I had an old MSI gaming laptop from 2016 which was amazing for me (I always had slow, 2nd hand laptops before) and now I’ve sold it and my PS Vita in order to buy a Steam Deck. I want to play Elden Ring, the Souls series, Sekiro and some indie games like Vampire Survivor. I also want to emulate games (Gameboy gen up to PS2 gen). Would that be a good investment or should I just go for a PC? I travel frequently because of my job.
Steam Deck seems great for you! Most of the games you mentioned work great on Deck.
Keep in mind that the Steam Deck can struggle with recent AAA releases. You probably won’t be able to hit 60 FPS in Elden Ring, but if you can handle 30 or 40 fps, you would enjoy it on Deck. Do some research on the games you want to play to make sure the Deck can run them well enough for you.
The Steam Deck is a phenomenal device for emulation. I adore playing retro games on this thing, it’s a spectacular experience. Games with a 4:3 aspect ratio look fantastic on the Steam Deck’s 16:10 screen!
The Deck can emulate a lot of systems very well. It’s excellent at emulating GameCube and Wii games. I don’t think it does all Wii games perfectly, but all the games I’ve tried work like a charm, even very intense Brawl mods. 3DS runs swimmingly as well, and while I haven’t tried Wii U emulation, it seems to work pretty well from what I’ve seen. The Deck is a monster for retro Nintendo emulation!
On a downer note, PS2 emulation on Deck is not perfect. A decent amount of PS2 games work fine. Some PS2 games require tinkering on your part to get them working well. Some PS2 games might simply be out of the question depending on how much slowdown you’re willing to tolerate. If you want to do PS2, you might want to look into Powertools, which can let you disable “SMT” to improve performance. I can go into detail on Powertools if you want. (Actually, I’ve heard that Valve is gonna make an update for the Deck that makes this unnecessary, so you might not have to worry about that.) You might want to research the PS2 games you want to play to make sure they work on Deck.
@PastaRhythm @neku People really need a steam deck 2. Games are already being made with ps6 in mind
Eh, I disagree. Most AAA games are still releasing on eighth gen hardware. The Steam Deck’s keeping up decently well, depending on how low you’re willing to drop your settings. I wouldn’t want a sequel this early in the Deck’s life. Besides, if you want more power, there are devices like the ROG Ally that can handle AAA with flying colors, even Starfield.
Now that I think about it-- @neku, if you’re willing to pay a bit extra, you could consider a ROG Ally, or that Lenovo Legion go that’s releasing soon. I think the Steam Deck offers a better user experience than the Ally thanks to its controls and software, but it might be worth considering for its more powerful hardware if you’re not happy with how the Deck performs.
ROG Ally has a virus (Windows) pre-installed and it’s less optimized. Steam Deck feels like a console with the added desktop function. ROG Ally feels like a bad imitation of someone who wanted to fit a desktop PC in the handheld form. It’s also about community, tinkering and Linux in general which makes me like the Steam Deck more
Absolutely. I definitely feel like the Steam Deck is better than the Ally. SteamOS is amazing, and the Deck’s plethora of input options brings the gaming experience to the next level.
I wasn’t sure if you were aware of the Ally, so I brought it up just to make sure you know what options you have. I would still recommend the Deck over the Ally any day of the week, though.
I looked into the rog ally before I got my deck a few months ago, the integration was rough and the spec difference did not make up for it. I was close to getting one, but then I read a ton of reviews and came to the conclusion that the deck was still better, even with the spec difference. I only regret not getting it sooner, it’s an amazing device and has not disappointed once with any new game this far. Haven’t y tried Elden Ring, but Diablo, BG3? Heel yea
Yeah, that’s exactly my problem with a lot of the Deck’s competitors. They’re trying to out-spec the Deck, but there’s a lot more that factors into a fun experience than just power. SteamOS’s Game Mode might be the best UI I’ve ever used. I also love the Steam Deck’s controls to death and could go on a very long rant about them, but I’ll hold that in.