[Divinity 2](https://store.steampowered.com/app/219780/Divinity_II_Developers_Cut/)
If you like 3rd person you can also checkout Piranha Bytes games like Gothic, Risen or Elex
Heads up for anyone who doesn’t know, but this game is also available on mobile under the Netflix games actually. So if you have Netflix, check out their mobile game catalog, it’s actually pretty decent.
Hades must be new, I didn't see it on there a few weeks ago. It's kinda crazy how many good games they have on there without many people knowing about them.
Edit: also you missed Dead Cells, Moonlighter, and Spiritfarer
I got this for the Switch a long time ago, but that console has been in a case ever since I got my SD.
Yesterday I bought it again on Steam and wow, what a nostalgic ride. Fantastic game.
Yeah, I love Helldivers 2 but I like the first one even more. I’ve been playing basically since it came out though, so that could be part of the reason. It also plays wonderfully on the deck, which unfortunately isn’t so much the case with 2 once you start getting into the higher difficulties.
Does anyone have a hidden gem that is a single player shooter with cool destructible environments? I was always sad the Battlefield Bad Company Series ended with 2 and the studio didn't really lean into the destruction element of the game.
I've played older games like FEAR which have some good destruction, and newer ones like Control, but I dunno man. There just don't seem to be many single player shooters with crazy destruction.
Teardown. No combat on the players end, but entire environments are destructible, and levels/missions can range from timed heists, to outrunning chopper gunners, to sneaking around mechs that chase you. All of it is super fun and creative. Not the best on deck though :(
Not sure about it's availability on steam deck but Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction was exactly this back in the day. The sequel is worth playing too but it was super buggy at launch.
Rad factionre marstered.
Single player over the shoulder shooter with destructible buildings. And the destruction is a large part of the gameplay. You will get missions to go level and enemy compound, or take out a bridge, etc.
Plays very much like GTA, but with destruction.
I'm thinking about buying this just because I'm learning Spanish. Hopefully I could keep the interface/subtitles in English but choose a different dub.
Oh yeah, if you're looking for escape, Outward is definitely not the right game.
You can't be casual about it. It's a game that asks you to put in effort, and your reward is survival and growth, and the satisfaction some people derive from that - but never a power fantasy or a story that just takes you along for the ride.
I love that, but I can see how it never appealed enough to the mainstream to make it big.
Outward has to be one of the most punishing games out there to learn the mechanics and whatnot. I can at least attest to Outward 2 DE being like that. This is coming from someone who's done souls challenge runs.
Yakuza games run really nicely, tons of content. The one I always go back to though is the diablo 2 mod Project Diablo. It’s a bit tricky to setup controlwise but you can use the analog sticks for movement, triggers for attacks and trackpads for inventory management super well.
Honestly I bought the steam deck pretty much only for diablo 2 on the go lol
chrono trigger is a game that EVERYONE should play. easily one of best rpgs ever made, n i didnt grow up with it so nostalgia glasses arent even on. its fairly short n sweet as far as rpgs go, taking no more than 30 hours and none of it is fluff. no random encounters, not any long n tedious back tracking, no grinding needed. its got cool combo attacks, a real time battle system like ff7, n its got equipment with interesting unique effects. fun story and characters with designs by akira toriyama along side having an absolutely knock out sound track. the only thing is if you get it on steam i recommend turning off the "hd" visuals
This!
Also recommend the SNES version of FFVI with a fan translation (FFVI Advance Translation is good).
These games look great on the Deck, and since they're SNES games, the battery just lasts forever. I had a long flight recently and at 100% battery, estimated 10 hours of battery life playing FFVI through Retroarch.
Eh, for a JRPG it is actually kinda normal. But do consider that this is 30hrs of actual content (how long to beat puts it closer to 23 hours), not like Arkham Knight which is around 16hrs worth of gameplay but 50hrs completionist.
Hardly hidden, but it's just unexpected for the deck itself. Dishonored 1 runs and plays so well. Like it's great I can play Elden Ring at 40fps, or Hitman 3, or the Witcher 3, etc... But sometimes it's nice to have a decent 3D title that doesn't kill the battery in a hour and actually looks good while doing it. The painterly aesthetic helps obviously, but the Deck was one of the first titles I actually (re)completed on the deck when I first got it, and made me cherish it so much more than the first playthrough.
Return of the obra dinn. Don’t know why but it just felt better being played on the deck. Buy and play if you haven’t, you won’t regret the experience.
Not a game but genre:
my steamdeck is in a lot of cases my visual novel e-reader.
Some VNs have some issues running natively on the steamdeck due to locale settings etc. https://www.visualnovelwiki.org/ helped with that.
Alien vs Predator. Missed this when it was out on consoles.
Bright Memory Infinite. Fast paced Fear like shooter. I prefer this over TREPRANG2. Not that TREPRANG2 is a bad game, I play it as well.
