Valve’s unashamedly chonky handheld gaming PC might be a few years old now, and it’s no longer the only game in town. However, the Steam Deck is still one hell of a device that’s fantastic for hoovering up your Steam backlog.
I’ve been using this thing almost daily since it first launched in 2022, and upgraded to the OLED model when that arrived the following year. During that time my Steam Deck has munched through countless games, big and small, from brilliant indies to AAA bangers and everything in between.
If you enjoy PC gaming but find playing at a desk restrictive, the Steam Deck will feel like a heaven-sent solution, even if the tech is starting to creak a bit.
I could recommend hundreds of games to play on the Deck, but here are three of my favourites.
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
The Steam Deck is a pretty fantastic place to play any Yakuza/Like a Dragon game, but as it’s currently summertime, I have to recommend Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth and its supremely silly (when it’s not deadly serious) Hawaiian adventure.
A direct sequel to 2020’s Yakuza: Like a Dragon, this entry takes the series out of Japan for the first time, and developer RRG Studio’s typically wacky recreation of the Aloha State unsurprisingly makes for one of the best settings in any game.
To really appreciate the story, you’ll need to have played the many other mainline Yakuza games, but the slick turn-based combat, bonkers side content and all-round good vibes of Infinite Wealth can be enjoyed by anyone.
And while the busy Hawaii areas in particular can really test the Steam Deck in places, the game looks great on a portable display, and you can get it running pretty smoothly most of the time with a bit of tinkering.
Thank Goodness You’re Here!
If you’re looking for a game that will really tax your Steam Deck’s hardware, look elsewhere. But if you’re after one that will make you laugh more in its short runtime than most games that aspire to be funny can manage in tens of hours, Thank Goodness You’re Here! is frankly unmissable.
Arguably the most British game ever committed to code, this “comedy slapformer” has you play as a travelling salesman assisting the eccentric residents of a fictional Yorkshire town.
Your control options never extend beyond walking, jumping and slapping, with the latter being the key to solving pretty much every light puzzle in the game. Thank Goodness You’re Here! is less about complex gameplay, then, and more an interactive showcase of (quite literally) slapstick comedy, foul-mouthed gags and delightfully weird characters.
It’s great anywhere you play it, but I really appreciated the vibrant hand-drawn visuals on the OLED Steam Deck.
Elden Ring
Is the Steam Deck the very best place to play Elden Ring? Probably not, but because of the handheld you can play FromSoftware’s once-in-a-generation action RPG masterpiece anywhere, and you might be shocked at just how well it handles this open-world behemoth of a game.
Sure, you’re probably going to be hovering around the 30fps mark for the smoothest experience, but image quality is shockingly good on the smaller display.
For the game’s most epic boss clashes (and there are a few of those) I’d recommend a bigger screen, but for aimless exploration and rune-farming while you half-watch something on TV, the Steam Deck is an excellent Elden Ring machine.
Just make sure you sit near a plug socket; this thing drinks that battery life like it’s Ribena.
