The 18 best games to play on the Steam Deck today
Start your handheld PC journey with this lot
It’s been a little while since we excitedly pulled a shiny new Steam Deck out of its packaging for the first time, and since then we’ve spent countless hours messing about with Valve’s undoubtedly flawed but extremely exciting first-gen handheld gaming PC. The Steam Deck rollout has been slow, and as you read this you might still be not-so patiently waiting to hear of good news regarding your order. But those who have been lucky enough to secure a unit might be wondering what games they should play first.
As we explain in more detail in our review, while the idea is that the Steam Deck will one day be able to play every game on the Steam Store, that isn’t currently the case. Games that have been given the seal approval – meaning they run smoothly at the Steam Deck’s target framerate and can be played comfortably using the device’s controls – will appear in your library as “Verified” with a green tick.
This doesn’t necessarily means that games not yet verified won’t play absolutely fine right now, but for new Steam Deck owners we’d advise sticking to the games that are at first for the best experience. Thankfully, there are now a ton of games in the Verified club so far, with more joining all the time.
With that in mind, read on for our guide to the games we think you should play first, all of which have passed Valve’s testing and really feel at home on the powerful PC.
1. Rogue Legacy 2
This fantastic roguelite’s one-more-go nature makes it the perfect fit for Steam Deck, and as it’s currently only available on Xbox and PC, it’s also the only platform on which you can play it natively on a handheld. Making your way through Rogue Legacy 2’s colourful hand-drawn dungeons is hard as nails, but death is a good thing in a game like this, allowing you to accumulate cash that can be used to upgrade your base and classes. Just be careful if you’re sneaking in a few runs before bed; it’s amazing how quickly 2am rolls around.
Click here to purchase Rogue Legacy 2 on Steam
2. Tunic
Think top-down Zeldas of old, but Link is a little fox, and you have a pretty good idea of what to expect from Tunic, one of 2022’s best indies. As the titular Tunic (who also wears a tunic) you explore a mysterious fantasy world, slowly uncovering more of the map and learning how to progress by collecting pieces of an in-game instruction manual. It’s a brilliant, unapologetically old-school adventure that expects you to put the work in, and while we’re not totally in love with the tricky combat, you can make yourself invincible if a particular boss is proving to be insurmountable. Tunic will probably come to the Switch eventually, but right now the Steam Deck is the best way to play it handheld.
Click here to purchase Tunic on Steam
3. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
When The Witcher 3 was ported to Switch it was lauded as something of a technological miracle, albeit one that involved more than a few performance sacrifices. The best thing we can say about diving into Geralt’s 100+ hour adventure on the Steam Deck is that you’re really not giving up that much at all, with the game running well at decent settings. This is the RPG epic you know and love, but now you can play it on the toilet.
4. Vampire Survivors
The Steam Deck makes it possible to play graphically stunning AAA titles wherever you are. Vampire Survivors is categorically not one of those games, but it is one of the most addictive games we’ve played this year, and absolutely perfect on a handheld platform. Vampire Survivors is a graphically rudimentary time survival game in which you move around a small map attempting to slay an increasingly overwhelming onslaught of monsters before they slay you. Each run allows you to unlock better characters, items and gear, so eventually you’ll be able to last the whole 30-minute gauntlet. Trust us: it’s brilliant – cheap as chips and the perfect game to pick up when you have a spare five minutes.
Click here to purchase Vampire Survivors on Steam
5. Portal 2
Valve’s own timeless puzzling masterpiece performs, as you would expect, extremely well on Steam Deck, running at an unshakeable 60fps on pretty much its highest settings, and if you’ve been looking for a reason to revisit the Aperture Science Enrichment Center, then doing so on its maker’s hardware is a no-brainer. If you’ve never played either Portal game, start with the also magnificent first one, which is also Deck-verified.
Click here to purchase Portal 2 on Steam
6. Elden Ring
FromSoftware’s 100-hour epic is our current game of the year, and although we think its biggest moments deserve to be experienced on the biggest screen possible, it’s also really well suited to handheld play, especially when you’re just farming for runes in the open world and levelling up your character. Elden Ring has had well-documented performance issue on all the platforms it’s available for, but actually runs surprisingly well on Steam Deck, which is pretty incredible to behold. Expect it to guzzle away at the battery life, though.
Click here to purchase Elden Ring on Steam Deck
7. Disco Elysium: The Final Cut
The dialogue-heavy nature of ZA/UM’s landmark RPG means it has always felt like the kind of game you want to play in bed, face right up close, but the long-awaited Switch port’s performance wasn’t up to much, sadly. Enter the Steam Deck, which for our money is the best way to experience Revachol’s murder mystery, thanks to myriad control options and the largely rock solid framerate that Nintendo’s machine couldn’t deliver.
Click here to purchase Disco Elysium: The Final Cut on Steam
8. Half-Life 2
Probably the most famous Valve title of them all, and one that has aged surprisingly well, Half-Life 2 is another must-have for your Steam Deck library. The legendary FPS paved the way for so many shooters that would follow it, and its influence can still be seen today. The game performs flawlessly on Steam Deck while taking advantage of the platform’s various control options, and who knows, if Valve sees enough people playing it again we might even get Half-Life 3 one day. Don’t go holding that breath, though.
Click here to purchase Half-Life 2 on Steam
9. God of War
God of War is one of many AAA games that you’d be forgiven for thinking would struggle on the Steam Deck, but the PS4 classic runs like a dream at very decent settings and is a joy to revisit in handheld form. And with the sequel (hopefully) not too far away, now is the ideal time to reacquaint yourself with Kratos’ unique approach to parenting.
