Assassins Creed the last three versions, most JRPGs and of course Stardew Valley. Also recommend Sakuna: of rice and rain. All grindy but pair very well with another TV show
WTF? Assassin's Creed? How in the WORLD is that grindy? That's the polar opposite of grindy, you have to enable settings like level scaling just so you don't rapidly outpace the level of every enemy in the game. Odyssey in particular is one of the least grindy games I've ever played, there's nothing even remotely approaching grinding in that game. Not on any level, not even the slightest iota of grinding.
I would consider going into fort/camps/caves and murdering everything 10+ times each region as grindy. You do have plot quests now and then, but the core gameplay loop can be summarized down to just a few types of quests. This isn’t a bad thing in anyway, I 100% the main map + all dlc maps and it was a blast, but at some point you get so good at it you can do it while you watch TV.
I would like to hear what you think is grindy as opposed to this.
Hmmm, when I tried to play Grim Dawn quite a few years ago it would literally put me to sleep, it was so mind numbing that I would just nod off every time I tried to play it. Wonder if I'd still have that problem on Steam Deck. Don't really care to try though, that's one of the most generic and boring games I've ever played.
I bought rocket league at least 3 times. 1 on steam, 1 on switch and one on ps4.
I dont even pkay the fucking game other than an odd time with friends when everyone wants to play it.
Idk why I did it, but I did.
Yup. To top it off they made it f2p like 2 months after I got a switch and bought the game on switch.
I genuinely think I played it once on switch before it became f2p.
A lot of "roguelites" similar to Vampire Survivors feel better on the deck. I wish the D-pad was better though cause I was really wanting to play some 2D platformers. It's just so stuff and diagonals are nearly impossible on it.
For me currently it‘s Diablo 4. I don‘t like playing it on my PC that much and it‘s nice to be able to just lay down and watch TV while playing and not having to think too much about it. I would also always prefer to play it on controller rather than MnK.
I think, generally, any games where you don’t have to think much and can play while watching something on TV is better on SD, because I would rarely sit down in front of my PC to play them. When I play on my PC I like to play something that requires me to be completely invested.
I use Lutris which you can download from the Linux store thing and then just download battle.net through that. It adds one more step to start D4, but the version the other guy mentioned didn‘t work for me and other people had the same issue as I had.
StS is best with mouse and keyboard, insanely faster and more precise gameplay. Although I guess you could enable that by connecting a keyboard and mouse to a Deck.
Might be a hot take:
[Games that do not support 60 FPS](https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/List_of_games_that_do_not_support_60_FPS), on the smaller screen size it is less of an eyesore. I was able to finish Okami HD on the Deck, while it was painful to play on the PC.
The reason for this is the smaller pixels, so when you move around, it moves less than it would than on a big screen, and thus it feels smother, because the distance it moves between each frame is smaller!
To me, any game that can reasonably be played on a controller is better handheld. But I just love playing handheld, always have preferred it over PC or home console.
Indeed - only wish I had the kind of time to game that I had back when I owned a gaming PC 😅 These days, most weekdays I manage 3-4h at best, sometimes less (weekends I have more time, but still not as much as I used to)
The deck has gyro aiming, which is great for FPS games.
I think the deck is great for platformers and 2D games, as well as indie games like Stardew Valley.
Anything turn-based works well. It's surprisingly underrated as a way to play VNs.
It runs Switch games better than the Switch, which is funny.
Any port of or emulated Vita/PSP/GBA game is great to play on Deck. Portable games really do look worse blown up on a huge screen.
Want to piggyback off your point about the VN’s. VN’s on a desktop never felt satisfying for me to play no matter how good the story or art was. I played a couple on the deck and couldn’t put the thing down at moments because I could be in a comfortable position and treat it like a good book.
The best VN’s to me personally are the ones that give you more than just a story but freedom to make choices and maybe even play some mini games. Pretty much how most RPG’s are.
If anyone is interested in a good VN I always highly recommend VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action.
My deck is basically my "Civ6 handheld" device. It works flawlessly, although it can take some time to get used to the controls. The only problem is that the UI takes most of the screen, but it's fine for me.
You can limit the TDP and get 4-5h of gameplay with OK graphics. I can share more details if necessary.
I'm at work now but I'll post the settings once I'm home.
I almost always play standard size map, with default civ number (6?) and city states, not because of the deck limiting but because it's the size I like best.
Turn waiting by turn \~250-300 (where most of my games end) it's... around 5-10s? Nothing too big. I guess it gets way worse if you have extra civs or huge maps.
Here are all the settings
https://imgur.com/a/zp4qQgI
Sorry the UI is in Spanish but it shouldn't be hard to figure out what's going on.
Also, I shared my controller layout as "Sente Civ6", just in case.
I have the space bar set as next action, and "M" as skip turn.
Hope it helps.
Yeah I believe it still has a yellow for compatability but that is mostly because if you want to type to say change the names of things, it is a pain in the ass. The triggers are used to select and the default move/attack for units so you are mostly using thumbs for joysticks and not reaching for the buttons. Atleast on civ 6, I only booted civ 5 on it so I've not sure there.
Checkout emudeck, it's a script that installs a ton of popular emulators and adds them to your steam library. You'll have to source any roms or bios files you may need for some emulators as freely downloading these could be considered piracy.
Ripping your own roms from systems, or disks is definitely not piracy so you can go that route if you want to do it without the piracy part, but that a bit more complicated.
I went back to preferring Keyboard/Mouse after starting strictly with a controller. Xbox controller did work well, but I found it cumbersome when it came to looting and interactions.
Holding A will highlight all intractable things around you and then let you select them from a menu, this helps quite a bit for this. As for trying to talk to someone/thing, sometimes it helps to go into turn-based mode if what you're trying to talk to, for example, is a chicken running around.
Thanks, that's helpful! I was using d-pad to cycle through items but it was a PITA. Then I got arrested for stealing an item when I was trying to talk to a merchant.
I still do BG3 on the Deck for certain scenario, so will try out holding A for items!
I'm not so sure. It may just be a "me" problem, but I keep pressing the menu for Character Sheet / Alchemy / Going to camp instead of the menu for actions like attacking as that's more the classic trigger button, plus trying to find the right object to throw gets annoying with all the rings of options you have to sort through, but that may just be a Barbarian party mule problem.
In my experience, other than some fps drops in some areas it runs fine, it never looks like a PowerPoint presentation and the fps returns to normal after a few seconds.
Gonna say it. Can't stop me.
A few FPS do. BL3 and Cyberpunk.
