The perfect video games on Steam Deck

Because it launched in 2022, the Steam Deck has rapidly amassed a fame as probably the greatest, if not one of the best, handheld gaming platforms available on the market in the present day— particularly when contemplating the advantages of the OLED model.

With a library of video games spanning a lot of Steam’s huge storefront, a docking station to play video games on TV and displays, and an growing variety of titles being optimized and verified for the Deck day-after-day, Valve’s proprietary handheld is an ideal instance of the viability and promise of transportable PC gaming. That’s why we’ve collected 26 titles that showcase what makes the Steam Deck so particular.

To curate the checklist, we’ve choose video games that profit probably the most from the Steam Deck’s particular options. You’ll discover PC exclusives, Change video games that profit right here from quicker load occasions, and video games that break aside properly into quick periods.

Don’t anticipate to see some presumed contenders on the checklist. Not each recreation is appropriate with the Steam Deck, neither is each style an ideal match — we’re you, RTS video games. And for now, this checklist additionally excludes emulation and cloud streaming.

We deliberately restrict our lists to keep away from overwhelming readers, so you should definitely share your private picks that didn’t make the minimize within the feedback.

Our newest replace added Fields of Mistria, A Little to the Left, One Btn Bosses.

From developer NPC Studio, Fields of Mistria is an early entry farming and life simulation recreation that already works fantastically on Valve’s SteamDeck. Fields of Mistria is a type of video games that’s simple to fall into – a comfy recreation, if you’ll. Although it’s a PC recreation, it feels prefer it’s meant for the hand-held gamer. There’s nothing extra I’d love to do than curl up and play by means of just a few day-night cycles in Fields of Mistria earlier than mattress. —Nicole Carpenter

A Little to the Left, launched in 2022, is a puzzle that’s centered round group and sorting — sample recognizing is an important talent for the sport. It’s damaged up right into a bunch of little ranges, greater than 100 of them, all of that are bite-sized bits of gameplay good to select up everytime you’ve received the prospect. That makes it an amazing recreation for the SteamDeck: It’s a great recreation to play throughout commutes, or if you would possibly in any other case be distracted sometimes. And like Fields of Mistria, it’s a type of video games which might be made all of the extra higher when taking part in from mattress or a comfy chair. —N. Carpenter

One Btn Bosses makes use of only one button to play, and also you’re in luck — that one button is pushable on the SteamDeck. The easy premise is performed out in small, minutes-long periods that put you in on-rails bullet hell insanity. Like Vampire Survivors, the sport does the taking pictures for you; you management motion, dodging assaults despatched proper again at you whereas auto-firing. Simply because there’s just one button doesn’t imply it’s simple, although. It takes actual technique and talent when you’ve reached the upper ranges of One Btn Bosses. —N. Carpenter

For at the very least just a few of the video games on this checklist — like, say, Elden Ring — you’re going to mess with the sport’s settings on Steam Deck to be able to be sure to’ve received a good body fee and the sport feels good to play. Not a priority in any respect for Animal Properly, a pixel-art masterpiece that feels prefer it might’ve been at residence on the Recreation Boy. With a file measurement of simply 33 MB, it certain received’t take lengthy to put in, both. However Animal Properly packs fairly a little bit of thriller and time-intensive puzzle-solving into its very small package deal. What begins off as a compelling Metroidvania quickly spirals into an intensive Easter egg hunt with gadgets hidden behind delightfully esoteric clues. It’s possible you’ll as properly play it on the go, because it’s going to take over your mind for some time and also you’re carrying that round with you already. —Maddy Myers

Final weekend, on a whim, I booted up Hyper Gentle Drifter on my Steam Deck for the primary time since taking part in it again in 2016. 9 hours later, I lastly managed to wrest myself from the siren-like name of its pixelated tableaus, blistering fight, and melancholic rating, having accomplished it once more and earned the sport’s secret ending. Such is the magnetic enchantment and energy of Coronary heart Machine’s debut even eight years after its launch.

