The Steam Deck is a handheld gaming Linux PC. It's an attempt from Valve to bring their gaming library to the handheld scene, like the Nintendo Switch.
About me
I’m a father of four gamers and a gamer myself. We have two Nintendo Switches and my kids and I love them. Since my steam library has hundreds of games now and the kids are getting older I thought adding a Steam Deck to the mix would help on long car rides so three of the four could have a console and I could use it too to play some of my library as well. Long story short I’m pretty disappointed in the usability of the Steam Deck.
My “goal post” is to compare the usability of the Steam Deck in a family setting vs the Nintendo Switch. “Can I hand the Deck to my 4 or 7 year old and they can play a game?” Currently this is a qualified no as I’ll explain.
Account switching
On the Switch you put a game in, launch it and it asks who’s playing. Everyone has their own saves. There are local accounts who can play any game on the Switch. Accounts on the Steam deck are all Steam accounts. Switching is an afterthought. No local accounts. Which leads into Library DRM.
Library DRM
One of the reasons I wanted the Deck was to enjoy my Steam library on the go and while my kids were playing. My daughter loves Flight Simulator and she plays it on the PC with the joystick. While she’s playing I want to continue playing Eldin Ring on the couch. If I start a game on the Deck it will say there’s already someone playing a game on this account.
I don’t know why Microsoft would care that I'm playing a FromSoftware title. Trying to explain to a 4 or 7 year old that they have to “go offline” or “disconnect WiFi” before they can play just isn’t going to work. Even setting up a Steam account for them and telling them to switch accounts before they play is a bridge too far.
A possible solution to this is to have everyone have a Steam account with family sharing, but as stated above, there’s issues with that.
Freezes & Crashes
The Deck locks up quite a lot doing normal actions. I play a game, exit cleanly, come back tomorrow and I’ll need to restart before anything will launch.
I want to hook up to my TV by the official dock? I need to restart before it shows up on the screen, multiple times, and then sometimes it will just flicker back and forth.
Playing a verified game, crash. I’ve noticed every boss cut scene in Eldin Ring crashes, which is insanely frustrating to wonder if your 10th attempt where you beat them is saved.
Controller issues
With the Nintendo Switch I can plop down on the couch, hit the buttons on the controller a few times to wake it up and it will turn the Switch on, TV on, and switch to the correct input and I’m playing. No so with the Deck.
With the Deck I get constant controller disconnects. Playing Eldin Ring is frustrating enough, but when I run into a dungeon and the controller just stops responding and then reconnects - it’s beyond frustrating.
Sharing a controller between my PC and Deck is also frustrating. With the Switch I just plug it in and it syncs, then unplug it. With sharing a bluetooth controller I have to resync it each time. Also try to have your kids hold the small reset button while navigating the sync settings.
WiFi issues
WiFi takes a long time to reconnect or doesn’t reconnect at all - which causes issues with save syncing. Playing always online games like Eldin Ring online doesn't work. If you put the console to sleep (a core feature of a hand held device) or migrate between two access points you get kicked out of the game. You have to play the game offline.
Constant Tinkering
The Deck isn’t a walled garden like Nintendo, Sony, or Microsoft. Most games in my library were not built with the Deck in mind. This means the onus is on you, the player, to configure everything, per game, just right. From controller mappings to graphics, to power profiles. When I want to game I just want to game, not tinker and read Reddit comments or proton db suggestions till I get something that will work.
Light bleed
On dark scenes there are big bright spots in the corners of the Deck. I sent a picture of this to Steam support and they said it’s working within parameters. Looking at every other screen in my house - they don't have this issue.
(Should be a completely black screen with steam deck logo)
So what good is this thing?
If you (a singular gamer) want a hand held device to bring around with you, play on the couch or out and about, sure the Steam Deck is probably still a nice choice. You may say that is the target demographic too, but a portable hand held device needs to be more than that. At that point you might as well carry around a 5 year old laptop and get the same or better experience.
If you’re a family with young and old gamers, the Steam Deck isn’t ready for you yet.
Conclusion
Early adopter, premium price, with poor usability. There is a group of people who defend all these issues I bring up with “at least steam is doing something! Gaming on linux is so much better!” and yes - that's great and a good effort. But it’s not ready. Maybe next year will be the year of Linux desktop.. I mean gaming.
The good thing? Most of the points I bring up can be addressed with software updates. I hope Valve is listening.
Will I be keeping the Deck? No. I want to play games when I game, not do support.
