50 Best Steam Deck Games (2025 Edition)

We did 25 best Steam Deck games in 2024, and as roughly 7 or 8 new games have been released since then, let’s do a video game industry special and remaking something arguably a bit too soon.

 

50. UFO 50

Steam Deck Status: Verified

If you accuse me of putting this at #50 purely for the synergy, I will lash out violently.

The reality is that while I’m going over the 50 best Steam Deck games today, UFO 50’s insane value proposition basically makes it 100 games.

This is 50 different retro styled games crammed into one truly insane package. Running the gamut from roguelites to shmups to platformers, with even a few multiplayer games chucked in, this is a truly bonkers undertaking, and a brilliant love letter to the 8-bit era of gaming.

There’s something here for every mood, and you can dip in and out of them whenever you please. This should probably be one of the first games you get for your Steam Deck.

 

49. State of Decay 2

Steam Deck Status: Playable (requires a bit of on-screen typing)

While not the smoothest sandbox game in general, and admittedly a bit stuttery on the Steam Deck, there’s something about State of Decay 2 that’s oddly kinda cosy.

You are the leader of a survivor group in a zombie apocalypse, and so your job is to basically do everything for them. That’s an oversimplification, but you’ll be dashing out constantly to fetch resources, clear infested areas, and collect nice hats.

Sure, it’s a bit mobile game-y sometimes, but if you want a fairly unserious zombie game to play on the go that you can pick up and enjoy for an hour or two here and there, State of Decay 2 is one of those fun games to chip away at. Until your favourite character gets ripped apart by a Juggernaut.

 

48. Hi-Fi Rush

Steam Deck Status: Verified

You all know that Hi-Fi Rush and Tango were done dirty by Microsoft, but that doesn’t take away from what banger of a game it is.

Calling to mind the absolute best PlayStation 2 games that you don’t see much of anymore, Hi-Fi Rush is a rhythm action where you beat up robots to fun rock beats while you try to stop an evil corporation.

A game oozing cel-shaded style, packed with moves to unlock, awesome setpieces, and just a general mood that calls to mind something you’d probably see on Cartoon Network back in the day, Hi-Fi Rush is a goofy little wonder that you can find for pretty cheap if you know where to look.

 

47. World of Horror

Steam Deck Status: Verified

People who need their Steam Deck to basically take flight with a graphically intense game on the go probably won’t like this one, but the unique 1-bit nature of World of Horror and its clear love for Junji Ito’s work makes it one of the most interesting games on Steam.

A roguelite (please stick with me) with turn-based combat, World of Horror is like an old school Goosebumps choose your adventure book turned up to 11. Across 14 playable characters, you’ll make tough decisions to see who you can keep alive — and then do it again.

World of Horror is a very replayable game, and while the dev has kinda just left the game a bit too early, this is an alternative bit of terror for you to dip in and out of on your Deck.

 

46. Death Stranding: Director’s Cut

Steam Deck Status: Verified

The Steam Deck is great at helping you play games you might not play otherwise. Death Stranding’s slow pace means I wouldn’t really want to play it at my desk, but in handheld it’s pretty zen to go trundling up hills, and do literally everything for everyone.

Death Stranding has you travelling across a broken America in the hopes of reconnecting a network, one delivery at a time. There’s loads of weird baby stuff going on, but you can just politely nod along while you hang out with Conan O’Brien.

Granted, the game does hitch a lot out of the box, and it gets a little, or a lot, chuggy towards the end. That said, if you don’t mind some issues, this is a AAA game that everyone should try at least once.

 

45. Mullet Madjack

Steam Deck Status: Verified (use gyro tho)

You got all that contemplative philosophising and walking about out of your system with Death Stranding? OK, now it’s time to run very fast and shoot gun.

If you liked Post Void but wanted it to be more anime, you’re gonna love Mullet Madjack. Get to the end of levels as fast as you can by killing enemies to add more seconds to your life. Imagine that Crank movie, but significantly less subtle — and that’s saying something,

Yeah, you’re probably gonna want to play this one on a desktop to keep up with its pace, especially if you’re not into gyro aiming, but if you need some murder for 10 minutes here are there, Mullet Madjack is a brilliant game for the Steam Deck.