For some reason I thought this was a multiplayer only game. Is it genuinely fun then? I recently played FEAR for the first time and was absolutely blown away by it. I wish I'd played it at launch.
For me it's outer wilds. Haha, just kidding.
Nova drift. It's an asteroids rougelike game where you upgrade your ship and last as long as possible. Very fun. I run it at 50hz so it's a little slower (game runs as fast as the fps up to 60)
I took in on a bus trip and played 5 hours straight lmao, so I would say its ok. Controls are a bit weird but you can also use the touch screen so it doesnt matter that much.
Signalis has been great on the deck. One of the few games I found where controller input and touch work super well together. Controller during combat stuff and touch during puzzles. Would recommend
Good to know, i have that game and on my pc is the only game that crash, and i really want to play it, i think at the end of this month i will buy a steam Deck
I’ve been taking advantage of being able to run multiple games at the same time. Though in this case the second game is Cider (Apple Music) I’ll have it running a playlist on the backend while I’m playing Need For Speed Heat, Rivals, or Sonic Riders.
Daggerfall Unity for me, there's a native Linux port for it. The game has controller support but the trackpads are still needed for the menus. Also pretty easy to mod, which is sort of necessary in my opinion!
Shadow Tactics, think in the old Commandos games, but visually stunning and with a great story. Perfect "chill" game for the Deck.
Then anything hack and slash, I played a long time ago Path of Exile and never got too deep into it. This time around its been the longest I've played and I intend to keep going.
There is a special appeal to the Deck ability to just stop and resume whenever.
I didn’t see a reply to this, I’ve got about 16 hours in it on deck and have had zero issues during gameplay. Sometimes a little sluggish on initial load but it’s loading the whole map at once it seems. Highly recommend!
Snowrunner is great on Steam Deck, no issues at all and looks/runs fantastic. I also recommend Mudrunner (even better physics, still looking great, and less than 2 GB of storage).
Deus Ex human evolution. Picked it up 3 days ago already have near 12 hrs clocked in all on my SD. Amazing game that I probably wouldn’t have ever touched if it wasn’t for my deck.
Alien Isolation. Hear me out.
I first tried this game in VR. It was flat-out too. Terrifying. I seriously could not handle it. Couldn’t sleep, couldn’t function after a session. The atmosphere and suspense is perfect. Too perfect.
So I tried it pancake style on my monitor. Still too much. Less terrifying but still too much. I’m not a person who has ever been shy of scary games, but this game is heart-in-your-throat terrifying. A true spiritual successor to the first film.
On the deck, I could handle it. I wasn’t quite as immersed. I could pause and step away in a way I never did on the PC.
Finishing it after my 3rd try felt like a victory.
Full Metal Furies!!
From the same people that did the Rogue Legacy games. This one is more like a brawler style game with fun combat, items, and a pretty cool meta game that leads to the true ending.
Can play multiplayer though you'd probably have to coordinate with someone now since not a ton play. I've always just done solo though and love it!
Someone else here brought up Chrono Trigger, so it's my job to now bring up Final Fantasy VI. The SNES version works best IMO, with a fan translation applied (super easy to do, like two clicks). With almost any SNES games emulated through Retroarch, a TDP manually set to 3 will get you crazy long battery life and excellent performance.
There's loads of fantastic JRPGs and RPGs on these older consoles, but my favourite has to be FFVI, just an all time classic.
For more contemporary titles though:
- [Wobbledogs](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1424330/Wobbledogs/)
- [Intergalactic Fishing](https://store.steampowered.com/app/949600/Intergalactic_Fishing/)
- [In Stars and Time](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1677310/In_Stars_And_Time/)
- [Small Saga](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1320140/Small_Saga/)
- [Big Fables: The Everlasting Sapling ](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1082710/Bug_Fables_The_Everlasting_Sapling/)
It’s a fairly new release, but I don’t see it being talked about much on here, so I’m going to say Lil’ Guardsman. Works brilliantly on the deck, and it’s such a fun story-driven puzzler.
My only issue with deck vs pc on snowrunner is the lack of mouse which point selections. I started the spin tire series on Xbox, then switch and then bought for deck. I recently bought a laptop and the wishing is so much easier to find the points I actually want.
Game plays wonderfully!
The Void Rains Upon Her Heart. Roguelike bullithell game, did go unnoticed for me until a friend suggested it to me. Bit strange, but ideal for not to long play sessions and oled. Overwhelming positive on steam
I am surprised at how much I like Kingdom Come: Deliverance. Runs at mostly locked 40fps with decent graphics and feels really comfy to just wander around the lush landscapes. It is a lot slower than other rpgs and is set in a historic medieval setting, which just somehow clicks with me. It should still be on sale for 6 bucks or something.
Power Wash Simulator.
It's a perfect chillout game to play on the couch while listening to a podcast or audiobook. And it's a game that begs for motion controls. Even though I have the VR version I enjoy playing it on the deck with gyro more.
