3,500 games now Steam Deck Verified or Playable

Quoting: Phlebiac

Quoting: Zeloximplement a protondb rating on every store page.

One option:
https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts/439657-protondb-steamplay-integration

Thanks for this, no idea this was a thing.

Quoting: sarmadI don't understand this number. There are 9800 games on Steam that natively support Linux. I understand the verified status having more to do than just the game being playable, but shouldn't playable include all those 9800 native titles by default?

No, absolutely not. Matter of expectations.
There are quite a lot of games that work perfect on Linux but need fixes for handhelds in general or deck in specific (often the same would apply on windows)

Examples:
Games with very small text.
Games that get confused with any input you throw at them.
Games that have issues after waking up from sleep.
Games that show totally wrong control glyphs while playing.

etc...

One current example for me is Talos principle.
You can absolutely play it on Deck. It's beautiful, there is a great default controller layout defined, even with nice gyro settings. BUT: When I put it to sleep and wake it up, sound has gone and won't come back until I restart the game. And the ingame control glyphs are all just fancy rectangles. For me, it's still enjoyable, but Valve can't seriously call that ready for consumers.
Another example is Psychonauts. I may have to retest at some point, but last time I tried it, it would simply not react on any input.
There were quite a few other native titles that I couldn't get running. Some of them were fixed by forcing windows version with proton, some weren't. Yet, there are so many games that do run great, I just switch games and may come back to these games later...


Last edited by const on 22 June 2022 at 10:26 pm UTC

Quoting: wit_as_a_riddleLooking forward to comments about those few games that slipped through the cracks of the verification system and somehow don't work as expected according to their rating. Best, most interesting and original sentiments, and very important to note since by all indications Valve is an evil and greedy company which lies to their customers (for profit!) at every opportunity. /s!

🤣🤣🤣 Sorry, couldn't help myself.

3500 games with console-like experience. Many more with PC-like experience. It's incredible!

Fantasy Grounds and Fantasy Grounds Unity... FG is Verified and it is completely jacked. FGU works, but only after setting it to native, the windows installer literally cased my Deck to crash.

Quoting: PhiladelphusI'm curious: have the ratings shifted to be more in line with peoples' expectations?

No, they haven't changed their criteria for rating games as Verified.

They outline it here.

Here's some of the text from the above link:

Games that check these four boxes are Deck Verified.

Input
The title should have full controller support, use appropriate controller input icons, and automatically bring up the on-screen keyboard when needed.

Display
The game should support the default resolution of Steam Deck (1280x800 or 1280x720), have good default settings, and text should be legible.

Seamlessness
The title shouldn’t display any compatibility warnings, and if there’s a launcher it should be navigable with a controller.

System Support
If running through Proton, the game and all its middleware should be supported by Proton. This includes anti-cheat support.

EDIT: Further explanation of all the ratings can be found here


Last edited by wit_as_a_riddle on 23 June 2022 at 12:19 pm UTC

Quoting: wit_as_a_riddle

Quoting: PhiladelphusI'm curious: have the ratings shifted to be more in line with peoples' expectations?

No, they haven't changed their criteria for rating games as Verified.

Right, I know the criteria, thanks; but I remember there was a big outcry when the Deck first came out that games which were—according to Valve's definitions—Verified or Playable still had issues like crashes, unwatchable cutscenes, etc.. Regardless of what the formal criteria say, people generally expect a Verified game to be basically flawless*. So my question was, whether or not Valve have changed the formal criteria, do they seem to have informally changed the process such that e.g. Verified games are more in line with what people expect rather than just their own criteria. (Ticktok's reply above seems to indicate, informally, that the answer might be "yes.")

*Like, the Verified criteria say nothing about stability, so a Verified game could crash every 10 minutes and still perfectly fit the criteria for being Verified; but most people would expect a Verified game not to do that.

Quoting: const

Quoting: sarmadI don't understand this number. There are 9800 games on Steam that natively support Linux. I understand the verified status having more to do than just the game being playable, but shouldn't playable include all those 9800 native titles by default?

No, absolutely not. Matter of expectations.
There are quite a lot of games that work perfect on Linux but need fixes for handhelds in general or deck in specific (often the same would apply on windows)

Examples:
Games with very small text.
Games that get confused with any input you throw at them.
Games that have issues after waking up from sleep.
Games that show totally wrong control glyphs while playing.

etc...

One current example for me is Talos principle.
You can absolutely play it on Deck. It's beautiful, there is a great default controller layout defined, even with nice gyro settings. BUT: When I put it to sleep and wake it up, sound has gone and won't come back until I restart the game. And the ingame control glyphs are all just fancy rectangles. For me, it's still enjoyable, but Valve can't seriously call that ready for consumers.
Another example is Psychonauts. I may have to retest at some point, but last time I tried it, it would simply not react on any input.
There were quite a few other native titles that I couldn't get running. Some of them were fixed by forcing windows version with proton, some weren't. Yet, there are so many games that do run great, I just switch games and may come back to these games later...

You are describing "verified". I was talking about "playable".

Quoting: sarmad

Quoting: const

Quoting: sarmadI don't understand this number. There are 9800 games on Steam that natively support Linux. I understand the verified status having more to do than just the game being playable, but shouldn't playable include all those 9800 native titles by default?

