The 30 best Steam Deck games – Rock Paper Shotgun

Have a seat, fellow handheld gaming PC liker, as I rattle off the 30 best Steam Deck games you should be installing right now. Maybe not all at once, mind. No microSD card is that big.

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Steam Deck Academy brings together all our guides and explainers on getting the most out of your Steam Deck, no student loans or sweaty dormitories required.

I should also clarify that this is basically a non-ordered list of games that Ive personally enjoyed playing on the Deck its not a formal ranking of quality like our best RPGs or best survival games guides. Still, everything here is a genuinely great fit for Valves portable puter, whether its an impressive technical showcase for the hardware or a little indie adventure that just suits the controls well. If youre not sure which games in your Steam library will play well on handheld hardware, consider these my first and foremost recommendations.

Im not limiting this guide to games that have full Steam Deck Verified status from Valve, though their compatibility testing programme is generally handy for seeing which games work (or dont) at a glance. To make the cut, however, a game will need to be comfortably playable with face buttons and thumbsticks, and be capable of running at 30fps or higher. Those that suffer without a mouse and keyboard, or have especially high tech requirements, might be great on desktops but a good Steam Deck game they are not.

The full list follows below, and if you want more on getting the most out of your go-anywhere PC, considering paying a visit to the RPS Steam Deck Academy. Its a collection of all our Deck-specific guides, analyses, and investigations, covering everything from how to stretch the Steam Decks battery life to adding installers like Lutris, which can expand your library of playable games beyond Steam alone.

The short and sweet Aperture Desk Job isnt just one of the best games to play on the Steam Deck it should probably be the first one you try. Its essentially a free Steam Deck tutorial, designed to help you get used to the controls layout, but is entertainingly administered through a genuinely funny mini-jaunt through a pre-Portal Aperture Science. Its a clever, surprising, and unrelentingly charming introduction to your new gadget, not a mention a reminder that Valve should really make more games.

You could say that Horizon Forbidden West is just "Horizon Zero Dawn but more," but then Horizon Zero Dawn is a brilliant open world adventure, and so is this, so whos complaining? Hopefully not any Steam Deck owners, who can now play both games on the go.

Forbidden West does require more aggressive settings adjustments than Zero Dawn, and its a bigger install too: combing the base game with the Burning Shores expansion means the Complete Edition demands 124GB of storage space, nearly twice the capacity of the entry-level Steam Deck. Its worth making room for, though.

Come to Signalis for the classic-styled survival horror, stay for the deep, dense, tragic love story that will keep your brain tied in fascinated knots for weeks. The jump to a Steam Deck does absolutely nothing to dull its creepiness, and if anything, its controls are better suited to those gamepadish buttons and sticks than the mouse and keyboard of a desktop setup.

Both the Steam Deck and Steam Deck OLED will easily run Signalis at max quality (if thats even a concern, given the intentionally PS1-aping visuals), and its a tiny install, so will fit without fuss on even the 64GB model. No wonder its got full Verified status from Valve.

At the suggestion of several RPS readers (and with the implicit recommendation of, apparently, scores of other Steam Deck owners), I finally got round to playing Vampire Survivors. And fine, FINE, it rocks. Simply moving around and auto-attacking sounds like a dreadfully dull premise but as the XP-unlocked weapon upgrades stack up, and the initial trickles of enemies become screen-filling bullet hell hordes, holding back the tide with time-stopping lasers and weaponised Bibles becomes almost hypnotically compelling.

It only really needs the left thumbstick and an occasional face button for inputs, and the framerate keeps above 40fps even with the most overwhelming of monster crowds, so chalk Vampire Survivors up as another Steam Deck special. It doesnt suck (hahhhhhh) the battery too quickly either: although I havent done a full full-to-empty test yet, Id say you can expect four to five hours of surviving vampires before the Deck runs dry.

This lush puzzle-platformer was one of my favourite games of 2023, and I happily played through the whole thing on a Steam Deck OLED. Planet of Lana catches the eye with some splendidly colourful, Studio Ghibli-inspired visuals, and will keep your attention with its keenly paced adventuring all without taxing the Decks hardware much, nor requiring more than a few of its basic inputs.

