The Steam Deck is easily one of the most anticipated pieces of PC gaming tech since… well, maybe ever? The promise of carrying the entirety of your Steam library wherever you go on this bulky but well-designed and relatively powerful handheld gaming device is massively alluring, especially to those of us who continuously fatten our backlog with each passing Steam sale. And after a couple of weeks of gaming on Valve’s ambitious handheld PC I can say that a lot of the time it does live up to that hype, but right now, trying to review the Steam Deck is like hitting a moving target. For one thing, whether or not specific games work at a level you'll find acceptable, or at all, is a case-by-case basis. Additionally, I’ve found myself confronted with technical dead ends far too often for a device that starts at $400 and only goes up from there, but it’s already showing signs of improvement as Valve and various games roll out rapid-fire patches leading up to launch. In other words, the Steam Deck experience I had when I first booted it up a few weeks back is not the same as the constantly improving one I have in front of me today, and it’ll likely get significantly better soon.
That brings us to the main reason this review is still in progress: AMD hasn’t yet delivered the Windows graphics driver for the Steam Deck’s GPU, which means that while I can install Windows 11, I’ve been unable to run games or the suite of benchmarks we use to test out gaming PCs. And that’s a big issue. Just about every problem I’ve had comes down to the fact that by default, Steam Deck runs on Valve’s SteamOS – a custom version of Linux that can run a lot of Windows games using software called Proton. It’s actually really cool when it works, but a lot of popular games, including Fortnite, Halo Infinite, Destiny 2, and Lost Ark use anti-cheat systems that aren’t compatible with Proton. On paper, there’s a workaround for that: just install Windows 11 and you should be able to play anything you can on a typical PC. But so far I’ve only been able to use it with SteamOS and all of its limitations, so there are still a lot of unanswered questions to address before I can give you a final recommendation on what this hardware can do. But if you’re only interested in running SteamOS, this should give you a pretty good idea of what it’s like to use a Steam Deck.
Design and Features
As you've already seen from the memes, the Steam Deck is pretty massive. It’s 11.7 inches from end to end, which is more than two inches longer than a Switch, and at 1.5 pounds it’s quite a bit heavier. The size difference is enough that going back to my Switch after using the Steam Deck exclusively for a few days makes the Switch feel like a microconsole. There’s no way it’s going to fit in a pocket. Still, the Steam Deck isn’t uncomfortable to hold, and it’s not like my arms got tired from holding it for a couple of hours.
I wouldn't call it a particularly attractive piece of tech, but it has a futuristic industrial look that fits in well with the overall Steam aesthetic. There are only two colors: black, and touches of light-gray. The case is a matte black with a subtle texture to it, somewhat rougher than an Xbox controller, and it feels good to the touch. The grips on either side bulge out at the edges, making it much more comfortable to hold in my adult-sized hands than a Nintendo Switch. It's nice to feel safe holding onto something so expensive, and you probably wouldn’t want to have a young kid play with it very much anyway.
Using the Steam Deck exclusively for a few days makes the Switch feel like a microconsole.
The Steam Deck’s LCD screen runs at 1200x800 at 60Hz, and it looks really good. I have no complaints about the resolution – at this screen size there’s a diminishing return on packing in extra pixels. I have to say, though, that the OLED screen on the latest model of the Nintendo Switch has spoiled me on handheld screens, and the Steam Deck doesn't live up to the vibrance and clarity afforded by Nintendo's latest update. But it's still lovely, especially if you aren’t jumping back and forth between this and an OLED screen. Similar to the Switch, the screen is touch-enabled, so you can easily navigate through menus and even control some games with a quick tap here and a drag there.
Near the top are the face buttons and control surfaces. The D-pad is solid but just a little mushier than I like and – this is a minor complaint – I don't like that it's positioned to the left of the thumbstick because that means games that use the D-pad for quick menu options feel awkward. The healing gourd in Sekiro is a good example of this; it just feels off, but it’s nothing I couldn’t get used to.
