I’ve had a couple weeks with my new Steam Deck OLED and I thought I’d put together a list of what I’m enjoying on it.
I tried a bunch of different racing games on the Deck. Horizon 5 runs well and is a lot of fun but personally I prefer the Need for Speed games. Unbound is one of my favorite recent games but unfortunately it’s a bit rough on the Deck. You can turn a bunch of settings down and get a decent frame rate but it’s not worth it in my opinion. I found NFS Heat to be an excellent match for the Deck though. It looks awesome and the OLED really shows off the HDR. GRID is another great racing game that runs well here but I was after something more open world so settled on Heat.
Speaking of open world games, Mad Max is another game I’ve been having a lot of fun with on the Steam Deck. This game came out back in 2015 but still looks amazing somehow. It’s also ridiculously fun with excellent combat whether you're on foot or in your car. You can even use a harpoon gun to yank a bad guy right out of his vehicle!
On the trip to Philadelphia I spent almost the entire flight playing Ori and the Will of the wisps. This is another game that really shines on the OLED!
While at PAX Unplugged my friend Laura from work recommended I try Vampire Survivors. I’d seen this game before and had even heard lots of good stuff about it but I never downloaded it because the visuals just didn’t do anything for me. Finally I gave in and downloaded it in my hotel room and as soon as I played it I understood why it spawned an entire genre. I became obsessed and didn’t play anything else for days. Once I got home I introduced it to my family and we’ve been playing co-op mode every day! It’s a perfect match for the Deck but you should play this game anywhere you can, it’s that good.
Last but not least, Darksiders Genesis is an excellent top down action RPG with gorgeous visuals. It runs at its highest settings on the Deck without a hitch and is still a ton of fun.
I’m really happy with this purchase. Having access to my Steam library on the Deck has been a lot of fun. It’s a very impressive piece of hardware with a stunning screen. If you’re on the fence, I say go for it. You won’t regret it!
-Gabe out