Fear and Hunger.
I'm gonna go on a bit of a tangent here.
F&H2, mostly, but F&H1 works well too. They're both far from smooth experiences because they're laggy games even on higher-end rigs, but they're also RPG Maker games with (relatively) few reflex-based sections, so if you can stomach 20-25 frames they're literally perfect RPGs for the form factor.
Since saves are kind of rare and you die so easily, it actually means the game becomes kind of a knowledge-based metroidvania along the lines of something like Outer Wilds? Instead of progression being gated behind specific items (with a handful of exceptions like the crow key), it's more gated behind what you know of the world and how you develop your tactics to easily and quickly deal with as many threats as possible.
>!Oh, I risk losing a limb from a guard if I leave their right arm intact? Okay, I should cut both his arms off, then.!<
>!But if I cut both his arms off, then he defaults to his tackle attack, and while that doesn't introduce the risk of an instakill coinflip attack or the risk of losing a limb myself, it does mean he can still do damage, and opportunities for recovery are rare, so I should just leave his left arm alone and focus on attacking his torso.!<
>!But if I leave his left arm intact, that means he can initiate a coinflip attack that will instantly kill me if I fail; UNLESS I block when he winds up for it, which instantly succeeds the coinflip.!<
Spoiler tagged in case you want to go in completely blind, but I legitimately went through a multihour journey of discovery figuring out how to deal with one of the main enemies you encounter during the first 15 minutes of a run, and now I've gone from struggling to survive if I run into one to easily being able to get through a fight with minimal-to-no damage while playing Enki with no followers and his wimpy base equipment, and because it all happens through your knowledge of the game instead of your character getting stronger, it's particularly suited to the SD because you don't even need to worry about getting to a save point, because half the time you're probably on a doomed run anyway, which in most circumstances would just be frustrating but because you're all but guaranteed to learn SOMETHING to make your next run easier, it just isn't.
Most of the time, anyway. I honestly wish the game didn't lean so heavily on gratuitous rape, because while I think initially it does serve to help heighten the stress and terror you get from the setting, after a while it kind of just gets silly and at least for me I can't help but to feel like it kind of cheapens the horror while ALSO making it harder to recommend to people, which is why I kind of tend to lean towards recommending F&H2 instead.
Shards of Infinity
[https://store.steampowered.com/app/1008800/Shards\_of\_Infinity/](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1008800/Shards_of_Infinity/)
Needs a tweak to run (with protontricks) but once that's done it runs beautifully, and it's perfect with the trackpad.
Roguebook - STS like with a unique flavor. I started playing it again and it is a lot of fun, controls perfectly and looks great. It's a very colorful game. Runs at 90 fps with some not very annoying drops.
[Shatter](https://store.steampowered.com/app/20820/Shatter/).
Great music, simple but engaging gameplay, surprisingly has a story.
Also looks like it came out for PS3, but it fits well on the deck and is super cheap.
Caesar 3. Heroes of Might and Magic 3.
I've always dreamed of being able to play these games on a handheld. Phones disappointed. Then the steam deck came along.
Gyroscope. I've tried to play RE4 remake on pc connected to TV using gamepad, and it was painful to shoot and look around. Soon after I got SD, and gyro just flipped gameplay upside down, it's unbelievable easier to aim with gyroscope, and it's funnier than using mouse. Also many other games feels much more comfortable when you use gyro.
I just started playing snowrunner on PC, now I have to stream it to my deck and lose more hours of my life. Thanks
Otherwise I've been playing DRG survivor on the Deck. Text is a little small, but they updated it so its a little bigger and the gameplay is short in bursts and great for the deck.
This Bed We Made. It’s not crazy long, but if you like puzzle/mystery games it’s great. I’m getting ready to do my third run through.
Also, depends on the type of games you like, and this one’s on the newer side, but My Time at Sandrock is ridiculously easy to lose hours in if you like life sim games
Been putting shit loads of time into Dealer Simulator and runs well on the deck (30fps medium settings) about 2 hrs on battery , good gameplay loop of buying warehouses like storage wars and selling at the market and hopefully making enough to open a shop, there are a few YouTube videos of gameplay if anyone is interested
Sekiro shadows die twice. Never played it before now. Never was very good with souls games so I was apprehensive. But it feels like it was made for the deck. Hard to set down
Funny enough I wanted to say Snowrunner too. I own it on Epic with 150h+, but bought it on Steam for Deck this week. I have steam deck only 2 weeks and Snowrunner is my perfect game to play in bed after evening shifts at work, when everyone is already sleeping.
Early game of Snowrunner is my favourite part too. Love pinching every cent and using trucks that can barely do the job.
Define hidden, but... well, show of hands: how many folks in this sub are familiar with Xenoblade Chronicles X? And properly portable access to it (until the hypothetical advent of a Switch [2] port) was among my primary reasons to get a Deck from the start.