The input buttons, which are marked with the same ABXY letters and configuration as an Xbox controller, are lovely. They feel like little pieces of flawlessly smooth hard candy, with a nice travel and just enough resistance. And while early photos had me worried that the buttons might be spaced too close together, that's not the case in practice; they're exactly where I’d expect them to be.
The thumbsticks, though? They rule.
The thumbsticks, though? They rule. They're perfectly smooth without feeling loose or sloppy, and they revert back to center with a satisfying snappiness. The surface is a matte plastic, and it’s touch-sensitive so the Steam Deck knows when you've got a thumb on one without you needing to depress anything. After some time with them, I did notice a slight drop in the smoothness of their action in certain positions, but that’s the same sort of "grittiness" all thumbsticks seem to acquire after a few hours of continuous use. Fortunately, if the problem persists or if new ones pop up, Valve has made it possible to open up the Steam Deck to replace the thumbsticks – although it's not exactly modular and does require you to disassemble your very expensive and difficult-to-find piece of tech. Still, that helps me sleep easier because the sticks are built right into the Steam Deck, so while on the Switch you could detach and replace a defective Joy-con that wouldn’t be an option here.
Directly below each thumbstick is a trackpad with a subtle haptic feature you can toggle on or off in the menus. I like the haptics – dragging my finger across the surface feels like moving a mouse across my desk. It even simulates the momentum of a trackball, meaning if you swipe quickly across the trackpad and take your finger off, the cursor glides along in the same way it would if you spun a trackball. It feels good for desktop applications and navigating in the Steam menus – and it’ll feel very familiar to anyone who’s used a Steam Controller. My one problem with the trackpads is a result of their placement: while playing games with thumbsticks I found my thumb would sometimes hit the trackpad and I'd get some unexpected input or camera angle shift. Thankfully, it is possible to turn them off in the menus on a per-game basis.
The trackpads will feel very familiar to anyone who's used a Steam Controller.
As for using the trackpad as a mouse replacement in first-person shooters, well, good luck with that. I was able to make it work playing Half-Life 2 once I dialed in a sensitivity I could live with, but for the same reasons the Steam Controller (which attempted to completely replace the sticks with touchpads) never took off, I found myself defaulting to the controller or thinking about connecting a Bluetooth mouse. I had hoped it would bridge the gap between a mouse-and-keyboard setup and playing with a controller, but it feels like the lesser of three possible control schemes.
Shoulder buttons also feel good, although the L2 and R2 triggers are much better than the L1 and R1 bumpers. The bumpers feel alright once you actuate them, and in fact have a lovely little "click," but to get to that point feels a little softer than I would like. The triggers, on the other hand, are perfect. They're not quite DualSense-levels of good, but they travel very smoothly and have just the right amount of tension. The way they spring back almost reminds me of the triggers on the GameCube controller, but not quite.
On the back of the Steam Deck are four programmable buttons, similar to the button placement you find on the Xbox Elite and other high-end controllers. Sadly, they're probably my least-favorite inputs of the bunch. The placement is difficult for me to grasp with my larger-than-normal hands and I have to contort my fingers into an uncomfortable claw-shape to press them. On top of placement, they just feel bad: the response is soft and the clickiness is weak. Even if the placement were improved, the tactile feel is off-putting. Because of these limitations I didn't want to use them for anything in games, which is fine since they're entirely optional.
You'll probably want a USB-C hub.
On the topic of other controllers, the Steam Deck does have Bluetooth controller support, but thus far I’ve found myself striking out. I'm sure it's something that will be fixed with a future update, but every time I paired an Xbox controller, everything would be going great until whatever game I was playing got to its first loading screen. At this point, the controller's vibration would turn on, at full blast, until I pulled the batteries. Until that’s resolved, I wouldn’t expect to treat the Steam Deck like a Switch you can dock and play like a console – though it may in the future and supports USB C-to-HDMI hubs and dongles for that purpose. Valve will be offering an official docking station (sold separately) but it won’t be available until late Spring at an as-yet-to-be-revealed price.
