With the realization that I might only be weeks away from receiving my offer to buy a Steam Deck of my very own, I have been getting more and more excited at the prospect of joining the handheld PC revolution.
When I last checked to see which games were Steam Deck-verified, the results honestly weren’t great. However, after checking my library now with Valve’s Steam Deck verification tool, almost a year and a half later, I gotta say, the prospects are starting to look a whole lot better. And there are hundreds of already-verified games now, a few of which I am now more inclined to check out because of their Deck compatibility.
I currently own somewhere around 80 games through Steam, give or take. There’s a fair share of stinkers or regretted additions on that list, so it’s hard to keep count while cringing my way through portions of my catalog. And although not even half of them are currently verified, the ones that are include some real bangers, as well as one or two unexpected titles that I might find a bit more palatable in handheld format than they were when I was lurched over my desk using my gaming laptop.
Here’s what I own that’s concretely verified:
- Stacklands
- Infernax
- Teardown
- Project Zomboid
- Open Country
- Half-Life 2
- Skater XL
- Prey (2006)
- Dying Light
- The Long Dark
- Valheim
- Alan Wake
Now, some of these games are quite old, but with the prospect of playing these on the Steam Deck, I am legitimately excited to revisit them. In fact, I might finally be able to get into a game like Project Zomboid — which I want to love, and by all accounts should, but just can’t get into it while gaming on my PC.
When we get to the list of games that are playable, but for one reason or another not fully verified, things start to get really juicy.
Here’s that list:
- Far Cry 2
- Cities Skylines
- Condemned Criminal Origins
- Fallout 4
- Fire Girl
- Grand Theft Auto IV: Episodes From Liberty City
- Session
- Red Dead Online
- Max Payne 3
- Sniper Elite
- Mist Survival
Even though Red Dead Online feels all but dead (which gets me red), at least from the standpoint of fresh content, what is currently on offer is still a decent online cowboy sim. So having that and a game like Fallout 4, which is far from the best Fallout game, in handheld capacity so I can play while lounging on the couch, in bed, or even out in the yard? That’s still a fantastic prospect, even if this list is only playable but perhaps not completely flawless or seamless.
Although I’m not sure how GTA IV, Red Dead Online or Max Payne 3 will work, since you currently need to go through the Rockstar Games launcher for the Steam versions…
Unfortunately, the list of games that are so far untested — or unplayable to some extent (it’s a little unclear as to what bars a game from being fully verified) — is still pretty extensive. That being said, I do tend to play a lot of smaller games or niche games like survival sims that I’m sure are not high on Valve’s priority list of games to test. So the number of playable games might yet already be higher, just unconfirmed.
Regardless, just looking at the games I listed above, I am looking forward to checking out the Steam Deck and perhaps changing the entire way I consume PC games, hopefully for the better. In my house, the PC has always been the third or even fourth gaming option, simply because I grew up as a console player and that is my preferred avenue. Plus, I just don’t have a truly comfortable PC setup that lends itself to marathon sessions.
But with the Steam Deck, that all changes. In fact, you might even say we have a stew going.
