I have over 1,000 games on Steam and I’ve yet to run into any game that doesn’t just work, outside of a very limited few online games, which I wouldn’t really want to be playing on the Steam Deck anyway since those games are generally played on mouse and keyboard. And VR games, but that should be a given lol.

The Steam Deck is a great piece of hardware, I use it as a regular computer for recording audiobooks, I used it for gaming and it’s been stellar

I bought the 512 GB OLED back in May with no regrets. I’m surprised how quick I am to turn in the Steam Deck now instead of booting up my gaming PC. I wouldn’t say it’s changed how I play, since I already tend to game with a controller, but it’s great fun, and so far I don’t think I’ve encountered a single game in my Steam Library that wouldn’t run. Plus, I love handhelds and portable devices in general.

A few games have needed minor tweaks (proton version, a fix that would also be needed in Windows), but everything has worked. As a disclaimer though, I don’t play online competitive games, just single player and co-op stuff with my wife, so YMMV.

On the other hand, I’ve found some games work that I couldn’t even run decently in Windows. Like Rainbow Six: Vegas. On Windows it would never properly work with a controller but on the Deck it was no problem. And Silent Storm ram out of the box, no tweaks at all. Linux is awesome like that for older titles.

It’s also been great for emulation, at least through PS2 and GameCube, I don’t emulate much above those. Emudeck is nice, and I was already familiar with EmulationStation since I use that on a Powkiddy X55, so that was nice.

One thing I will say is a game changer is the suspend function. Being able to tap the power button and sleep it at any time and then pick up where you left off later is amazing. Reminds me of the old Nintendo DS, just shut the lid and get back to it.

All told, I’m really happy with it.

I love mine, but if you’re not a gamer it probably won’t be a good device for you.

The biggest advantages of the Deck (in my opinion) are it’s portability, and the ability to suspend mid game. I used to play games primarily on my computer, but as a father I had to mostly drop playing games. I can’t afford to lock myself away from my wife/kids for long periods of time, and there are frequently interruptions (kids crying, someone’s hungry, wife needs help, etc) that makes it hard to know how long I have to play before I need to be able to stop playing. Due to this, I had stopped playing PC games almost completely. I still played phone and Nintendo Switch games some, but these both have downsides (most phone games suck and the controls limit what games are viable, nintendo switch games are overpriced and I have to compete with the kids for it).

The steam deck solved my game issues, and really let me play games freely again. I can play for short bursts, and if I need to stop I can just suspend and pick up in the same place later. It’s been a great device for me, but I was someone who wanted to be playing games and lacked time/freedom to do it.

In comparison though, when I upgraded to an OLED deck I sold my LCD deck, and I know that the person I sold it to hasn’t gotten very much use out of it. He’s generally less into games than I am, and when he wants to play he can play on his PC without issues. He didn’t have much of a use-case for the Steam Deck outside of trips.

So in summary, the deck is a fantastic piece of hardware, but it’s really dependent on what you want out of a device that will determine if it’s something that will be good for you personally.

I only use my Steam Deck while I am away from my gaming (Linux-)PC. The reasons for this are that for me a big screen wins compared to the small (and relatively low-res) display of the Steam Deck, and also the games I usually play play way better with mouse and keyboard than with gamepad input… Also, the Steam Deck is relatively heavy, so gaming in bed or stuff like that also isn’t that enjoyable…

That said, the Steam Deck absolutely shines in situations where I cannot access my gaming PC. I usually take it with me when I go for a longer train ride, and also brought it along for vacation.

Compatibility wise I am in the situation that all the games I ever tried are working on the Steam Deck, but that’s mostly because I have been using Linux exclusively for decades, and have made it a habit to check if a game is going to work before buying it. Though, in recent years that habit slightly changed, thanks to the work Valve has put into WINE development. While back when I switched to Linux most Windows games would not run via WINE, nowadays one can expect that almost all games do. It is still a good idea to check protondb first, of course. Also, there are still a few games that need tinkering to get them to run, and protondb usually has some info on how to do that.

One negative point I have to mention is battery runtime. It strongly depends on what one is playing, but very demanding 3D games can drain the battery in 1.5 hours. However, I am talking about the old LCD model here, the newer OLED models run longer with one charge (though I don’t know how long actually).

Another negative is the display resolution. Most games don’t mind running on 1280x800, but some do. This can lead to illegible text, broken UI, or, as is the case with Stellaris, a different UI that is less convenient to use.

And last, but not least, performance. The Steam Deck GPU is just enough for the built-in display’s resolution, and also only under the assumption that games are reasonably optimized. I have not yet been in the situation that I would have gotten unplayable FPS, but I have heard a lot about games only running with 20 FPS, and needing upscaling… So, basically don’t expect it to run Crysis (yes, I know that joke is old, and that the Steam Deck can run Crysis just fine).