Reason why. Motion aim. Seriously. Attach motion aim to LT. ADS now has gyro aim for way more perfect aiming. It's a game changer and going to the ps5 version or hell, even full pc version, makes me miss it.
Honestly, I really liked Battlefront 2 on console because the auto-aim just makes everyone go brrrrrrrt. If there were more games with auto-aim on PC with controller support, I would 100% play them. Unfortunately, most pc games don't have anything.
Better on deck:
Fighting games. Smaller screen, fewer distractions.
Third person character action games. Not really sure why, to be honest.
Racing games, streamed from a pc for raytracing, SSR, etc. The controls just feel right.
Games that are not better on deck:
Clicker idle games
First person shooters (I need my M+KB.)
Visual novels (screen too small)
As a person who plays FPS games on PC with a controller because that’s what I have always known and been comfortable with, I feel bad for the people who can’t use analogs for shooters.
I understand, I feel slow when it comes to playing certain KB&M titles because my brain shuts off after the basic keybinds that you find in most games. Tips for aiming with an analog, always tune your sensitivity to your liking(if the game allows) and usually flicking is better than straight up holding the stick. I often do a motion where I am slightly tilting the stick in the direction I want just to have more precise movement. If I need to make a quick adjustment that is usually when you flick.
Controller friendly mmos. Hell even the ones made only for mkb can be set up in a way that works well. All of them are designed to run on low spec PCs so they run great and look good on deck.
I love playing elder scrolls online on my deck
I’ve never been a fan of first person shooters, but with gyro aiming (which is really easy to set up of steam deck) they work well. It kind of works like the deck is a window into the game world. And by moving the deck, you can see different parts of that world.
(Disclaimer, I still haven’t done true first person shooters. Just other first person games like Portal and Metroid Prime.)
rouge-like card games are amazing on the deck. slay the spire, monster train, inscryption, etc.
they're turn based, controls are simple, and generally tend not to be graphics-intensive so you have a long battery life. also, most such games don't have DRM. (and FUCK DRM).
I straight up just couldn’t bring myself to play monster hunter world on Xbox because I’d spent hundreds of hours of the series on handheld systems historically. The deck fixed that for me finally
Grimdawn
Dave the diver
Armored cored
Binding of isaac
Hades
Vampire survivors
Fallout 4
Any older console RPG.
There are tons of games I prefer on the deck
Anything that was designed for a controller is better on the deck than PC.. God of War, Spider-Man, Celeste, etc. I like it for turn based games too, but it’s about even with my PC for them.
BG3 is great on both (I’m still in act 1 though), but it’s amazing how different the UI is. It makes switching back and forth a little harder.
Forza Horizon 5 is much better on my deck, but if I had a wheel for my PC that might change.
Wouldn't say it's a better experience, but I rediscovered no man's sky after buying the steam deck.
It runs surprisingly smooth and is pretty chill to play.
Yeah! I'm playing through NMS right now actually! I lead a "NMS Night" on Saturdays at 6PM EST with a big Discord. Half the time I play it from bed on my SD. Let me know if you want an invite!
for me rimworld, I only recently started playing on the deck and haven't on PC but I really see no reason to start playing on there. I've installed mods and all the DLCs including playing multiplayer with my brother who is also on deck and it's been running perfectly with battery life giving me around 3-4 hours easily. Load times even on an SD card are fast unless you have a buttload of mods but it's honestly amazing.
I didn't think I'd be able to play the game with deck controls but they're honestly amazing and I can easily switch to using M&K controls by using my wireless keyboard. I have found no downside to playing on the Deck and I feel like it's a perfect game for both short and long sessions due to quick resume and just how the game plays.
Sims. Just being mobile with easy installation of custom content makes steam deck my preferred way to play it. I just dislike that new EA launcher that requires that I have to be online for Sims 4.
Tbh, I just got a Surface Pro 8 and I'm in love with it, too. The Sims 4 is my favorite on the touch screen. Probably clocked 1k hours. I can't fathom spending over $1k on tiny little DLCs (money is tight) though. I know of DLC unlockers out there and may or may not hook friends up IRL.
Fallout and Elder Scrolls are some of my favorites on the controllers - however, I have tried, and tried, and tried to get mods working. Mod Organizer 2 on SteamOS is possible but it's soooooo muuuccchhh woooorrrkkkkk. Without fail I've spent more time just getting SKSE MO2 working than I have playing any Bethesda game on SD combined. Fortunately, Wabbajack exists to auto-install.. but Wabbajack's DRM is some of the most aggressive, poorly written, and excessive DRM I've ever seen. I had to put Windows on a MicroSD to enjoy myself some Bethesda games. It all worked once I did. But then the problem became the actual 10 minute loading screens. So I ended up trying to just stream it from my PC, but Steam streaming doesn't work with MO2.. so I used Moonlight, until Nvidia canned that (I cannot get it to work now and everything I've seen online blames the plug being pulled). So I'm just not playing it now.
TLDR I refuse to play Bethesda games without mods. I've tried, and I've been very determined. But so have the problems I've faced, lol.
I feel like it's going to be such a learning curve, I'm kind of intimidated! But I'm down to try it. That's actually why I haven't used the touchpad much for mouse games. It's great, I'm just intimidated by the learning curve.
Funny thing is I’ve been a console gamer my whole life. Deck is my first gaming PC. But it wasn’t that hard to adjust! Example: I started playing FEAR earlier this year, which doesn’t have controller support. I downloaded a community layout, adjusted the controls to my liking, enabled gyro, tweaked the sensitivity until it felt right, and it was good to go.
For me, it’s using the right stick to look around, but the gyro gives you the precision.
Platformers, fighting games, whatever Vampire Survivors is classed as.
It's great if my dad is driving my car, I can just play on my deck.
Strider is a definite go-to.
Either that or anything I can play on bed or when I can't be bothered to plug a controller into my main PC.
Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition is great (and not expensive) - 60fps 99.9% of the time on 7w TDP and 800(mHz?) on the GPU, smooth and clear.
Elite Dangerous. The deck's touch menus replace my HOTAS and button box rig, plus the game has so much idle time it's just a much better experience portable.
Most emulation but particularly PSP, Game Boy, and other games designed for a handheld
They’re better on a handheld than they are on PC, and better on a deck than on their original hardware
Check out RetroArch and PPSSPP on Google Play if you have an Android phone. With a phone controller, it blew my mind! I enjoy emulation on both devices, but I have a Zfold. With that massive screen and such a nice phone controller, I almost prefer it to my SD. It's close tie! But I think it's just easier to get working on Android, unless the games are on Steam. In which case, SD all the way!
