Steam Deck game recommendations

[McNutt]

I have a new Deck and am very impressed with it.

Right now I play a lot of:
Pinball FX3
Hades
Vampire Survivors

I also have the following games that I haven't played much of yet, but will soon:
Witcher 3
Grim Dawn
Risk of Rain 2
Brotato

and a few older games.

What am I missing? FYI - while I love FPSs, I'm not a fan of FPSs on the Deck due to the lack of mouse and keyboard.

[Anonymous Bosch]

What am I missing? FYI - while I love FPSs, I'm not a fan of FPSs on the Deck due to the lack of mouse and keyboard.

Firstly, the key to immersing yourself and really enjoying FPSs on the Steam Deck is learning your way around the incredible custom control options Steam Input provides. For FPSs, gyro motion controls and 'flick-stick' are where it's at. Here are some helpful tutorial videos that walk you through setting these up:





I think the first game any Steam Deck owner really ought to install and play, is Aperture Desk Job:



I consider this a must-play for Steam Deck owners because it's a free, genuinely funny mini-jaunt through a pre-Portal Aperture Science, which also provides an amusing way to play around with some of the best Steam Deck features without requiring any particular configuration/remapping. It's practically a guided tour demonstrating the control layout without being a dull chore, so it's like an interactive tutorial of sorts.

Another title I would highly recommend is the superb hidden gem, Rollerdrome:

[GreenGoo]

If RPG's are your thing, this guy almost always dedicates a small part of his reviews to how the game played on the Deck and related things.

Mortismal youtube

I'm often surprised at which games run smoothly and which don't. It's my understanding that Steam itself rates games on how they run/work on the Deck. I don't know where that information is though.

[hitbyambulance]

The Binding of Isaac Rebirth Afterbirth++

[LawBeefaroni]

Dome keeper
Brotato

[McNutt]

Holy crap, AB! I didn't know you could use the gyro to aim. It only seems to work if you have your thumb on the joystick, but it works now!

This is a real game changer.

Thank you!

[stimpy]

I've been having alot of fun with this game:

[Anonymous Bosch]

Holy crap, AB! I didn't know you could use the gyro to aim. It only seems to work if you have your thumb on the joystick, but it works now!

This is a real game changer.

Thank you!

Glad to help.

But don't forget, when setting up Gyro Aim properly, you'll want to adjust the default setting so that the 'Gyro Enable Button' is set to 'Always On' instead of the default of 'Right Stick or Right Touchpad', i.e. Edit Layout >> Gyro >> Gyro Behaviour - Cog Wheel >> Gyro >> Gyro Enable Button >> Change from 'Right Stick or Right Touchpad' to 'Always On.'

You'll see this explained in the gyro aim tutorial video above at around the 3:44 mark. This way, it won't depend on having your thumb on the joystick or touchpad to keep enabled.

[Anonymous Bosch]

Also, here are some other titles I enjoy on the Steam Deck in no particular order:

• Fury Unleashed - a really well-polished Roguelite run n' gun side-scrolling twin-stick platforming shooter, with a unique comic-book-style aesthetic. Deck-verified, too.
  BTW, if you don't yet own this, it's available until April 6 at a -75% discount ($4.99):
  
  
• Streets of Rage 4 - a retro-inspired '90s-style side-scrolling beat 'em up that updates the genre impeccably. The game looks gorgeous, runs perfectly on the Deck, and is just tremendous fun to play. The combat's great, visuals are great, and it has a bangin' soundtrack to boot. Mighty enjoyable when played co-operatively, too.
  
  
• Dead Cells - a "Roguevania", that deftly blends elements of both the Metroidvania and Roguelite genres. Splendid visuals, detailed landscapes, and a mighty addictive gameplay loop. Plays perfectly on the Deck with a native Linux build and a battery life of around six hours at a solid 60 FPS.
• Root - one of the best digital adaptations of a fantastic board game that runs great on the Deck. It includes well-crafted tutorials that make it very easy to learn for beginners and those unfamiliar with the physical board game. But it's hard to put down once you do learn how it plays. Plays great with others via pass-and-play, too.
• Red Dead Redemption 2 - the magnum opus of Rockstar Games. It does take some tinkering to get RDR2 looking and running smoothly on the Deck, but this CryoByte33 video walks you through how to use his CryoUtilities to boost performance and storage settings for maximum performance on the Steam Deck.
• FlatOut: Ultimate Carnage - the Steam listing for this states "Steam Deck Compatibility = unsupported," but this video walks you through a few simple steps to make it run flawlessly. This was always the best of the Flat Out games IMHO, as it's essentially a better-looking remake of Flat Out 2 with DLC. The physics, visuals, and soundtrack all hold up remarkably well.