What made its puzzle design click for me, long after Id bounced off similar side-scrollers like Inside and Limbo, is the addition of Lanas adorable monkey-cat buddy. Most puzzles and enemy encounters require you weave in commands for him, which hell follow without frustration as youre making your own moves. The result: executing solutions feels less like a load of dreary box-dragging and more like a flowing dance routine. 'Twixt human and monkey-cat, but still.

When Diablo IV first released, the only way to wrestle it onto Valve handheld was with a strong will and a conveniently step-by-step guide to installing Battle.net on the Steam Deck. These days, you can just get the ARPG demon pummeller on Steam, which certainly makes things easier though the old ways still work, if you happen to already own it on ActiBlizzs store.

Either way, I actually enjoyed Diablo IV more on my Steam Deck than I did on my big, fat PC. This is veering even further into the realm of subjectivity than usual, but the thumbstick and face button controls just feel like Im exerting more direct control over my unintentionally Billie Eilish-faced Necromancer, which in turn makes combat more satisfying than it is when delivering hundreds of abstract mouse clicks.

It also runs pretty well on mostly-high visual settings, which is an increasingly rare quality among megablockbusters. If youre interested, you can check out my Diablo IV Steam Deck settings guide for some recommended tweaks.

Hades claimed, by Advent Calendar rules, RPS GOTY status back in 2020. And its just as tense, inventive and witty on the Steam Deck: it runs at a perfect 60fps, and only needs the face buttons and a single thumbstick for its slick, combo-happy combat. Being a rougelike mostly it wouldnt normally be as suited for short bursts of portable play, say on a bus ride, but the Decks quick resume feature lets you take a break whenever and immediately hop back into a run.

Hi-Fi Rush is the kind of game that plays better on gamepad controls than a mouse and keyboard, so it always had the chance of being a great Steam Deck game. That chance becomes a certainty with its easygoing performance, allowing Medium quality to run at a nearly constant 60fps and High quality to rock n roll along at 45fps or more.

Id happily recommend Tango Gameworks surprise rhythm action/hack-and-slash/platformer hybrid regardless of what you play it on: its a funny and satisfying brawler with some creative boss fights, and its final act kicks off with one of the single best combat encounters Ive played in an action game. That its more or less a perfect match for the Steam Deck thus makes me one very happy wannabe rockstar indeed.

Look at us lucky PC folk the first R&C game on Steam just happens to be the best one in the entire, two-decades-old series. Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is a funny, inventive, intelligently paced shooter-platformer with delightfully mad sci-fi weaponry, from the burrowing rocket launcher to the grenade that turns baddies into topiary sculptures.

On the Deck, its best played with the visuals toned down, but it still looks great and thats about the only concession required. An official Steam Deck control scheme adapts the former PS5 pad inputs flawlessly, and theyre all highly customisable if you want to make some tweaks.

Stray shakes off notions of merely being a haha-funny-cat novelty game with some stellar worldbuilding and intuitive puzzle-platforming, helped along by a sleek context-sensitive traversal style. This translates perfectly to the Steam Decks controls, and despite being a bit of a looker, Stray avoids any serious performance issues on the portable hardware. Theres some very occasional stuttering but thats present on high-end desktop PCs as well, and if you simply lower the Effects quality setting from High to Medium, you shouldnt drop below 30fps.

Wavetale runs as smoothly on the Steam Deck as your character does on water. An emotive platformer at its core, the greatest joy in Wavetale is catching a ride on your movement-mimicking merperson friend to zip across the rolling ocean. Its a blast, especially once you also get the hang of chaining together jumps and hookshot moves to navigate the flooded world even faster.

Originally launched for the ill-fated Stadia before finding sanctuary on PC, Wavetale incidentally benefits from the Stadia controller inputs effectively matching the Decks, so it feels like it was meant to be here all along. Performance is good too: not quite a solid 60fps, but consistently about 47-50fps.

For all of its performance hiccups on Windows, Elden Ring is such a good match for the Steam Deck that its earned Verified status from Valve. Its certainly more comfortable to play and navigate menus with the thumbsticks than to deal with Elden Rings wonky mouse and keyboard support, and running on Proton with its shader pre-caching feature - actually helps smooth out the stuttering that, on Windows, plagues the game to this day.

