Steam Deck: First Impressions + Reviews

Terrible: games don't download while in suspend mode.

Bad: Interface is still inconsistent, wonky, and not as pliable as I'd like. Right now I'd love to use my right thumb on the touchpad to navigate menus when not playing a game, but no such luck.

Bad: Buggy. To be expected this early. It's been less buggy since I updated to proton experimental.

Bad: Requires SOME tech knowledge. This is a boot and play game console just like anything else -- but if something goes wrong you should be comfortable doing a bit of troubleshooting.

Meh: Some games look kind of jaggy, and settings are finnicky with them. Example: rocket league always turns off AA on boot and looks like garboooo when it does.

Meh: It's heavy for a portable. But not as bad as has been described.

Meh: Some games state they run perfectly out of the box and that... isn't the case at all. Rhythm games in particular can be finicky since just a few frames dropped can fail you.

Good: Screen. It's bright, it's got more color depth than the standard Switch, IMO, and just makes games feel special.

Good: Performance. It's running most games at 60fps on high settings. New more demanding games (elden ring) run at 40fps/40hz/medium. Amazing.

Good: Comfortable. Despite the weight, it's SO much easier to hold than the Switch. The grips are deep. As a photographer it feels almost like holding a DSLR.

Good: Touchpads. Does take some getting used to but they are really really awesome for games like civ. Light-years ahead of joysticks for that.

Good/Great: Haptics. They're really nice. Can't decide where they fit though. They are responsive and varied - perhaps lacking the precise detail of a high end smartphone - but this could easily be improved with patching(?).

Great: Speakers. My my they're SO good. They really add to the atmosphere and enjoyment.

Great: Connectivity. Right out of the box to gaming in under an hour, which is far less time than a new gaming pc takes.

Great: Homebrew. There are already custom launchers for Blizzard/Epic/GOG/etc to download. If you haven't, heroic launcher and bottle are going to be your friends and they're already set up for you - install the module you want and login.

Great: Suspend. Being able to just click off a game and then jump right back in is unbeatable.

Great: Wow factor. It just feels like a special machine. It really does. There's a lot of care that's been put into it and it really shines when you realize you're playing a AAA title at a coffee shop.

Overall this isn't a switch killer, imo it's well beyond that. The fact that linux is set up out of the box to allow you to surf and just use it as a computer combined with all the gaming utility makes it an ideal machine. My only condition would be it does appeal more to those who have a little bit of an idea about how to troubleshoot, but if you're comfortable with that or don't mind following some guides on YouTube, it's actually even better than I was hoping for.

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