Final thought - Nintendo clearly thought a lot about usability of the console and Valve should have learned and improved upon their success.
About me
I’m a father of four gamers and a gamer myself. We have two Nintendo Switches and my kids and I love them. Since my steam library has hundreds of games now and the kids are getting older I thought adding a Steam Deck to the mix would help on long car rides so three of the four could have a console and I could use it too to play some of my library as well. Long story short I’m pretty disappointed in the usability of the Steam Deck.
My “goal post” is to compare the usability of the Steam Deck in a family setting vs the Nintendo Switch. “Can I hand the Deck to my 4 or 7 year old and they can play a game?” Currently this is a qualified no as I’ll explain.
Account switching
On the Switch you put a game in, launch it and it asks who’s playing. Everyone has their own saves. There are local accounts who can play any game on the Switch. Accounts on the Steam deck are all Steam accounts. Switching is an afterthought. No local accounts. Which leads into Library DRM.
Library DRM
One of the reasons I wanted the Deck was to enjoy my Steam library on the go and while my kids were playing. My daughter loves Flight Simulator and she plays it on the PC with the joystick. While she’s playing I want to continue playing Eldin Ring on the couch. If I start a game on the Deck it will say there’s already someone playing a game on this account.
I don’t know why Microsoft would care that I'm playing a FromSoftware title. Trying to explain to a 4 or 7 year old that they have to “go offline” or “disconnect WiFi” before they can play just isn’t going to work. Even setting up a Steam account for them and telling them to switch accounts before they play is a bridge too far.
A possible solution to this is to have everyone have a Steam account with family sharing, but as stated above, there’s issues with that.
Freezes & Crashes
The Deck locks up quite a lot doing normal actions. I play a game, exit cleanly, come back tomorrow and I’ll need to restart before anything will launch.
I want to hook up to my TV by the official dock? I need to restart before it shows up on the screen, multiple times, and then sometimes it will just flicker back and forth.
Playing a verified game, crash. I’ve noticed every boss cut scene in Eldin Ring crashes, which is insanely frustrating to wonder if your 10th attempt where you beat them is saved.
Controller issues
With the Nintendo Switch I can plop down on the couch, hit the buttons on the controller a few times to wake it up and it will turn the Switch on, TV on, and switch to the correct input and I’m playing. No so with the Deck.
With the Deck I get constant controller disconnects. Playing Eldin Ring is frustrating enough, but when I run into a dungeon and the controller just stops responding and then reconnects - it’s beyond frustrating.
Sharing a controller between my PC and Deck is also frustrating. With the Switch I just plug it in and it syncs, then unplug it. With sharing a bluetooth controller I have to resync it each time. Also try to have your kids hold the small reset button while navigating the sync settings.
WiFi issues
WiFi takes a long time to reconnect or doesn’t reconnect at all - which causes issues with save syncing. Playing always online games like Eldin Ring online doesn't work. If you put the console to sleep (a core feature of a hand held device) or migrate between two access points you get kicked out of the game. You have to play the game offline.
Constant Tinkering
The Deck isn’t a walled garden like Nintendo, Sony, or Microsoft. Most games in my library were not built with the Deck in mind. This means the onus is on you, the player, to configure everything, per game, just right. From controller mappings to graphics, to power profiles. When I want to game I just want to game, not tinker and read Reddit comments or proton db suggestions till I get something that will work.
Light bleed
On dark scenes there are big bright spots in the corners of the Deck. I sent a picture of this to Steam support and they said it’s working within parameters. Looking at every other screen in my house - they don't have this issue.
(Should be a completely black screen with steam deck logo)
So what good is this thing?
If you (a singular gamer) want a hand held device to bring around with you, play on the couch or out and about, sure the Steam Deck is probably still a nice choice. You may say that is the target demographic too, but a portable hand held device needs to be more than that. At that point you might as well carry around a 5 year old laptop and get the same or better experience.
If you’re a family with young and old gamers, the Steam Deck isn’t ready for you yet.
Conclusion
Early adopter, premium price, with poor usability. There is a group of people who defend all these issues I bring up with “at least steam is doing something! Gaming on linux is so much better!” and yes - that's great and a good effort. But it’s not ready. Maybe next year will be the year of Linux desktop.. I mean gaming.
The good thing? Most of the points I bring up can be addressed with software updates. I hope Valve is listening.
Will I be keeping the Deck? No. I want to play games when I game, not do support.
Final thought - Nintendo clearly thought a lot about usability of the console and Valve should have learned and improved upon their success.