Recreation director Alx Preston and co. got down to create a 16-bit action-RPG that channeled the perfect components of the Legend of Zelda and Diablo collection, with a narrative not a lot advised as it’s felt by means of its dialogue-less cutscenes that play out as in the event that they had been fugue-like visions of some doomed alternate universe. Hyper Gentle Drifter achieved all of that and extra, coalescing into an action-RPG that stands the take a look at of time. —Toussaint Egan

The Yakuza collection spans a whole lot of hours throughout seven mainline entries, together with a handful of spinoffs. Which is to say, the transportable Steam Deck supplies one of the best probability at seeing the whole lot of this Japanese gangster epic, particularly within the type of quick missions on lunch breaks. In case you don’t have time for each recreation, or simply want a spot to begin, we suggest Yakuza 0. A kind of prequel to the collection, the journey takes place in Eighties Japan and supplies plenty of colourful backstories. Don’t be fooled by the entire violent fight and seedy locales; this collection (and particularly this entry) has extra coronary heart and pleasure than 99% of video games from big-budget publishers. Hero Kazuma Kiryu needs to make the world a greater place, one metropolis block at a time. —Chris Plante

Deep breath: Cult of the Lamb is Animal Crossing meets Hades meets the darkish facet of Catholic historical past meets Joyful Tree Associates meets American cultism meets European occultism meets Darkish Souls meets Eighties Satanic Panic meets Fractured Fairy Tales meets the waking desires of Peter Molyneux.

Cult of the Lamb is sort of a stew. In case you look carefully, you’ll be able to spot all of those scrumptious particular person components, however when slurped from an enormous spoon all you’ll style is one distinct taste. —CP

There are few cell gaming experiences as serene and enthralling as Dave the Diver. Dave dives not simply to gather fish and cooking supplies for the sushi restaurant he staffs each night time, however to uncover historical secrets and techniques. No matter your goal, navigating the deep looks like a mix between Animal Crossing and a roguelike, the place you’re amassing higher instruments to uncover what (and who) is lurking within the depths.

Dave the Diver is a family-friendly recreation (for those who can look previous small clouds of blood if you harpoon a fish) that’s startlingly good at mixing many recreation genres in a single. You swim; handle a restaurant; farm fish, veggies and extra; and are solely liable for reversing a local weather change-inducing menace underneath the ocean. And on the Steam Deck, it’s a lot simpler to slot in only one extra dive session. —Cameron Faulkner

You may not anticipate Dredge to really feel at residence on the Steam Deck at first look, however it completely does. This haunted seafaring journey exams the protagonist’s psyche, and the gameplay loop is ideal for fast pick-up, put-down periods. To not point out, it’s plenty of enjoyable being let loose to fish, resolve mysteries, and full goals earlier than the solar goes down. And for those who dare, dredge the depths after darkish for some spooky surprises. —CF

Half coming-of-age visible novel, half exploration-heavy sci-fi RPG, half poker-esque card recreation, I Was a Teenage Exocolonist is a brilliantly fascinating recreation that you just’ll need to play time and again (and once more). You tackle the function of a younger child in Earth’s first planetary colony, and comply with their life on an odd new alien planet over the course of 10 years. Each exercise you choose impacts your private journey and the relationships you make — and likewise performs an enormous function in the way forward for the planet.

What actually makes I Was a Teenage Exocolonist so compelling is the replayability — ending a playthrough provides you data that you just take by means of to the subsequent, permitting you to make completely different (and presumably higher!) selections. For example, there’s a personality who dies very early on within the first playthrough that may’t be saved in any respect. Their demise haunts that first run.

However in the second, it can save you them as a result of you’ve got a hunch as to how issues will go. It’s a recreation that invitations you to play by means of one other spherical and one other and one other — simply to see if you may get all of it proper this time (or make issues go horribly unsuitable! Or crack the key as to why you’re dwelling these lives over and over!). —Petrana Radulovic

My love for the Star Fox collection has evaporated with every new entry, to the purpose that I started to surprise if I ever actually loved these video games or if I simply favored chunky ’90s 3D graphics. Ex-Zodiac’s creators have accomplished what Nintendo couldn’t for the previous couple of many years: bottle the unique magic of the area flight franchise and add simply sufficient tweaks to make the journey palatable for our collective advanced tastes. (Hey, video video games have come a good distance for the reason that SNES!) Developer MNKY additionally created bonus ranges impressed by different retro classics, like Area Harrier, emphasizing its knack for refueling as soon as thrilling genres which have spent method too lengthy accumulating mud within the storage. —CP

Stray is a recreation about being a cat. You don’t discuss like Garfield or wink on the digicam like Bubsy. You stretch, scratch, and sometimes leap between ledges at perilous heights. Your cat participates in a harrowing journey set in a dystopian, cyberpunk underworld during which robots echo the lives of their long-dead human counterparts. However most engagement occurs in your behalf by means of an lovable, English-speaking, artificially clever drone named B-12. The sport’s creators hold your cat’s direct involvement ambiguous. Is the cat the savior of a dying planet? Or is the cat only a cat who occurs to be the incidental shepherd of historic change? Like I stated, typical cat stuff. —CP

There’s a motive Stardew Valley remains to be so beloved after eight years: It’s simply rattling good. The newest large replace provides a lot to the already sturdy recreation, fleshing out Pelican City and its inhabitants. It’s not simply farming, however mining, fishing, foraging, and attending to know all of the townspeople (and presumably marrying them). Rebuild your little neighborhood and get actually invested in perfecting your farm’s format! Or journey to the deepest, darkest ranges of the mines. Or simply spend plenty of time fishing.