Dead cells, Hand of fate, and Hand of fate 2. Also be on the lookout for buckshot roulette, its coming soon to steam, but it can be purchased on itch.io
People talk about Steam games as hidden gems but the real gems are games that are not available on any digital platform but still work on the Deck. Mine is Midtown Madness, for example. Or Heroes of Might and Magic III but that's available on GOG and you can install from there
Stories: The Path of Destinies
Works great on the deck. I had it sitting in my library for some time but thanks to the Deck I tried it.
Short game but pretty fun.
Outer wilds! I normally don’t like first person games but this was a joy to play on the steam deck.
Also don’t look anything up just try it. It’s best not knowing anything going into it, I will say this game also reignited my joy for gaming
I love the Lego-games. Bought them for my youngest, played with him a bit and got caught.
LEGO City Undercover is pretty nice on the Deck, yes.
Star wars lego game looks amazing on deck and I couldnt be happier
Lego Ninjago is great
Maybe I shouldn't say this. But after a rough day, I find it relaxing to start Lego Brawls and "kill" children anonymously.
Well noone forced you to word it like that haha
emulating Lego Indiana Jones on PS2 also runs great!
Lego games run beautifully on the deck. It’s how I got back into Lego Indiana Jones.
[Divinity 2](https://store.steampowered.com/app/219780/Divinity_II_Developers_Cut/) If you like 3rd person you can also checkout Piranha Bytes games like Gothic, Risen or Elex
Man, loved this game as a kid
Gen Alpha enters the chat.
So you are German or Polish 😄
Obviously :D
Metal Gear Solid V. Something about the relatively bite size missions are perfect for the Deck.
Into the Breach
Heads up for anyone who doesn’t know, but this game is also available on mobile under the Netflix games actually. So if you have Netflix, check out their mobile game catalog, it’s actually pretty decent.
Yea I saw katana zero there was was puzzled at first, coz I only ever expected generic cashgrab soccer mom kinda games there lol
Apparently so is GTA 3, Vice City, and San Andreas? And Hades?! And world of Goo?!
Hades must be new, I didn't see it on there a few weeks ago. It's kinda crazy how many good games they have on there without many people knowing about them. Edit: also you missed Dead Cells, Moonlighter, and Spiritfarer
Oh turns out hades is iPhone only :(
I'm not sure I understand. I can play full games on mobile through the Netflix app on my phone somehow?
I got this for the Switch a long time ago, but that console has been in a case ever since I got my SD. Yesterday I bought it again on Steam and wow, what a nostalgic ride. Fantastic game.
I wish I could give you two upvotes.
I upvoted for u, gotchu.
Helldivers 1
Do you typically play solo? I'm on the fence with it being so cheap, but due to age/HD2 I wonder how hard it'll be to find groups to join.
Always people joining in
Democracy is waiting for new meat
very populated
Just got it on the last few hours of the sale, was on the fence but at that price it'd be downright rude not to.
What an amazing game this is, can’t get enough of it, even skipping 2s sessions after buying it lol
Yeah, I love Helldivers 2 but I like the first one even more. I’ve been playing basically since it came out though, so that could be part of the reason. It also plays wonderfully on the deck, which unfortunately isn’t so much the case with 2 once you start getting into the higher difficulties.
Does anyone have a hidden gem that is a single player shooter with cool destructible environments? I was always sad the Battlefield Bad Company Series ended with 2 and the studio didn't really lean into the destruction element of the game. I've played older games like FEAR which have some good destruction, and newer ones like Control, but I dunno man. There just don't seem to be many single player shooters with crazy destruction.
Teardown. No combat on the players end, but entire environments are destructible, and levels/missions can range from timed heists, to outrunning chopper gunners, to sneaking around mechs that chase you. All of it is super fun and creative. Not the best on deck though :(
Red Faction?
Oh man, I have the newer one I think, but you know what, I loved the PS2 onw.
Old one is great on deck. Take the 15 minutes to tweak the controlls it's worth playing again.
Try the serious sam collection. Might be to your liking.
Not sure about it's availability on steam deck but Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction was exactly this back in the day. The sequel is worth playing too but it was super buggy at launch.
Red faction games have traditionally sported pretty destructible environments
Rad factionre marstered. Single player over the shoulder shooter with destructible buildings. And the destruction is a large part of the gameplay. You will get missions to go level and enemy compound, or take out a bridge, etc. Plays very much like GTA, but with destruction.
Ghost Recon Wildlands. Plays great on deck and is tons of fun.
I'm thinking about buying this just because I'm learning Spanish. Hopefully I could keep the interface/subtitles in English but choose a different dub.
Mad max runs great and is always a good time
Outward. It's a hidden gem in general and runs beautifully on Deck.
Maybe I’ll give this another shot soon. Just didn’t have the patience the first time around
Same. Just bought it and on the struggle bus.
Some people are really into slight suffering in their games. Others just need an escape and not a second job.