Click here to purchase God of War on Steam
10. Aperture Desk Job
Clocking in at less than an hour, this one is more of a tech demo than a proper game, but it’s also the only game specifically designed to make use of the Steam Deck’s extensive feature set. Set in the same universe as the Portal games, Valve’s typically amusing short puts you in the shoes of a new starter at Aperture Science, where an initially mundane first day on the job quickly takes a rather violent turn. Aperture Desk Job makes use of every button, sensor and hardware quirk the Steam Deck has to offer, and as it’s absolutely free, you really have no excuse not to give it a shot.
Click here to download Aperture Desk Job on Steam
11. Hades
The winner of our game of the year award back in 2020 really hasn’t aged a day, and hacking and slashing your way out of the Underworld with Zagreus’ all-powerful arsenal seemingly never stops being fun. If you’ve already sunk tens of hours into this masterful roguelike dungeon crawler on PC, rest assured that taking it on the go makes the game feel brand new. Haven’t played Hades yet? The Steam Deck is as good a platform to fix that on as any.
Click here to purchase Hades on Steam
12. Hollow Knight
We’re still waiting for Hollow Knight: Silksong, the much-anticipated (to put it lightly) sequel to Team Cherry’s gorgeous Metroidvania masterpiece, but luckily the original plays like a dream on the Steam Deck and, like a lot of the games in this list, feels like it was designed for handheld play. As you explore the meticulously detailed insect kingdom in which Hollow Knight takes place you’re going to die. A lot. But as with any deliberately difficult game, success feels all the sweeter when does come, and the ability to take this one everywhere with you makes gradual progress more realistic.
Click here to purchase Hollow Knight on Steam
13. Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered
The second formerly PlayStation-exclusive game to appear in this list is, like God of War, one we expected to crumple the Steam Deck’s innards like a piece of paper. And while the long-awaited PC remaster of the still great Marvel’s Spider-Man does make the Deck’s fans roar and can zap its battery totally dead in well under two hours, it performs astonishingly well on the handheld PC. You’re pretty much getting the same near enough rock solid 30fps performance as the original PS4 game on the default medium settings (using the Deck’s built-in FPS-limiter is advised here), and although desktop and PS5 players can get nicer visuals and superior frame-rates, there’s something truly amazing about swinging through Manhattan while you’re sat on the toilet. And New York looks fantastic on the smaller display. We’re seriously considering a full Deck replay – while sat near a plug socket of course.
Click here to purchase Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered on Steam
14. Fable Anniversary
We’re going to be waiting a very long time for the rebooted Fable entry on Xbox Series X|S, but if you wanted to remind yourself about why a return to the iconic Xbox RPG series has been in demand for so long, the remastered original is a Steam Deck gem. The handheld handles the 2014 game effortlessly, and the 7in display helps to disguise any muddy textures. Fable has definitely aged, its grand ideas handled much better by RPGs that came after it, but this is still a charming and very funny adventure. We hope the new game, whenever it does arrive, remembers its roots.
Click here to purchase Fable Anniversary on Steam
15. Cuphead – The Delicious Last Course
Studio MDHR’s hard-as-nails 2D platformer may cause you to throw that sought-after Steam Deck straight out of the nearest window, but it’s a risk worth considering to play the game in handheld form, where you can chip away at the challenging boss battles whenever you have a free five minutes. The game’s retro cartoon visuals are as stunning to behold now as they were when the game first came out in 2017, and really pop on the Steam Deck’s display. This year’s The Delicious Last Course DLC adds a new island and new foes, but its most significant contribution to the the Cuphead experience is Ms. Chalice, a new playable character whose alternative moveset and additional health point arguably make both the base game and the new levels a bit more forgiving. A bit.
Click here to purchase Cuphead – The Delicious Last Course on Steam
16. No Man’s Sky
“The universe in the palm of your hands” sounds hyperbolic, but that’s what you’re getting with No Man’s Sky on Steam Deck, every one of its near infinite procedurally generated planets explorable on the handheld. And the game runs incredibly well considering the dizzying scale, even if you’ll probably want to dial down the settings a bit when the screen gets really busy. No Man’s Sky‘s deliberately directionless spacefaring isn’t everyone’s idea of a good time, but if you do enjoy the game, you owe it to yourself to try it on the Deck.
Click here to purchase No Man’s Sky on Steam
17. Horizon: Zero Dawn
Guerilla may have been known for the Killzone shooters before, but now they’ll be forever regarded as the brilliant team behind Horizon: Zero Dawn. This vast, open-world adventure – and PS4 exclusive – feels a bit like a mash-up of influences, ranging from Far Cry to Tomb Raider and The Witcher 3, yet the end result is absolutely marvelous.
You take control of Aloy, a tribal hunter in a future ruled by metal beasts, and you’ll use her enviable skills to explore the stunning wasteland and battle those mechanical monsters. It’s action-packed, nicely diverse in terms of objectives, and even has a captivating tale along the way.
Click here to purchase Horizon: Zero Dawn on Steam
18. Valheim
While Valheim is currently in early access, over 300,000 Steam users have already rated it ‘Overwhelmingly Positive’. And who are we to argue with that many people? This exploration and survival co-op is set in a procedurally-generated Scandinavian world where you must craft, build and fight your way out of a Viking inspired purgatory. It’s a great co-op title, and will scratch that post-God of War Ragnarök itch for Viking glory.
Click here to purchase Valheim on Steam
Matt Tate
Contributor 
