A PC and console gamer debate the Steam Deck, one year later | Digital Trends

As the Steam Deck’s one-year anniversary approached, I found myself itching to write a reflection on my past 12 months with it. Though I love the gaming device and use it as much as my Nintendo Switch, I initially found my feelings skewing more negative than I expected. Part of that may have been a little reactionary, as I’ve developed a pet peeve in the past year: hearing people who work in games tout it as a “life-changing” device.

When the Steam Deck was first announced, I was excited about the possibility of a more streamlined PC gaming experience akin to a Nintendo Switch. What I quickly learned in the past year is that the device is every bit as temperamental as my rig, if not more so. That kind of experience has been common for me in the past year. I’ve encountered a string of crashes, hardware slowdowns, and even game freezes that have temporarily bricked the device. In between that, I’ve also dealt with an unpredictable battery that can sometimes die in an hour or go from 10 to 0% in an instant. I’ve had my Steam stats decimated as my Deck keeps counting game hours even when the device is in sleep mode.

I’m piling on my grievances here, but don’t get me wrong: I do genuinely love my Steam Deck. I use it frequently and I cherish how it changed my relationship to PC gaming. I had a revelatory moment last summer where I took it with me on vacation to Cape Cod, fired up Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered on it, and played it without a hitch. Even though something like Returnal isn’t optimal on Steam Deck, the fact that I can play it at all there is impressive .

I assumed I would use the Steam Deck as a way to get an extra hour in Elden Ring before bed or cross some collectibles off my list in Horizon Zero Dawn in-between longer play sessions, but that’s not how I use it. It’s a separate device that I use to whittle down the endless catalog of indie games I’ve picked up over the years, as well as smaller, bite-sized experiences that feel more at home on a handheld than they do on my beefy Alienware 34 QD-OLED monitor.

So many games don’t run correctly on Steam Deck. I’ll continue to skip this one.

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