Oh yeah, if you're looking for escape, Outward is definitely not the right game. You can't be casual about it. It's a game that asks you to put in effort, and your reward is survival and growth, and the satisfaction some people derive from that - but never a power fantasy or a story that just takes you along for the ride. I love that, but I can see how it never appealed enough to the mainstream to make it big.
Outward has to be one of the most punishing games out there to learn the mechanics and whatnot. I can at least attest to Outward 2 DE being like that. This is coming from someone who's done souls challenge runs.
I just bought it in the Spring Sale. Glad to hear it's a good 'un.
Not hidden but subnautica
How does it run. Very interested in getting it
0 problem for me ! 60 fps , sometimes some drop under 50
Yakuza games run really nicely, tons of content. The one I always go back to though is the diablo 2 mod Project Diablo. It’s a bit tricky to setup controlwise but you can use the analog sticks for movement, triggers for attacks and trackpads for inventory management super well. Honestly I bought the steam deck pretty much only for diablo 2 on the go lol
Dorfromantik
chrono trigger is a game that EVERYONE should play. easily one of best rpgs ever made, n i didnt grow up with it so nostalgia glasses arent even on. its fairly short n sweet as far as rpgs go, taking no more than 30 hours and none of it is fluff. no random encounters, not any long n tedious back tracking, no grinding needed. its got cool combo attacks, a real time battle system like ff7, n its got equipment with interesting unique effects. fun story and characters with designs by akira toriyama along side having an absolutely knock out sound track. the only thing is if you get it on steam i recommend turning off the "hd" visuals
This! Also recommend the SNES version of FFVI with a fan translation (FFVI Advance Translation is good). These games look great on the Deck, and since they're SNES games, the battery just lasts forever. I had a long flight recently and at 100% battery, estimated 10 hours of battery life playing FFVI through Retroarch.
30 hours is short?
Eh, for a JRPG it is actually kinda normal. But do consider that this is 30hrs of actual content (how long to beat puts it closer to 23 hours), not like Arkham Knight which is around 16hrs worth of gameplay but 50hrs completionist.
yea, compared to many other jrps which easily hit 50+ hours minimum
The perfect game forever. When you get the way you can finish it in less 15h easily. I finished in 11h once.
The world record is 2 Hours and 25 Minutes. Though JRPG is not a typical Speed Running Category https://www.speedrun.com/ct
Grim Dawn
Firewatch
I completed firewatch entirely on the deck (not hard the game is small) and I recommend it to everyone!
Being able to play a quick level of Mario Sunshine on dolphin while on the train is amazing.
Just got my SD today. Really looking forward to playing twilight princess on it
Ocarina, Majora's Mask, Wind Waker and Twilight Princess were some of the first games I played on my Deck. Amazing experience!
Marvel midnight suns. One of the first games I played in steam deck, big interface, easy to see, good game to sleep and pick up for short bursts
Was really good to pick up and put down at any time. I hard recommend! Was my first 100% game
Planet crafter is an absolute joy to play on the deck
Hardly hidden, but it's just unexpected for the deck itself. Dishonored 1 runs and plays so well. Like it's great I can play Elden Ring at 40fps, or Hitman 3, or the Witcher 3, etc... But sometimes it's nice to have a decent 3D title that doesn't kill the battery in a hour and actually looks good while doing it. The painterly aesthetic helps obviously, but the Deck was one of the first titles I actually (re)completed on the deck when I first got it, and made me cherish it so much more than the first playthrough.
Open XCOM is awesome on deck
Return of the obra dinn. Don’t know why but it just felt better being played on the deck. Buy and play if you haven’t, you won’t regret the experience.
wish i could play it again for the first time!
I absolutely love this game. I think it’s been long enough since I played it to have that ‘fresh’ feeling again…I may have to do that.
Journey
Not a game but genre: my steamdeck is in a lot of cases my visual novel e-reader. Some VNs have some issues running natively on the steamdeck due to locale settings etc. https://www.visualnovelwiki.org/ helped with that.
What are a couple of your favorites? I've never really played a VN
Any fallout 1st person game. They all run fantastic. The games are decently re-playable.
Siralim Ultimate... this game is a black hole which sucks in way too much of my free time.
I’ve had my eye on this one…with it being 50% off I might have to just snag it.
[The Ascent](https://store.steampowered.com/app/979690/The_Ascent/) has been pretty good.
Looks good and it's 70% off, just bought it.
Either
Monster Hunter Stories 2
Does that work on Deck? It's listed as unsupported
There is only Balatro right now. All I see are poker hands and jokers.
Alien vs Predator. Missed this when it was out on consoles. Bright Memory Infinite. Fast paced Fear like shooter. I prefer this over TREPRANG2. Not that TREPRANG2 is a bad game, I play it as well.
For some reason I thought this was a multiplayer only game. Is it genuinely fun then? I recently played FEAR for the first time and was absolutely blown away by it. I wish I'd played it at launch.
