The top 100 list has already been posted, but I thought this article makes some interesting observations on the list.
Overall the variety of games and experiences on that list really show how versatile the deck is, and that people can still have a great time with games that aren’t a perfect experience on the deck.
Yeah, I’m curious about that as well. Makes me wonder if a lot of Steam Deck owners don’t own other gaming PCs, or if they just value portability/etc over graphics and framerate.
I’d actually bet it’s something different…
It’s less that you game on a steam deck because it’s portable, and more that because it’s portable you can game. There are people here and there that are like “yeah, I have a steam deck so I use that instead” but the sentiment I see more often is “I wouldn’t be able to game at all if it wasn’t portable - I can’t sit down for that long, I only have time on the train, I need to be near my kids” etc.
And this changes the dynamic. It’s less that these people have “desktop gaming” and “portable gaming” and are choosing to play the AAA games while portable. They only have portable gaming. And they choose to play the same good games everyone else is playing. The only gaming they do is on their deck. And they’re not going to be like “oh, why play a good game like BG3 if I can play a shitty portable game like xyz”.
These are just people’s primary gaming devices now. And if they can, they will choose to play the same good games everyone else is choosing to play. It doesn’t matter if it only runs OK, playing a good game with OK graphics is still better than playing a shitty game.
I sold my gaming PC and replaced it with a Steam Deck. Yes - after trying stadia (and then buying a switch), graphics don’t scratch my itch nearly as much as portability. I already spend too much time sitting at a desk at work, when I am playing to relax I prefer being on a couch, bed, kitchen, garden, or wherever I happen to feel like, but definitely not tied to a desk.
I own a nice gaming PC. I just never really use it now that I have my SD. Veing able to game anywhere and immediately stop and start my game back up by just tapping the power button is exactly what I needed for gaming. As a “responsible” adult I don’t have a lot of undisturbed straight lengths of time to game at the pc, and if I only have 30 minutes, it’s like it isn’t even worth trying.
I can vouch for BG3, it runs surprisingly well (fans going to the max of course). I have graphics on medium with the upscaling AMD FSR 2.2 on and it’s perfectly fine on both the small screen and connected to the TV.
Re: OP’s thoughts, I also have a desktop but usually my spouse is on it :) The SteamDeck also travels a lot nicer of course!
It’s pretty fine until act 3 when the sheer amount of NPCs running around max out the CPU usage and drop the FPS down below 20 pretty much no matter what graphical settings you try to run as there is just no power left for the GPU.
OTOH, BG3 is a turn based game so low FPS isn’t an obstacle for playing it, it’s more of a visual nicety, like higher resolution or clearer textures, itself.
Maybe I have the low, low standards of “does it run at all and I can stand to look at it” lol, in which it performs pretty well! I definitely wasn’t planning on playing current release AAA games on the deck so anything that runs I’m pleasantly surprised.
My wife played the beta version on the deck last summer, and let me tell you, that version was baaaaad. It’s really improved with the new upscaling!
