[Discussion] Do you still use your Steam Deck much?
[Discussion] Do you still use your Steam Deck much?
I was wondering how much you are using your Steam Deck? And did the games you play on it change since you bought it?
I find that I used it a lot when I first got it, but my usage has gone down in the mean time. That's mostly because I play games that are not a great fit for the Steam Deck (strategy, building, etc.) and I prefer to play those on my PC.
almost every day for a year. my gaming pc often collects dust
I bought it rather than upgrading my gaming PC which I built back in 2016. So it's my primary gaming machine now. I use it every day.
That was my move as well. I did do some upgrades on my PC along the way, but the base was still from 2009 (and I must say, it functioned surprisingly well). But a couple of months back I upgraded my PC as well. But the decline in play time on the Steam Deck was started before the upgrade.
Yeah my 2016 build still holds up pretty well. It's a 970 and 8gb of RAM (but I gave it a big swapfile) and it'll still run basically any game. I've never much minded medium or low graphics settings anyway
Yeah, during work breaks or when chilling in the living room with my wife while she does her hobby stuff.
It's not my main machine by any stretch of the imagination but it does see regular use.
I exclusively use it. For most games it works great, for some games it doesn’t, but that’s fine for me.
If you've got kids and a partner, you can't go sit at your computer or take over the living room TV...
So, yeah, I use my Deck all the time. I take it with me on work and road trips but I'm always driving or working so it honestly gets most of it's use on the couch. Six feet from the much more powerful gaming PC and six feet from the living room media PC that can also play games. Hundreds of dollars of GPU in one room and hundreds of hours using the Deck instead.
I do not game as much as I used to a decade ago and my gaming laptop had been dead for a while. The deck helps me casually pick up gaming every now and then. I am more interested in single player games now.
Count me in that group. Mostly single player games that I can pause at a moments notice when my wife wants something. 🤣🤣
Same, but a lot closer to 2 decades. But I still pickup humble bundles from time to time. Now i finally have a device to go through them.
My steam deck is my gaming device.
I play all kinds of games on it including strategy games like Beyond All Reason. With gyro it works totally fine.
You can play BAR on the steam deck!? That's awesome! But how are the controls? Playing without keyboard/mouse?
gyroscope input to supplement joystick controls, see my comment here
https://sopuli.xyz/comment/9301831
local copy of ^ comment
BAR is already so brilliantly designed with every single damn command in the game being able to be shift clicked to make it into a series of tasks for a unit or factory… that you don’t honestly need to do much. It is basically just:
What button do you want shift (as well as ctrl and alt and to a lesser extent spacebar) to be bound too? This should be comfortable and easy to press as shift clicking is at the core of BAR and TA. The back buttons L5 L4 R4 R5 are good for these controls
What button do you want gyroscope to be toggled on and off by? You don’t have to use gyro but I really recommend giving it a thorough go, if you hold your device comfortably than it will be still and thus you can just focus on the joysticks or trackpad and let your subconscious brain begin integrating gyro. Personally I always leave gyro on when playing and just use the toggle to turn it off for navigating menus
What buttons do you want zoom in and zoom out to be bound too? I recommend to bind zoom in and zoom out to the bumpers on the deck, the normal WASD and mouse template for the Steam Deck comes with this binding as the default if I remember correctly. Using a radically new control scheme can feel claustrophobic or constricting, having intuitive buttons for zooming in and out is critical to combating that in my experience Common All You Need For A Minimal Setup Ctrl, Shift, Alt and SpaceBar commands, Screenshots and Manual Links included!
Now, you can go so much farther than that obviously. For example I found a great BAR control scheme that looked like someone put a lot of care and time into it called “BAR perfecto” but it didn’t fit my conception of how I wanted things so I just started from the factory default WASD and Mouse template.
I hesitate to build up this crazy complicated control scheme and then recommend it though, because most potential fans I can poke and prod enough to try BAR on the deck probably feel the same as you. So honestly at this point I would rather point out that just starting with the default WASD and Mouse control template and making those three choices/keybindings will get you to a point where you can genuinely play BAR and feel like the control scheme can actually work and feel good after a bit of adjustment time. From there you can add as much complexity and power as you want.
