The top 100 list has already been posted, but I thought this article makes some interesting observations on the list.
Overall the variety of games and experiences on that list really show how versatile the deck is, and that people can still have a great time with games that aren’t a perfect experience on the deck.
Protondb.com is a much better resource than the Deck Verified system, when you want to see if/how a game runs on the Steam Deck ; not saying the article is wrong, but it seems to be a common misconception to see the Deck Verified badge as a must have for a game to run well.
I use the protondb badges extension deck loader. Quite convenient.
And I’ve played a small handful of “Verified” games that needed some kind of modification to play 100% correctly (River City Girls, for example, requires an older Proton version to play 100% correctly).
Doesn’t deck verified mean a lot more than just Linux compatibility? Specifically conforming to deck controls, the deck screen size, and other aspects of playing on the deck?
Yes, it requires it runs well with default settings, everything is accessible with the standard deck controls, that all the control displays use the steam deck icons, and it doesn’t reference controls the deck doesn’t have. It’s a very high bar.
Also UI has to look good at either 720p or 1280x800. A lot of modern games don’t do that well at low res.
And if there is a need to write text, it has to pop up the in screen keyboard automatically. Which afaik means “you have to implement the Steam Input API”, unless there is some hacky workaround for that. But in any case, it’s something the dev has to do specifically for Deck support, it doesn’t just happen.
Icons actually can just happen, as quite a few games use libraries that already have the SD icons included if it detects the controller type.
Steam did try to hack Wine’s handling of windows textboxes to automatically trigger the OSK. I’m not sure if they gave up there (or I got lucky in disabling it), but it suuucked. It’s very easy to get into fights with that auto-popup, particularly if you’re trying to do wine-tweaking tasks.
Elder scrolls online works perfectly , you just have to tap touchscreen to play on the launcher then close the launcher.
There are some games that run perfectly on the deck that aren’t fully verified simply because you have to enter text at some point and it does not automatically summon the steam deck keyboard
Yep, and that includes things like automatic UI scaling or automatic keyboard pop-ups where required. If you have to do any tweaking, from navigating a separate launcher or modifying controls, it will only get “Playable” at best.
But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t work at all or that the tweaks are hard to set up. Verified just means it should be 99.9% idiot-proof.
Yes, Deck Verified basically means it should run on deck as if it were designed for it specifically. It should be comparable to how well a console game runs on its target console.
Oh yea, I can’t remember what game it was but the fact it had a launcher where you had to click play with the touch pad was enough that it wasn’t verified. It’s a pretty high bar.
Bitch-slapping games with a stupid launcher, that I can get behind. Wanna be verified? remove the shitty launcher. Done.
Pretty sure it does, also many games listed as unverified or not supported run just fine.
On the other hand it’s possible the opposite. Gunner HEAT PC is verified. There’s no way to get 30 fps and controls barely work with a keyboard, so I wonder what the devil happened between the time it got verified and when I tried it.
Bad patches? Sketchy verification?
It’s early access so at least it’s understandable things might change, but hot damn lol
I don’t care for Linux compatibility anymore. I just play whatever game I want to. Luckily I almost never play multiplayer games so that is also no problem for me.
We’ve come a long way, games on Linux used to require a lot of research to see if they would work. Now, except for some multiplayer games, I just buy games and assume they’ll work
It’s also nice that you can easily return games if they don’t run well on your system (at least with steam).
I remember back like ten years ago, you had to run Steam inside wine if you wanted to even begin the process of getting a game to run on Linux.
It’s incredible how far we’ve come since then. Most of the time I don’t even bother checking compatibility before installing something. Most of the time it just works as if I was running Windows.
Just to make sure it’s clear: not being Deck Verified doesn’t mean it won’t run on the Deck or on Linux in general. It means Valve has not hit their testing threshold for the title to mark it as verified or unsupported.
More specifically, it means Valve cannot guarantee a) the game will run (though anecdotally, I’ve had most if not all unverified games I tried work without issue), b) that the text is large enough to be readable on the Deck, or c) that the controls are usable (=you might have to just use the configurator yourself).
I think a danger Valve has introduced with the verification system is people thinking that not verified == no worky.
The Verified tag is imperfect, and only means the game runs without any issues by steams criteria.
I’ve played plenty of games that get the next level down, “!” compatability warnings and it can be something as minor as the Steam Deck keyboard overlay appearing in game or even just the controller icons in the game not matching the icons on the deck or custom controllers. Having a 3rd party launcher can make the game not verified, even if the game runs flawlessly.
So not surprising that 30% of games are not verified.
Same, but I can understand that Valve doesn’t want to give false impressions that a game runs perfectly when there are imperfections as mentioned. Valve has high community trust.
But yeah, I usually just read the incompatibility issues and usually decide it’s not a big deal and play anyway.
I can understand that Valve doesn’t want to give false impressions that a game runs perfectly when there are imperfections as mentioned
Idk, I disagree with this. It means that games are being labeled as “not verified” because of things that don’t really hamper what people would care about - the keyboard popping up for naming your character or seeing “A” in a green circle isn’t going to make people be like “oh no, this doesn’t work well on my steamdeck, I’m not playing it”. Does it look unprofessional? Sure. But that’s not what people care about when looking at the ratings for compatibility. They just want to know if it’s going to run well.
