I’ve discovered an odd side effect of owning a Steam Deck. It has made me appreciate my Switch more, and even led me to playing it a bit more than I had been for a bit. I love the fact that the Steam Deck is highly flexible, friendly to tinkering and can run almost anything under the sun. And I appreciate that despite being a bit big, it’s still portable. It’s a great console for a whole host of games and I am really happy I bought it. But it also granted me renewed appreciation for the simplicity, size and design of the Switch. Carrying the Steam Deck around with me served to provide a stark reminder of just how easily the Switch pops in my bag and travels with me. And now that I resolved the Switch’s biggest downside, the lack of a d-pad, I am back to regularly playing games on my Switch, during my commute, on lunch at work, on my couch attached to my TV, or in bed briefly before going to sleep. If the Steam Deck is the perfect example of all the reasons why open systems are great, the Switch really does a great job showing how tightly controlled and curated consoles can provide an opposite yet equally satisfying experience. I’m very happy both exist.
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