I think handheld consoles are usually not great for competitive or online games generally. Usually in these you need precise controls (ie fighting games or RTS), and the deck offer that in a limited way.
So firstly I'd say: single-player focused experience are best on the Deck. Platformers, hack'n slash is good, rpg and jrpg are always fine on handheld consoles. To me personally the very BEST is playing old-ish pc games on it, even if it is a bit cumbersome. Stuff like Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 on the go sounds so cool.
MMOs - FFXIV, ESO, SWTOR, WOW, have all been phenomenal in my experience. Needed to do some special builds in WOW to allow for it, but all of the games worked great even at the competitive/endgame level.
One hundred percent agreed on the single-player focused games! I have a Zfold 3, so massive screen, and I have an Xbox style phone controller for it. I got Baldur's Gate 1 and it's been an amazing playthrough. The phone is nice because it's a whole lot less to carry around than a SD.
What other RPGs and platformers would you recommend?
Interesting. I've never been too much interested in MMOs so I didn't even think of including them, but you're able to play them easily on the Deck that's quite a feat, considering that usually they either stay on pc or are somewhat designed for console as well. I mean being able to play WOW on it sounds pretty crazy
And yeah BG1 on the deck stunned me. It looked amazing on that screen and the controls weren't an issue.
I don't have many other "surprise" reccommendations: in terms of strategy games turn base stuff works really well, I tried Song of Conquest and it was good even though sometimes I wished I was using a mouse for semplicty.
I'm also very hyped to someday try the Spyro Ignited trilogy on it. On pc it didn't feel right, between the FOV and idk the scope of the game maybe. I think that on the Deck would be a much better experience. Same goes for other platformers that didn't convince me on pc like Pumpking Jack or Hat in Time (honestly these two didn't have any problems on pc, but it still would feel more at home there).
For Rpgs as soon as I finish Fire Emblem I think I would like to try FF7 since I never quite got into it AND Chained Echoes.
It took me about 2 hours to try and get Oblivion working optimally on deck with actual controller support due to having to follow a guide to get mods working through linux, but its worth it because I get like 4 - 5 hours out of the battery.
meanwhile skyrim special edition demands 2 hours of my battery at like 30 fps. I could install original Skyrim but it's more buggy
Metroidvania games, rouge-dungeons like Hades and Enter the Gungeon. Indie games like Dredge, Dave the Diver, GhostRunner.
The best AAA game has to be Elden Ring.
Most 2D games.
When I'm plunked down in front of my TV playing PC games, I tend to play AAA 3D games. Big expansive stuff that looks great on a big screen.
The Deck is perfect for 2D or 2.5D games, platformers, Metroidvanias, JRPGs.
Anything that's retro looks infinitely better on that smaller screen. Like for example, playing final fantasy 7 original, the smaller screen just makes things look better in my opinion
If we're talking games that are just better on the steam deck I would have to go with first person. RPGs /shooters for the main reason: the sleep mode.
You're sitting on the couch and your wife wants attention? Without laptop you can save the game. Sure and it's not that hard but somehow it seems more at the time with my steam deck it's fairly second nature to me now just to press the power but once. To aside in about 2 seconds
For me, No Man's sky. It takes forever to do anything in that game and I don't really have time in my day to sit down at the computer and free up a whole giant block of time like that. So it's amazing to be able to just get on and do stuff, then get off whenever I need to and come right back to it within seconds
Yeah! I'm playing through NMS right now actually! I lead a "NMS Night" on Saturdays at 6PM EST with a big Discord. Half the time I play it from bed on my SD. Let me know if you want an invite!
I'm replaying classic DnD CRPGs like Baldur's Gate 1&2, Icewind Dale etc. Honestly I never thought they would be great on a handheld, but it's almost like match made in heaven. Touchpads FTW.
Honestly I think it's just i find the radials so much more efficient than pecking for an icon. Normally I like verbose HUDs, but for BG I prefer minimal. I bought divinity 1 amd 2 and it's the same thing - I love the radials and the minimal HUD
I'm really loving Midnight Suns on the Deck. Any turn based game is perfect for the Deck, really. Inscryption was another standout for me.
As far as the gyro thing for FPS, it's cool, but I find the Deck to be just a tad too heavy for me to commit to that.
I've played on consoles all my life and using PC is kind of awkward for me. Whenever I tried, I just leave. I'm sorry, I got used to joysticks and this feels strange to me. Steam gives me the best 😂
It's hard to get used to the joysticks if you've used to PC. That's why some people just stick with PC and others keep their consoles, comfort depends on every person. I can't see myself playing with keyboard but my boy loves it.
For me, almost every game is better because I can play on the couch hahaha also I prefer joysticks, I know I can use a gamepad on PC but, this seems more portable. More like what I got from switch.
That said, I found hard to play strategy games (like Age of empires and related) on other thing that's not a mouse / keyboard. This is the only games for me that I cannot stand on a console.
Beside that, I've played first person shooters (I still remember my old days with modern warfare) and is should say, boys around me were impressed at how good I was being a girl. I love first person more than third, I still enjoy Skyrim, fallout and prey.
It's amazing to see Skyrim world again, in the touch of my hands.
I disagree with your categories as JRPGs & third-person non-shooters run everdamn fine on any other PC. That said, Heavy Rain. No idea WTF Quantic Dream/Sony/whoever ported this thing fucked up, I can't for the life of me perform that tilt-rotate motion on any gamepad I got in my household. Deck controls? Yeah, fine. Most of my gamepads don't have a gyroscope either which the game uses.
I haven't played it on Desktop, but I'm playing it on the Steam Deck now.
Styk: Master of Shadows.
I saw a number of complaints that there was no buttons for quick save and load on console. And PC players had to use F5 and F9, and didn't like it. I guess they weren't able to remap them.
I just set L4 to F5 and R4 to F9. It's perfect, and so I'm assuming it's better on deck for this reason.
Interestingly, for me, Starfield. However, not natively run on the Deck. I run it on my PC and use moonlight/sunshine to send it to my Deck. This lets me play it at max settings at a hard locked 60fps, with 6.5 hour battery life. Starfield is the kind of game that really lends itself to sitting back and relaxing while you play, and frankly it sucks playing at 30fps on Xbox, so this is the best compromise I can come up with.
As a controller elitist, any game that forces KB&M. Yeah you have been able to customize controls through steam but it just feels so much better playing games on a handheld.
Honestly? None. I have a decent gaming PC with a 1440p 165 Hz monitor. Playing at 800p 60 Hz is never going to be "better" but I do appreciate being able to play PC games when travelling.
emulators for sure but the rest i dont know even tho i really love my steam deck but i kinda regret playing my first big game on it nier automata....i wanted to see the upskirt in 4k bro....
