Steam Deck is here!

 

So, it arrived after FedEx led me to believe that it wasn't arriving when it was scheduled.  It went from "out for delivery" to "pending" in a matter of minutes after 5 P.M. local time.  30 minutes later, it had been delivered.  I don't do unboxing videos, so the three photos will have to suffice.

First Impressions

It's big compared to the early handheld from Epyx/Atari or from Sega.  It's a bit heavy at times.  The anti-glare display is great.  It has touch capabilities, so you can operate games and the operating system in a number of ways.  It takes what the Steam Controller had and amplifies the capabilities.

There is a cleaning cloth that arrived with the unit, as well as the charger.  Instructions are minimal.

I have around 30 games in my Steam library that are "great" with Steam Deck.  I have installed over 10 of them.  Most operate well, but Ni no Kuni Remastered has some audio glitches.

Some of the "great" games are games I have never tried, so it's good that Steam Deck is showing me what works well.  There are a lot of games that need adjustments in the next category.  I was pleased to see the Unreal Tournament 2004 is one of those.  Apparently, keyboard interaction is manual, so the player must invoke the keyboard, rather than it being displayed automatically.

It's odd that not all of the Valve games hit the "great" category.  There are two games attached to Half-Life that I'd like to play but they don't fall into the "great" category: Black Mesa, Half-Life 2 Update, and also, Portal Stories: Mel.  Portal Stories: Mel falls into the untested category, so anything could happen, including that it could work perfectly.

Most everything is good, but the connection to Wi-Fi seems a bit dodgy.  I'm not really worried.  This is the best Linux-based machine I've ever had.  It's based on Debian with KDE Desktop  although I haven't tried that.  I had hoped to play some games I have from GOG Galaxy, but there is not a Linux version.  However, there may be a way to make it run on Debian.

It's only been two days.  I have much to learn and do.

Getting to the enjoyment part

I have 21 games installed and a 512 GB microSD Card on the way.

Some of the games are fine but the controls aren't always what I'm expecting.  I was pleased to see that Chorvs/Chorus was available and bought that quickly.  After having several games in the Galaxy on Fire series, I hurried to buy another game from the same developers.  The controls work as expected, once I invested the Y-axis control.  I slso bought Road 96, which seems great, but the controls are troublesome.  Distance is a game that will take some time to get the controls where I like them.  Right now, I can't find which controls work.

Another problem is accessing the game menus.  Some use the Start/Select buttons, but others seem to randomly assign the buttons for menus.

I managed to install Unreal Tournament 2004, which is a first-person shooter for keyboard and mouse but just working the menu has been interesting.  I can get to the option with the right track pad control, but as soon as I go to select it, that control moves the pointer.  I'm hoping for a way to use the D-pad to go up and down the menu and the A button to select the function.  Obviously, with a game from 2004, there won't be any updates to make it work better.

Past the initial phase

I have 27 games installed now.:

aperture Desk Job

Galaga

Pac-Man

Bayoneta

Bright Memory Infinite

Bugsnax

Children of Morta

Chorvs/Chorus

Distance

Doom II

The Gardens Between

Half-Life 2

Heaven's Vault

Moonlighter

Ni no Kuni, Wrath of the White Witch, Remastered

Okami

Ori and the Blind Forest, Definitive Edition

Portal

Portal 2

Redout

Road 96

A Story about My Uncle

Trigon

Trüberbrook

Unreal Tournament 2004

Vanquish

Yonder, The Cloud Catcher Chronicles

Update 2022.12.15: It's been about one month.  A few games require precise cursor movement and the Steam Controller trackpads were never my easiest controller bits.  I've been playing Pixel Puzzles Japan to push myself to learn how to use those pads.  It's helped a lot.

I have 38 games installed at this point.  Several of the Bandai Namco games have been modified to use the controllers and they work well.  I'm struggling with other games and the Underdog Detective game shows the video upside down with menus right-side up.

As they test more of the games, I have more choices.  I've removed one or two since I started but I continue to try everything.  I think back to when I started playing games and using different kinds of controllers made the games easier to control but occasionally, games were just a pain to play.

I just saw the system update for SteamOS 3.3.3 and updated the device.  Hopefully, the experience will continue to improve and more games will become available out of my 129 Steam-hosted games.  The odd thing is that Quake III Arena doesn't work but Quake III Team Arena will work with adjustments.  Obviously, some development software would never be ported and software dependent on those products just wouldn't work.  I remember some problem with Unreal Tournament III, where it was ready to go on Windows, Mac, and Linux, but there was a dispute about using the package outside of Windows and so, the other two versions were never allowed to be distributed.

I'll continue to hope that almost everything can be made to work.  Surely, Steam Deck is becoming a success and developers should consider the implications of not offering their games.

Update 2023.03.01: SteamOS 3.4.4 has been out for a while and the Proton layer has been updated a few times.  Most everything works as expected and the glitchy-ness has subsided.