If you get frustrated or overwhelmed, take a deep breath and remember people have been figuring out how to make RTS games work well with a mouse and keyboard for decades, if it doesn’t click immediately that isn’t because mouse and keyboard is just better end of story.
touchpad + gyro works too!
I play against the Barbarian hard AI and can hold my own fine, I dont expect to crush Total Annihilation vets using $2000 gaming computer setups with mouse and keyboard, big monitors and absurd framerates tho.... but so what?
I am enjoying playing BAR co-op online with my bro while I lounge on the couch.
The BARbarian AI is genuinely dynamic and fun to play against, it is extremely impressive especially for a community developed game!
I feel like I could hold my own in a casual game of BAR against humans but even if I couldnt I could care less, I can play BAR wherever I want on the deck and it is a blast!
Wut?!? How was installing BAR? Been wanting to try it but haven't had the time.
step 1: switch deck to desktop mode
step 2: open up Discover (flathub preinstalled package manager) and search for Beyond All Reason, click install
step 3: if you want to be able to play it in gaming mode navigate to the app in your start menu in desktop mode and then rightclick "add to steam"
step 4: play BAR!
Got the original not long after launch. Upgraded to OLED right around when it launched. I have some times when I don't play it, but not often. Recently I have even been playing some RTS games since I got the controls working fairly effectively. Some of the fun for me with the Deck is customizing the controls to make a game work that otherwise wouldn't. The Steam controller settings are in my opinion probably the most important feature that makes this work so well.
Many games I used to play on my Playstation I am now instead playing them natively on Deck. It's comfortable. I love handheld.
The game I've played most overall is American Truck Simulator. Also Vampite Survivor, tons of Emulation Station, Metal Gear Solid master collecetion, and more recently Halo MCC, and Warhammer games like Dawn of War 1, Space Marine, and Inquisitor.
Apparently I played over 75 hours in May. PlayTime Decky plugin.
I really wish they'd release a steam controller 2, now that they've learned a bit more, and now that people are embracing the control scheme.
My time and ability to game has led me to almost exclusively play on my steam deck, and I now game a lot more than I've gotten to in a decade.
For the past couple of years (I upgraded to the OLED) I've pretty much only purchased/played games that will play well on the SD.
I like many games that are really only suited to a bigger screen or mouse/keyboard, but not enough to get any of them, because I know I won't be able to play them consistently enough to even remember what was going on since I'd played last.
Long COVID tied me to my bed. The Deck is the only gaming device I can comfortably use there.
That sucks man. Nice to have the Steam Deck then. At least you have some form of entertainment.
Some bpap sessions helped me get off bed after COVID, and gym helped me get back to "normal" after some months. Don't know if it can help you, but hope you get better.
my steam deck is my main daily device. I use it for most stuff. I own consoles, but its just so much easier to use the deck cause I can keep everything in one place.
steam, emulation, I even use it for youtube. docked to my TV.
Use it every day. Being able to suspend and resume so smoothly usually makes it preferable to my main PC even if both are available. There are only a couple games (mostly hard fps) that I prefer to play on the PC instead.
Suspend and resume are indeed fantastic. There is no wait time before you can game.
I use mine pretty often. I mostly play retro and indie games. It's an amazing piece of kit.
It definitely is, and I really enjoyed it when I got it. But I do run into the limitations of the device. Those limitations are by design because I would like a bigger screen, but putting a 17" screen on a handheld doesn't make it a handheld anymore. So my usecase might not fit with the device anymore. I do use it sometimes to play sports or casual games. But that's about it.
I use mine all the time when I'm on vacation or otherwise out of town, and every once in a while when I'm at home. I was able to play almost anything I wanted to so far, though I find games like Factorio a bit cumbersome without a mouse/keyboard setup. Bought the original 256gb deck on launch.
