The Steam Deck is a game-changer. For decades, PC gaming was reserved for the diehards willing to spend thousands of dollars on a competent processor and graphics card capable of handling the significant stress that, say, the average Ubisoft open-world adventure asks of hardware. For most Americans, computers are used to browse the web and write emails. The only game they’re capable of powering is solitaire. But when Valve’s Steam Deck made landfall early last year, the hobby immediately became much more approachable. The handheld computer — which starts at $399 and goes up to $649 depending on how much storage you want — is shaped like a Nintendo Switch and is optimized to play the massive library of PC games available on Valve’s preeminent marketplace, Steam. Games that were once exclusive to the hallowed realms of heavy RAM are within reach. Even better, if you own a monitor and a keyboard, the Deck can be easily transformed into a regular old desktop in the blink of an eye.
So when we set out to make our recommendations for the Steam Deck, our focus was on games and genres that are commonly associated with PC gaming — tactical RPGs, indie darlings, and the endangered single-player first-person shooter. It’s a selection that highlights franchises that, if you grew up in a Playstation or Nintendo family, may have seemed out of reach. A Steam Deck allows you to catch up on decades of gaming history, which is perhaps its best asset. It’s a boon for everyone if this hobby gets a little less exclusionary.
The Witcher III: Wild Hunt
The third game in the Witcher franchise — which single-handedly transformed Polish developer CD Projekt Red into international gaming superstars — has been released pretty much everywhere. You can play it on PS4, PS5, multiple different Xbox variations, and even a lower-fidelity interpretation on the Nintendo Switch. But if you truly want to take the adventures of Geralt on the go, the Steam Deck adaptation is your best bet. Valve’s hardware is powerful enough to serve up The Witcher III’s gigantic atlas seamlessly — with nary a dropped frame — making it perfect for mobile immersion. You know what the perfect antidote to a long plane trip is? Sinking deep into some of the greatest side quests ever written for an RPG. The Witcher III is a white whale for a lot of gamers. I can’t think of a better way to break in a Steam Deck.
Vampire Survivors
Vampire Survivors is practically an idle game. You take control of a dinky, Castlevania-esque sprite — of the NES variety — and fight off an overwhelming horde of reanimated skeletons, stinking zombies, vengeful wraiths, and so on. The attacks are automated, and they pour out of your character at a steadfast rhythm like a machine of destruction. As you level up, you can select from an expanding cocktail of armaments to lay waste to the thousands of beasties that want you dead. All of these ingredients make Vampire Survivors a perfect portable experience; light on inputs, heavy on style. It’s been decades since I’ve been able to conquer an old-school, hardcore 8-bit adventure, but Vampire Survivors does all the heavy lifting for us.
Slay The Spire
You can make a strong argument that Slay The Spire is the most influential video game released in the last decade. You’re in charge of a generic fantasy dungeoneer who is carefully making their way through a network of eldritch catacombs with nothing more than a deck of Magic The Gathering-style cards. The further you get, the more you’ll be able to augment that deck, unlocking deft strategies and synergies hidden in the game’s massive card pool. (Yes, this is essentially a digital card game, which has become a surprising tentpole mechanic for other studios.) A full Slay The Spire run can be finished in about 30 minutes, and yet, developer Mega Crit Games has managed to infuse their design with a bevy of fascinating strategic choices that are usually reserved for much more complex experiences. Will you mold your hero into an invulnerable tank capable of outlasting any of their enemies? Or perhaps they’ll take the form of a supercharged wizard, laying waste to everyone with their opening hand? That’s the magic of Slay The Spire; anything can happen on a fresh save file.
Elden Ring
Even if you do own a powerful gaming PC — one capable of rendering the whole array of FromSoftware’s catalog — there’s no way you’re playing Elden Ring with a mouse and keyboard. This is a magisterial action game, with one of the largest open worlds a studio has ever dared to deliver, studded with some of the most dexterous boss encounters in the business. In Elden Ring’s dangerous moments — fighting for your life against a golden-armored knight who has protected an ancient tree for millennia — you’re happy to be buoyed by a joystick. We’re beyond lucky that the Steam Deck possesses a decent Elden Ring adaptation, because two years after it made landfall, I’m still not sure I’ve seen all it has to offer. Perhaps, on our next subway ride, we’ll finally crack open the Consecrated Snowfield, or do battle with Mohg under the twinkling stars.
