A place to discuss and support all Steam Hardware, including Steam Deck, Steam Machine, Steam Frame, and SteamOS in general.
As Lemmy doesn't have flairs yet, you can use these prefixes to indicate what type of post you have made, eg:
[Flair] My post title
The following is a list of suggested flairs:
[Deck] - Steam Deck related.
[Machine] - Steam Machine related.
[Frame] - Steam Frame related.
[Discussion] - General discussion.
[Help] - A request for help or support.
[News] - News about the deck.
[PSA] - Sharing important information.
[Game] - News / info about a game on the deck.
[Update] - An update to a previous post.
[Meta] - Discussion about this community.
If your post is only relevant to one hardware device (Deck/Machine/Frame/etc) please specify which one as part of the title or by using a device flair.
These are not enforced, but they are encouraged.
Rules:
I would set aside $0.00 of the $50.00 for my free copies of Luanti (Minecraft clone) and Mindustry - Factory building tower defense.
You can buy Mindustry for around $5 on Steam or Itch.io to support the developers, but it is also available for free in the Arch software center (by briefly rebooting the SteamDeck into desktop mode).
That’s like, my favorite price man!
I recommend getting some indie and pixel art style titles instead of just going for AAA. Reason being many of these are cheaper ($5-10, sometimes even less) so you can try different genres, and these titles also tend to sip battery so you will get lots of gameplay time.
Examples I have enjoyed, in no particular order-
Animal Well
Celeste
Stardew Valley
Vampire Survivors
Caveblazers
Balatro
Slay the Spire
I love when I come across a recommendation list like this where they’re all among my all time favorites and one thing I’d never heard of. Caveblazers doesn’t look like my kind of thing but given the context and the sub $1 price I guess I gotta check it out
Slay the spire.
I really wish I liked Roguelites/deck builders haha.
What do you love?
Story based RPGs mainly. I like longer games with more interesting gameplay recently.
Recently been playing:
Stray (Xbox)
Pokémon Odyssey (iPhone emulated ROM hack)
Expedition 33 (Xbox)
Mass Effect LE (Xbox)
Pokémon Colosseum (iPhone Emulation)
Zenless Zone Zero (mobile)
Wuthering Waves (mobile)
Last night I started up my first playthrough of TW3 as well and tried out some free games I got from giveaways here on the Fediverse, like Spiritfarer.
Specifically with Zenless, I really like the combat there with the parrying mechanics.
Pillars of Eternity
Tyranny
Disco Elysium (just pirate this one, the original creators got swindled out of their company and will see no cent if you buy it, they themselves endorse the piracy)
This is 500+ hours of gameplay:
Given how many games I absolutely loved are on this list, I feel like our taste in games has a huge overlap and I'm gonna have to try the others
Grim Dawn is < $4
The Winter Sale goes 8 days still, so you have plenty of time. Some games in example from EA and Ubisoft require additional launcher or an account to play them. I usually avoid them.
Steam Deck Verified: 5 games including Cyberpunk for total $47,8
More interesting Steam Deck Verified games
Also have a look at games that require additional account or launcher:
Even the makers of Disco Elysium request that you don't legitimately purchase it.
A bit dated but definitely worth a look: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/decktop100
Check this out as well: https://store.steampowered.com/charts/steamdecktopplayed/pastyear
Also helpful: https://steam250.com/steam_deck_verified
And finally: https://steamdb.info/stats/gameratings/?min_rating=90&min_reviews=2500&os=steamdeck
Stuff I can recommend for the Deck without the slightest speck of doubt:
Not a game recommendation specifically but a money extending protip.
Head over to ITAD and make an account. Then you can get notifications when all the games you’re interested in go on sales from legit resellers (including steam itself). As well as when there’s free games to be had. https://isthereanydeal.com/
Edit: also… if you collect the weekly freebies from epic games you can install heroic games launcher on the steam deck to play those.
Yeah that sites great, you can set thresholds for each game if you want to wait until it's over 50% off or whatever before getting notified. It also imports your steam wishlist.
Edit: also… if you collect the weekly freebies from epic games you can install heroic games launcher on the steam deck to play those.
True, though you don't get the existing cloud saves so if you've started a game already it's a little annoying.
I'd heavily reccomend Balatro if you like card games.
Also Portal 2 if you haven't played it, it's a really good puzzle game. Despite it being a sequel, you don't really need the context from Portal 1 to play it through.
Forgot about Portal 2! I picked up Portal 1 ages ago on Xbox 360 haha. I will definitely grab it.
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.
Mass effect, legendary edition. Plays fantastic on the deck, value to cost ratio is very good with all three games included.
Was my first game on the deck, and it was a really great introduction.
On sale right now for $6.
It will be the 4th time I’ve bought the trilogy haha. Worth it though. Love Mass Effect so much.
Origins Xbox PlayStation
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.
For $50 I'd get (afaict current prices):
This totals now $48.18. If you have an additional dollar to spare, I'd also recommend to get something to scratch that retro-gaming itch:
That's now $50.91 in total.
