Mad Max

The Steam Deck is nothing short of incredible. I still find myself marveling at its ability to handle with aplomb everything I have thrown at it, while it smiles back at me and asks, “Please, sir, may I have some more?” And even though this performance comes at the cost of battery life and heat exhaustion — my God, the heat exhaustion — I have yet to be disappointed with the level of graphical performance, which is also aided by the crisp, compressed screen.

And even though the Steam Deck runs contemporary, larger games like Elden Ring pitch perfect, I am finding my stride playing a number of Gen-8 games and loving every minute of it. This really is a renaissance for me, rediscovering games that I absolutely love but haven’t really sat down with for quite some time. Games like Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands (which I received for 85% off only days after adding it to my wishlist), Days Gone, Mad Max, and Red Dead Redemption 2. And now that I have an SD card expanding my memory, I will soon be adding Fallout 4 to the fray.

These games all run perfectly and feel incredible on the Deck, and they look downright gorgeous on the Deck’s screen. They’re dripping in swag, I think is what the kids might say… (The editor shrugs his shoulders…)

And considering the age of these titles, most can currently be purchased for under $20. In some instances, they go for well under even that if you employ third-party PC key wholesalers. I walked away with a copy of Mad Max for $5 — are you friggin’ kidding me right now? And I’m already eying more games from this generation to add to the list, like Prey (2017), and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, which is currently discounted for under $10.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

I’m also keeping my eye out for other future Sony first-party releases like Ghost of Tsushima, should they ever find their way to Steam. Heck, I might even consider picking up The Last of Us Part 2 if it lands on PC as well, since I have been meaning to give that a second attempt, and I rarely fire up my PS5 these days. And although it is a PS5-exclusive title, I would love to add Returnal to my Deck Library as well. Oh, a man can dream!

As the Deck slowly inches closer to claiming the top spot of my designated console of choice (I haven’t fired up my PS5 in an alarming number of days), I will only continue to amass games to play on it. And considering how well older games runs on it, and how good they look on its smaller screen, there’s no reason to stop at Gen 8 — in fact, I already have a couple of Gen-7 games that I’m falling in love with all over again, games like Grand Theft Auto IV, Condemned: Criminal Origins, Max Payne 3, and Prey (2006).

No Man's Sky - Steam Deck

At the end of the day, the Steam Deck is a marvelous little gaming rig that has singlehandedly reignited my love affair with games that had otherwise receded into the darkest recesses of the back of my addled mind. It is the perfect gaming machine for exploring generations past — and, of course, generations present and future.

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Van F Halen
Van F Halen
1 year ago

I feel the exact same way! I just got mine a week ago, and I’m currently playing Arkham Knight, Mad Max, Shadow of Mordor (all that Warner…all that free flow combat. Lol) and Max Payne 3.

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