 

44. Days Gone

Steam Deck Status: Verified

One of the better open world games of the last ten years, Days Gone is not a perfect game, but that’s what makes it so…interesting?

A post-apocalyptic zombie bonanza where you play as Deacon St John, a grieving widow who’s a bit of a grumpy wumpy, Days Gone’s clunky narrative flaws are nicely balanced out with awesome motorbike mechanics and some crazy horde-killing action that’s always super duper fun.

And it also runs pretty smoothly on Deck throughout too, even outperforming the original PS4 version in some ways. Pick it up on the cheap and find out why so many people are dying for a sequel that will probably never arrive.

 

43. Darkwood

Steam Deck Status: Verified

Being a Darkwood fan feels like being in a bit of a weird club. It’s certainly not for everyone, as it has 16-bit difficulty to go along with its lo-fi presentation, and people can be weird about top-down sometimes. But you’ve probably never played survival horror like this before.

Darkwood takes away all the crutches of modern gaming. You have to figure out where you are and what you’re doing in the day, load up on supplies, and then survive the night against mutated beasts within a deep, dark…wood.

Some of the terror may be lost on a small OLED screen compared to a monitor, but nothing promotes handheld gaming like still being able to stealthily shit yourself on your couch while your partner watches Young Sheldon, does it?

 

42. Stray

Steam Deck Status: Verified (make a few tweaks)

A viral game in 2022, which was somehow 3 years ago and would also make Stray a full grown cat itself, this is such a fun little distraction for an afternoon that feels right at home on the Steam Deck, though you will need to do a bit of fiddling.

An old school adventure game with basically no fat on it, Stray sees you playing as a young cat in a dystopian world where humans have disappeared and only androids remain. You’ve got to find your way home, one meow and baked biscuit at a time.

Stray has some amazing, super realistic cat animations, and a really unique cyberpunk look, but the best thing about it on Steam Deck is that you might be able to get through a lot of it in a single charge. Bring back the weekend rental game.

 

41. Signalis

Steam Deck Status: Verified

This is kinda a combination of the last two games: the snappy sci-fi length of Stray and the arse-mincing terror of Darkwood. Signalis is also very, very good.

It’s an old school survival horror in which you explore a strange facility as an android looking to piece together her lost dreams something something Blade Runner. The story can be a bit subtle and hard to piece together here, and it might not land for everyone.

However, Signalis has brutal resource management that makes every shot meaningful, a tremendous soundtrack, and gorgeous pixel art that’ll grip you the whole game. It even runs at a buttery 60fps with a few reflection tweaks. If you loved PS1 horror, buy it, and you won’t be disappointed.

 

40. Dying Light

Steam Deck Status: Verified

Dying Light is aging mightily well as far as open world games go, and Harran simply has a “vibe” that you cannot really replicate. It’s also one of the better AAA out of the box experiences on Deck.

A first-person parkour horror game, Dying Light has you dicking around in the day, dropkicking idiots off of rooftops, and then fighting for your life at night when the Volatiles come out.

Running at a mostly stable 60fps from default settings, Dying Light on Deck is able to handle hectic combat and chase sequences pretty well, and look pretty great at the same time. If you want a zombie game that you can mostly zone out with and just do cool stuff in, Dying Light is a kinda cosy game of mine, and you really ought to give it a shot if you somehow haven’t.

 

39. Bombrush Cyberfunk

Steam Deck Status: Verified

For those who miss turn of the millennium style and also generally just fun, arcade-y experiences, Bombrush Cyberfunk is one of the easiest recommendations out there.

Basically a spiritual successor to Jet Set, Bombrush has you skating and BMXing around a city in order to spray graffiti everywhere and do tricks with the ultimate goal of figuring out why you’re an android head with sentience on a human’s body.

This game has got just an immaculate presentation. Honestly it nails everything it sets out to do. From the music to those cel-shaded visuals, Bombrush Cyberfunk is such an incredible love letter to the Y2K era, and a game that feels custom made for the Deck.

 

38. Shin Megami Tensei V Vengeance

Steam Deck Status: Verified

The original SMT V was overall good but a tad hollow, and also tied to the Switch. The Vengeance re-release is exactly what the game should have been to begin with.

