I played PC games since I was a kid — I remember trying Snowboarding on my mother’s desktop when I was too sick to go to school. Since then, I’ve amassed a huge game library on Steam, the platform created by Valve; that’s how most people play games on their computer. (Valve is also the creator of hits like Half-life and Portal.) I was intrigued when Valve announced Last year’s Steam floor, a portable portable game console that lets you play your PC games anywhere. That’s the potential push I need to get as I expand Steam stagnation.
Well, I’ve been using the Steam Deck for a few weeks, playing AAA and indie games on the couch, in bed, in the office chair, in the car, in the coffee shop, and on the plane. Some of my fears when I first heard about this widget were validated — it’s clunky and the layout of the controls isn’t very ergonomic, attributes you don’t really wanted in the handheld console.
It looks like Valve could use a few more weeks (months?) to improve the software experience. (The deck was slated to launch back in December, so it was delayed once.) This console has been in development for four years, going through a pandemic, so no It’s no surprise to see last-minute problems that have to be fixed. But ever since I got it, Valve has been pushing system updates every day — meaning I have to re-test certain functions over and over again. Valve said it will continue to roll out regular updates to fix bugs after launch.
That is both good and bad. It means the software needs more work, but it also shows how committed Valve is to the Steam Deck. I’m glad to see it, because this thing has so much potential.
Bulky machine
I got the top-end Steam Deck that retails for $649, which includes a 512 gigabyte solid-state drive. You can pay as little as $399 for the Deck, but you’ll only get a tiny 64GB of storage. Considering that AAA games today range in size from 50 to 70 GB, if not more, you’ll probably want to pay at least for the 256 GB version ($529).
That said, the MicroSD card slot is my favorite feature. You can hot swap in the MicroSDs when they are properly formatted to join and play another game, essentially giving the Deck more memory. I bought one SanDisk Ultra 1 terabyte MicroSD cardand it contains all 41 games that i want to download including Legendary version of Mass Effect (110 GB), ARK: Survival Evolved (101 GB), Fate 2 (74 GB), Cyberpunk 2077 (67 GB) and Death Stranding (64 GB).
The load speed difference between the internal SSD and the MicroSD is minimal—Death Stranding it takes about 19 seconds to upload on SSD and 30 seconds on MicroSD, although this fluctuates. So far I haven’t noticed any big difference. I also tried this with 32GB and 256GB SanDisk Extreme MicroSD cards, and the results made no difference. If you’re worried about Valve’s low storage options, a MicroSD card has your back.
This deck is a bit bulky, but not as heavy as I had imagined and not uncomfortable to hold either. It weighs 672 grams; for reference, Nintendo Switch OLED is 436 grams, and iPhone 13″ is 174 grams. Most of this weight is on each side of the panel, which is curved at the back to better fit your hand. It feels odd to hold such a wide handset (12 inches compared to the 9-inch long Switch), but you’ll get used to it. Literally. The first time I played for an hour, my right hand went numb. Now I have a few breaks and stretch out regularly and that hasn’t happened since.
My biggest concern is the layout of the buttons, especially since you can’t disassemble the controllers like you can on the Switch. Unlike most controllers, where the buttons and thumbstick are on a diagonal—a design repeated over decades of testing to reduce stress—the D-pad and ABXY’s buttons The deck is horizontally next to their respective thumbs. They’re quite tall to make room for two trackpads on each side of the panel. There are also triggers on the console’s shoulders and paddles on the back, which feels great and reminds me of Xbox Elite Controller.
