Depends on the games you play! Emulators, retro titles, indie games, even older AAA titles are awesome on the Deck.

Newer heavy graphics games tend to need some compromises to really work reasonably, or basically a really rough experience. If you have a decent PC, I find this doesn’t matter too much due to in home streaming actually working pretty great nowadays.

I take my Steam Deck to work and play Rocket League, Helldivers 2, even Baldurs Gate 3 on my breaks and it’s really a great experience. Occasional bugs with the OS doibg some whacky stuff but I could probably blame all the cool things like Decky Loader and CryoUtilities that give some performance gains and cool customization options.

Docking to a TV is great for LAN parties and being able to pair any Bluetooth controller is a godsend for games like PlateUp, Screencheat, Dreamcast games, Jackbox games and the like. Even have a WiiMote paired and play Wii Sports, and Clone Hero to get my Rock band/Guitar Hero fix.

Overall a very impressive device and still the only real non-Windows device on the market. I have the OG LCD 256 GB steam deck, upgraded with a 2TB SSD along with a 1TB microSD card so I may be a little biased in my review. Lol

Spawn: In the Demon’s Hand was so much fun, haven’t seen it mentioned yet!

PlateUp! has completely consumed a couple of lan parties. Awesome Roguelite restaurant game.

Chilli!

Ah yes, the manhole cover made in Neenah, Wisconsin. Probably the furthest man made object from Earth at this point for sure.

Unless there’s no alarm set, otherwise an untimely demise.

With the Steam Deck and how that is, I would actually be excited for a desktop version of SteamOS. Such a great little device.

I know Baldurs Gate 3 is a turn based combat game, but i’ll shamelessly plug since it’s absolutely fantastic. Difficulty is easy to switch, a great game to explore!

Buy the 64gb, and upgrade the SSD. I have a 2TB SSD and a 1TB microSD card. :) i pair PS4 controllers and one Xbone controlller and they all work great. PlateUp and all the emulated games with 4 players are a blast docked to a TV!

I played a ton of EU4 and it did just fine, didn’t hit 60fps but really don’t need that kind of performance on a map game. back buttons for hotkeys/zooming in/out. Left trackpad set up as a touch to swap between different map types. Can always dock to a monitor with mouse/keyboard or just pair a bluetooth mouse. :)

Diablo 2 Resurrected and Diablo 4 have both seen more Steam Deck time than PC. Really nailed the controller scheme, and the graphics still decent for an 800p screen.

Diablo IV is amazing on the deck for me, but I only dock the Deck occasionally. I already have a mid-high end PC at the desk with an HDMI running to the TV. Only thing that bummed me out was lack of local co-op for PC. Would love to share the Diablo experience locally.

Personally the Deck docked isnt really for AAA titles, but more for all the lighter indie games and even better party games like Jackbox, PlateUp!, and all the emulated games I can bring to a LAN party and everyone pairs their controller to.

Dont expect to play super graphical AAA titles without compromise, but the Deck is an emulation powerhouse(even some PS3/Switch games work good, dreamcast, ps2, gamecube, wii and older just about flawless), and is so versatile that the $360 64GB model and a $100 1TB SSD upgrade makes it a great deal. Got a console/PC already? Can stream to the deck. Get a dock and it becomes a budget desktop with mouse/keyboard. The amount of money you save from Steam/Fanatical/any storefront you want(or piracy ;)) is great too. Got a Steam Library already? It works on PC and on Deck.

It is a tinkering device for sure though. Linux is a learning curve if you want to do more than just steam games. Kingdom Hearts 3 on Epic Store was an adventure to get working for example. Also still havent gotten my logitech steering wheel to work either. Overall though, absolutely a good deal from over a year i’ve had mine.