Steam Deck Review: Impressive Hardware But An Unapproachable Experience
My first impression of the Steam Deck is how big it is. My second impression is how heavy it is. And my third is how understated its packaging is. This isn’t a major issue, but I’ve previously felt a rush of excitement when sliding the sleek lid off the box of my Nvidia RTX 3060, as well as that of The Xbox Series X, which captured the same premium feeling. For a product that costs as much as these, a plain, brown cardboard box simply containing the console and one instruction booklet feels a little underwhelming.
Luckily, the Deck itself is anything but that. I had my concerns going in - the joysticks looked too high up and the addition of trackpads seemed a strange choice (I’d never used the Steam controller) - but my worries were quickly alleviated. If the Deck didn’t have premium packaging, turning it on certainly gave it that luxurious feel I was looking for. The menus look and feel sleek, every button gives just the right amount of tactile feedback, and I can quickly navigate to the list of games in my Steam library.
Related: In Praise of the Steam Controller
Instead of sifting through my entire collection, I opted to download a selection of games with a variety of compatibility ratings. I’m doing another playthrough of Disco Elysium, so that was an easy choice. I also opted for Half-Life and Half-Life 2 because, well, it feels right doesn’t it? It’s interesting to note that the former has been rated ‘Deck Playable’ due to things like small writing, needing to tweak the settings to make it run well, and a poor resolution. The sequel is, however, is considered ‘Deck Verified’, which means that it should function perfectly on the console. I also downloaded The Witcher 3, which is Deck Verified, and Cyberpunk 2077,
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