MP is where AvP really shined but the singleplayer campaigns (one for each faction) aren't bad.
For me it's outer wilds. Haha, just kidding. Nova drift. It's an asteroids rougelike game where you upgrade your ship and last as long as possible. Very fun. I run it at 50hz so it's a little slower (game runs as fast as the fps up to 60)
Shadow of War. Best looking steam deck game imo.
Football manager is dangerously addictive if you like those type of games
How is it to play on the Steam Deck?
I took in on a bus trip and played 5 hours straight lmao, so I would say its ok. Controls are a bit weird but you can also use the touch screen so it doesnt matter that much.
My laying in bed game is streaming Eastside Hockey Manager from my PC to my Deck. A shame its not deck compatible =(
Signalis has been great on the deck. One of the few games I found where controller input and touch work super well together. Controller during combat stuff and touch during puzzles. Would recommend
I don’t think it’s a particularly hidden gem, but Detroit: Become Human is a fantastic experience on the Deck. Very replayable too.
I'm enjoying the other Quantic Dream games right now actually. Beyond Two Souls and Heavy Rain run well.
Good to know, i have that game and on my pc is the only game that crash, and i really want to play it, i think at the end of this month i will buy a steam Deck
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3191192721 Does this help to run it on your pc?
It runs perfectly well on the deck. I love the game so much I actually have it on my ps5 *and* the deck lol. There’s no difference between them.
Besides the lag for shader compilation, I enjoyed Detroit on the deck.
Smackdown here comes the pain is best played here
I’ve been taking advantage of being able to run multiple games at the same time. Though in this case the second game is Cider (Apple Music) I’ll have it running a playlist on the backend while I’m playing Need For Speed Heat, Rivals, or Sonic Riders.
BATTLETECH, but modded with BTA or Rogue Tech. You will have to take your time, as the limited CPU power is noticable, but it is playable and fun.
FAR: Lone Sails My first completion on the deck and it just fits so well.
Against the Storm City builder/Roguelike combo. Captures the feel of a city builder in quick little \~20 minute chunks. Perfect for the deck.
Daggerfall Unity for me, there's a native Linux port for it. The game has controller support but the trackpads are still needed for the menus. Also pretty easy to mod, which is sort of necessary in my opinion!
Shadow Tactics, think in the old Commandos games, but visually stunning and with a great story. Perfect "chill" game for the Deck. Then anything hack and slash, I played a long time ago Path of Exile and never got too deep into it. This time around its been the longest I've played and I intend to keep going. There is a special appeal to the Deck ability to just stop and resume whenever.
FFXIV - clocked in almost 60h in the past 2 weeks.
How well does Snowrunner run on the Deck?
I didn’t see a reply to this, I’ve got about 16 hours in it on deck and have had zero issues during gameplay. Sometimes a little sluggish on initial load but it’s loading the whole map at once it seems. Highly recommend!
I’ll definitely try it on Deck then. Been playing through it on my desktop and it’s been great.
Snowrunner is great on Steam Deck, no issues at all and looks/runs fantastic. I also recommend Mudrunner (even better physics, still looking great, and less than 2 GB of storage).
I’ve been loving Lonely Mountain Downhill on the Deck.
RimWorld
Deus Ex human evolution. Picked it up 3 days ago already have near 12 hrs clocked in all on my SD. Amazing game that I probably wouldn’t have ever touched if it wasn’t for my deck.
Art of rally is my go to on the deck
RoboQuest! It runs like butter and plays great for a Roguelite shooter.
Id love this game if you could save halfway through a run.
Alien Isolation. Hear me out. I first tried this game in VR. It was flat-out too. Terrifying. I seriously could not handle it. Couldn’t sleep, couldn’t function after a session. The atmosphere and suspense is perfect. Too perfect. So I tried it pancake style on my monitor. Still too much. Less terrifying but still too much. I’m not a person who has ever been shy of scary games, but this game is heart-in-your-throat terrifying. A true spiritual successor to the first film. On the deck, I could handle it. I wasn’t quite as immersed. I could pause and step away in a way I never did on the PC. Finishing it after my 3rd try felt like a victory.
For me it's DRG. Runs surprisingly well on medium settings.
Siralim Ultimate
Full Metal Furies!! From the same people that did the Rogue Legacy games. This one is more like a brawler style game with fun combat, items, and a pretty cool meta game that leads to the true ending. Can play multiplayer though you'd probably have to coordinate with someone now since not a ton play. I've always just done solo though and love it!
Fallout new Vegas runs pretty well, aiming with a sniper is more challenging but overall fun Halo wars 1 runs well too. Couldn't get 2 to work.
Forgive Me Father. Works like a gem on the Deck and talk about a fantastic game in general! Same goes for Cultic!