The story is still a bit lightweight, but new characters add some much needed weight to this turn-based RPG as you conscript demons to your cause, usually through some pretty funny negotiations.

The press turn mechanics make each encounter layered, and also completely merciless if you forget to save. With an absolutely brilliant soundtrack on top of the always fun mechanic of smushing demons together, Persona for the freaks is absolutely worth investing your time into on Steam Deck. But seriously, save often.

 

37. Monster Train

Steam Deck Status: Playable (text can be a bit small)

Honk honk, it’s the fun train.

I dunno if you heard, but card games are cool again. Trains have always been cool. Merge them together with a touch of Slay the Spire and you get Monster Train, an extremely moreish deckbuilder.

Your job is to basically build a killer deck while completing escalating battles, both in terms of difficulty and uh verticality, making choose or…choo-choose your own adventure choices on your train route while also buying upgrades, and then oops you’ve lost 20 hours of your life.

Monster Train is the perfect game to dip in and out of on your Deck, and is overall a pretty fun, approachable game for deckbuilding newcomers.

 

36. El Paso, Elsewhere

Things that are also cool: Max Payne and vampires. Again, mush these two things together and you get the super fun El Paso, Elsewhere.

A third-person shooter where you leap through the air in slow motion and shoot all manner of beasties while hunting down your pretty evil ex, El Paso, Elsewhere feels like a lo-fi rendition of Max Payne, and bullet time is always fun time.

The gameplay doesn’t change things up too much throughout, but this is the perfect weekend Steam Deck game for you to throw yourself around some very spooky corridors while listening to banger original soundtrack. Take a bite out of this, it’s fang-tastic etc etc vampire pun, very good.

 

35. Horizon Zero Dawn

Steam Deck Status: Verified

Horizon Zero Dawn felt like a technical revelation for the PS4 in 2017, an open world game that really seemed to be testing the console’s graphical limit. Playing it on a handheld was pretty much unthinkable.

But they actually managed it, and what’s crazier is that it runs pretty stably on Deck too.

Aloy’s first post-post-apocalyptic adventure sees you travelling around a gorgeous, massive map while fighting giant robot dinosaurs and discovering more about ancient times. It has an incredible scale, and you can fully feel that even on the Deck’s smaller screen.

The second game, Forbidden West, is also decent, but if you want a tighter story for cheaper with better overall performance, Zero Dawn is the way to go on the go.

 

34. Furi

Steam Deck Status: Verified

If you’re looking for a challenging and fast-paced game to play on your shiny new Steam Deck, Furi is a brilliant pick, even if just for that excellent soundtrack.

A boss-rush bullet hell slash em up, Furi puts players in the dangerous shoes of The Stranger, a mysterious figure who’s spent his existence being imprisoned in orbit of a daunting planet. Standing between The Stranger and their freedom are prison guards who are determined to put The Stranger in the ground, and they’ve got the means to do it.

With a sword and gun in hand, you’ll have your skills tested, and you’ll love every second, every second that you aren’t screaming in frustration that is.

 

33. Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered

Another open world game that probably had no right to be handheld, Marvel’s Spider-Man was an incredible accomplishment to get shrunk down onto the Steam Deck.

While you’re gonna have to do a bit of fiddling to get more than an hour of battery out of it, Marvel’s Spider-Man’s ability to let you swing around New York City at a pretty stable framerate is nothing short of magic.

And hey, the game is pretty great too, with a story that will punch you directly in the heart. It’s also an open world game that doesn’t feel bloated. There’s stuff to do, but never too much. It’s a much tighter game than its sequel, too, which I honestly can’t imagine recommending on Deck unless there’s some real updates poured into it.

 

32. Hotline Miami

Now here’s a game the might of the Steam Deck has zero problems running. One of the greatest, most influential indie games of all time, Hotline Miami could probably run on a Samsung smart fridge but it’s no less brilliant even all these years later.

A top-down action game where you hit people with doors and stomp on heads a bit, Hotline Miami is one of the quintessential “one more go” games with its instakill nature being pretty brutal at times.

Crank up the soundtrack, chuck some baseball bats, and enjoy simply one of the most wonderfully simple games ever made. The second game is also pretty great, so grab both if you enjoy hurting people.

