My Steam library basically only consists of Witcher 3 and Spiritfarer. I also was gifted a Humble Bundle game for Batman Arkham Knight.
I’m debating on getting Elden Ring and Cyberpunk (both without DLC).
Marvel’s Spider-Man and FF7 Interograde also look like a good value right now for 40 bucks total.
Satisfactory sucked up about 3 months of my time and thinking about it as I type this I really want to start a new play through.
I’ve put a disgusting amount of hours into Emberward. It’s Tower Defense but no mtx and has a really fun Tetris blocks gimmck to build lanes.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2459550/Emberward/
Yes it’s early access but it doesn’t matter, the game is nearly done anyways, also on sale currently. There’s good Steam Input profiles for the Deck. Dev is adding controller suppport for 1.0 but this doesn’t really matter on a Steam Deck.
I’ve been replaying Dragon Age Origins at work modded via Nexus Mods and running DAO-Modmanager via WINE under Steam’s compatdata prefix.
You’re getting all kinds of recommendations for Steam games. But what about free games? In desktop mode, the “discovery” app let’s you install programs, including games.
There’s tons of free games. I’ll admit a lot of them aren’t the highest quality. They are mostly open source clones of more popular games.
One game I recommend in particular is Super Tux Kart. (Tux is the mascot of Linux, and SteamOS is Linux based.) It’s a kart racer game. It’s one of the highest quality open source clones out there, though. Great graphics too.
If you own Minecraft, the Prism launcher will allow you to run it in the Deck. Just go into the steam menu in desktop mode and click “add non stream game” to add any apps you install this way to your steam menu. Now they can be launched in handheld mode as well!
Not sure what games you like, but I will suggest Terraria to almost anyone. 50% of currently on steam. https://store.steampowered.com/app/105600/Terraria/
Balatro and Slay the Spire both play great on the Deck and have amazing replayability.
I got Overgrowth a few days ago for my Deck and it is very fun, especially when it only cost 6€ to get it
Kingdom come deliverance really drew me in on the Deck. Currently €6.
You might check out some of the different game bundles available right now, they can quickly give you a lot of good games to play for cheap.
One month of humble choice ($15) will get you Nine Sols, Like a Dragon Gaiden, Streets of Rage 4, and a bunch of other games.
Fanatical has a ton of build a bundle available right now for their winter sale. Of those bundles, the Prestige, Best of Platinum, Winter SuperStars, and Play on the Go bundles are all especially recommendes.
Does somebody already mentioned Grim Dawn? Diablo II like ARPG. From what I’ve heard well playable on the deck. Check out the mentioned 3rd party sites first a good deal, the all in one (two expansions) set should be around 30ish bucks.
I really enjoyed Grim Dawn, I dont replay my games (quite a few in my backlog and very limited time) but if i’m replaying any, Grim Dawn would be the one.
Vampire survivors is great for the vegetable state of mind play and usually cheap as fuck.
Core keeper is a great builder game,
Valheim
The old final fantasies like 4 5 6 7 9 10 if you can get them on sale. I’ve had nothing but success on steam key websites.
Mortal sin is amazing.
Slay the spire
Lego Star wars The Skywalker saga is so cheap right now and trust me its so fucking fun
Half life 1 and 2 and half life 2 episodes 1-2
Halo MCC
Portal 1 and 2
Team fortress 2 (probably want a mouse and keyboard for though)
Hogwarts legacy runs surprisingly well on deck too and it’s like $6 right now
Make sure you have a game with sustenance and a game you can veg out on.
The old final fantasies like 4 5 6 7 9 10
This slight against FFVIII has not gone unnoticed.
While the Deck is capable of running some big AAA games, I personally find that it shines in the low-power, “chill” games that you can play for a while, put down, and come back to when you’ve got some more time.
I’m a big fan of RPGs, so my #1 recommendation is Sea of Stars. Dragon Quest: Builders is also good, along with it’s sequel, which is arguably better.
A good multiplayer game with endless hordes of monsters vs. your magic is The Spell Brigade.
You may not know this, but the Deck can also be plugged into a TV or monitor, and with the help of a USB-C hub, can support a keyboard and mouse too! If you go that route, then I can’t recommend Dyson Sphere Program enough. Ooh! and Timberborn! It’s both adorable and beautifully designed.
If you’re more of a 3rd-person shooter type, Mass Effect: Legendary Edition is fan-fucking-tastic (my favourite series of all time) and it’s currently on sale for £5. There are 3 games in the series, and make sure you start with the first one! You don’t regret it.
Finally, note that you’re not bound to the Steam store if you don’t want to be. If you install the Heroic Launcher for example, you can get DRM-Free games from GOG for example. Sometimes you’ll find that games are available on both platforms, but cheaper on one of the other, and GOG games don’t come with controls on how many people can be playing it at the same time.
- Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana
- Ys X: Nordics
They look terrible, but are incredible stories and were optimized for Steam Deck. Ys I & II Chronicles also plays great and are fun, though even the remakes feel older. Other Ys games are also fun.
Age of Mythology Retold I think played well and had good controls despite being an RTS.
Halo Master Chief Collection seems to do pretty decent. I played through Reach and most of the first game at least for the single player and enjoyed it.
American Truck Simulator is surprisingly fun and the studio puts ridiculous effort into optimizing for Steam Deck.
Other fun games I’ve played a lot on Steam Deck:
- Just Cause 2
- Overlord 1, Raising Hell, & 2
- Warhammer Inquisitor Martyr
- Gas Guzzlers Extreme
- Warhammer Space Marine (the original)
- Sniper Ghost Warrior 1 & 2 (1 has not aged well but was still fun)
- Saints Row the Third (the original)
- A good amount of Lego games
- Pinball FX3
- Fortix
- Far Cry 2
- Viking Battle for Asgard (no cloud save, be careful and back up game saves)
- The Saboteur (probably one of the greatest forgotten gems of the PS3/X360 era, I think it required minor tweaking to run on Steam Deck)
- Broforce/Expendabros
- Sir Whoopass
- Hustler
- Dungeons of Sundaria
- Shadows Awakening
- Awesome Pea
- Bears, Vodka, Balalaika!
- Disfigured
- Bayonetta
- Redeemer
- Blasphemous
- Parking Garage Rally
Warframe is free to play and very little content aka only certain cosmetics are behind a pay wall. You can easily earn in game currency via trading with other players once you start opening relics. Tons of content and runs great on the deck!
If you haven’t already got it, Hades
You definitely should mention what types of games you like, but I second Stardew Valley, Celeste and Balatro either way. They’re great titles.
If you like cozy games like Stardew Valley, I recommend Mystia’s Izayaka. You can get the bundle with all the dlcs for cheap right now.
Some other great games I can’t recommended enough are Ikenfell, Cult of the Lamb, Later Alligator, Persona 4 and Crow Country.
Also, get an SD card and put Emudeck on it.
Edit: Forgot to mention: you can go on steamdb to get a list of free games that are Deck verified.