Smushi Come Home got the surprise launch treatment during Wholesome Direct 2023, and whew, is wholesome the right word. Plucked from his island home, friendly fungi boy Smushis return journey is a ranging but almost invariably tranquil one through flowery forests and airy caves. The supporting cast are chill, the acoustic-led soundtrack is delightful, the platforming is gentle... its just a nice place to be, yknow? Especially with a mostly free-roaming setup that lets you poke around each new patch of woodland as you please.

The Steam Decks hardware limitations also do little to harsh the vibe. Smushi Come Home runs at a consistent 60fps and is probably best played with pad controls anyway, while battery drain is on the slower side. I did find it tricky to read the in-game map at 800p, though theres always the Steam Decks zoom tool, and once I got the lay of the land I rarely needed the cartographic help anyway.

If youre like me (or Katharine) and dont have the patience, temperament, or hand-eye coordination for Soulslikes, you may find Deaths Door more palatable. Its a less demanding, though still challenging, take on How do I kill this dude no wait I am dead RPGs that also happens to suit the Steam Deck very comfortably indeed. I actually tried playing it on my desktop after first trying it on the Deck, and quickly abandoned the mouse and keyboard for a return to the handhelds twin sticks. Its easy to get a solid 60fps, too.

Feel-good racer Forza Horizon 5 is a natural fit for gamepad-style controls, and the Steam Decks haptic shoulder buttons even give it a little shake to enhance that feeling of stomping the accelerator. When launching it from Steam Id suggest lowering the graphics settings to Medium for suitably speedy performance, and if youre a PC Game Pass Ultimate subscriber you can stream it instead.

Theres a lot of action on this list. Maybe too much. Lets all calm down for a moment with Dordogne, a beautifully watercoloured indie adventure thats as much about appreciating the little things in life as its about cherishing the deepest relationships. It trades not in arcane point-and-click puzzling but in simple interactions with everyday objects, adopting a deliberately slow pace while injecting enough thought and character into each interaction to stave off tedium; Dordogne masterfully evokes the trepidation of reading a personal letter, or the joy of finding a long-lost heirloom in a dusty drawer.

Valve have only rated Dordogne as Playable on the Steam Deck, rather than Verified. I think the warning of undersized text is a bit harsh I havent had to zoom in to read anything yet though it does fail to offer native 1280x800 resolution support. The closest it comes is the 1280x720 option, which in all honesty is fine. Whats 80 vertical pixels between friends?

Portal 2 was one of first games Valve showed running on the Steam Deck, and its clear why. It runs smoothly, doesnt need a mouse and keyboard, and is even one of least demanding games Ive tried in terms of battery life drain most 3D games tend to quaff a full charge in around two hours, half of the four that Portal 2 took. Its also a successful showcase of the devices rear buttons, which let you jump or crouch without taking your portal-aiming thumb off the right stick.

A charming Portal-inspired puzzler where instead of completing brain-bending test chambers for the amusement of a murderous AI, youre completing brain-bending test chambers to keep the Earth from exploding. Also, instead of portals, your gun fires a time-rewinding beam that scoots objects back along their previous path of movement, or rebuilds ruined stairs and bridges. It makes for some devious puzzle-platforming challenges that you almost have to solve in reverse, as well as some entertaining action sequences based around making desperate repairs to an escape route.

The Steam Deck can run The Entropy Centre reasonably well at Ultra quality, though I found switching to High maintained its polished aesthetic while more consistently staying above 45fps. Its simple control scheme and small installation footprint less than 12GB give further credence to its handheld suitability.

The Steam Deck wouldnt be a consumer electronics product if it didnt run The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, only this time Todd H. wont need to sell you a whole new copy. Other than some slight UI awkwardness when trying to type in a new character name, this is the enticingly sprawling Skyrim that weve known for years just explorable on a handheld.