It's still interesting to play games that expect a keyboard and mouse but they work with the unique controller trackpads.  A few games require the Steam button + X to invoke the keyboard but it's becoming better.

Update 2023.03.19: Valve has the Steam Deck on sale for 10% off.  I've had mine a few months, so I don't know whether to be happy or upset that I didn't get it for less.  Still, it's a good experience.  SteamOS 3.4.6 is out and they've handled more situations.

I have more games and what I've put on Steam Deck seem to run well.

Update 2023.04.19: I've been reading a bit on Steam Deck HQ and Gaming on Linux.  They're both worthwhile resources with plenty of current information and reviews to offer.

Proton 8.0, based on WINE 8.0 is out and should fix even more problems.

I saw some article recently about how older games are so much better on the battery life than newer games are.  Of course, when you planned for a 1024x768 or 1280x800 resolution display, you didn't need as much power, did you?

Hi-Fi Rush isn't too bad, but obviously, Hogwarts Legacy, which taxes most machines, is going to hurt a portable's battery life.

I recently bought a 1 TB microSD card and there was no way to transfer the games from one card to the other.  When I switched cards, I needed to download and install the games again.  I've been a bit more picky so far, even though I have more space.  Despite a good internet connection, I don't want to waste it.  There have been a few M.2 drives made available in the 2230 size for Steam Deck but they are expensive.

Update 2023.05.14: What about the ASUS ROG Ally?  It's going to be interesting but Windows 11 doesn't really have a mobile/portable interface.  Launching games will be a mixed experience from Steam to EA to Ubisoft to Epic Games.  They're not all that easy to use with a mouse and keyboard, how will they be without them?

There are a number of people working on resources to make Linux gaming better and Valve is involved in making their machine the best, of course.  Would I like to run my purchases from stores other than Steam?  I would but I am happy with a single interface.

Update 2023.08.31: It's been about 9 months since I got the Steam Deck.  Lenovo has been leaking information about a Windows-based handheld (Lenovo Legion Go) with controllers that can be removed, Switch-like.  It's obviously going to be expensive in the premium version, similar to ASUS ROG Ally.

Steam Deck needs to be nothing short of excellent.  It's coming along, with fixes for most new games.  Some of the developers want to see their games running on Steam Deck, so they make some useful modifications, short of a Linux-based executable.

There are more than 11,000 Valve-tested games for Steam Deck.  I only have 168 games on Steam and 44 games installed on Steam Deck.  42 of those games are ready but Toxikk hasn't even been tested and UT2004 requires some adjustment to play.

Update 2023.11.16: The Steam Deck OLED model is on sale, or more correctly, out-of-stock OLED model has been ordered by the hungry masses.

Since the Legion Go and the ROG Ally are available, Valve needed to do something to draw attention back to Steam Deck.  Apparently, the update is very good.  I'm not parting with that kind of money again, but I would definitely want to buy the new one, instead of the Lenovo or ASUS products.  Mine is still good.

Update 2023.11.17: Just like that SteamOS 3.5.5 is here.  I haven't had much time to test the differences, but it seems smoother.

According to the numbers, I have 211 games on Steam, 77 are "Great on Deck", and I have 45 games installed.  I still haven't got a handle on how to play a FPS with a controller.  I'm more used to WASD and a mouse or trackball.

Apparently, Valve has been re-working some of their original games for better play on Steam Deck.  I'm disappointed at the Counter Strike 2 release.  They had a download for Mac but it was everything but an executable game.  Is it time for them to embrace 64-bit-ness?

Update 2023.12.01: Loaded SteamOS 3.5.7 earlier this week and loaded another Steam Client update a day ago.  It seems smoother, although the updates seemed to hiccup, and I have to run the update twice.  However, the Steam Deck is still amazing and it's so good just to play.

There might be a time or two that I think about a game I had with Ubisoft or Epic Games, but that's rare.

I ordered a gaming keyboard and mouse combo from Temu, so I'll see if Temu's listed products are worth it, and how they interact with a Linux-based device, plus I'll learn to use desktop mode.

Update 2023.12.13: I've got the mouse/keyboard combo connected to the Steam Deck and played UT2004 for the first time.  Becoming accustomed to the keyboard will take some time but play was good.  I also went to Desktop Mode for the first time and it's interesting to see a Linux distribution that's fairly easy to use.  Explanations happened as soon as I switched to that mode.  Switching back was easy, as well.

My previous experience with Ubuntu in the early 2000s wasn't great and I didn't accomplish much.  Trying to install FreeBSD was a difficult proposition and I was unsuccessful.  It still isn't "The Year of Linux" but it's much more user friendly than it was.

The keyboard from Temu doesn't have a numeric keypad, so it's very compact.  For roughly US$31, the combo is a good deal.  The mouse is very good.  I suspect in the end, they won't last very long under normal usage.  However, for add-ons to a Steam Deck, they're a good choice.