam. This is such a great story!
- thsbrown 4y ago
  Thanks! That would be an amazing idea. I get the feeling though that the scales are starting to tip in their favor where we are going to be needing them more then they are going to be needing us soon haha. Kudos to valve though, it feels like they have been driving toward this dream for a while and they're finally starting to hit the sweet spot with the steamdeck.

baby 4y ago

Mind if I create a subthread on your favorite games to play on the Deck? I'm looking for some new games to play.

coldpie 4y ago
RPGs are great. I'm currently playing Octopath Traveler 2. That new Monkey Island game, or any other adventure game, works great on Deck. Don't forget it has a touchscreen for your mouse input! Rhythm games work great, no input lag.
- baby 4y ago
  I thought about the new Octopath but I thought if I was really going to invest time in an RPG why not go full final fantasy / chrono tiger / etc. It feels like the different characters is a bit of a gimmick, at least in the first one.
  - rc_hackernews 4y ago
    I thought this too before I bought it, but figured “what the hell” and bought it anyway. I haven’t played the first one, but the second one is excellent and is my favorite game of the year so far, and probably last year too. And as already mentioned, it plays great on the Steam Deck. I highly recommend it.
    - baby 4y ago
      OK thanks for the recommendation then :) I might give it a try
  - coldpie 4y ago
    Sure, those're great, too. I've played them a billion times already :)
tmtvl 4y ago
If you want to lose thousands of hours building factory complexes in space, check out X3: Albion Prelude (part of the Terran War Pack).

mostlysimilar 4y ago

I've been back and forth on buying one. I want to support Valve so they continue to do great work on things like Linux support, etc. I just wouldn't use it very regularly, I game mostly at my desk with keyboard/mouse or via remote play (Steam Link) on my couch with a controller. Actually my biggest complaint at the moment related to Steam Deck is that the new Big Picture mode is absolutely broken on remote play. Maybe it's because I'm still using a Steam Link (I'd die for a new one to be released) but my god it's awful. So many annoying little bugs since they updated the UI to be the same as the Steam Deck. Usually the remote play experience is slightly wonky but a little bit of tweaking gets me where I need to be, or Valve releases an update that will fix my issues. But I've been dealing with the following ever since the UI update and no fix in sight: - Frequent, like 50%, of games won't have focus upon open. I have to open the Steam Link layer overlay and toggle on mouse controller mode, click the window to focus, and then open the overlay again to turn that mode back off. Often focus stays on Steam, so my controller is moving around in the Steam UI (I can hear the sound effects) instead of the game - Same bug as above but in reverse: when I quit a game and land back in Steam, it isn't focused, and I have to jump through the hoops above - Opening the store page for a game and then pressing B to go back loads the desktop/browser version of the store page instead, which has zero interactivity with my controller (I have to close the store and open it again, losing my place)

andrewstuart2 4y ago
I would wager you will be surprised how much you use it. Sleep and resume are very seamless which makes casual gaming a lot easier. I'm a dad of three, and I have been able to game again somewhat casually because if somebody needs something, I can easily hit the power button, take care of things, and power back on and keep going whenever I'm freed up again.

Decabytes 4y ago

Been playing Katamari Damacy Reroll and it is incredible on the Steam Deck. It's only 7.99 right now too. Feels good that when my joysticks start drifting, or my battery gets old I can just replace it. Valve getting the Steam Deck on retail is the next huge steps. Hopefully they are seeding decks to major game studios so they can target the hardware. Looking forward to a Steam Deck 2 with a better battery and OLED screen!

korijn 4y ago

As great as the deck is, it's got two major downsides that you should be aware of before buying: * It's insanely heavy and if I don't support it with a pillow on my lap, my hands and wrists start tingling after about 15 minutes of play. * The dock is absolute garbage and so is the support. It can't charge the deck fast enough AND power itself. With the standard charger the dock powers itself off, and with a more powerful one it stays on but the deck's battery will drain, and you get constant warnings about "a slow charger". I've reported this on the forums and via official support months ago, I've tried two official chargers, and two alternatives (apple and dell), nothing works. The only workaround I have to play on the TV with the dock is to disconnect the charger and play until the battery runs out. I feel like I've been lied to and want to return the dock, but I couldn't get myself to do in in the hopes Valve will reward my trust and patience a fix. But I'm not holding my breath.

dougmwne 4y ago
I think you have a hardware defective dock. Try an RMA. No reason you should be having power issues unless you are powering a usb-c display or some other high drain device off the dock.
- korijn 4y ago
  Turns out the (official) chargers were defective. Got another one and everything works.

esturk 4y ago

For those curious, you can see the Steam Linux OS usage here. [1] As you can see, it (Steam OS Holo) is already 20+% of the Linux OS market share after 1 year. [1] https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/?platform=linux https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/?platform=linux

wilsonnb3 4y ago
For reference, Steam still reports Windows at like 96% and Linux at like 1.5%. So that 20% is of the 1.5%, so about .3% of all steam users are on SteamOS Linux.
- esturk 4y ago
  If you click on the line item "OS Version" (for all 3 platforms), you'll see the "Steam OS Holo" is missing. I suspect the aggregated stat might not be updated properly. For one thing, the top Linux OS is still "Arch Linux 64 bit" at 0.13% when it should be "Steam OS Holo" as you mentioned at 0.254%.

costanzaDynasty 4y ago

Last year I would've said the Steam Deck was kinda a dumb idea. Then I bought someone in my household a Switch. Now I understand and want one.

galkk 4y ago

In addition to all the praises in this chat I can also add another. This is great companion for remote play on my 13900k/4090 desktop

ishyfishyy 4y ago

I love everything about the steam deck, just like everyone else here, with the exception of 2 things, 1. The touch screen hardware is there, but the touchscreen software needs significant improvement. 2. The weight. Holding it for longer than an hour is… hard. Bonus: Steam store on the deck is essentially a webview - clicking on a game from the store home page then clicking back loses all scroll progress. A better integrated store experience would be nice!