Valve Steam Deck

The Steam Deck is a brilliant option for playing PC games on the sofa, in bed or anywhere else the mood takes you. It's wonderfully capable with very few problems, and, with multiple updates since launch, it just keeps getting better.

Valve's Steam Deck is easily the best handheld around, but it needs a bit more polish to fulfil all its gaming PC promises.

The Steam Deck is a brilliant gaming device that should appeal to PC gamers looking for a way to play their games while on the go, but who don’t fancy a gaming laptop. For console gamers who want a polished, straightforward experience, knock half a star off our score, but don’t discount the Steam Deck either.

The Steam Deck is an impressive starting point for portable hardware that offers high-end, PC-style gaming on the go. It's a work-in-progress at launch — and the battery is an inescapable problem — but it's an amazing step up from Nintendo's Switch.

The Steam Deck is a Frankenstein synthesis of a Wii U and a Vita, but with Valve’s DNA coursing through its cables. It’s a Steam Controller and a Steam Machine in one hefty package, and I’ve come to appreciate it for what it does best. The Steam Deck isn’t a mobile device to take on your everyday commute; it’s a Steam library extender, opening up new places to play around the house. I wouldn’t recommend the Steam Deck as an introduction to PC gaming, but for millions of existing Steam users, it’s worth the price of entry, even if you just play a few times a month, two hours at a time.

When I flew to Valve’s headquarters last August to see the Steam Deck, I told you why I was putting money down: I loved the idea of taking my PC games on the go, resuming them right where I left off on my desktop, finally having the time to play through Control and Resident Evil 2 and Fallout 4 and The Witcher 3 and a mountain of indie games I used to wait years to buy on Switch because that’s the only way I found enough time to see them through. So far, that’s the one part of the Steam Deck that’s largely working out, and I can only hope it’ll get better.

I've played multiple games from my backlog over the past few weeks, just because I'm no longer tethered to my gaming PC. The experience hasn't been as seamless as I'd have liked, but give it six months to a year and the OS could be in a completely different state. Or, you know, just wait for the inevitable Steam Deck V2.

Valve's Steam Deck is a powerful, flexible gaming handheld that feels great and lets you take your games on the go. Just don't expect it to last too long, and know that some games may not work perfectly out of the box.