Dad jokes aside, the relationship-centred narrative and otherworldly beauty of God of War show how much its grown up from the series edgy early days. Still, the PlayStation link does help make it a natural fit for the Steam Decks controller-esque buttons and thumbsticks, and it runs decently on Original graphics settings. You can always lower these or switch on its native FSR upscaling if youd prefer a higher, smoother frame rate.

What better PC game to play on a handheld than one originally developed for a handheld? Monster Hunter Rise began life as a Nintendo Switch exclusive before a respectable PC port made it playable on Windows and thus, the Steam Deck as well. In places, particularly UI navigation, it often feels more natural to use the Decks more Switch-like controls than a keyboard, and the so-so visuals are a lot easier to forgive on a 7in screen than on a 27in, 1400p desktop monitor.

Playable MMOs are in short supply on the Steam Deck, whether it be down to anti-cheat software refusing to shake Protons hand or complex controls that just cant go without a keyboard. Nevertheless, I was impressed by how the free-to-play Albion Online adapts to the Steam Decks inputs and screen. One or two button presses can handle a full loadout of items and spells, and if using a trackpad to direct the mouse cursor doesnt feel quite right, you can just prod the touchscreen instead.

RimWorld is one of very few games seriously, hardly any to have been patched specifically to improve how it works on the Steam Deck. That means the interface, an easily overwhelming patchwork of icons, indicators, logs, tabs and other tiny-typefaced elements, remains legible on the 1280x800 screen. You can also zoom in further, and scroll through lists by swiping the touchscreen. All very thoughtful additions that might just help your sandbox base-building efforts end in survival rather than starvation.

Valve were so keen on making Half-Life 2 suitable for their portable PC that they went back, early in 2022, to optimise the 2004 shooters UI so it would be more accommodating to a compact touchscreen. Unsurprisingly, it also takes maximum advantage of all the Decks bells and whistles, giving you a full choice between thumbstick, trackpad or gyroscope aiming.

Ill confess, Ive spent hours using Final Fantasy XV for hardware benchmarking, but had never sat down to properly play until trying it out on the Steam Deck. And its great the controls adapt perfectly, and Medium video settings deliver fine frame rates without knackering quality. High is playable too, though youll be dipping close to 30fps at points.

Another top 2D jumper is Celeste. While sharing a wicked fondness for insta-death hazard dodging as Super Meat Boy, its not quite as much of pressure cooker, and tempers the challenge with a stronger story emphasis and a more considered, melancholy atmosphere. The Steam Decks controls are up to the task, too, even if you only need a small selection of them.

Lovely little life-change sim Unpacking feels, appropriately, right at home on the Steam Deck. If anything, the leisurely pace of its stacking and arranging puzzles is a better fit for those moments of melting into a sofa or lazing around in bed, Deck in hand, than it is for sitting up straight at your PC's desk. I also love how you can use the touchscreen to drag your lifetime of bric-a-brac around the room, though the left thumbstick works well too.

The streamlined point-and-clicking of Kentucky Route Zero helps it settle onto the Steam Deck rather effortlessly. I kinda wish it would use the D-pad to flick through menu options rather than the right thumbstick, but thats a personal gripe that hardly dulls this games best bits: the storys slow uncovering, the moments of quiet contemplation, and the gorgeous art. All of these are present and current whether you play Kentucky Route Zero on a Steam Deck or a 3000 titan of a desktop.

Outer Wilds is best experienced with a game pad, says its opening splash. A Steam Deck will suffice as well, allowing you to to enjoy this cute, thoughtful generator of ill-fated space adventures away from your main PC.

Bestest Best badgewearer Marvels Midnight Suns loses none of its charm on the Steam Deck. Firaxis card-based superhero RPG leans heavily on the magical side of its source material, while distinguishing itself from most spandex-and-quip adventures by encouraging you to chat with and befriend your team of supes. Its a game of relationship-building as much as it is of kicking goons through air conditioners.

Theres some performance inconsistency on the Deck, particularly when nosing around your home base hideout, but on default settings it can easily hit 60fps during combat. The slickly-designed UI doesnt need any special control scheme customisations, either; I liked using the touchscreen to thumb through cards, myself.

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The 30 best Steam Deck games - Rock Paper Shotgun