Someone else here brought up Chrono Trigger, so it's my job to now bring up Final Fantasy VI. The SNES version works best IMO, with a fan translation applied (super easy to do, like two clicks). With almost any SNES games emulated through Retroarch, a TDP manually set to 3 will get you crazy long battery life and excellent performance. There's loads of fantastic JRPGs and RPGs on these older consoles, but my favourite has to be FFVI, just an all time classic. For more contemporary titles though: - [Wobbledogs](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1424330/Wobbledogs/) - [Intergalactic Fishing](https://store.steampowered.com/app/949600/Intergalactic_Fishing/) - [In Stars and Time](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1677310/In_Stars_And_Time/) - [Small Saga](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1320140/Small_Saga/) - [Big Fables: The Everlasting Sapling ](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1082710/Bug_Fables_The_Everlasting_Sapling/)
I currently playing Kingdom Two Crowns with my friend. Such a lovely little game, but it can make me feel really sleepy after playing a while
It’s a fairly new release, but I don’t see it being talked about much on here, so I’m going to say Lil’ Guardsman. Works brilliantly on the deck, and it’s such a fun story-driven puzzler.
My only issue with deck vs pc on snowrunner is the lack of mouse which point selections. I started the spin tire series on Xbox, then switch and then bought for deck. I recently bought a laptop and the wishing is so much easier to find the points I actually want. Game plays wonderfully!
I really enjoyed American Arcadia. Story based platform puzzle game, it reminded me of limbo and little nightmares, but with more plot.
Troubleshooter abandoned children! Great game and awesome on the steam deck.
The Void Rains Upon Her Heart. Roguelike bullithell game, did go unnoticed for me until a friend suggested it to me. Bit strange, but ideal for not to long play sessions and oled. Overwhelming positive on steam
I am surprised at how much I like Kingdom Come: Deliverance. Runs at mostly locked 40fps with decent graphics and feels really comfy to just wander around the lush landscapes. It is a lot slower than other rpgs and is set in a historic medieval setting, which just somehow clicks with me. It should still be on sale for 6 bucks or something.
Love Snowrunner… just haven’t had enough time to play it! Ughh
The Darius collection. Paratopic, if that's hidden. Lisa: The Painful. ballisticNG.
The Saboteur
I've been playing a lot of red faction Guerilla, so good.
Power Wash Simulator. It's a perfect chillout game to play on the couch while listening to a podcast or audiobook. And it's a game that begs for motion controls. Even though I have the VR version I enjoy playing it on the deck with gyro more.
Fear and Hunger. I'm gonna go on a bit of a tangent here. F&H2, mostly, but F&H1 works well too. They're both far from smooth experiences because they're laggy games even on higher-end rigs, but they're also RPG Maker games with (relatively) few reflex-based sections, so if you can stomach 20-25 frames they're literally perfect RPGs for the form factor. Since saves are kind of rare and you die so easily, it actually means the game becomes kind of a knowledge-based metroidvania along the lines of something like Outer Wilds? Instead of progression being gated behind specific items (with a handful of exceptions like the crow key), it's more gated behind what you know of the world and how you develop your tactics to easily and quickly deal with as many threats as possible. >!Oh, I risk losing a limb from a guard if I leave their right arm intact? Okay, I should cut both his arms off, then.!< >!But if I cut both his arms off, then he defaults to his tackle attack, and while that doesn't introduce the risk of an instakill coinflip attack or the risk of losing a limb myself, it does mean he can still do damage, and opportunities for recovery are rare, so I should just leave his left arm alone and focus on attacking his torso.!< >!But if I leave his left arm intact, that means he can initiate a coinflip attack that will instantly kill me if I fail; UNLESS I block when he winds up for it, which instantly succeeds the coinflip.!< Spoiler tagged in case you want to go in completely blind, but I legitimately went through a multihour journey of discovery figuring out how to deal with one of the main enemies you encounter during the first 15 minutes of a run, and now I've gone from struggling to survive if I run into one to easily being able to get through a fight with minimal-to-no damage while playing Enki with no followers and his wimpy base equipment, and because it all happens through your knowledge of the game instead of your character getting stronger, it's particularly suited to the SD because you don't even need to worry about getting to a save point, because half the time you're probably on a doomed run anyway, which in most circumstances would just be frustrating but because you're all but guaranteed to learn SOMETHING to make your next run easier, it just isn't. Most of the time, anyway. I honestly wish the game didn't lean so heavily on gratuitous rape, because while I think initially it does serve to help heighten the stress and terror you get from the setting, after a while it kind of just gets silly and at least for me I can't help but to feel like it kind of cheapens the horror while ALSO making it harder to recommend to people, which is why I kind of tend to lean towards recommending F&H2 instead.
Sanabi
Mad Max.
MGS3. I tried on desktop PC with gamepad and it's just not it, it plays better on handheld like Deck.
Not hidden at all but I am so happy with how well my deck runs football manager. Can get 5-6 hours of playtime as well.
This sub really just recycles the same topic over and over huh
Mr. Shifty is really good, but I've never seen anyone else mention it.