Currently, no. But I also haven't opened a game on my PC in months, since that time sadly has to go towards my Master's thesis. But ever since I got the deck, I have heavily used it. It's easier to pick up and put down than the same game on PC, so I just do (did) more frequently.
Daily and by that 2-3 hours a day.
I bought it instead of that Portal for the PS5 so as to stream games from my PlayStation so the family could share the TV but I found I am now just buying games for it (the Deck) solely and not using the PS5 anymore.
I just plugged it to my TV to remote play GoW on a big screen.
No other device can pull this off with 4k Stream, HDR, Surround Sound, full DualSense support and sub-1 frame (of 60) latency.
I use it to game when I visit my mom but I don't use it at home. So it depends on how often I visit my mom :D
Twice a week maybe three times in bed, when my hands hurt too much to play on normal controllers.
Or my body hurts too much to play at my desk/chair.
I hate my weak AF 38 year old Fibromyalgia body. 🥹
Best thing is, I just stream my PC > Deck so technically utilizing my beefy 7950x 7900xtx system.
WoW Classic Cataclysm is a dumpster fire....but at least I can enjoy it with ConsolePort. 🎮
I don't have a room that would justify a desk. I use the SD daily and it's faster than my other options anyway.
I’m the same: I used it a ton when I first got it and now it’s collecting dust. Here are my personal issues with it:
- I find it a little too big and bulky for 2D, retro, and lo fi games, but too low res and weak for a good experience on most larger/newer 3D games.
- The controls and screen size/res are not adequate for most PC mkb oriented games.
- The size, battery life, and low screen visibility in bright places make it not worth traveling with compared to my Switch.
I guess I essentially just wanted a Switch that could use my Steam library for 2D indies and older games.
Aside from that, I think I also kinda bought it to rejuvenate my interest in gaming, but it only did that for a few months. That has nothing to do with the Deck though.
Yeah, that last part about getting my gaming vibe going is something I recognize. I used to get a lot of joy out of gaming and could spend hours on it. Now it is feeling more and more like something I do just to pass time.
I really like the dumb detachable controllers on the Switch. I love that form factor. I wish I could play 2D or low res Steam games on the Switch. But I don't really want to buy a Switch without that, and the hardware is kinda underpowered, and there's no Linux support that I know of.
I use mine a ton. I actually prefer it (or Switch) for 90% of games. I have a PS5 and gaming PC and I actually bought the PlayStation Portal because as it turned out, I just like the format more than playing on TV. (I know about Chiaki — the Portal is seamless so I can hand it to a kid without getting them set up first and it never really disconnects.)
I think in part, it’s just a function of age. I don’t necessarily have uninterrupted time for big, cinematic games that work best on TV. Half of them have a 2h intro before you can even play the game. So, I end up playing games like Hades where I can get a few runs in and stop if I’m interrupted.
I just have it hooked up to the dock and play it on my TV mostly like a portable itty bitty PC. I have an Xbox controller and a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse so I can play basically anything but fallout 4 since they thought it would be hilarious to remove menu prompts from that game when you use the deck on a TV. No idea why but yeah I can do most stuff with it so I do.
I'm at a very "play for couples minutes when and where I have time" phase of life. So my gaming is almost 100% on my SteamDeck.
I plug mine into a hub with hdmi and ethernet to use it for desktop gaming, and then use it as a handheld whenever I need to go on a trip. The performance is definitely... unusable in many games on the 1440p display I have it hooked up to, but I don't mind running games at a lower resolution or with FSR.
I ended up with two. The OG which is now a media center more or less and the OLED which I use off and on depending on the game.
Almost every day, it's really helping get through the backlog I've built up over the years!
I use it for "light" games (the 2D stuff, Balatro, Dicey Dungeons, Whisker Squadron Survivor) while sitting in bed. Honestly when I got it, I wasn't expecting to use it as much as I did.