Balatro and Slay the Spire both play great on the Deck and have amazing replayability.
If you never played Stardew valley that could be worth it. Hitman is also a good option - the levels are sandboxy and you can spend a lot of time figuring them out.
Hades! It's an incredible game, and especially good on deck.
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 $6 right now
Make sure you have a game with sustenance and a game you can veg out on.
My retro slanted suggestions:
Free Stars: The Ur-Quan Masters is one of the greatest games of all time and it’s free. There’s a Steam version, but I think you lose a few of the original music tracks in exchange for easier management. They’re also crowdsourcing a sequel, about 30 years later.
https://sc2.sourceforge.net/downloads.php
I’d also recommend UFO 50. It’s a treasure trove.
Be sure to check out Steam’s own “great on deck” category in the store. Each game will also have an indication from Valve on the quality/playability with regard to the Steam Deck
Titan Fall 2 is one of the greatest shooter ever made, it’s constantly at 8$
I would have suggested too, but it requires Origin client and it must run in the background while playing. And requires an EA account on top of it. The game is rated Steam Deck Playable, so not really the best experience on the Deck.
Which is a shame, because the single player campaign is so nice. I don't know if the online component still works.
Tomb Raider Survival Trilogy for $7.19
Shadow of Mordor/War for $6.99
Prodigal for $1.49 - Zelda plus date sim
Toem for $3.99 - gotta photograph em all
Crosscode for $5.99 - SPMMOOTY
Saint's Row 4 $2.99
Vampire Survivors for $3.74 - everybody is legally required to have a copy
20 Small Mazes for $0 Doronko Wanko $0
My main recommendation is "don't put all of your money into a bunch of PS5 AAA games". PS5-ish games fit "if we turn all of the settings down, and render in 1/4 rez, and then AI upscale, and still your battery only lasts an hour". It often isn't a great experience here.
A strength of the Deck is in delivering an endless back catalog of PS4 and prior styles of games. Another is in bringing forward a ton of indie games that can't win at "marketing", can't afford to develop PS5-level visuals, so they fight like hell on "mixing up new and interesting gameplay" and "price".
First, emulators. Then Demos, so meny Demos/Trials. Hell, on a Deck? Even some Free2Play stuff would be less insufferable than the same on my phone.
... but you need to figure out what you want to spend that money on for yourself. A lot of good stuff is on-sale right now. Check out isthereanydeal.com
Cyberpunk is a great choice in my opinion, especially nowadays where most of the initial shortcomings are fixed and ironed out.
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.
Slay the spire for sure
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 can get the following games for €50:
This list is a good mix of awesome games, currently the total price for this looks like €49,88 in Sweden, this is amazing value!
Turbo Overkill - A fun and fast paced arcade FPS in a dystopic 80s futuristic setting.
Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy - one of the best platformers I know, amazing soundtrack, super frustrating at times, but soo much fun!
The Orange Box - Needs no introduction, one sale for €3.90, increadible value.
Bioshock snd Bioshock 2 - Absolute gaming classics, and that is for a very good reason.
Exo One - A bit weird sci-fi game, beautiful and very engaging.
PAC-MAN Championship Edition - Take Pacman, Neon colours, fast synth beat, challenges and an online leaderbord, when these combine you get this super fun game.
Dishonored - A great game, a stealth game with magic powers, a classic!
Red Faction Guerilla Re-Mars-Tered edition - Do you like destruction physics? Then this game is for you!
Games I have particularly enjoyed on the deck (that I haven't seen others recommend already) and are relatively cheap: Outer Wilds (not outer worlds), Hardspace Shipbreaker, Enter the Gungeon
get Cyberpunk. The game is great for the current price (also check gog, ITAD)
Vampire survivors is a couple bucks and worth every penny. I got slay the spire balatro bundle for 13 bucks and would also recommend.
Kingdom come deliverance really drew me in on the Deck. Currently €6.
Both valheim and project zomboid can be had fire less than $20 each. That leaves some cash left over for a couple dollar games that look interesting.
Both games are amazingly fun and you can get a self hosted server set up for fun with friends... If you have another computer available.
dragon age origins, inquisition, veilguard. all on pretty hefty sales right now.
all excellent games. Hades and Hades 2 are also great ones.
Terraria is very cheap and is always a blast as well.
Install the PS2 games (or whatever was your first console) of your childhood and bring back old memories. For the PS2 I can especially recommend the OpenGOAL project which let‘s you play Jak & Daxter with modern resolutions. It is basically free if you (like me) still own the games anyway.
In a thread like this a long time ago someone recommended Nail’d Steam page
It’s typically 0.99 and just a silly, fun racer. It’s fun to kill some time on.
The killer app for steam deck for me was emulators. I played through some Zelda games (windwaker, OOT via ship of Harkinian). And some Pokémon. What’s nice is for emulators the battery life feels near infinite, and you can hit the power button for instant sleep. Makes picking up games on down time really easy.
Last recommendation is outer wilds. Played great on the deck and the controls are good.