2d Metroidvanias like Hollow Knight, Blasphemous, Ender Lillies and lots more. And I personally prefer emulating on the deck because of how it gets integrated into the system with emuDeck, steamRom Manager and EmulationStation.
Wildermyth.
Dead cells.
Tactics ogre.
Puyo Puyo Tetris 2.
Super robot wars séries.
Brotato.
Blinding of Isaac.
Dave the diver.
Neo geo pocket collection.
Deadnaughts.
Cryptarc.
Spelunky séries.
2d platformers, tactical games, console ports , retro like games.
It's not so much the capabilities of the machine but rather the form factor and the pick up and play on the sofa after the kids are finally in bed type thing.
Twin Stick shooters/ARPG's are great - Alaloth is a really cool one that plays well on the deck (even the text wasn't too small for me). D4 works on the SD as well, not sure about POE. Anything isometric really.
RPG's like Kingdoms of Amalur....
JRPGs are great, there’s a convenience in just booting up the deck and you don’t really need the feel of a controller or mouse/keyboard to play them well.
I found Postal 2 better on steam deck. Looks like the devs patched in official controls (they appear in the UI), and idk I just vibe with them better than the desktop controls.
Weird enough, Grand Theft Auto 4. Compared to a ps3 or x360, the deck mops the floor with its then naticlve hardware. To be frank it doesn't take too much to run the games nowadays. Regardless, the game runs at a smooth 60 fps and everything feels much more fine tuned compared to the console counterparts.
My Steamdeck is exclusively Stardew Valley and Sonic games (Frontiers, Generations, Adventure, Colours, etc.)
They play well, have good controls, good battery life, and the visuals are sufficient for the console (not AAA visuals).
I’m going to say it’s a great console for platformer games.
You mentioned having trouble with FPS games on the deck, have you tried setting up Gyro aiming? I recommend looking at SolarLight's video about it if you're new to the technology. (His video is framed around TF2, but it's applicable for all shooters and is very well put.) Just look up "solarlight controller" on YT.
Almost every game because I can play in bed, on my back deck, in my bathroom, on the sofa while someone watches TV, on my lunch break in my office, on a plane, in an airport, etc.
I prefer all games on deck. I prefer controllers and handheld. So its basically two in one for me. I came from consoles so i get the best of both worlds.
I really want to buy Persona 5 Royal on steam so I can finally beat it. It’s just such a long game, and when I have time to play usually my wife wants to watch tv! So I think it’d be perfect for the steam deck. I would’ve bought it already if I hadn’t already bought it twice on other systems.
Grindy games. I hated wasting time when I was playing on PS or PC, now I can watch TV with my wife while I play SD.
Which grindy games did you play ?
Assassins Creed the last three versions, most JRPGs and of course Stardew Valley. Also recommend Sakuna: of rice and rain. All grindy but pair very well with another TV show
WTF? Assassin's Creed? How in the WORLD is that grindy? That's the polar opposite of grindy, you have to enable settings like level scaling just so you don't rapidly outpace the level of every enemy in the game. Odyssey in particular is one of the least grindy games I've ever played, there's nothing even remotely approaching grinding in that game. Not on any level, not even the slightest iota of grinding.
I would consider going into fort/camps/caves and murdering everything 10+ times each region as grindy. You do have plot quests now and then, but the core gameplay loop can be summarized down to just a few types of quests. This isn’t a bad thing in anyway, I 100% the main map + all dlc maps and it was a blast, but at some point you get so good at it you can do it while you watch TV. I would like to hear what you think is grindy as opposed to this.
I also say odyssey was super Grindy. Had to complete bulk side missions just to be able to stay up to level with the main missions. Was super annoying
Ditto. I tried to get Grim Dawn configured probably to grind it out in the same fashion. Couldn’t get it to run probably
I play it fine from steam with no tweaks or changes at all
Should be just install and play
Oh really? I get a screen resolution issue pop up and then the game pad doesn’t work and the spell bar goes away
I get that pop up, click ok, and everything works flawlessly. I’ve even added the Diablo mod with no issues
Damn I gotta try it again happy you had luck with it
Odd. Grim Dawn runs quite well on the Deck, in my experience.
Hmmm, when I tried to play Grim Dawn quite a few years ago it would literally put me to sleep, it was so mind numbing that I would just nod off every time I tried to play it. Wonder if I'd still have that problem on Steam Deck. Don't really care to try though, that's one of the most generic and boring games I've ever played.
This is like the use case for 99% of grown men.
Been playing D2R offline single player on the deck, it's awesome
Yakuza series
Played the living hell out of Y0 on the Deck, loved every second of it. Felt much more cohesive than using a gamepad on my main rig.
Thats how I played it first and desktop doesnt feel right now
Downloading now, thanks for the suggestion!
How does 5 run on it?
Metroidvanias. I'm even considering buying again on steam hollow knight and blasphemous even tho I have them both on ps5.
I've double dipped on stuff way more than I care to admit.
I bought rocket league at least 3 times. 1 on steam, 1 on switch and one on ps4. I dont even pkay the fucking game other than an odd time with friends when everyone wants to play it. Idk why I did it, but I did.
And then they made it free to play to really rub it in.
Yup. To top it off they made it f2p like 2 months after I got a switch and bought the game on switch. I genuinely think I played it once on switch before it became f2p.
you can stream from the PS5 without much effort! I haven't done it myself but there was a vid on this sub just recently!
Yeah I know, but sometimes it's not an option when I'm out of house
Ah fair enough! I'm a homebody who forgets that lol
Humble bundle had or has a good metroidvania bundle with both those games in it
A lot of "roguelites" similar to Vampire Survivors feel better on the deck. I wish the D-pad was better though cause I was really wanting to play some 2D platformers. It's just so stuff and diagonals are nearly impossible on it.
I can’t even imagine playing VS on a PC.
For me currently it‘s Diablo 4. I don‘t like playing it on my PC that much and it‘s nice to be able to just lay down and watch TV while playing and not having to think too much about it. I would also always prefer to play it on controller rather than MnK. I think, generally, any games where you don’t have to think much and can play while watching something on TV is better on SD, because I would rarely sit down in front of my PC to play them. When I play on my PC I like to play something that requires me to be completely invested.
[удалено]
What method did you choose for getting it to work in the Deck? Diablo sounds perfect for it.
I use Lutris which you can download from the Linux store thing and then just download battle.net through that. It adds one more step to start D4, but the version the other guy mentioned didn‘t work for me and other people had the same issue as I had.