 

31. Baldur’s Gate 3

Steam Deck Status: Verified

If you want to experience one of the best RPGs ever made according to very horny people, picking up Baldur’s Gate 3 for your Steam Deck isn’t a bad idea, though it’ll eat a massive chunk of your Deck’s storage, and performance does tend to really craaaaaaaawl along the deeper into it you go. It doesn’t look amazing either.

Still, if you’ve got the space and patience for it, Baldur’s Gate 3 is a superlative CRPG experience, with a compelling cast of characters and role-playing depth that just never stops surprising you, along with the ability to have a pet dog. Enjoy act 1 on the go, and then maybe switch over to PC and remote play it for the ceaseless commitment that is act 3.

 

30. Stardew Valley

Steam Deck Status: Verified

Stardew Valley feels like it’s right at home on the Steam Deck, but it’s consumed so many lives at this point that putting it high in any list feels a tad…dull? If you want to just full send on Stardew Valley for hours at a time, toiling away at your carrots and telling Morris to piss off, the Steam Deck allows you to do just that.

As the new citizen in town who inherited their grandfather’s farm, you’ll start out with a few hand-me-down tools, loose change and a can-do attitude. With a bit of elbow grease, you’ll help turn the farm into a productive beacon of the entire town, and then sit back and chill with your husband and/or wife or dog.

 

29. Ghost of Tsushima

Steam Deck Status:  Unsupported (runs amazing)

For me, Ghost of Tsushima is the best open world game Sony has published. Exploring around the beautiful Tsushima is constantly breathtaking, and there’s lots to see and do without it being too busy.

It’s also a really good choice for your Deck, even though it’s listed as unsupported. Not too sure entirely why that is, as you can get about 40fps while riding around the world pretty reliably. You should be able to jump in and make a couple of quick settings changes, and then lose like 40 hours of your life.

Ghost of Tsushima has gorgeous vistas, a gripping story, and fun, empowering combat while never outstaying its welcome and feeling bloated. Absolutely give it a shot if you haven’t.

 

28. Streets of Rage 4

Steam Deck Status: Verified

No matter how many years pass, there will always be a desire to batter goons while a massive arrow on the side of the screen tells you that you can go. There’s plenty of enjoyable beat ‘em ups available on the Steam Deck, but the best the genre has to offer is undoubtedly Streets of Rage 4.

A sequel to SEGA’s incredible beat ‘em up series, Streets of Rage 4 brings back iconic characters like Axel, Blaze and Adam, along with newcomers Floyd and Cherry, to bring the fight to the streets of Wood Oak City. With plenty of skulls in need of a good cracking, Streets of Rage 4 smartly blends old school fundamentals with modern trappings, and is smooth as butter on Deck.

 

27. Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor

The “survivor-like” is a genre fated for the Steam Deck, usually hands-off shooters where you use the left stick to avoid enemies and auto-attack while gradually getting more powerful. Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor is a brilliant twist on that formula.

With you able to dwarf out to mine your surroundings to clear paths and collect resources, Survivor has plenty of ways of approaching most encounters, and it’s got a great variety of characters to play as and weapons to use too.

It does chug slightly on Deck out of the box when the screen gets full, but with a few little tweaks, you can get a whole evening out of rocking and stoning.

 

26. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

Steam Deck Status: Verified

Platinum’s library of top-tier games is certainly extensive, and even though there’s quite a few titles available to play on Steam Deck, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance feels like a brilliant, affordable fit.

A spin-off to Konami’s iconic Metal Gear series, Revengeance puts players in the cybernetic body of Raiden, the often-maligned protagonist of Metal Gear Solid 2 who became very cool. Revengeance sees Raiden travelling across the world, carving a bloody path through mercs and goons with his electric katana in hand and sombrero on his head in super fun character action with a banger soundtrack.

You are more than welcome to put MGS V in here instead, but for its simple pick up and play nature, Revengeance is a fantastic portable pick from the Metal Gear franchise.

 

25. Project Zomboid

Steam Deck Status: Verified

Project Zomboid is about as upfront with its intention to kill you as possible. It’s not a question of if you’re going to die, but when, as infection, disease and sometimes even sheep can lead to your untimely demise. The deeper you dive into it, the higher the stakes rise as one mistake can lead to dozens of hours disappearing.