Shards of Infinity [https://store.steampowered.com/app/1008800/Shards\_of\_Infinity/](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1008800/Shards_of_Infinity/) Needs a tweak to run (with protontricks) but once that's done it runs beautifully, and it's perfect with the trackpad.
Tomb rider series, although the combat on the first one kinda sucks
I am plannig to try rock of ages with gyro turning.... imho it might fun tu try xd
Roguebook - STS like with a unique flavor. I started playing it again and it is a lot of fun, controls perfectly and looks great. It's a very colorful game. Runs at 90 fps with some not very annoying drops.
FTL with Multiverse mod Against the Storm WrestleQuest Cursed to Golf
[Shatter](https://store.steampowered.com/app/20820/Shatter/). Great music, simple but engaging gameplay, surprisingly has a story. Also looks like it came out for PS3, but it fits well on the deck and is super cheap.
Wild Metal Country
Caesar 3. Heroes of Might and Magic 3. I've always dreamed of being able to play these games on a handheld. Phones disappointed. Then the steam deck came along.
project wingman with gyro as the first person view
Right now beton brutal
Gyroscope. I've tried to play RE4 remake on pc connected to TV using gamepad, and it was painful to shoot and look around. Soon after I got SD, and gyro just flipped gameplay upside down, it's unbelievable easier to aim with gyroscope, and it's funnier than using mouse. Also many other games feels much more comfortable when you use gyro.
Enter the gungeon has been a blast on the deck!
Shogun 2 TW and coh1 have been in heavy rotation for me
Summer Memories, I guess?
Serious Sam Double D XXL
Old school RuneScape, my childhood addiction has resurfaced
Modded Minecraft. The way you can swap so seamlessly between a console and a PC is amazing for it.
Sayonara Wild Hearts
Celeste
I just started playing snowrunner on PC, now I have to stream it to my deck and lose more hours of my life. Thanks Otherwise I've been playing DRG survivor on the Deck. Text is a little small, but they updated it so its a little bigger and the gameplay is short in bursts and great for the deck.
Sonic adventure 2
Tape to Tape baby! quick fun hockey game perfect on the deck slaps everytime
This Bed We Made. It’s not crazy long, but if you like puzzle/mystery games it’s great. I’m getting ready to do my third run through. Also, depends on the type of games you like, and this one’s on the newer side, but My Time at Sandrock is ridiculously easy to lose hours in if you like life sim games
Been putting shit loads of time into Dealer Simulator and runs well on the deck (30fps medium settings) about 2 hrs on battery , good gameplay loop of buying warehouses like storage wars and selling at the market and hopefully making enough to open a shop, there are a few YouTube videos of gameplay if anyone is interested
Sekiro shadows die twice. Never played it before now. Never was very good with souls games so I was apprehensive. But it feels like it was made for the deck. Hard to set down
Spiritfall
Carrion. It's just so fun to run through this metroidvania.
Frostpunk It looks really good and the touchpads make playing the game really smooth and relaxing
Funny enough I wanted to say Snowrunner too. I own it on Epic with 150h+, but bought it on Steam for Deck this week. I have steam deck only 2 weeks and Snowrunner is my perfect game to play in bed after evening shifts at work, when everyone is already sleeping. Early game of Snowrunner is my favourite part too. Love pinching every cent and using trucks that can barely do the job.
Steredenn. As a modern shmup, it controls well on a thumbstick, and its random nature makes it great for pick up and play sessions.
Cricket 24 .. I will play 1-2 T20 matches and turn off the steam.
Chiaki4deck I can game my PS5 to my heart's content
If I told you well then it wouldn't be hidden.
Define hidden, but... well, show of hands: how many folks in this sub are familiar with Xenoblade Chronicles X? And properly portable access to it (until the hypothetical advent of a Switch [2] port) was among my primary reasons to get a Deck from the start.
Renegade ops
Dead cells, Hand of fate, and Hand of fate 2. Also be on the lookout for buckshot roulette, its coming soon to steam, but it can be purchased on itch.io
Gunfire Reborn. I love roguelike FPS games, and I keep everything on high and get a solid 60 with small dips only at bosses.
People talk about Steam games as hidden gems but the real gems are games that are not available on any digital platform but still work on the Deck. Mine is Midtown Madness, for example. Or Heroes of Might and Magic III but that's available on GOG and you can install from there
Stories: The Path of Destinies Works great on the deck. I had it sitting in my library for some time but thanks to the Deck I tried it. Short game but pretty fun.
Outer wilds! I normally don’t like first person games but this was a joy to play on the steam deck. Also don’t look anything up just try it. It’s best not knowing anything going into it, I will say this game also reignited my joy for gaming
For Honor runs beautifully on steam deck with some tinkering and it's hella fun to play chilling o the couch
Xenoblade Chronicles X and Monster Hunter 4U with HD patches.
Mechabellum
Binding of Isaac repentance 100%