This is probably not my place to say (I dont even have a steam deck because I’m conflicted between getting an lcd and an oled) but as a console player, I’m mostly sure that it would be at least 6-7 years before a ‘console-like’ device is actually obsolete, and by obsolete I mean games would no longer be available on the platform. Not sure how that would apply to steam as I know that pcs are more about replacing parts and all than the whole thing, but I hope that at least gives you a rough idea about what could potentially happen. For obvious reasons, I cant really answer your p.s question though.
Not related at all, but would it be better if you just bought the steam deck lcd with the money to buy more indies or the oled with less games overall? I mostly plan to use the steam deck to play indie games if that helps.
It will struggle to play some new games because it’s basically equivalent to a low-end PC. For example, it can’t currently play Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. It just does not have the VRAM to support it. So if a person only wants to play the latest AAA games, it’s not the best choice.
But where it excels is playing indie, AA, and some AAA that have been well optimized, like DA: The Veilguard which plays beautifully on it. And it will probably accomplish that for some time given many of those games don’t really tax game systems. I’d say the majority of PC games don’t need bleeding edge tech to play.
Game graphics have very much plateaued. They aren’t resulting in games that need a new GPU every couple years. The only thing taxing is ray tracing, and that’s not necessary. So most games on lowered settings play very well on the Steam Deck. Indy doesn’t because it requires ray traced illumination and MachineGames hasn’t released a PC version of the game to matches the lower settings they enabled for the Series X. If they did, it would probably play on Steam Deck on low settings.
Yes, Steam offers a Steam Deck verified status which should show up on the right hand column of details when looking at a game in Steam. Note that the Steam Deck verified designation is usually far behind reality and many games that play without a hitch don’t yet have their Verified badge. So I tend not to rely on Steam and use https://protondb.com where you can find much more detailed confirmations including optimized settings for every game.
To be honest, the Latest Games ™ I’m finding are becoming less and less interesting to me, especially in the AAA space. There are still a few indies recently announced that have piqued my interest, but less that this time last year. Apparently the Steam Deck can emulate everything up to PS2 pretty well (correct me if I’m wrong) so that’s a huge draw for me, as well as all the current “legit” games it can run.
@yeb 6-7 years is probably more accurate for me too, I just mentioned five as most tech sites use that as a rule of thumb. My current laptop was bought in 2020, and was mid-range-ish then. It still runs really well and although it struggles a little with more recent games. I’m currently playing American Arcadia and I had to turn down the anti aliasing and a few other things to get it to run well. It still hitches a little during scene transitions but for the most part is fine. It will NOT play the Riven Remake though, all I get is a black screen, and that’s the Killer App for me as far a PC games go.
Either way, I probably won’t buy one for a good while, but I just like to get all the info I can on these things.
My Deck definitely struggled at times with BG3 and RDR2 so even AAA games a few years old aren’t the highest quality. Both were very playable and beautifully rendered most of the time, but occasionally, in few scenes you’d get some framerate drop or a poorly rendered model. I just bought the Limited Edition OLED so we’ll see how that holds up. All I’ve played on it so far is Ultros and Indika, and both run perfectly.
Where the Deck shines, IMO, is all of the many indie options on Steam. Since you’re fine with that, you’ll be golden on the Deck.
Having to pack up my computer and consoles to move, nothing makes me happier than having my Steam Deck to access games in the period between now and when I can unpack.
Reading a bit more on it, I’m kind of surprised by the seemingly low battery life of the Deck. Seems like you’d have to charge it every other day or so? Joe have users found this?
I still haven’t fully decided if I should get a Deck + a basic laptop (cause money) or just a decent(ish) laptop (cause it does everything)
It depends on what you play and it depends on if you throttle the power sent to the processor. If you play hardware intensive games you’ll only get a few hours of play. If you play something like a side scrolling platformer you’ll get hours and hours of play. And if you play games that don’t require a lot of power, you can reduce the TDP (thermal design point) from the full 15W down to something lower. The lower you go the longer the battery lasts. There are people who recommend always maxing out at 12W as most games don’t need the full 15W, and going lower if you can. I was recently playing Neva and I didn’t need to charge my Steam Deck for several days, even with several multi-hour play sessions. I’d say the Steam Deck can last as long as a Switch with the right settings, and with bearing mind that graphically intense games on Switch usually have graphical settings set below the lowest setting available on PC to make those games run without rapidly draining the Switch’s battery. The difference with the Steam Deck is that you have a lot more control over the power settings, while in Seitxh that’s all predetermined by the dev studio that optimized the game.
