Valve just put up another of their round-up posts going over all the recent work on the Steam Deck, and they also revealed the current most popular titles.
For regular readers this won't be news since I go over the changes often but it's still a good catch-up for those who have fallen a bit behind on the news. Some of what's new includes the lock screen, multiple window support, keyboard improvements, external display upgrades, per-application performance profiles, improved fan behaviour and more. Check out their video:
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As for what's popular based on user play-time (source), over the last month these were the most popular on Steam Deck
- Elden Ring
- Vampire Survivors
- Rogue Legacy 2
- Stardew Valley
- No Man's Sky
- Slay the Spire
- Hades
- The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
- The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth
- Aperture Desk Job
Valve was keen to point out that it's not just because of Steam Deck upgrades or Proton, but effort directly from developers too and four of those titles were previously listed as Unsupported or Playable until they got updated to be Verified. They're making a clear and obvious point: if developers get their games supported, players are more likely to buy them and spend time in them — not exactly a big surprise. Plenty of us just want to play games and not have to tinker so hopefully more will get cracking on updating their games.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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slaapliedje Jun 2, 2022
So if No Man's Sky is verified... anyone try hooking up the Index to the Deck to see if they can play that in VR?
1 Likes, Who?
So if No Man's Sky is verified... anyone try hooking up the Index to the Deck to see if they can play that in VR?Absolutely no way, I mean, the hardware will no doubt "let" you (the index works just fine on linux), but the graphics card in the deck can't handle rendering at 2880x3200/144hz, you could maybe do some extremely low res rendering w/ fsr and everything turned to low but it would be a vomit inducing experience. The deck is an awesome little machine but VR requires a bit of a powerhouse since it has to render per eye at a high frame rate.
7 Likes, Who?
slaapliedje Jun 2, 2022
So if No Man's Sky is verified... anyone try hooking up the Index to the Deck to see if they can play that in VR?Absolutely no way, I mean, the hardware will no doubt "let" you (the index works just fine on linux), but the graphics card in the deck can't handle rendering at 2880x3200/144hz, you could maybe do some extremely low res rendering w/ fsr and everything turned to low but it would be a vomit inducing experience. The deck is an awesome little machine but VR requires a bit of a powerhouse since it has to render per eye at a high frame rate.
Ha, yeah I KNOW all of this. Have had the Index since it released, and have upgraded hardware specifically to use it... Just thought it'd be amusing to see someone try it on the Deck and see how it ran. I'd be legit shocked it if ran anywhere near playable. Especially something as hefty as NMS.
Edit: This reminds me, I should bench the Atari VCS vs the Steam Deck.
Last edited by slaapliedje on 2 June 2022 at 9:34 pm UTC
2 Likes, Who?
just clicked on their channel and saw the switch logo, with an "click"...
i guess im on the wrong channel, oh, no, its the port to switch
i guess im on the wrong channel, oh, no, its the port to switch
0 Likes
Everyone is like "it needs to be really powerful so you can run the latest AAA games on it", and then what are people playing on it? Stardew Valley, Slay the Spire, Binding of Isaac, Hades, Vampire Survivors...
9 Likes, Who?
Mohandevir Jun 2, 2022
The Witcher 3 does it again! This game is eternal! 
2 Likes, Who?
redneckdrow Jun 2, 2022
Everyone is like "it needs to be really powerful so you can run the latest AAA games on it", and then what are people playing on it? Stardew Valley, Slay the Spire, Binding of Isaac, Hades, Vampire Survivors...
Hold it! Just because Stardew Valley is a pixel art game doesn't mean it's not AAA! 🤣
Hear, hear!
Stardrops for the Valleygod! ... Whoops wrong game 
3 Likes, Who?
Edit: This reminds me, I should bench the Atari VCS vs the Steam Deck.
Install holoiso on your Atari VCS :)
0 Likes
Schattenspiegel Jun 2, 2022
So... Linux-handheld - Witcher 3 - Top 10.....taking notes project red? Just so...you know...potential markets...struggling stores... anyone?
14 Likes, Who?
Everyone is like "it needs to be really powerful so you can run the latest AAA games on it", and then what are people playing on it? Stardew Valley, Slay the Spire, Binding of Isaac, Hades, Vampire Survivors...
Hold it! Just because Stardew Valley is a pixel art game doesn't mean it's not AAA! 🤣
I call it a "triple I", to acknowledge it's current status while honoring it's humble origins. Still, it is not one of the latest.