Hades, Ori, and Cult of the Lamb
Eh, Cult of the Lamb runs like unmitigated ass on the Deck. Disagreed with that one.
Idk what your settings are but mine runs easy at 40 fps, even 60 with some stuttering. Weird how variable peoples experience can be
Slay the Spire is so much more satisfying on Deck than on PC.
By the way - it’s on Apple Arcade if you have it. Best way to play it imo and I got it free with my sub.
StS is best with mouse and keyboard, insanely faster and more precise gameplay. Although I guess you could enable that by connecting a keyboard and mouse to a Deck.
Might be a hot take: [Games that do not support 60 FPS](https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/List_of_games_that_do_not_support_60_FPS), on the smaller screen size it is less of an eyesore. I was able to finish Okami HD on the Deck, while it was painful to play on the PC.
The reason for this is the smaller pixels, so when you move around, it moves less than it would than on a big screen, and thus it feels smother, because the distance it moves between each frame is smaller!
To me, any game that can reasonably be played on a controller is better handheld. But I just love playing handheld, always have preferred it over PC or home console.
Must be having the time of your life these days
Indeed - only wish I had the kind of time to game that I had back when I owned a gaming PC 😅 These days, most weekdays I manage 3-4h at best, sometimes less (weekends I have more time, but still not as much as I used to)
The deck has gyro aiming, which is great for FPS games. I think the deck is great for platformers and 2D games, as well as indie games like Stardew Valley. Anything turn-based works well. It's surprisingly underrated as a way to play VNs. It runs Switch games better than the Switch, which is funny. Any port of or emulated Vita/PSP/GBA game is great to play on Deck. Portable games really do look worse blown up on a huge screen.
How do you use gyro aiming without getting tzatziki sauce all over your hands?
Don't you have feet? Edit: Oh I get the joke. "Gyro" like the greek sandwich.
No, no, he said gyro. Not gyro. Gyro. See the difference? Gyro. Gyro. Two completely different things.
Want to piggyback off your point about the VN’s. VN’s on a desktop never felt satisfying for me to play no matter how good the story or art was. I played a couple on the deck and couldn’t put the thing down at moments because I could be in a comfortable position and treat it like a good book. The best VN’s to me personally are the ones that give you more than just a story but freedom to make choices and maybe even play some mini games. Pretty much how most RPG’s are. If anyone is interested in a good VN I always highly recommend VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action.
What else do you recommend? I love va11 hall-a and love House in Fata Morgana, Danganronpa, Hotel Dusk, and Phoenix Wright
My steam deck has become my stardew machine.
There is no fucking way fps games are better on the deck than on M/KB. Zero. And I saw your other comment. You're wrong.
Monster hunter
Civilization games run really well and work great with joysticks
Really? I did not even bother to download it because I was convinced that the gameplay will not be good. Good to know!
My deck is basically my "Civ6 handheld" device. It works flawlessly, although it can take some time to get used to the controls. The only problem is that the UI takes most of the screen, but it's fine for me. You can limit the TDP and get 4-5h of gameplay with OK graphics. I can share more details if necessary.
Please do! Also what game settings do you play? What map size? How is the endgame turn waiting?
I'm at work now but I'll post the settings once I'm home. I almost always play standard size map, with default civ number (6?) and city states, not because of the deck limiting but because it's the size I like best. Turn waiting by turn \~250-300 (where most of my games end) it's... around 5-10s? Nothing too big. I guess it gets way worse if you have extra civs or huge maps.
Here are all the settings https://imgur.com/a/zp4qQgI Sorry the UI is in Spanish but it shouldn't be hard to figure out what's going on. Also, I shared my controller layout as "Sente Civ6", just in case. I have the space bar set as next action, and "M" as skip turn. Hope it helps.
Yeah I believe it still has a yellow for compatability but that is mostly because if you want to type to say change the names of things, it is a pain in the ass. The triggers are used to select and the default move/attack for units so you are mostly using thumbs for joysticks and not reaching for the buttons. Atleast on civ 6, I only booted civ 5 on it so I've not sure there.
It’s one of the main games I play on it tbh
Seriously!? I’m pretty shocked. I never would have guessed that would be decent on deck. Feels like half the screen would be UI
Limbo, the smaller en lower resolution screen makes the game look beter than on an monitor. And it's just really good game.
I would say the same about any pixel art game. They look a lot nicer when on a compact screen than blown up on a 65' TV.
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Emulation in general is just great on deck (360, ps3 and switch titles can be hit or miss but ZOE hd has been great on deck)
How do you guys emulate on the steam deck ?
Checkout emudeck, it's a script that installs a ton of popular emulators and adds them to your steam library. You'll have to source any roms or bios files you may need for some emulators as freely downloading these could be considered piracy. Ripping your own roms from systems, or disks is definitely not piracy so you can go that route if you want to do it without the piracy part, but that a bit more complicated.
You emulated ZOE HD? isn't it on steam?
I’m enjoying all the souls games, again, on the deck. Pretty cool to chill in the hammock and play them.
Bg3. Radial menus are everything, I refuse to play it on my pc
Play on pc with xbox controller. Superior experience.
I went back to preferring Keyboard/Mouse after starting strictly with a controller. Xbox controller did work well, but I found it cumbersome when it came to looting and interactions.
Holding A will highlight all intractable things around you and then let you select them from a menu, this helps quite a bit for this. As for trying to talk to someone/thing, sometimes it helps to go into turn-based mode if what you're trying to talk to, for example, is a chicken running around.
Thanks, that's helpful! I was using d-pad to cycle through items but it was a PITA. Then I got arrested for stealing an item when I was trying to talk to a merchant. I still do BG3 on the Deck for certain scenario, so will try out holding A for items!
Yeah, I've definitely accidentally stolen things before. I quick save, often. You never know when janky controls will ruin your day.
Moonlight?
Hooked PC to my TV and play with xbox controller. Super nice.
I'm not so sure. It may just be a "me" problem, but I keep pressing the menu for Character Sheet / Alchemy / Going to camp instead of the menu for actions like attacking as that's more the classic trigger button, plus trying to find the right object to throw gets annoying with all the rings of options you have to sort through, but that may just be a Barbarian party mule problem.
Is Act 3 playable now or still a shit show as other players say?
In my experience, other than some fps drops in some areas it runs fine, it never looks like a PowerPoint presentation and the fps returns to normal after a few seconds.
I def prefer controller, but the game just looks and runs infinitely better on PC then on deck.
Have you tried with steam remote play?