A whole bunch. After watching Fallout on Prime, I was inspired to try the series again (started and stopped both FO:NV and 4 several times in the past). I've played through all of Fallout 3, NV, and their DLCs, and I'm currently in the Nuka World dlc in 4. They all run fabulous on the deck. I work from home, so the thought of gaming in the very same chair I've been in for 8 hrs is unappealing. But lounging on the couch with my deck is fantastic!
Yes! I like to play on the bed so there's nothing better. I'm playing forever skies on pc because it freezed the steam deck when I tried to start it but any other game it's on the deck
I'm still somewhat new to the deck. It is a few months now and my usage went down, because it is not the shiny new toy anymore, but it secured a stable place in my game time. Also there are games which I play exclusively on the deck.
My switch on the other hand has suffered a lot because of that. Only MH rise gets me to still use it.
It was setup as a desktop PC for my kid, (official dock, 1080p display, kb+m) for the last year and a half. Bit of an experiment on my part here, because I was curious to know if it was really viable.
The short answer is: yeah, kinda, but with big caveats.
The long answer is:
- It's alright to watch youtube, browse the web and such.
- It's perfectly fine for creative tools (GIMP, OpenShot, Libreoffice, etc).
- It's unsuited for games kids actually want to play (no Fortnite, no more Roblox as of this year, no Valorant, etc).
- It's surprisingly unreliable. We have had frequent issues (once every two weeks or so), with peripherals suddenly stopping to work for no apparent reason, or the system being slowed waaaay down. Turning it off and on again worked most of the time, but that is not something I expected from a Linux-based machine.
It's surprisingly unreliable. We have had frequent issues (once every two weeks or so), with peripherals suddenly stopping to work for no apparent reason, or the system being slowed waaaay down. Turning it off and on again worked most of the time, but that is not something I expected from a Linux-based machine.
I think this might be an issue with the official dock. I've got a third party dock that's a lot more stable. The biggest problem I have here is that the port not being thunderbolt or usb-4 limits your dock options a lot
I use it almost every day, but it's really just a Balatro machine at this point. (Please help I have an addiction)
Just add 2 more hours of gameplay per day. You're fine.
I'm playing something every night before bed as my calm/reset time.
Just finished up Yakuza: Like A Dragon - that ending hits hard. I'll probably go for something different next.
I still use my gaming laptop - but mostly just for Last Epoch multiplayer/BG3. I don't like the controller experience for either game, and i have a better voice setup for multiplayer chat on my PC.
Mine is mostly a machine for travel. It's a godsend on flights, or for keeping up with an MMO like FFXIV when I'm gone for a week or longer. It's also handy for group things when we have a TV (Jackbox for family, or Moonrakers: Luminor for my board game group).
I should probably use it more as you do. Plug it in on the TV and do some group gaming or just for myself, and keep it with me when traveling.
I ordered the Deck when pre-bookings first opened and got one of the first few deliveries. Been using it daily since then. Made a gaming PC 4 months ago and only use that for Street fighter 6 and Spider-Man remastered. The Deck is used for everything else. My Daily games at the moment are Brotato, Everybody's Golf 6 (emulated), Rock band unplugged (emulated), Everspace. Got Hades 2 lined up next. If a game isn't good on the Deck then it'll likely get neglected. That's why I don't play FTL as much as I'd like.
Every evening for games that I can't be bothered to launch on my pc, the form factor is what makes me go back to it every time, so comfortable to play anywhere and not sit at my desk
Got mine basically as soon as they released, and I still use it plenty. I have it set up to be usable as a controller for my PC, and it is by far my favorite controller to use. It's a dream come true for my controller to become its own console whenever I want.
What?? I've been waiting/wishing for a controller with the exact layout as the deck! I can't play rocket league on anything else anymore because i muscle memoried my air rolls to the rear paddle buttons. Whoops
Yes.
I don’t have a desktop pc, so before I got my Steam Deck, I was using my laptop for pc gaming.
As often as I can
My partner bought me one last month, so it’s still new but I don’t think I’ve stopped playing it. I can’t make time to sit at my pc unless I’m working, all my time is spent with the kids or in my workshop. So I can finally play games again.