2 Likes, Who?
Philadelphus Jun 3, 2022
As for what's popular based on user play-time, over the last month these were the most popular on Steam Deck:Wha…how? Isn't that like half an hour long or something? Does it have some serious replayability I haven't heard of? Are there a whole ton of Deck owners who have fired it up, played ADJ, and then nothing else, to skew the statistics? Like, nothing against the game (I haven't played it), but I honestly don't understand how that's most popular based on user play-time.
• Aperture Desk Job
Though I guess if everyone plays it for half an hour it's still as popular as a game that half of Deck owners play for one hour, or a quarter for two hours, and so on…
I suppose that says something about the diversity of games enjoyed on the Deck. 
3 Likes, Who?
Everyone is like "it needs to be really powerful so you can run the latest AAA games on it", and then what are people playing on it? Stardew Valley, Slay the Spire, Binding of Isaac, Hades, Vampire Survivors...
The logic is probably something like this:
"Yo, now I can play my triple A games everywhere"
*checks library*
"Hmm.... There are so many indie games I never touch, I guess I'll try them"
3 Likes, Who?
It pleases me to see that the Deck is indeed not maidenless.
3 Likes, Who?
Elden ring is my main game on linux at the moment. Runs perfect.
Its also my first from soft game Iv played so Im completly sold on everything about it. Iv recently checked my lib on protondb and I have 95% playble games in proton. So there is no reason to even boot in to windows anymore, except for work then.
Its also my first from soft game Iv played so Im completly sold on everything about it. Iv recently checked my lib on protondb and I have 95% playble games in proton. So there is no reason to even boot in to windows anymore, except for work then.
4 Likes, Who?
Everyone is like "it needs to be really powerful so you can run the latest AAA games on it", and then what are people playing on it? Stardew Valley, Slay the Spire, Binding of Isaac, Hades, Vampire Survivors...
The logic is probably something like this:
"Yo, now I can play my triple A games everywhere"
*checks library*
"Hmm.... There are so many indie games I never touch, I guess I'll try them"
Probably also helps that alot of the indie games are way way smaller in size than most of the AAA games, so you can have more of them on the device ready to go, versus only like 5-10 of the bigger AAA depending on your Deck model, even with bigger SD Cards
2 Likes, Who?
So there is no reason to even boot in to windows anymore, except for work then.I don't even do that atm, I just run Windows inside of a VM if there's something requiring Windows (e.g. client needs a program to run under Windows).
But of course, that does require a bit beefier PC to run essentially two OS at the same time...
Last edited by TheSHEEEP on 3 June 2022 at 8:32 am UTC
1 Likes, Who?
For everyone saying "why are people only playing indie games"
It's because Playing the Witcher 3 (at high settings) gets you <2h battery life. India games can get you >5h.
That's quite impactful. I have a desktop and a Deck. So I deliberately play indie stuff on the Deck to maximize battery, and mostly play the AAA stuff on my desktop where power consumption doesn't matter as much.
If an improved Deck came out that could do >6h on AA games, I'd play them, but 2h of battery life isn't that compelling.
It's because Playing the Witcher 3 (at high settings) gets you <2h battery life. India games can get you >5h.
That's quite impactful. I have a desktop and a Deck. So I deliberately play indie stuff on the Deck to maximize battery, and mostly play the AAA stuff on my desktop where power consumption doesn't matter as much.
If an improved Deck came out that could do >6h on AA games, I'd play them, but 2h of battery life isn't that compelling.
3 Likes, Who?
Mohandevir Jun 4, 2022
For everyone saying "why are people only playing indie games"
It's because Playing the Witcher 3 (at high settings) gets you <2h battery life. India games can get you >5h.
That's quite impactful. I have a desktop and a Deck. So I deliberately play indie stuff on the Deck to maximize battery, and mostly play the AAA stuff on my desktop where power consumption doesn't matter as much.
If an improved Deck came out that could do >6h on AA games, I'd play them, but 2h of battery life isn't that compelling.
2h of playtime? It's more than my average gaming session!
3 Likes, Who?
slaapliedje Jun 4, 2022
Was considering it. Still haven't gotten around to disabling Secure Boot, and I am guessing holoiso does not support it.Edit: This reminds me, I should bench the Atari VCS vs the Steam Deck.
Install holoiso on your Atari VCS :)
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