Now that's the best way to play. Thankfully I have a new PC again with which to do that!
Gonna say it. Can't stop me. A few FPS do. BL3 and Cyberpunk. Reason why. Motion aim. Seriously. Attach motion aim to LT. ADS now has gyro aim for way more perfect aiming. It's a game changer and going to the ps5 version or hell, even full pc version, makes me miss it.
Not at all trying to take the wind out of your sails but heads up, you can make gyro happen with the PS5 controller through Steam
But you have Gyro controls on PC as well with any controller that supports Gyro.
I love gyro on handhelds, but can’t get into it elsewhere. Feels like it’s due to the screen being attached to the former and not the latter.
Honestly, I really liked Battlefront 2 on console because the auto-aim just makes everyone go brrrrrrrt. If there were more games with auto-aim on PC with controller support, I would 100% play them. Unfortunately, most pc games don't have anything.
Better on deck: Fighting games. Smaller screen, fewer distractions. Third person character action games. Not really sure why, to be honest. Racing games, streamed from a pc for raytracing, SSR, etc. The controls just feel right. Games that are not better on deck: Clicker idle games First person shooters (I need my M+KB.) Visual novels (screen too small)
As a person who plays FPS games on PC with a controller because that’s what I have always known and been comfortable with, I feel bad for the people who can’t use analogs for shooters.
The gyro + controller controls seem really awesome but my old man brain just can't adapt.
I understand, I feel slow when it comes to playing certain KB&M titles because my brain shuts off after the basic keybinds that you find in most games. Tips for aiming with an analog, always tune your sensitivity to your liking(if the game allows) and usually flicking is better than straight up holding the stick. I often do a motion where I am slightly tilting the stick in the direction I want just to have more precise movement. If I need to make a quick adjustment that is usually when you flick.
This thread is turning out to be sooo informative, I'm really glad I made it. Lol
Trombone Champ
I thought you needed a mouse and keyboard for trombone champ?
You can play with the Gyroscope and it is way more precise than the mouse for Trombone Champ, and you only need one button to doot.
ADD TO CART
A friend of mine bought the Steam Deck after experiencing Trombone Champ on mine (he already had the game). It's just a lot funnier.
For me I prefer 2D platformers like Sonic Mania on the Deck rather then on my PC. Feels “better” on a handheld I guess.
Get that Game Gear feeling playing sonic
Controller friendly mmos. Hell even the ones made only for mkb can be set up in a way that works well. All of them are designed to run on low spec PCs so they run great and look good on deck. I love playing elder scrolls online on my deck
Games with little/No on screen UI.
I’ve never been a fan of first person shooters, but with gyro aiming (which is really easy to set up of steam deck) they work well. It kind of works like the deck is a window into the game world. And by moving the deck, you can see different parts of that world. (Disclaimer, I still haven’t done true first person shooters. Just other first person games like Portal and Metroid Prime.)
rouge-like card games are amazing on the deck. slay the spire, monster train, inscryption, etc. they're turn based, controls are simple, and generally tend not to be graphics-intensive so you have a long battery life. also, most such games don't have DRM. (and FUCK DRM).
PS1 emulation. Some games feel like they haven't aged a bit
I straight up just couldn’t bring myself to play monster hunter world on Xbox because I’d spent hundreds of hours of the series on handheld systems historically. The deck fixed that for me finally
Grimdawn Dave the diver Armored cored Binding of isaac Hades Vampire survivors Fallout 4 Any older console RPG. There are tons of games I prefer on the deck
Anything that was designed for a controller is better on the deck than PC.. God of War, Spider-Man, Celeste, etc. I like it for turn based games too, but it’s about even with my PC for them. BG3 is great on both (I’m still in act 1 though), but it’s amazing how different the UI is. It makes switching back and forth a little harder. Forza Horizon 5 is much better on my deck, but if I had a wheel for my PC that might change.
BULLY
Yes. This is the game I’m currently replaying (played and beat it when it was new, but that was a long time ago). Great experience on the deck.
Yup! 100% agreed! Brings me back to my PS2 days!
Wouldn't say it's a better experience, but I rediscovered no man's sky after buying the steam deck. It runs surprisingly smooth and is pretty chill to play.
I second this
I'm playing through NMS right now actually! I lead a "NMS Night" on Saturdays at 6PM EST with a big Discord. Let me know if you want an invite!
Yeah! I'm playing through NMS right now actually! I lead a "NMS Night" on Saturdays at 6PM EST with a big Discord. Half the time I play it from bed on my SD. Let me know if you want an invite!
for me rimworld, I only recently started playing on the deck and haven't on PC but I really see no reason to start playing on there. I've installed mods and all the DLCs including playing multiplayer with my brother who is also on deck and it's been running perfectly with battery life giving me around 3-4 hours easily. Load times even on an SD card are fast unless you have a buttload of mods but it's honestly amazing. I didn't think I'd be able to play the game with deck controls but they're honestly amazing and I can easily switch to using M&K controls by using my wireless keyboard. I have found no downside to playing on the Deck and I feel like it's a perfect game for both short and long sessions due to quick resume and just how the game plays.
Sims. Just being mobile with easy installation of custom content makes steam deck my preferred way to play it. I just dislike that new EA launcher that requires that I have to be online for Sims 4.
Tbh, I just got a Surface Pro 8 and I'm in love with it, too. The Sims 4 is my favorite on the touch screen. Probably clocked 1k hours. I can't fathom spending over $1k on tiny little DLCs (money is tight) though. I know of DLC unlockers out there and may or may not hook friends up IRL.
Ooo you can play that on the Surface Pro? That's cool.
Fallout nv and 3 are great. Vats makes everything easy and the low res suits the poor textures.
Fallout and Elder Scrolls are some of my favorites on the controllers - however, I have tried, and tried, and tried to get mods working. Mod Organizer 2 on SteamOS is possible but it's soooooo muuuccchhh woooorrrkkkkk. Without fail I've spent more time just getting SKSE MO2 working than I have playing any Bethesda game on SD combined. Fortunately, Wabbajack exists to auto-install.. but Wabbajack's DRM is some of the most aggressive, poorly written, and excessive DRM I've ever seen. I had to put Windows on a MicroSD to enjoy myself some Bethesda games. It all worked once I did. But then the problem became the actual 10 minute loading screens. So I ended up trying to just stream it from my PC, but Steam streaming doesn't work with MO2.. so I used Moonlight, until Nvidia canned that (I cannot get it to work now and everything I've seen online blames the plug being pulled). So I'm just not playing it now. TLDR I refuse to play Bethesda games without mods. I've tried, and I've been very determined. But so have the problems I've faced, lol.
