Great choice for the Steam Deck!
Great choice for the Steam Deck!
Hey everyone. I’m excited to get my Steam Deck soon, probably in the next week. I don’t want to dive into big, expensive games—my current setup handles that well. Instead, I’m aiming for lighter, chill titles that are perfect for relaxing at home. I’ve already picked a few for myself: Stardew Valley Portal 2, Vampire Survivors, Ark, Valheim, Risk of Rain 1 & 2, Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime (want to try it with TV controllers), Gang Beasts, Screencheat, Monkey Island games (especially the first one from the 90s), RPCS3 Demon’s Souls, PCSX2, NFS:Underground, Ratchet & Clank, and more. I’m also thinking about emulation options. Would it be smart to create a pinned thread for games that work well on the Deck? Something like a handy list where clicking a title takes you straight to a detailed discussion with others about why it’s great, performance notes, and any issues to watch out for.
Proton's official game database features a Steam Deck tab for every title, including 9 out of 10 positive reviews for Risk of Rain 2.
You're seeking advice on finding suitable recommendations beyond basic compatibility. It's true that many games offer full features but lack a polished experience. While some titles are designed for controllers, they often fall short in usability. Most suggestions focus on popular lists like "12 best games on Steam Deck," which can be misleading since many run poorly or require awkward input methods. Ideally, you want a game that balances feature richness with smooth playability using your preferred input method.
I understand that one, I've spent years using my PS3 controller. What works well on a PS or Xbox usually carries over to PC with a controller, like a Steam Deck. My top experiences come from Sony's "PS only" titles that get adapted for PC after a while—such as Horizon Zero Dawn and God of War. The Dark Souls series also fits the bill since it focuses on controller gameplay. There’s also a "Steam Deck Compatibility" section in the Steam Store, which provides some insights based on feedback I’ve seen.
This really surprised me... but the original Tomb Raider titles run on SteamDeck. You need to set up a community controller setup, but it functions fine. My SteamDeck library includes: - Final Fantasy 1-6 (plus X/X-2 remaster). I play these regularly without much effort. - Crash Bandicoot N-Sane Trilogy. Perfect for relaxed gaming sessions. - Kingdom/Kingdom New Lands/Kingdom Two Crowns. Excellent survival village builder that’s easy to pick up and drop. - Toybox Turbos. A charming racing game with a strong art style. Each race lasts around three minutes, offering a good mix of relaxation and mild challenge. The biggest takeaway is that even highly supported games may lack top-notch controls. If a title works on Deck, explore community controller choices—open the game in your library, tap the controller icon, select 'current layout', then 'community layouts' to try alternatives. Official setups often don’t perform well, and some games get flagged as unplayable when using community options. This helped me get Tomb Raider (1996) functional despite it being marked as unsupported.
I found several games that felt relaxed and suitable for controller play without heavy graphics. I’m not using SteamDeck, but ProtonDB users confirm these titles work on standard SD versions. Here are some links:
- https://www.protondb.com/app/387290
- https://www.protondb.com/app/439190
- https://www.protondb.com/app/489140
- https://www.protondb.com/app/1145360
- https://www.protondb.com/app/307690
I’m thinking of adding Mafia 2, though some ProtonDB players say the Y2K launcher needs tweaks to play it. The original version should work fine, but the newer Definitive Edition is now available only via Steam.
Uncertain about their performance on SteamDeck, but I enjoy WoW and the latest Need For Speed on Linux. WoW via Lutris and NFS through Steam Proton both function well, though NFS caused some controller problems. I play fairly often, but have also tried Stardew Valley, Age of Darkness: Final Stand, Stories: The Path of Destinies, both portals, and Darkest Dungeon recently.
Hey everyone! Someone shared great Halo Infinite configurations. I’ve been mixing low, medium, and high settings to keep things stable at 30fps, but I messed up the settings and can’t get them back. I’m not looking to redo everything from scratch.