I usually play on my commute so between 15 min and 90 min each day depending on whether i play during the whole commute both ways or just a little bit. It's usually around 60 min each day because the rest is by bus and I don't always bother to pull it out or I don't get a place to sit.
Every day, but different games than what I play on my desktop pc. Right now playing Hades on it.
I go back and forth. Past few weeks used it a bunch but hadn't touched it in a month. Sometimes I start a game on my deck then think this would be so much better with mouse and keyboard then just play it on my laptop.
I also play allot of strategy and building games. I still think the touchpads are awesome and work great for those types of games but like when I play Kenshi I assign the back buttons too and it ends up hurting my hands after awhile.
I agree about the touchpads. Those work great. And most keys can be assigned to.buttons so without keyboard is okay, but some strategy games have a lot of shortcuts and those just work better with a keyboard.
I love how Endzone, the type of game that usually relies heavily on mouse, has adapted the controls for a gamepad.
as a secondary machine suppose my main PC is broken
Pretty much ever since getting mine a few weeks back, I've been absolutely loving it and using it fairly often when I can. So far the only problem I have with it isn't even an issue on Valve's end. It's literally just that the BeeMod for Portal 2 doesn't have a Linux port and I'm too lazy to set it up on my deck.
Otherwise, definitely a purchase I don't regret. Especially since it's gotten me to continue my melee only save in New Vegas that I've been meaning to get back to.
Almost every day. Only single player, desktop for multi player.
We use it as a console every week, both me and the kids.
I really wanted to get a steam deck when they first came out, but I decided not to bc I wasn't gaming much at the time. Then I got a SD OLED right when they came out, and I've been playing it pretty much every day since then. I love playing retro games and emulating on it since its OLED screen is amazing, and I also do Steam Remote Play to it from my gaming PC and Chiaki to remote play from my PS5. Like another poster said, the Steam Deck has also been a game changer for getting me playing older games from my backlog. It's perfect for playing games on the couch while watching TV or a movie as well.
I injured my right thumb and stopped all games that require a joystick, so zero steam deck for the last 2+ months.
It's still the best handheld device ever made and I'll use it for years to come, we are just simply on a break right now.
I've been experiencing some right wrist pain from too much mousing (at work and while gaming). So I find myself playing on the Deck more than my desktop PC nowadays.
I generally play the more demanding games on my desktop and use it for 2d stuff when I’m away from home.
Too much if I am honest about it. Currently obsessed with DRG: Survivor and I've put in an embarrassing number of hours in the last couple weeks.
Same, stuck on the last hazard 4 ahhh
I smuggle it to work and use it for DND in place of a laptop. It's also come in clutch when waiting for the car to get worked on.
Lately, not really. But I’m in a weird mood: I mostly play on the PS5 (the same thing I’ve been playing for most of the decade), stream an even older game with GeForce Now on my Mac (instead of playing far more recent stuff that has a Mac version), my gaming pc sits idle, and on the Deck obviously I play Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League when I feel like it.
Yeah, weird mood.
I've been using emulators to replay a ton of games that would be a pain to setup/use normally. Skyrim Fallout and all the old standbys look great too so I barely use anything else
I just put Nix OS on mine, so I'll probably be using it more soon. But yea, it's great.
Daily
With summer in particular my office/gaming room can become unbearable hot
Grabbing my deck and laying on the couch outside has been amazing
I also keep it docked on my tv and use it as a console and stream in home streaming for everything
I mainly take it with me on vacation, I prefer keyboard/mouse when I can use it.
Almost daily. I have treatment resistant radial styloid tenosynovitis so when that flares up nothing is easy to play.
Initially the games were those on the lighter side, but now I've moved on to more graphically intensive games (sometimes having to tweak settings, sometimes not).
When I want a bigger screen I bust out the dock and set up the portable monitor I bought for it - and, depending on what I'm playing I'll either get out the mouse and keyboard or the controller.
