STEAM DECK

The Steam Deck can’t yet play every game on Steam, but it’s a great handheld gaming system nonetheless.

- Wes Fenlon

When I pick up the Steam Deck, I think about Leathermans. You know that multitool that your uncle, or somebody’s uncle, loves to bust out to solve any problem? Pliers, scissors, a bottle opener… with all those tools (and more!) a Leatherman is too big for a pocket, so it usually lives in a little belt holster. It’s portable, but it still sticks out. The Steam Deck is the Leatherman of gaming handhelds, or at least one that Leatherman uncles will love. The problem I’ve always had with Leathermans is that the miniature doodads are never as good as the proper tools they replace. And the Steam Deck isn’t completely immune to that jack-of-all-trades problem – it’s not a replacement for my desktop PC, or as portable as a Nintendo Switch.

But for me it’s slipped into a sweet spot in the middle as the turbocharged Switch Pro that Nintendo will never make, and there are now some games I can’t imagine myself playing on any other system.

During my first few days with the Steam Deck I tested the extremes with lightweight indies like Into the Breach and new, graphically-demanding games like Deathloop. This helped me pin down what, exactly, I want from it.

In most new, big-budget games, locking the framerate to 30fps will be mandatory for stable performance and practical battery life. With the framerate capped at 60fps, Deathloop drained the battery from full to 20% in 70 minutes at about 60% brightness. And the Steam Deck wasn’t really up to running it at a full 60fps – once I entered dense areas, the framerate took a nosedive. Locking it at 30 was much better, but sluggish for such a smooth action game.