There’s simply a lot to do in Stardew Valley. It’s clear to see why this recreation revitalized the farming sim style and why each farming sim lately needs to be identical to it (with a twist). —PR

I’m pleased with the work we do at Polygon, however each publication has its weaknesses. I’ve accepted that we’re not the go-to specialists for old-school side-scrolling shooters and shmups. That honor goes to our buddies at Eurogamer, particularly Martin Robinson, who I belief extra with this style than I do any pundit with American politics. When he proclaimed Drainus is “probably the most spectacular side-scrolling shooter since Gradius 5,” I needed to give it a attempt. Is it one of the best? I stated I’m not an knowledgeable. However I can say, with confidence, it’s been a blast on Steam Deck, a scrumptious digestif after hours in a contemporary open-world recreation, and an unusually accommodating entry level for a notoriously impenetrable style. —CP

Among the finest video games of all time acquired probably the greatest remakes of all time, and now you’ll be able to play its most full model each time and wherever you need. I imply, I might write extra causes it’s best to play this recreation, however let’s be actual — both you’ve got performed a model of Remaining Fantasy 7 already otherwise you’ve been advised numerous occasions to bump this one up your queue. Throw this advice on the pile. —CP

Meet the Steam Deck’s killer app. It’s not good — I play on low settings and sometimes expertise body fee dips — however Elden Ring works, and that’s all I have to farm souls (er, “runes”) in FromSoftware’s open-world enlargement of its Darkish Souls formulation. That is the sport that has stored me awake previous midnight. I promise myself that I’ll cease as soon as I see what’s on the finish of a moss-lined cave or over a burning horizon, however then I see some new curiosity, and instantly, I’m pummeling my method by means of one other dungeon. The comfort of a transportable gadget turns what I meant to be a 15-minute grind session right into a two-hour journey by means of a labyrinthine dungeon. —CP

So that you’ve dropped half a grand on a transportable online game machine able to powering probably the most complicated and costly 3D video video games on the planet. Now put together to burn dozens of hours on a $2.99 2D dungeon crawler that almost performs itself. Vampire Survivors is the unholy union of clickers, roguelikes, and Gauntlet. Runs take 10-Half-hour and pair properly with an audiobook or podcast. The builders have found the formulation for an ideal transportable recreation, however in the intervening time, you’ll be able to’t discover this one on Change or smartphones. —CP

Jusant has been my go-to chill-out recreation of selection this yr, and I can’t think about taking part in it on something aside from the Steam Deck. The post-apocalyptic fantasy climbing recreation from French developer Don’t Nod (Life Is Unusual) has lots going for it: a mysterious and compelling world with stunning artwork design, a transferring orchestral music rating, and tight controls which might be simple to study and gratifying to grasp.

It’s that final level that makes the Steam Deck my most popular platform of option to play Jusant. The satisfying sound and haptic suggestions of the Deck’s left and proper triggers makes the problem of climbing the cliff faces of the sport’s impossibly huge and looming tower as painless and pleasing as doable, and the visible and sound high quality of the Deck is terrific at rendering the beautiful vistas and ambient soundscapes of the world. In case you’re searching for a soothing but thrilling journey recreation expertise that performs nice on the Steam Deck, that is the one to play. —TE

The perfect place to play Dragon Quest 11 has modified through the years. The JRPG to finish all JRPGs first launched in 2018 on Steam and PlayStation 4, solely to be bested a yr later by a Definitive Version for Nintendo Change, which included further content material and may very well be performed on the go. The Definitive Version then got here to Steam in 2020, however, after all, it lacked the portability of the Change model, forcing gamers to decide on between visuals and comfort. With the Steam Deck, people can now have it each methods. —CP

My blurb for Polygon’s finest video games of the 2010s applies to why Nier: Automata belongs on each Steam Deck:

Nier: Automata is the sport I most frequently discover myself eager to play as a substitute of the numerous fine-but-forgettable shooters and open-world distractions that land on my desk. I give it some thought each week partly as a result of its soundtrack is my favourite writing music, partly as a result of its toys litter my desk, and largely as a result of it’s simply that good. Sure, you need to beat it 5 occasions, however in hindsight, I want I had a motive to play it one other 5 hundred. —CP

Whereas Paranormasight is out there for Change and iOS, it seems to be and performs finest (and is commonly probably the most reasonably priced) on Steam Deck, whether or not you’re utilizing it in handheld mode or if it’s docked to your TV. This spooky, slightly mature episodic visible novel is hard to place down, particularly if you start to uncover the way it progresses.