I don't have a set space for my setup so having the ability to pack up everything is a huge plus.
No. I sent it for RMA 9 months out of warranty on May 8th, and I won't be getting it back until June 10. Apparently my firmware got corrupted. The software went bad. Valve is a software company and the software went bad. $120 USD to reprogram the firmware incl shipping, but I'll likely also have to pay import fees on top of that.
If I had it then I would play it more, yeah, but at the same time I've bought other SBCs since then and I have been playing those as they are more portable and I've really missed portable game emulation since I've been without my Steam Deck.
Bought it a month ago... Using it extensively at the moment...
I hardly use mine. I bring it with me on plane rides but find myself just watching movies instead. Trying to play on a plane and having to share an arm rest, idk it works out better in my head than in practice.
I find I really need to play a game consistently to stay interested, and that makes the deck hard cuz I reserve lighter games for it, like ori, but since I play so infrequently I don't really end up being interested in the game I startup on there.
OTOH I play PC regularly, no battery concerns, much larger screen, better visual fidelity. The deck just isn't reinforcing enough.
I use it while on the exercise bike that's about it these days.
Bought an OLED model for 6 months. I still use it for 60% of my game time.
Sure, 40% of the time I need to have online experience with friends (Fps games / long gaming session), or the games simply don't feel right on The Deck.But being able to use it everywhere is just so nice( friend's place / sitting in garden / on my bed). Plus, I regularly use it as a mini TV, watching YT and Netflix on it.
I'm using mine almost exclusively now. My PS4 is dying and I don't want a PS5 so I'm currently buying my favorite games from that system in steam. Occasionally I'll co-op game on the Xbox with my husband and I'll pick up my switch whenever I get the itch to play animal crossing. But truthfully my vision is getting worse as I get older so the steam deck has become my favorite. My only regret is not getting the version with bigger storage. I haven't tried streaming games from my PC yet but that's my only option right now for larger games like Forza.
I have the 512GB LCD model and recently put in a 1.5TB SD card and am loving being able to install bigger games. So far I haven't noticed any real lag vs it being installed on the internal SSD. That may be an option for you.
When funds allow I will be upgrading my internal SSD to a 2TB, but, for now, the SD card works fine
I use it most days, even as a PC/web browser connected to my TV. I play any classic games or anything not graphically intensive on it. Anything with a medium-level of graphical intensity I'll use moonlight to stream from my desktop in the next room over. If it's a particularly beautiful game, I'll play it on my gaming PC directly, since I have a really nice OLED monitor hooked up to it directly.
Not much any more. I brought it to PAX this year to keep me entertained while waiting in lines, but otherwise it's barely come out of its case this year.
I don't blame the deck, though I've scarcely played any video games this year, in general. When I got it, I played a bunch of the Witcher 3, but then they released an update that completely broke the game on decks. After that, my go-to game (when I play) became Cities Skylines, which just feels far more natural with a mouse.
Used to a lot, but use dropped off a lot as I started to work more. I do use it often when I travel... but I don't actually travel much at all. It was free (game awards) so I'm not too upset over that. Maybe I'll look into getting some of my old childhood favourites running on it as a challenge project.
I've had mine for almost 2 years now. My usage has always been situational. I use it to game when I'm away from my relatively high-end gaming PC. Extended trips. Any time I know I'm going to be sitting and waiting somewhere. Or maybe I've just had a long day of remote work and want to play a game but I don't want to sit at my desk, so I'll plop down on the sofa or outside with my Deck.
I use mine off and on for singleplayer titles, mostly when I do not feel like sitting at my desk. One big thing that keeps me from using it more is syncing saves for games outside of steam (Minecraft Java, Games in the heroic launcher/Bottles) because I would need to either setup syncthing or remember to transfer saves via usb. However my experience using the steam deck has been very positive the past few months since I have received it.
I play about 50% of my playtime on my steam deck. I reduced my shooters because even though I like gyro aiming it still will never be as good as my keyboard and mouse.