Listen, Zomboid is one of my personal favourite games of all time, and I cannot recommend it enough, having poured about 50 hours into it on the Steam Deck. You will need to fiddle with the controls a bit, and it’s gonna suffer if you load it up with mods, but Zomboid on Deck is a pretty good way to figure out how exactly you died in portable fashion.

 

24. Marvel’s Midnight Suns

Steam Deck Status:  Playable

If you’re looking for your next big superhero game fix, the massively underrated whipper that is Marvel’s Midnight Suns is the perfect Steam Deck game for you.

A more supernatural-focused game than some of the recent Marvel titles, you control The Hunter as they assemble a team to stop Lilith. Yes, there is a bit of deckbuilding here, but it’s pretty light and approachable stuff, and the synergy between heroes is overall great fun to figure out. Looks great on Deck, too.

Also, you get to chat about feelings with Blade between missions, which is also nice, and if you can believe it it even makes Morbius likeable! Video games: what will they do next?

 

23. Dave the Diver

Steam Deck Status: Verified

Would Dave the Diver have been such a breakout success without the Deck? It probably would have done very well, but its underwater adventuring just hits way better in handheld than on the big screen.

An often whimsical pixel art adventure in which you play as someone maybe related to Jon Favreau, Dave the Diver has you diving deeper and deeper in order to acquire exotic fish to keep your restaurant heaving at night.

There’s a lot of stuff to collect and sooooo many upgrades to work towards, but it’s never overbearing. Dave the Diver is a wonderfully chill game that feels custom made to chip away at on your Deck over about two dozen hours

 

22. Cult of the Lamb

Steam Deck Status: Verified

A roguelike with accessible gameplay and bundles of charm, Cult of the Lamb has you controlling a helpless little lamb who’s rescued from certain death by a god-like stranger known only as “The One Who Waits”. Naturally, the only thing you can do to thank them for their generosity is to form a cult to praise their name eternally, performing rituals and sacrificing followers while building facilities and gathering resources to keep the flock happy.

With gorgeous visuals, an off-kilter sense of humour, and some basic management mechanics to keep the workaholics invested, Cult of the Lamb is a fascinating hybrid of ideas that works super well on Deck. Ewe won’t reget it.

 

21. Journey

Steam Deck Status: Verified

Journey has become something of legend in the decade since its original release, and even now it’s still as relevant and moving as it ever was. You can even experience the charm of Journey on the go, thanks to the Steam Deck, which means you can probably finish the whole game in the time you spend on the toilet.

A mysterious game that’s open to both exploration and interpretation, Journey follows an unnamed stranger as they glide across the sands of a desert, which seemingly plays host to a long forgotten civilization buried deep underneath.

Journey is undeniably magical with a neat twist I won’t spoil, and that’s still true on the Steam Deck. Invest in some nice headphones and prepare to feel.

 

20. Pizza Tower

Wario is a guy made for handheld devices, and if Nintendo aren’t going to give him his own platformer again, Tour De Pizza probably felt like they had to.

A completely mental 2D platformer that feels like a long, dark cheese nightmare, Pizza Tower is basically a spiritual successor to the Wario Land series with a big emphasis on speed and momentum as you constantly try to up your scores as Peppino Spaghetti, who is in a perpetual state of “going through something”.

This is one of the most 90s games out there, from the Toejam and Earl-esque graphics to the difficulty to the awesome soundtrack. There have been a lot of modern retro platformers in the last few years, but Pizza Tower is absolutely the upper crust.

 

19. Disco Elysium

Steam Deck Status: Verified

One of the closest depictions of tabletop RPG gameplay in video games, and depression, Disco Elysium sees players controlling an amnesiac detective tasked with solving a complicated murder case. Instead of traditional combat, every action in the game is governed by a series of skill checks and dialogue trees. Their own abilities are tied to the character’s personality, and upgrading skills too much can even lead to some new quirks and traits.

One minute you’re trying to find sad Homer Simpson’s necktie, the next minute you’re crying in the club. Such is the brilliance of Disco Elysium. However, considering the unbelievably mucky, sadly ironic situation for this game behind the scenes, please hunt this one down on third-party sites, or through…other means.

