My laptop is old enough to vote, and therefore anything beyond Stardew Valley made it collapse, but it works great for my daily tasks. However, after trying a Switch recently (I consider the Lite to be the perfect handheld, size wise), I got an itch that could only be scratched with more games.
I found a second hand Deck for a reasonable price and I CAN’T BELIEVE I WAS MISSING SO MANY THINGS.
Particularly I’ve been amazed by No Man’s Sky, because I can see other players!!! And visit them!!! I can’t do that on Switch!
I’m also enjoying Witcher 3 and Rimworld!
Discovering that the SD can be used as a computer too, with all the bells and whistles has been very fun.
My one and greatest complaint is its size… I get that it’s necessary to add such a big amount of buttons, but my fingers are getting a full workout trying to remain in position.
Still, amazing, amazing machine!!
(Y’all can feel my enthusiasm levels by counting the amount of “!” In this text)
I’m closer to 50 than I want to be and getting a deck almost a year ago has been so much fun. I have a pretty capable desktop and game on Linux sometimes but now I’m actually getting into games in a real way on the deck because it’s so easy to pick up and put down at any time. Also finding a renewed love for platformers and other game types that I haven’t touched in decades.
I think part of what hits so good is Steam as a company seems to really give a shit about players and it shows. Been using a Steam controller I got off Craigslist for almost 10 years and it still works perfectly. I’ve never even considered buying a console because it all seems so exhausting and profit driven and locked down in dumb ways. Having this little portable Linux machine opens a whole new thing.
The platformer aspect is real, the deck reminds me of my years as a kid playing flash games on the laptop. Something about gaming on desktop PCs makes that feel different, but the Steam Deck is really close to it again.
I started with Oddworld N&T and then Darq and Limbo and Inside. I love the art style and I’m still learning how to look for more similar games!
Uh? This is great lol
Discovering that the SD can be used as a computer too, with all the bells and whistles has been very fun.
A useful side note on that, the desktop app “store” is Flathub
I recommend Konqueror as a good file manager/web browser hybrid that you can run fullscreen in gaming mode on your Steam Deck if you add it to steam as a non-steam game.
https://apps.kde.org/konqueror/
I recommend CoreKeyboard as an alternate touchscreen keyboard to Steam’s for when you are in desktop mode or can’t use Steam’s keyboard for some reason.
https://flathub.org/apps/org.cubocore.CoreKeyboard
If you want file sync, try out Syncthing/Syncthingy, it is like DIY cloud file storage but it is actually really easy to set up.
https://flathub.org/apps/com.github.zocker_160.SyncThingy
Inkscape is a great vector image editor that runs really nice in fullscreen/gaming mode on the Steam Deck
https://flathub.org/apps/org.inkscape.Inkscape
Kdenlive is a fully featured video editor that runs really nice in fullscreen/gaming mode. You can record clips and then edit them right there on the deck which is really handy once you learn your way around Kdenlive.
https://flathub.org/apps/org.kde.kdenlive
One final recommendation, CoreHunt, this app doesn’t run well in fullscreen/gaming mode on the Deck but it is such a useful and quick file search utility (with good fuzzy search too) that I have to recommend it. If you are still getting used to the file structure of the Steam Deck and get lost/can’t find a particular file or folder location CoreHunt can save you a big headache just run it in desktop mode.
Daaamn. Thank you for such a thoughtful answer! I’m going to spend a lot of time playing with them! I’m familiar with Linux, but there’s always a lot to learn :D
Honestly I have really fallen in love with using normal programs fullscreened through steams gaming mode. It feels like a natural evolution of a window manager like i3, so much new stuff to learn and the exciting thing is this is all new for everybody!
Also in the realm of space games, Overload is a BLAST on the deck, especially in short bursts. It is a great way to quickly get locked into the Steam Deck for high intensity flying and fine aim control.
Thanks!!
I just plugged mine into a dock and set it up as a PC. Spent the evening playing with Blender. So far it’s handling my 3D donut like a champ!
