As a new, first time steam deck owner, what are the must have games?

Mostly, it's the must-have Indie darlings, with a sprinkling of AAA fodder.

I've loved:

• Rimworld
• Yakuza 0
• Slay The Spire
• Dave the Diver
• Dredge

I've found that I enjoy playing offbeat adventure games on the deck more than I did sat at a PC. Detention, Norco, Loretta, To The Moon, that sort of thing is perfect for playing in bed, propped against the pillows.

I'm personally a huge fan of project zomboid, though I had to tweak the controls a little to make it work well.

I'm sure Stardew Valley is a perfect match for the deck, but I've played it too much already.

My pick

(Casual) Vampire survivors - Hades - Cup head

(Castelvania style) Hollow knight

(Open world) Cyberpunk 2077- Red Dead redemption- Elden Ring- Witcher 3

(Story) Control

Vampire Survivors is basically mandatory at this point.

The Binding of Isaac and Brotato are my most played by far. Both are on sale currently. Just one more run...

Pick the genre you like and get started. I prefer the deck for short term bursts so I have all my roguelikes on it. Also bg3 for when the craving sets in.

Koikatsu

Do you have an existing Steam Library? Tons of games are verified on the deck. Anything with controller support is great.

If you haven't played them: brotato, Hades, and Stardew Valley are all perfect on the deck, off the top of my head

I mean im a first time owner as well so take it with a grain of salt but I have played and enjoyed cyberpunk, starfield, baldurs gate, and harry potter.

My must haves so far, have been Celeste, timelie, crosscode, and one step from eden.

Any roguelikes you like. Though my picks for games would be Vampire Survivors, Slay the Spire, Dead Cells, and risk of rain 2.

My must haves would be

Enter The Gungeon - even if you aren’t great at it, the fact that it launches DIRECTLY into challenging gameplay means it works great on the go. You only need 4 minutes to get into the meat of enter the gungeon and I think in that way it is really elevated by being in mobile format.

Spelunky 2 - a modern classic, same point as above

Monster Train (my pick of the two) or Slay The Spire - ya knowww

Halls Of Torment - if you are into bullet heavens like vampire survivors

Idk hard to give recommendations without knowing more what you are into!

I have been enjoining Hollow Knight.

Project zomboid Boltgun Civ6

Besides maybe competitive shooters (and you can still try, and do well with practice), and games with many keyboard inputs (Terraria for me), anything you'd play on a normal PC. Not much changed in games I play since I got the Deck. And games like easier shooters (Borderlands) or mouse reliant games (flash games, in my case) still play well, so it really does seem like it's only those two specific types I mentioned.

• Both of the Ori games
• Celeste
• Circuit Superstars
• Forza Horizon 5

I have been enjoining Hollow Knight.

slay the spire brotato skyrim

Dave the diver, great fishing game.

I really enjoyed playing through Tunic on my Deck. I imagine Corpse Party (2021) would also be a great Deck game (I played the game before I got mine.)