 

18. Neon White

Steam Deck Status: Verified

Even the most hardcore killers can be given a second chance in Neon White. They just need to compete in a demon slaying death game, with the winner being granted eternal rest in the kingdom of Heaven. Oh dear. Guess you gotta climb some leaderboards for 20 hours.

A first-person shooter, you use Soul Cards as weapons, and each can also be discarded for a powerful movement ability. Each level becomes about using your abilities to gain the best time, leading to an endlessly bingeable pursuit for glory set to an impeccable soundtrack where you will just be beaten by some dude in Asia anyway. If you don’t love card, visual novel, or even FPS games, you’ll get a lot of fun out of this speedrunner’s dream.

 

17. Dorfromantik

Steam Deck Status: Verified

There are few puzzle games more enjoyable on the Steam Deck than Dorfromantik. Perhaps that’s because Dorfromantik doesn’t quite feel like a puzzle game, but the compelling gameplay and chilled out vibes will certainly ensure you’ll be coming back for more after each session.

Dorfromantik is all about building your own little rural society using the stack of tiles you have to hand. You gain more points and tiles by matching together features of the same type. Once you run out of tiles, it’s game over, but you can always just carry on placing tiles and making the place look nice in creative mode when you’re done.

Stick on some lo-fi beats for architects and just chill with this one.

 

16. Resident Evil 4

Ok, this is a lot less chill. Actually, the Resident Evil 4 remake is still one of the most replayable games ever made, so playing it on the Deck is a pretty good way of “relaxing” as you try to beat your scores.

The game runs pretty great on Deck, with just a little bit of tinkering needed to get a super smooth 30fps throughout, though you can expect to get to 40 with a few more graphical concessions.

The game itself though really is fantastic, a wonderful alternate version of survival horror royalty that can live alongside the original. Pretty much all the RE games run well on Steam Deck, make the jump into the land of sandwiches and bingo if you haven’t yet.

 

15. Slay the Spire

Steam Deck Status: Verified

Slay The Spire is one of the most exciting, influential, and enthralling indie games of the past decade. If you’d like to see minutes played turn into hours before your eyes, Slay The Spire will be your new favourite game.

A dynamic single-player deck-builder, Slay The Spire allows players to pick from one of four distinct characters, each with their own unique deck of cards. Players take on each run by tackling the spire, picking their route to favour safe encounters or take some risks for better loot. Throughout the runs, you’ll build up your deck with stronger cards, allowing you to finally slay that damn spire, or die like me because you’re an idiot.

 

14. God of War

Steam Deck Status: Verified

Sony has done a decent job ensuring that most of their PC ports work pretty well on the Steam Deck, and while it might drain your battery fairly quickly, a cinematic spectacle like God of War 2018 running like this on the Deck is pretty bonkers.

The first part of the Norse saga will manage a pretty stable 30fps on your Deck, while also not needing too many concessions or fiddling, even during some of the more hectic combat encounters. The combat has a good, purposeful heft to it, while the story adds layers to Kratos. The world exploration and light action RPG mechanics also add a dozen hours of extra content.

Ragnarok is absolutely playable on Deck too, but for being a bit narratively tighter and cheaper, God of War 2018 has to get the nod here.

 

13. Cuphead

Steam Deck Status: Verified

It’s a bit risky to recommend Cuphead for your Steam Deck, as it’s a game that makes me grip the thing so tightly that I could genuinely snap it.

Yes yes, Cuphard etc etc, we all know it’s a tough one by now. But this is a run and gun that still looks sensational, plays smoother than many of the classics it’s inspired by, and takes you by the neck and demands your lunch money.

Cuphead is a great game to chip away at on your Deck, with some of the greatest boss fights in gaming history, a thigh slapping soundtrack, and way more content than you’d expect. You should expect to want to die, though.

 

12. Undertale

Steam Deck Status: Playable (sometimes shows non-Steam Deck controller icons)

What started as a loving tribute to old SNES RPGs like Earthbound/Mother with about 250% more ironic humour has turned into a globally recognised franchise in its own right.