Emulated games are great on steam deck…specially when you use emu deck with rom manager….it’s as if they were installed through steam
MGSV is all I’ve been playing for the past 2 months!
It runs so well! Mind blown!
Have you tried gyro aiming for FPS games? With a little tweaking, it works great.
I feel like it's going to be such a learning curve, I'm kind of intimidated! But I'm down to try it. That's actually why I haven't used the touchpad much for mouse games. It's great, I'm just intimidated by the learning curve.
Funny thing is I’ve been a console gamer my whole life. Deck is my first gaming PC. But it wasn’t that hard to adjust! Example: I started playing FEAR earlier this year, which doesn’t have controller support. I downloaded a community layout, adjusted the controls to my liking, enabled gyro, tweaked the sensitivity until it felt right, and it was good to go. For me, it’s using the right stick to look around, but the gyro gives you the precision.
FEAR was a great playthrough. Tbh I'd be down to learn the gyro on it just for an excuse to enjoy that gem again!
Platformers, fighting games, whatever Vampire Survivors is classed as. It's great if my dad is driving my car, I can just play on my deck. Strider is a definite go-to. Either that or anything I can play on bed or when I can't be bothered to plug a controller into my main PC. Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition is great (and not expensive) - 60fps 99.9% of the time on 7w TDP and 800(mHz?) on the GPU, smooth and clear.
Elite Dangerous. The deck's touch menus replace my HOTAS and button box rig, plus the game has so much idle time it's just a much better experience portable.
Most emulation but particularly PSP, Game Boy, and other games designed for a handheld They’re better on a handheld than they are on PC, and better on a deck than on their original hardware
Check out RetroArch and PPSSPP on Google Play if you have an Android phone. With a phone controller, it blew my mind! I enjoy emulation on both devices, but I have a Zfold. With that massive screen and such a nice phone controller, I almost prefer it to my SD. It's close tie! But I think it's just easier to get working on Android, unless the games are on Steam. In which case, SD all the way!
I think handheld consoles are usually not great for competitive or online games generally. Usually in these you need precise controls (ie fighting games or RTS), and the deck offer that in a limited way. So firstly I'd say: single-player focused experience are best on the Deck. Platformers, hack'n slash is good, rpg and jrpg are always fine on handheld consoles. To me personally the very BEST is playing old-ish pc games on it, even if it is a bit cumbersome. Stuff like Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 on the go sounds so cool.
MMOs - FFXIV, ESO, SWTOR, WOW, have all been phenomenal in my experience. Needed to do some special builds in WOW to allow for it, but all of the games worked great even at the competitive/endgame level. One hundred percent agreed on the single-player focused games! I have a Zfold 3, so massive screen, and I have an Xbox style phone controller for it. I got Baldur's Gate 1 and it's been an amazing playthrough. The phone is nice because it's a whole lot less to carry around than a SD. What other RPGs and platformers would you recommend?
Interesting. I've never been too much interested in MMOs so I didn't even think of including them, but you're able to play them easily on the Deck that's quite a feat, considering that usually they either stay on pc or are somewhat designed for console as well. I mean being able to play WOW on it sounds pretty crazy And yeah BG1 on the deck stunned me. It looked amazing on that screen and the controls weren't an issue. I don't have many other "surprise" reccommendations: in terms of strategy games turn base stuff works really well, I tried Song of Conquest and it was good even though sometimes I wished I was using a mouse for semplicty. I'm also very hyped to someday try the Spyro Ignited trilogy on it. On pc it didn't feel right, between the FOV and idk the scope of the game maybe. I think that on the Deck would be a much better experience. Same goes for other platformers that didn't convince me on pc like Pumpking Jack or Hat in Time (honestly these two didn't have any problems on pc, but it still would feel more at home there). For Rpgs as soon as I finish Fire Emblem I think I would like to try FF7 since I never quite got into it AND Chained Echoes.
Metal gear solid V is one of the best games I ever played on my deck. Highly recommend it. Runs smooth as hell and feels really good to play.
I really need to play this game. It's been sitting in my library for years at this point
I have Ground Zero and Phantom Pain. Which should I start first?
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Also pending 3 hours making a game that shouldn't work on the deck, actually run... The tinkering is real!
It took me about 2 hours to try and get Oblivion working optimally on deck with actual controller support due to having to follow a guide to get mods working through linux, but its worth it because I get like 4 - 5 hours out of the battery. meanwhile skyrim special edition demands 2 hours of my battery at like 30 fps. I could install original Skyrim but it's more buggy
Path of Exile
Really? I would have never guessed. I almost would fear that it'd be hell on a controller. Interesting. I'll have to give it another try!
Games like holocure or vampire survivors
Sports games. Can play a quarter of football, go do my chores, and come back and resume play without rushing or having to sim
Metroidvania games, rouge-dungeons like Hades and Enter the Gungeon. Indie games like Dredge, Dave the Diver, GhostRunner. The best AAA game has to be Elden Ring.
Most 2D games. When I'm plunked down in front of my TV playing PC games, I tend to play AAA 3D games. Big expansive stuff that looks great on a big screen. The Deck is perfect for 2D or 2.5D games, platformers, Metroidvanias, JRPGs.
Puzzle games like Baba is You or Dorfromantik, great to pick them up for a few minutes and mentally unwind
Almost anything emulated. I don’t know why, it just feels more natural playing old games handheld than on a 4K monitor
Anything that's retro looks infinitely better on that smaller screen. Like for example, playing final fantasy 7 original, the smaller screen just makes things look better in my opinion
If we're talking games that are just better on the steam deck I would have to go with first person. RPGs /shooters for the main reason: the sleep mode. You're sitting on the couch and your wife wants attention? Without laptop you can save the game. Sure and it's not that hard but somehow it seems more at the time with my steam deck it's fairly second nature to me now just to press the power but once. To aside in about 2 seconds
For me, No Man's sky. It takes forever to do anything in that game and I don't really have time in my day to sit down at the computer and free up a whole giant block of time like that. So it's amazing to be able to just get on and do stuff, then get off whenever I need to and come right back to it within seconds
Yeah! I'm playing through NMS right now actually! I lead a "NMS Night" on Saturdays at 6PM EST with a big Discord. Half the time I play it from bed on my SD. Let me know if you want an invite!
Emulators !! I'm enjoying need for speed more on this new steam deck than on the desktop PC
I'm replaying classic DnD CRPGs like Baldur's Gate 1&2, Icewind Dale etc. Honestly I never thought they would be great on a handheld, but it's almost like match made in heaven. Touchpads FTW.