I almost never play my Deck without access to a plug so I don’t know how long it lasts. It’s supposed to come with “passthrough” charging which means it can remain plugged in even when fully charged and the power bypasses the battery and goes straight to the device, thereby reducing the charge/drain cycle of the battery. That’s good at least for keeping the battery healthy in the long term and I have not noticed a drop in battery life in the two years I’ve had it.
Honestly, though, you’re probably better off getting a laptop and a controller. Deck is great for portability but the small screen and occasional incompatibility of games means you’ll likely get more out of a laptop. Unless you anticipate using it on the road a lot?
Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of having a Steam Deck?
My plan is basically to kind of reduced “stuff”. Outside of gaming I don’t use my laptop for much apart from web browsing. I don’t have the space in my house to set up a “gaming station” with a dedicated table and chair, so the idea behind getting the Deck is to save space and being able to play on any room. Besides, if I want a big screen I can connect it up to the telly.
I also don’t mind fiddling with stuff to get things to work well, and those game I really love I’m happy to jump through hoops for.
I’ve used it, but not recently because I haven’t had anything to play in GeForce Now that won’t play on my Steam Derek directly. I mostly tried it out just to try it out. And works quite well, no issues on my end. About the same, if not better than GamePass cloud streaming.
It sounds like you would use your Deck for the same reason I do. Most of my games are on Steam. I have a PS4 and a Switch that I almost never use. I don’t have space in my apartment for a real PC. I had a laptop but it didn’t have much free space on it. With a TB of space on my Deck, I had space to store a lot more games there. And my laptop just blew up so I don’t have that option any longer. Lastly, I keep the Deck by my bedside. I usually wake up quite early and have to wait an hour after taking some medication before I can have coffee so I find myself sometimes playing a game in bed for a bit.
All of which is to say that I do use my Deck while traveling but I use it a lot more at home. Even when traveling, planes, trains, hotel rooms, and airports usually have a place to plug it in.
Interesting, that might be a good way of keeping up with the newer games without having to actually buy compatible hardware that becomes obsolete in a few months
Likely. I’ve primarily used GeForceNow when I’m away from my PC and only have a non-gaming laptop, and it’s been pretty great. Pricing is a bit steep for the top level service, but the lower tier is fine for most games.
Now I’ve a 750GB OLED Deck, is there anything you guys recommend as a must-do (apart from playing games, that is)? I’ve already book maeked Retro Corps video on setting up emulation.
Edit: P.S. I’m a little confused with ProtonDB. Does it list just the bare minimum to get games running? I ask because it saysDragon Age: The Veilguard is Gold, but according to this video from Digital Foundry, it looks like an abstract painting on the Deck (skip to the 4:48 mark).
Am I missing something here or is ProtonDB more “it’ll run, but just”? What’s the best way (besides playing) to tell if/how something will run on the Deck?
That Gold status just means how it runs on Linux platforms with the Proton layer, in general. Not how it runs on the Deck’s hardware. It may well work perfectly on Linux platforms as a Windows game with Proton but the Deck’s underpowered GPU won’t be able to handle it.
Edit: If you read the statuses for Steam Deck, it looks like it runs fine. There are games I’ve played that run fine but occasionally you’ll get a washed out picture or the graphics don’t render completely. RDR2 was an example of that for me. BG3 had its moments, as well.
Make sure you click on the Steam Deck category when looking at a game on ProtonDB so that you are only seeing comments about the performance on Deck. Very often people will also comment on setting they found worked for them, which can be helpful.
I don’t know what’s going on in the DF video. DA: The Veilguard is known for performing quite well on Steam Deck and there was a lot of praise at launch that Bioware really did a great job optimizing the game for mobile hardware. I think part of the problem is that DF considers low framerates or any kind to be inexcusable, but they are also people who test games on the most expensive of GPUs and are invested in the best possible performance as a result. That DF video was also very invested in putting framerate above visuals so they dialed the quality all the way to low and applied FSR which can tend to muddy the picture. If you aren’t invested in frames per second, the game will look better.
Here’s another take at launch that shows that it looks decent but will experience frame drops:
Call me ignorant, but I hate having to make big concessions for games due to hardware, it’s one of the main reasons I went back to console gaming. I just want new things to work with minimal fuss.
Really, I think I’ll be using the Deck basically as I did my laptop, as a mid-range PC. So older/ smaller games and emulation. I think bigger games like DA, Atomfall and AAA I’ll play on the Xbox. With less and less big games interesting me, I don’t think that’s too bad a compromise.
Apart from ProtonDB, are there any other sources I should check out?