Undertale is quite a difficult game to nail down, as it combines bits of different genres to create something unlike anything else ever made. You play as a human who falls down a hole into a world filled with creatures and monsters, but instead of murdering everything you see like every other RPG, you instead have the choice of befriending these creatures, leading to a humorous and emotionally resonant adventure.

Undertale could probably run on a particularly brave calculator, but it’s one of those games that everyone should play at least once, and the Steam Deck is a great place to do just that.

 

11. Elden Ring

Steam Deck Status: Verified

FromSoftware’s massive action RPG has received a completely deserved amount of critical acclaim since launch in 2022, and the best part is that the entire experience is completely verified for the Steam Deck, running at 30-40fps and looking decent with some tinkering. .

With a greater level of freedom compared to other Soulslike titles, players can choose where to go and which enemies they want to face, meaning if you’re running into a massive roadblock, you can simply just go elsewhere and grind, which is just a godsend for a game as challenging as Elden Ring.

While Elden Ring may look a wee bit crusty on the Deck compared to other platforms, Elden Ring is still Elden Ring, and Soldier of Godrick still has my wife and kids. I still need to play that DLC too, but honestly that thing scares me.

 

10. Vampire Survivors

Steam Deck Status: Verified

Going from AAA games to this is a bit funny, but Vampire Survivors is up there among the best Steam Deck games because it is basically digital crack.

Killing enemies levels you up, which unlocks new weapons and effects that can be stacked on top of each other, allowing you to “become the bullet hell”. While the gameplay does all the attacking for you, the compulsion comes from watching your build go from weak to godkiller over the span of half an hour.

You can buy it for less than $5/£4, and if you like it, you’ve just given yourself hundreds of hours of content. If you don’t, it’s not like you lost too much. In terms of sheer value for money, Vampire Survivors has it in spades, especially if you pick up the also dirt cheap DLC.

 

9. Dead Cells

Steam Deck Status: Verified

If you’re looking for a Steam Deck game that’s had so many updates that it’s like a dating app for people who only like cranky old men, Dead Cells is a solid bet.

A “Roguevania”, which smartly blends elements of both the Metroidvania and roguelike genres, Dead Cells sees players controlling The Prisoner, exploring an island filled with monsters looking to tear you limb from limb. Players explore a variety of dungeons and biomes that are randomly generated, earning new weapons and loot along the way in order to survive your run. You’ll die a hell of a lot, but you’ll have plenty of fun all the same.

It even has pretty dang good Castlevania DLC, and what is a man but a miserable pile of Steam points they will never spend? Fine Gabe, I will buy the cringe anime girl background.

 

8. Celeste

Steam Deck Status: Verified

It might not be for everyone, but the tight gameplay and incredible story make Celeste a journey worth taking, especially on Deck.

You take control of Madeline, a determined young woman who resolves to climb Celeste Mountain, despite how much the people around her protest her decision. The mountain itself is host to a lot of strange occurrences, making the climb much more perilous than usual, but Madeline’s biggest obstacle is the personification of her anxiety and self-doubt, taunting her through every step of the climb.

This is a gorgeous pixel art platformer with a frankly incredible amount of content, and a super precise learning curve that will have you sweating. Why not get started now?

 

7. Persona 5 Royal

Steam Deck Status: Verified

Persona 5 Royal sees players controlling a Tokyo high school student who happens to find themselves with the ability to travel to an alternate dimension and infiltrate mind palaces. Together with his friends, you’ll travel to these palaces, steal their distorted desires, and change the world itself as the Phantom Thieves.

Also, you can play darts.

If the game’s been sitting in your library for a while, it’s definitely worth playing on your Steam Deck, as you can break up Persona 5 Royal’s gargantuan runtime by playing the game on the go, gathering ten different girlfriends and occasionally taking part in almost ridiculously stylish turn-based combat. Persona 4 Golden and Persona 3 Reload are also absolutely worth checking out on Deck.

 

6. Red Dead Redemption 2

Steam Deck Status: Verified

OK, so for as good as Red Dead Redemption 2 is handheld, I do have to quickly recommend here that you play it on PC first, just cos it cost Rockstar £15 billion quid to make and you will lose some of that insane detail on Deck.