I love mine. I have a pc i havnt used for gaming in years because its in another room. Bought a steam deck, now i get to play all my pc games on the couch

It’s fantastic, especially for non-gamers.

There’s a huge library of cozy games, and arcade games, and retro games, and adventure RPGs, exploration games, puzzle games that all run terrific on a SteamDeck.

The average randomly selected game from my Steam Library has run fine for me, on my SteamDeck.

If they ever make a smaller model with a clam shell to protect the screen, it’ll be the perfect game system.

Honestly it’s become my gaming PC. It’s weird to say but the piece of kit has held its own and at this point if I want to okay a pc game in the living room I turn to the steamdeck more than anything else.

I got the steam deck to play older games and games that aren’t on my console of choice.

None of the games I play have given me any trouble, but I find myself starting each new game with a ritual of performance optimization tweaks. It could be anything from adjusting graphical settings to capping frame rates to changing the default resolution scaling, and sometimes I’ll revisit these during my playthrough. It doesn’t bother me all that much, but playing on a proper console is less hassle.

Amazing. One of the best purchases I’ve ever made.

It’s rare for me to see games in my library that are not supported, although there are a few. But there is a difference between running and running well. Demanding games will get maybe an hour of battery life and the fans will be pretty loud the whole time. Some games (especially strategy games) really work better with a full keyboard and a higher resolution screen. Some games I just would not want to play on a handheld. But most of the time the games that I want to play work well.

One trick I use to get better battery life and performance is streaming. I use Chiaki to stream from my PS4, and Steam Link (as a non-steam app lol) to stream from my desktop. It’s often worth it for the fan noise reduction alone.

It’s even better at emulation. It’s a great machine for PS2 and GameCube games- I have the back buttons and track pads mapped to speed up, pause, slow, and rewind gameplay and to control save states. I have not dialed it in yet, but I think with some tweaking you could probably use the gyro and/or track pads to do some good Wii emulation. 3DS and DS are great too, mostly because of the track pads. Anything older emulates fine, but isn’t as impressive.

I have gotten PS3 and Switch emulation to work, but the fans go on and the battery life goes down, so I don’t really use it for that. Plus storage is a bit tight and PS3 games are huge.

It does feel like Valve was just a little too early. I wish the screen was 1080p.

The 2230 SSD’s that it uses were kind of uncommon when it released. The weird size made them more expensive and they had lower capacities. I managed to get a 512GB one, but I wish I could have gotten like 2TB. It seems like that’s changing now though. Similarly, I wish microSD cards came in larger capacities. Storage just seems to get used up so fast these days.

I love my steam deck and it is blue the only machine I use to game. I even use it as my desktop computer when I plug it into my monitors with a usbc hub.

Is a pretty decent machine.

Not all of the games are supported on the controller. I use it alot with a mouse and keyboard too. Sold my gaming laptop. Didn’t need it anymore

Its really great. I can only recommend.

The funny thing is that we started buying MORE games after getting it and filtering steam for the ones that work best.

It completely replaced the Nintendo Switch as our party platform, we have been adding piles of local multi player games to it and using multiple Xbox controllers with it docked around the main TV most of the time.

I think when it comes to how many titles work it is going to depend on your gaming preferences. If you play a lot of EA games or Ubisoft games it is clunky to get their store loaders going sometimes or at a min you get prompted to sign in via onscreen keyboard which is a PITA sometimes and there is lower support.

Steam native games however are great.

Excellent. Simply excellent. Don’t expect it to run AAA games at 60fps, but it’ll run most very well. Doom and Doom Eternal can hit 60fps easily. Even Baldurs Gate does a decent 30fps. For the portability and convenience you can’t lose. Don’t forget it hooks up to a TV, Bluetooth controller, or a keyboard and mouse! I’ve gamed at work in lunch break using a USB-C adaptor for screen, mouse and keyboard and it works great.

I love mine. I bought one as soon as they went on sale and it has completely replaced my gaming laptop when I travel. What I like most of all is that it makes it easy for me to play games in my backlog that I would not otherwise have plaid. I have almost 900 games in my library and it’s opened up my playtime in platformers, casual story games, puzzle games, racing, space sims, and more. The fact that I can do that on a plane or wherever on holiday is awesome. I have no doubt that there are games in my library it can’t play, but I’ve not actually tried to play a game on it that just didn’t work.

If you aren’t a gamer I don’t know how much value there is for you. If you want to become a gamer it’s a well balanced device with a solid store behind it and your library will be accessible by any PC you buy in the future. If you are considering it as a gift for a gamer, just keep in mind if they aren’t primarily a PC gamer (that is to say they play on a console) they will have to rebuy some games if they want to play on the deck.

As far as being a full laptop replacement, I wouldn’t bother.