You assume the function of a number of characters, who’re all making an attempt to outlive a supernatural cataclysm that’s out for everybody’s soul. The story is advised to make you care about every certainly one of them, not understanding who’s about to chunk the mud on the subsequent flip of occasions. —CF

In 2009, Volition created an open-world terrorism simulator set on Mars. With a hammer and construction-grade explosives, a bald area bro destroys landmarks, authorities workplace complexes, and mining amenities piece by piece. The place its open-world friends targeted on realism and narrative, Pink Faction emphasised chaotic enjoyable. Writer THQ deliberate to transform Pink Faction right into a “transmedia” property, however little materialized past a mediocre sequel and a made-for-TV film. The closest we’ve seen to a non secular sequel is 2020’s Teardown, an indie heist recreation that invitations gamers to bust by means of buildings made from chunky voxels. Talking of, I ought to set up Teardown on my Steam Deck. —CP

9 Hours, 9 Individuals, 9 Doorways and Zero Escape: Advantage’s Final Reward had been two of probably the most beloved visible novels on the Nintendo DS, 3DS, and PlayStation Vita. Sadly, Nintendo and Sony not assist the DS and Vita on-line retailers, and the 3DS on-line storefront will shut in 2023. In the meantime, The Nonary Video games, which bundles the 2 titles, stays simply as obtainable in the present day because it did when it launched on Steam in 2017, with no menace of disappearing anytime quickly. —CP

Spelunky HD stored my PlayStation Vita inside arm’s attain lengthy after Sony gave up on the cult handheld. Final yr, developer Mossmouth ported Spelunky and its sequel to the Nintendo Change — and I lastly moved my Vita into its long-term residence in my storage bin of gaming artifacts. I received’t say the Steam Deck is a greater residence for Spelunky than the Change, simply that it’s one other transportable residence. And any transportable that may play Spelunky ought to play Spelunky. —CP

Wildermyth made Polygon’s prime 10 video games of 2021 checklist by reimagining the D&D expertise with out the necessity for a part-time Dungeon Grasp. The fight is intelligent sufficient (your magic can convert any object right into a lethal weapon), however I particularly cherish its creator’s dedication to characters. Celebration members discover lovers and nemeses, they purchase weapons and battle scars, they age and finally die. Quests are damaged into 10- to 15-minute episodes of story and fight, perfect for filling any gaps in your day. The controls on Steam Deck do take a bit follow, however the recreation has benefited from an lively neighborhood of modders and storytellers, so I wouldn’t be stunned if we see improved user-made management settings quickly. —CP

In 2004, Half-Life 2 helped launch Steam, attracting 1000’s of gamers to Valve’s then-unproven online game ecosystem. In return for becoming a member of Steam, gamers might obtain a first-person shooter that was far forward of its time. Immediately, Half-Life 2 (and its pair of supplemental episodes) works as one other instance of Valve’s magic. I put in a PC recreation I purchased practically 20 years in the past onto a transportable pc, and it solely took a couple of minutes to enter the streets of Metropolis 17. —CP

What if Hideo Kojima made his magnum opus, however most individuals wrote it off as a tedious strolling simulator? Reader, it occurred! Demise Stranding is my private recreation of the last decade, an astounding mishmash of every little thing to look in a Kojima recreation: earnest critiques of capitalism and the ache factors of democracy, eerie premonitions of world pandemics and a gig financial system compelled to hold society on its shoulders, and sufficient mommy points to justify a lifetime of remedy. Plus, the sport itself is enjoyable. Like, very enjoyable!

No, you don’t get to shoot a lot stuff, nor do you conquer the enormous open-world map. However you do make the world a bit extra manageable for you and different gamers, slowly constructing bridges, roads, and ladders that may inevitably be destroyed by nature. The place different video games ask you to change into the ruler of their world, Demise Stranding reminds you that we’re all merely vacationers awaiting our one-way flight off of this rock. Did I point out the poop grenades?

Loads of people didn’t give the sport a shot on PlayStation 4 or PC. Possibly the Steam Deck will make the sport handy sufficient to win over a handful of curious folks to make the leap into Demise Stranding’s sticky, inky depths. —CP