No, absolutely not. Matter of expectations.
There are quite a lot of games that work perfect on Linux but need fixes for handhelds in general or deck in specific (often the same would apply on windows)

Examples:
Games with very small text.
Games that get confused with any input you throw at them.
Games that have issues after waking up from sleep.
Games that show totally wrong control glyphs while playing.

etc...

One current example for me is Talos principle.
You can absolutely play it on Deck. It's beautiful, there is a great default controller layout defined, even with nice gyro settings. BUT: When I put it to sleep and wake it up, sound has gone and won't come back until I restart the game. And the ingame control glyphs are all just fancy rectangles. For me, it's still enjoyable, but Valve can't seriously call that ready for consumers.
Another example is Psychonauts. I may have to retest at some point, but last time I tried it, it would simply not react on any input.
There were quite a few other native titles that I couldn't get running. Some of them were fixed by forcing windows version with proton, some weren't. Yet, there are so many games that do run great, I just switch games and may come back to these games later...

You are describing "verified". I was talking about "playable".

I don't think missing sound would fall under playable. Missing input neither. There are native games that are clearly not playable. Every game needs to be checked.

Quoting: const

Quoting: sarmad

Quoting: const

Quoting: sarmadI don't understand this number. There are 9800 games on Steam that natively support Linux. I understand the verified status having more to do than just the game being playable, but shouldn't playable include all those 9800 native titles by default?

No, absolutely not. Matter of expectations.
There are quite a lot of games that work perfect on Linux but need fixes for handhelds in general or deck in specific (often the same would apply on windows)

Examples:
Games with very small text.
Games that get confused with any input you throw at them.
Games that have issues after waking up from sleep.
Games that show totally wrong control glyphs while playing.

etc...

One current example for me is Talos principle.
You can absolutely play it on Deck. It's beautiful, there is a great default controller layout defined, even with nice gyro settings. BUT: When I put it to sleep and wake it up, sound has gone and won't come back until I restart the game. And the ingame control glyphs are all just fancy rectangles. For me, it's still enjoyable, but Valve can't seriously call that ready for consumers.
Another example is Psychonauts. I may have to retest at some point, but last time I tried it, it would simply not react on any input.
There were quite a few other native titles that I couldn't get running. Some of them were fixed by forcing windows version with proton, some weren't. Yet, there are so many games that do run great, I just switch games and may come back to these games later...

You are describing "verified". I was talking about "playable".

I don't think missing sound would fall under playable. Missing input neither. There are native games that are clearly not playable. Every game needs to be checked.

I have a great example of a Verified game that I had a bit of specific problems with; Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance.
1) It installs the Windows version; which the Devs apparently have not selected the thing to do cross-platform cloud sync. So while switching between my Linux desktop running the native game and the Steam Deck running Proton, it would not sync. Changing the Deck to the Steam Linux Runtime fixed that issue.
2) but changing to the Linux version made it unplayable... until I changed the vsync / max fps to 60, then it ran BEAUTIFULLY, even better native than it did with Proton. Weirdly enough, if I changed to Desktop mode, it ran perfectly fine without tweaks (I'm assuming at this point the DeckUI has limiters in place that desktop mode does not).

Edit: at this point I think Star Wars: Force Unleashed should be promoted to Verified, that game works flawlessly! Though I think the game itself glitched on the level I got to last night, as it wouldn't let me pull down some bridge I needed to.


Last edited by slaapliedje on 23 June 2022 at 10:51 pm UTC

Quoting: Philadelphus

Quoting: wit_as_a_riddle

Quoting: PhiladelphusI'm curious: have the ratings shifted to be more in line with peoples' expectations?

No, they haven't changed their criteria for rating games as Verified.

Right, I know the criteria, thanks; but I remember there was a big outcry when the Deck first came out that games which were—according to Valve's definitions—Verified or Playable still had issues like crashes, unwatchable cutscenes, etc.. Regardless of what the formal criteria say, people generally expect a Verified game to be basically flawless*. So my question was, whether or not Valve have changed the formal criteria, do they seem to have informally changed the process such that e.g. Verified games are more in line with what people expect rather than just their own criteria. (Ticktok's reply above seems to indicate, informally, that the answer might be "yes.")

*Like, the Verified criteria say nothing about stability, so a Verified game could crash every 10 minutes and still perfectly fit the criteria for being Verified; but most people would expect a Verified game not to do that.

So essentially your question is:

Is Valve lying to us?

I doubt it. Maybe some testers are bending the rules? Perhaps. Why wouldn't they just change their criteria? I don't think crashing every 10 minutes is what Valve has in mind for a great experience on Steam Deck lol.

Quoting: wit_as_a_riddleSo essentially your question is:

Is Valve lying to us?

I doubt it. Maybe some testers are bending the rules? Perhaps. Why wouldn't they just change their criteria? I don't think crashing every 10 minutes is what Valve has in mind for a great experience on Steam Deck lol.

I wouldn't put it that way, more that Valve have some discretion about when they officially release a rating for a game. If they test two games, and both tick the boxes for Verified, but one would be a bad gameplay experience (crashes, whatever), they could hold off on releasing a rating for that game until Proton improvements or developer action fixes it up to a higher standard. At least, they might be able to do that now when there are 3.5k games rated, in the early days they might've released it anyway just to get the number of quicker (since it was technically Verified). But there wouldn't be any deception involved in any of this, and this is all just idle speculation on my part.