These systems are all about trust and evaluating the right metrics. Having the right button icons matters to Valve but not the player. Once players play games that aren’t verified and they run fine, and they play games that are verified but still have performance hitches in some places, etc, the rating system loses its credibility and then it’s meaningless.
On top of this, developers are already shunning the verification and just not bothering. Some of the things they ask for don’t directly affect the playability of their game. It’s an extra hoop for the developer to jump through, and if people don’t trust the badge, there’s no point in chasing it. Valve is literally undermining their own system from both sides by doing this.
There’s already people in this thread touting protonDB being a better evaluation. It’s exactly this that will happen and will continue to happen and continue undermining their rating system until Valve aligns their verification system with what users actually care about.
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Yeah, I’m curious about that as well. Makes me wonder if a lot of Steam Deck owners don’t own other gaming PCs, or if they just value portability/etc over graphics and framerate.
I’d actually bet it’s something different…
It’s less that you game on a steam deck because it’s portable, and more that because it’s portable you can game. There are people here and there that are like “yeah, I have a steam deck so I use that instead” but the sentiment I see more often is “I wouldn’t be able to game at all if it wasn’t portable - I can’t sit down for that long, I only have time on the train, I need to be near my kids” etc.
And this changes the dynamic. It’s less that these people have “desktop gaming” and “portable gaming” and are choosing to play the AAA games while portable. They only have portable gaming. And they choose to play the same good games everyone else is playing. The only gaming they do is on their deck. And they’re not going to be like “oh, why play a good game like BG3 if I can play a shitty portable game like xyz”.
These are just people’s primary gaming devices now. And if they can, they will choose to play the same good games everyone else is choosing to play. It doesn’t matter if it only runs OK, playing a good game with OK graphics is still better than playing a shitty game.
I sold my gaming PC and replaced it with a Steam Deck. Yes - after trying stadia (and then buying a switch), graphics don’t scratch my itch nearly as much as portability. I already spend too much time sitting at a desk at work, when I am playing to relax I prefer being on a couch, bed, kitchen, garden, or wherever I happen to feel like, but definitely not tied to a desk.
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That’s definitely better but still doesn’t do it for me. One of my favourite pleasures is playing in bed on a lazy weekend morning 😄
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Ah, that’s one of the perks of ADHD. After 20 minutes I’ve had enough and then I move to playing in <insert new place here>
I bet it’s the latter. I love mine, and “good enough” is often just fine for portable gaming. I’d rather maximize battery than worry about beautiful graphics; that’s what my desktop is for.
I own a nice gaming PC. I just never really use it now that I have my SD. Veing able to game anywhere and immediately stop and start my game back up by just tapping the power button is exactly what I needed for gaming. As a “responsible” adult I don’t have a lot of undisturbed straight lengths of time to game at the pc, and if I only have 30 minutes, it’s like it isn’t even worth trying.
Yeah I definitely feel that. As a parent with multiple kids, the suspend/resume of the deck is it’s best feature.
I did not own a PC for a while. I played BG3 exclusively with my Steam Deck hooked up to a monitor and M+KB. It was honestly great.
I can vouch for BG3, it runs surprisingly well (fans going to the max of course). I have graphics on medium with the upscaling AMD FSR 2.2 on and it’s perfectly fine on both the small screen and connected to the TV.
Re: OP’s thoughts, I also have a desktop but usually my spouse is on it :) The SteamDeck also travels a lot nicer of course!
It’s pretty fine until act 3 when the sheer amount of NPCs running around max out the CPU usage and drop the FPS down below 20 pretty much no matter what graphical settings you try to run as there is just no power left for the GPU.
OTOH, BG3 is a turn based game so low FPS isn’t an obstacle for playing it, it’s more of a visual nicety, like higher resolution or clearer textures, itself.
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Maybe I have the low, low standards of “does it run at all and I can stand to look at it” lol, in which it performs pretty well! I definitely wasn’t planning on playing current release AAA games on the deck so anything that runs I’m pleasantly surprised.
My wife played the beta version on the deck last summer, and let me tell you, that version was baaaaad. It’s really improved with the new upscaling!
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I play all of these with no issue now (bg3 had issues in launch) all on the SD but I have a dock to my keyboard, mouse, and monitor.
I’ve been playing games such as Dirt Rally which isn’t even on the store anymore. It’s not verified on the Deck, citing small writing may be hard to read. The only small writing was on the opening titles - the rest of the game works brilliantly. I was expecting some kind of issues, but nope, not a single one!
In some ways it’s even replacing my desktop. Having a wireless mouse/keyboard connected and the deck docked, I can easily play games like Civilization which has a big incompatible rating 🚫 next to it on the store. I can play party games locally with friends by docking the deck and connecting some Xbox pads to it. It’s been one of the best buys of recent years!
Be good if they could have a spilt rating for user scores or just incorporate protondb to handle the non steamdeck compatibility.