Diablo IV
The Steam deck is manufactured by Valve, and as its name implies, it’s built to play games in the Steam catalog. Diablo IV is not on Steam. This is a Blizzard game, which is housed in Blizzard’s own offshoot launcher and marketplace, Battle.net. However, with just a little bit of finagling, you’ll have no problem installing Battle.net on the Steam Deck, which means you’ll immediately be able to play one of the best action-RPGs ever made wherever you are in the world. This is crucial, because Diablo IV isn’t currently slated for the Switch. So, if you wish to conquer Sanctuary on the road — if you’re interested in spelunking through the game’s hundreds of gristly dungeons while savoring its brutal combat and wonderfully flexible ability trees — then Valve’s foremost portable PC is the best you can hope for. Blizzard has done the work to make Diablo feel just as intuitive on a gamepad as it does on a mouse and keyboard, it’d be a shame to let a few hardware restrictions get in the way.
Forza Horizon 5
One of the best things about the Steam Deck is the way it pulls off phenomenal technical feats — like, say, reproducing Microsoft’s fizzy, supersonic racing series Forza Horizon, which runs at 60 frames per second and looks like magic on the screen — on a dinky handheld device. Forza Horizon 5 has long served as a benchmark game for PC builders, because there are few things more impressive than watching Lamborghinis carve across a sun-dappled mountain ridge without a hitch. So, if you’re looking for something spectacular to show off your investment, I recommend booting the game onto your Steam Deck as soon as possible. You’ll be carving up motorways from the comfort of your own bed. The future is bright.
RimWorld
You know why RimWorld is a perfect Steam Deck game? Because the developers themselves sure do. Ludeon Studios have released patches to make their flagship title more compatible with Valve’s hardware, and it’s a good thing they did, because I don’t want to be sitting at my desktop whenever I feel like checking in with my crew of miscreants. Consider RimWorld a blend between The Walking Dead and The Sims. You’re in charge of a handful of humans who’ve crash-landed on an alien world, and you’ll be helping them forge a self-sustaining colony, (with farms, housing, and defenses,) while also peering in on their personal relationships. Maybe some of them will fall in love and start families? Maybe a bitter rivalry will ferment under the stress? RimWorld is one of the few true sandboxes on the market. Build the utopia, or perhaps the dystopia, of your dreams.
Cult of the Lamb
I’ve heard Cult of the Lamb described as an evil Animal Crossing. Like in Animal Crossing, you’ll be constructing a twee little campground for a cadre of cute, anthropomorphic woodland creatures. But in developer Massive Monster’s twisted creation, all of these guests will be leveraged towards an eldritch cult. They’ll be worshiping dark gods of the beyond, hosting blood sacrifices, and scrawling pentagrams in the dirt, in what is, without a doubt, one of the greatest tonal juxtapositions in video game history. Beyond the management simulation, Cult of the Lamb also functions as an extremely serviceable Hades-esque roguelike. Players must conquer procedurally generated dungeons to muster up the resources for the cult’s headquarters. But personally, if I’m downloading Cult of the Lamb on my Steam Deck, I’m doing so to see all of my acolytes hard at work. Those demons aren’t going to summon themselves!
Grand Theft Auto V
Rockstar’s 2013 megaton is still turning a profit, across multiple hardware generations. Grand Theft Auto V has become something like a blueprint for the modern entertainment industry; a hugely popular product that has been iterated on, constantly, with ruthless extractionary principles by a conglomerate of capital forces. (Take-Two Interactive, in this case.) Today, the game has expanded far beyond its original boundaries — with a slew of seasonal updates introducing high-stakes casinos, dicey bank heists, and a whole garage of new vehicles to this immortal crime paradise. But underneath all of the glamor, this is still a Grand Theft Auto game. You’ll steal cars, run contraband, shoot up rival gangs, and savor the glorious, Michael Mann lifestyle. It runs better than ever on a Steam Deck, and somehow, there’s never been a better time to jump in.
Half-Life 2
There was a time, long ago, when Valve made video games. The publisher has become entirely synonymous with Steam — and its chokehold on the whole gaming marketplace — but it’s important to remember that the reason Steam exists in the first place was to sell Half-Life 2 to millions of eager fans. Almost 20 years after its release, Half-Life 2 remains a masterpiece; the rare single-player first-person shooter that overflows with fascinating ideas, from the off-kilter level design that sends players across rooftops and into dingy alleyways, to the way it toys with the physics engine, giving us a gravity gun to remake the geometry on the fly. No Steam Deck is complete without a copy, even if it might make you mourn the Valve we used to know.