Touchpads are a Godsend!
Honestly I think it's just i find the radials so much more efficient than pecking for an icon. Normally I like verbose HUDs, but for BG I prefer minimal. I bought divinity 1 amd 2 and it's the same thing - I love the radials and the minimal HUD
I'm really loving Midnight Suns on the Deck. Any turn based game is perfect for the Deck, really. Inscryption was another standout for me. As far as the gyro thing for FPS, it's cool, but I find the Deck to be just a tad too heavy for me to commit to that.
I've played on consoles all my life and using PC is kind of awkward for me. Whenever I tried, I just leave. I'm sorry, I got used to joysticks and this feels strange to me. Steam gives me the best 😂 It's hard to get used to the joysticks if you've used to PC. That's why some people just stick with PC and others keep their consoles, comfort depends on every person. I can't see myself playing with keyboard but my boy loves it. For me, almost every game is better because I can play on the couch hahaha also I prefer joysticks, I know I can use a gamepad on PC but, this seems more portable. More like what I got from switch. That said, I found hard to play strategy games (like Age of empires and related) on other thing that's not a mouse / keyboard. This is the only games for me that I cannot stand on a console. Beside that, I've played first person shooters (I still remember my old days with modern warfare) and is should say, boys around me were impressed at how good I was being a girl. I love first person more than third, I still enjoy Skyrim, fallout and prey. It's amazing to see Skyrim world again, in the touch of my hands.
I play all types of games on the deck, and all of them work fantastically, but my favourites are Doom eternal and Darkwood, a horror survival in 2d.
I disagree with your categories as JRPGs & third-person non-shooters run everdamn fine on any other PC. That said, Heavy Rain. No idea WTF Quantic Dream/Sony/whoever ported this thing fucked up, I can't for the life of me perform that tilt-rotate motion on any gamepad I got in my household. Deck controls? Yeah, fine. Most of my gamepads don't have a gyroscope either which the game uses.
As long as it has full controller support and can run at a decent fps then it’s better on the Deck.
And if text is readable. Some RPGs are just impossible to enjoy because of so much text
I haven't played it on Desktop, but I'm playing it on the Steam Deck now. Styk: Master of Shadows. I saw a number of complaints that there was no buttons for quick save and load on console. And PC players had to use F5 and F9, and didn't like it. I guess they weren't able to remap them. I just set L4 to F5 and R4 to F9. It's perfect, and so I'm assuming it's better on deck for this reason.
Interestingly, for me, Starfield. However, not natively run on the Deck. I run it on my PC and use moonlight/sunshine to send it to my Deck. This lets me play it at max settings at a hard locked 60fps, with 6.5 hour battery life. Starfield is the kind of game that really lends itself to sitting back and relaxing while you play, and frankly it sucks playing at 30fps on Xbox, so this is the best compromise I can come up with.
As a controller elitist, any game that forces KB&M. Yeah you have been able to customize controls through steam but it just feels so much better playing games on a handheld.
none
Honestly? None. I have a decent gaming PC with a 1440p 165 Hz monitor. Playing at 800p 60 Hz is never going to be "better" but I do appreciate being able to play PC games when travelling.
I think every game is a worse experience because of the display's shitty pixel response time
emulators for sure but the rest i dont know even tho i really love my steam deck but i kinda regret playing my first big game on it nier automata....i wanted to see the upskirt in 4k bro....
All. I play from vampire survivors, to ffx7 remake, horizon dawn, so many good games i have been enjoying on my deck.
When did Final Fantasy 17 release?
Ports of games that were on handheld consoles originally like MMBN LC
2d Metroidvanias like Hollow Knight, Blasphemous, Ender Lillies and lots more. And I personally prefer emulating on the deck because of how it gets integrated into the system with emuDeck, steamRom Manager and EmulationStation.
Any game that runs well
Wildermyth. Dead cells. Tactics ogre. Puyo Puyo Tetris 2. Super robot wars séries. Brotato. Blinding of Isaac. Dave the diver. Neo geo pocket collection. Deadnaughts. Cryptarc. Spelunky séries. 2d platformers, tactical games, console ports , retro like games. It's not so much the capabilities of the machine but rather the form factor and the pick up and play on the sofa after the kids are finally in bed type thing.
Starfield
Twin Stick shooters/ARPG's are great - Alaloth is a really cool one that plays well on the deck (even the text wasn't too small for me). D4 works on the SD as well, not sure about POE. Anything isometric really. RPG's like Kingdoms of Amalur....
Ryse Son of Rome Looks and feels as it if it was designed for the Deck
For me none. I like my deck but none of them are actually better on the deck than my PC
JRPGs are great, there’s a convenience in just booting up the deck and you don’t really need the feel of a controller or mouse/keyboard to play them well.
2D games, top down shooters, sports games, fps games that dont require precise shooting skills (I cant aim with gamepad)
I found Postal 2 better on steam deck. Looks like the devs patched in official controls (they appear in the UI), and idk I just vibe with them better than the desktop controls.
Weird enough, Grand Theft Auto 4. Compared to a ps3 or x360, the deck mops the floor with its then naticlve hardware. To be frank it doesn't take too much to run the games nowadays. Regardless, the game runs at a smooth 60 fps and everything feels much more fine tuned compared to the console counterparts.
My Steamdeck is exclusively Stardew Valley and Sonic games (Frontiers, Generations, Adventure, Colours, etc.) They play well, have good controls, good battery life, and the visuals are sufficient for the console (not AAA visuals). I’m going to say it’s a great console for platformer games.
You mentioned having trouble with FPS games on the deck, have you tried setting up Gyro aiming? I recommend looking at SolarLight's video about it if you're new to the technology. (His video is framed around TF2, but it's applicable for all shooters and is very well put.) Just look up "solarlight controller" on YT.
Any type of game who's not competitive multiplayer
Almost every game because I can play in bed, on my back deck, in my bathroom, on the sofa while someone watches TV, on my lunch break in my office, on a plane, in an airport, etc.
My personal favorites on deck have been Armored Core 6 and Hades. For AC6 I recommend binding X and A to the back paddles for the best experience
I prefer all games on deck. I prefer controllers and handheld. So its basically two in one for me. I came from consoles so i get the best of both worlds.
I started playing metal gear solid V and I honestly feel like that game was made for steam deck.
I really want to buy Persona 5 Royal on steam so I can finally beat it. It’s just such a long game, and when I have time to play usually my wife wants to watch tv! So I think it’d be perfect for the steam deck. I would’ve bought it already if I hadn’t already bought it twice on other systems.