I was wondering how much you are using your Steam Deck? And did the games you play on it change since you bought it?
I find that I used it a lot when I first got it, but my usage has gone down in the mean time. That’s mostly because I play games that are not a great fit for the Steam Deck (strategy, building, etc.) and I prefer to play those on my PC.
Got mine basically as soon as they released, and I still use it plenty. I have it set up to be usable as a controller for my PC, and it is by far my favorite controller to use. It’s a dream come true for my controller to become its own console whenever I want.
What?? I’ve been waiting/wishing for a controller with the exact layout as the deck! I can’t play rocket league on anything else anymore because i muscle memoried my air rolls to the rear paddle buttons. Whoops
I bought it rather than upgrading my gaming PC which I built back in 2016. So it’s my primary gaming machine now. I use it every day.
That was my move as well. I did do some upgrades on my PC along the way, but the base was still from 2009 (and I must say, it functioned surprisingly well). But a couple of months back I upgraded my PC as well. But the decline in play time on the Steam Deck was started before the upgrade.
Yeah my 2016 build still holds up pretty well. It’s a 970 and 8gb of RAM (but I gave it a big swapfile) and it’ll still run basically any game. I’ve never much minded medium or low graphics settings anyway
My previous PC that I used until Nov 2023 was build on even older CPU in 2013 (Haswell), but has a 1070 and 16gb RAM. I directly upgraded from 750 Ti > 970 > 1070 and stuck with it. :D But also I was playing on 1440p and if possible at 120 fps. So my assumption is you play on 1080p and most games (maybe besides the newest hot AAA) should run fine at 60 fps if you lower the settings. We even have upscaling nowadays!
I know what your system is capable of. It’s a little bit on the edge now, especially the CPU was holding it back for many other areas as well, but, as you said, it holds up suprisingly well given how old it is. The 900 and 1000 GTX series is probably the best graphics card generation we ever had (9 and 10 series are based on the same tech I think).
Happy cake day (I talked/wrote too much, was just thinking out loud, got kind of nostalgic lol).
almost every day for a year. my gaming pc often collects dust
Almost every day, it’s really helping get through the backlog I’ve built up over the years!
Yeah, during work breaks or when chilling in the living room with my wife while she does her hobby stuff.
It’s not my main machine by any stretch of the imagination but it does see regular use.
I use mine pretty often. I mostly play retro and indie games. It’s an amazing piece of kit.
It definitely is, and I really enjoyed it when I got it. But I do run into the limitations of the device. Those limitations are by design because I would like a bigger screen, but putting a 17" screen on a handheld doesn’t make it a handheld anymore. So my usecase might not fit with the device anymore. I do use it sometimes to play sports or casual games. But that’s about it.
Long COVID tied me to my bed. The Deck is the only gaming device I can comfortably use there.
Some bpap sessions helped me get off bed after COVID, and gym helped me get back to “normal” after some months. Don’t know if it can help you, but hope you get better.
That sucks man. Nice to have the Steam Deck then. At least you have some form of entertainment.
Wish you the best and good recovery. I assume you also use it as a stationary machine connected to the tv/monitor?
Na, don’t really watch TV. But I’ve got a laptop on a rolling table.
I exclusively use it. For most games it works great, for some games it doesn’t, but that’s fine for me.
As often as I can
I use mine all the time when I’m on vacation or otherwise out of town, and every once in a while when I’m at home. I was able to play almost anything I wanted to so far, though I find games like Factorio a bit cumbersome without a mouse/keyboard setup. Bought the original 256gb deck on launch.
I use it for “light” games (the 2D stuff, Balatro, Dicey Dungeons, Whisker Squadron Survivor) while sitting in bed. Honestly when I got it, I wasn’t expecting to use it as much as I did.
Got the original not long after launch. Upgraded to OLED right around when it launched. I have some times when I don’t play it, but not often. Recently I have even been playing some RTS games since I got the controls working fairly effectively. Some of the fun for me with the Deck is customizing the controls to make a game work that otherwise wouldn’t. The Steam controller settings are in my opinion probably the most important feature that makes this work so well.
Many games I used to play on my Playstation I am now instead playing them natively on Deck. It’s comfortable. I love handheld.
The game I’ve played most overall is American Truck Simulator. Also Vampite Survivor, tons of Emulation Station, Metal Gear Solid master collecetion, and more recently Halo MCC, and Warhammer games like Dawn of War 1, Space Marine, and Inquisitor.
Apparently I played over 75 hours in May. PlayTime Decky plugin.
I really wish they’d release a steam controller 2, now that they’ve learned a bit more, and now that people are embracing the control scheme.
I hope too! I think they did not figure out how to make the controller not too big with the two touch pads, without sacrificing the other important elements. That was one of the deal breaker for the original Steam Controller, alongside the not that much optimal ergonomics in the hand. If Valve can pull off a Steam Controller 2 that is inline with the Steam Deck and is capable of replacing my Xbox controllers, then I would happily pay full price at launch (after reviews off course). It could be the ultimate game controller.
I’m in the minority that thought the original Xbox controller and original stream controller are sized perfectly 😄
We use it as a console every week, both me and the kids.
I’m the same: I used it a ton when I first got it and now it’s collecting dust. Here are my personal issues with it:
- I find it a little too big and bulky for 2D, retro, and lo fi games, but too low res and weak for a good experience on most larger/newer 3D games.
- The controls and screen size/res are not adequate for most PC mkb oriented games.
- The size, battery life, and low screen visibility in bright places make it not worth traveling with compared to my Switch.
I guess I essentially just wanted a Switch that could use my Steam library for 2D indies and older games.
Aside from that, I think I also kinda bought it to rejuvenate my interest in gaming, but it only did that for a few months. That has nothing to do with the Deck though.
I really like the dumb detachable controllers on the Switch. I love that form factor. I wish I could play 2D or low res Steam games on the Switch. But I don’t really want to buy a Switch without that, and the hardware is kinda underpowered, and there’s no Linux support that I know of.
Yeah, that last part about getting my gaming vibe going is something I recognize. I used to get a lot of joy out of gaming and could spend hours on it. Now it is feeling more and more like something I do just to pass time.
If you’ve got kids and a partner, you can’t go sit at your computer or take over the living room TV…
So, yeah, I use my Deck all the time. I take it with me on work and road trips but I’m always driving or working so it honestly gets most of it’s use on the couch. Six feet from the much more powerful gaming PC and six feet from the living room media PC that can also play games. Hundreds of dollars of GPU in one room and hundreds of hours using the Deck instead.