Quite simply one of the greatest games ever made, Red Dead Redemption 2 is a wild, wild open world game set in the wild, wild west where you play as Arthur Morgan, a member of a gang where things are going a bit wrong.

There are so many things to see and do in Red Dead Redemption 2, from the random encounters to the crazy gameplay experiments you can undertake. And somehow it runs super well on Steam Deck 2, easily capable of 30-40fps while still looking absolutely superb.

 

5. Yakuza 0

Steam Deck Status: Verified

Being able to play Yakuza 0 on your Steam Deck is an amazing feeling. Exploring Kamurocho with Kazuma Kiryu or Sotenbori with Goro Majima is absolutely wonderful, even when the experience has been shrunk down to a fifth of the regular TV size.

Set in Japan during the 1980s, Yakuza 0 is the prequel for the entire series, telling the story of how Kiryu and Goro became the Dragon of Dojima and the Mad Dog of Shimano respectively. While there’s two protagonists, the story does an excellent job of weaving together one whole narrative, and the combat is bone-crunching in its viciousness. And hey, Kamurocho is as fun to explore here as it is in about 12 other games.

For many, Yakuza 0 is seen as the pinnacle of the whole franchise, but there’s also other titles in the series that are verified on Steam Deck too, like the recent Infinite Wealth!

 

4. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Steam Deck Status: Verified

The Witcher 3 managing to run on Switch was seen as something of a miracle port, but the Steam Deck version has to be where you turn if you’ve got a portable choice to make about how to play one of the best open world RPGs ever.

The Witcher 3 is the concluding part of Geralt’s saga, and quite easily the best of the OG trilogy. You’ve got to try and find his adopted daughter with the Wild Hunt not far behind, while also finding time to shag your way across the Continent.

The Witcher 3 is capable of getting to 60fps out of the box, but you’ll probably wanna cap it at 45 for it to be as smooth as possible. Even a decade on, it looks and plays great, with so many games inspired by it while never getting close to surpassing it.

 

3. Hades

Steam Deck Status: Verified

Supergiant’s dungeon crawling roguelike became an absolutely massive hit after it graduated from Early Access, so if you haven’t played this groundbreaking game yet, the Steam Deck is the perfect place to get started.

You control Zagreus, Hades’ son who’s grown tired with the administrative life of the Underworld. Also, he wants to find his mum who’s living on the surface world. Unfortunately for Zag, Hades throws the full weight of his forces at Zagreus, and in order to get strong enough to succeed, you’ll need to be ready to die over and over again. The action is great, but just getting to know the people of the underworld is enough of a game on its own.

I’ll also chuck in a recommendation for Hades 2, but do bear in mind that one’s still in Early Access.

 

2. Balatro

Steam Deck Status: Verified

You’re probably going to look at Balatro and think it’s barely even testing the Steam Deck. That’s true. But there’s probably no greater game on the handheld for turning 5 minutes of mild intrigue into 50 hours of pure, brilliant gameplay.

Poker as seen in bizarro land, Balatro has you using different jokers to raise your maximum score potential as you look to beat different increasingly challenging blinds with the power of numbers. The only thing it has in common with real poker is basically how hands work, and their combinations.

The rest of this roguelike is simply off the wall nonsense where you use multipliers and bizarre card modifiers to make you feel like the Kaiba of silly lil clown dudes. It is an A-class drug in digital form, and it’s very fun to say it like how Brad Pitt says Gorlami in Inglorious Basterds . However, Balatro doesn’t have any silly lil bug dudes, so the winner has to be:

 

1. Hollow Knight

Steam Deck Status: Verified

Hollow Knight is such a good game that it outdoes its progenitors in a lot of ways. Metroid and Castlevania might have laid the groundwork, but it’s games like Hollow Knight that have really advanced the medium in recent years.

Set in an underground world known as Hallownest, players take control of a nameless knight, destined to explore this complex series of areas, defeating enemies and bosses along the way. Each boss you defeat and area you complete will give you more abilities that aid in exploration, and the way each area ties into each other is simply genius game design.

Hollow Knight can be tough, but the intrigue of this strange, beautifully hand-drawn world will keep you locked in. I wish Team Cherry would lock in a release date for Silksong, it’s been 84 years!