Speaking of dongles, if you're going to use any wired peripherals, you're probably going to need one because there’s just one USB-C port on the Steam Deck. Specifically, you’ll want a USB-C hub (and while not required, I'd recommend a powered hub so that you can charge your Steam Deck while you’re using peripherals). If you don't trust your WiFi, you'll need to add an Ethernet port to the list of your dongle's requirements. So that’s kind of a hassle and an extra expense you’ll need to factor in.
That USB-C port is located at the top of the Steam Deck, near the power button. The volume up and down buttons are on the left side, and sitting between them is the Steam Deck's primary cooling vent. It pumps out a continuous stream of heat, as the fans seem never to turn off while the Steam Deck is in use. In fact, most of the time the fans are running at their highest setting – we measured it to be about 49 decibels, which is louder than a PS5. It certainly makes sense – you can't cram all that power into such a small space and expect it won't need a fan. It's not so loud you can't hear over it, but it's impossible to ignore the high-pitched whine.
We measured it at about 49 decibels, which is louder than a PS5.
There's a performance overlay built right into the Steam Deck software, so you can monitor CPU and GPU usage, frame rate, core usage, memory and temperature. On more intensive games the GPU runs at 99-100% the entire time, while the CPU lives around 70-80% usage continuously. Temperatures for both are in the upper 70s.
The Steam Deck User Interface
The user interface is a modified version of the Steam desktop app you're used to. Navigation is fairly easy, although I was a bit lost at first until I figured out you have to push the physical Steam button to access your library. Where things get tricky is when you're in a game, because there are so many menus it’s difficult to figure out where a given setting might be located.
The Steam button on the left and the menu button on the right both bring up overlays, with the menu button having notifications, performance options, and quick settings. The Steam button brings up a more detailed list of sub-menus, including Home, Library, power options and other settings. This is on top of the in-game menus brought up with the pause and select buttons you're used to using. The confusing part, for me, came when I wanted to turn off the gyro feature in Sekiro. I couldn't remember: is that an in-game setting, or a Steam setting? I went through all the possibilities and it turns out… it's none of the above. The gyro function is turned off from the Steam Library screen after entering the launch page for the individual games.
The Steam Deck comes in three different storage configurations: 64GB, 256GB and 512GB. I was sent the 512GB version, and with no games installed there is 457.9 GB of free space available. The upper two storage tiers are NVMe SSD, while the 64GB model is flash memory. I don't actually know – outside of indies – how 64GB is an acceptable level of storage, but thankfully there is a microSD slot on the bottom of the Steam Deck allowing you to pop in up to 2TB of additional storage. Valve also says you can upgrade the SSD inside, but it's not easy (which, for a device aimed at PC gaming enthusiasts, sounds less like a warning and more of a challenge). With the prices on NVMe drives dropping while storage sizes keep growing, it's a tempting road to travel, but even the cheapest 1TB drives are $100, adding to an already sizable investment.
Deathloop took an agonizing two minutes and 30 seconds to load.
However, even with an NVMe SSD on the highest-end Steam Deck, I was disappointed by load times on some of the games I played. For God of War, going from hitting the "Play" button on the SteamOS menu to the menu screen took almost a minute. For Deathloop, it's an agonizing two minutes and 30 seconds, compared to about a minute on desktop using a high-end NVMe SSD. In-game loading isn’t any better. Especially now that the new consoles have spoiled me with near-instant loads, that took some of the joy out of my first few days with the Steam Deck. At least when you get a little less ambitious and play older or less intensive games like Hades, Bayonetta, or Stardew Valley it’s more in the neighborhood of 10 seconds.
Another modern console feature that's missing from Steam Deck is Quick Resume. You can easily navigate to the Home screen from inside a game by selecting the option after pressing the Steam button on the Steam Deck's face. I tried to go from Sekiro to God of War and got a warning screen telling me I'd be facing some performance issues in doing so. Rather than suspend Sekiro automatically, I'd instead have to quit it entirely in order to play God of War at acceptable performance levels. Going back to it is like starting any game from scratch: loading, menus, etc. I've again been spoiled by modern consoles. If you're in the middle of a game and you suspend it with the power button it starts back up again without any problems, but going from one game to another is more like the Switch than the Xbox.
