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Valve put up a big list of all the top games on Steam for 2022, and they've given a breakdown across different categories like the Steam Deck. So here's what they listed as the most played, plus a note about the best reviewed games released playable on Steam Deck in 2022.

Firstly the big Valve list: these games are what Valve say had the most daily active players on Steam Deck through 2022:

Additionally, going by SteamDB these are the top 10 best user-reviewed games released in 2022 that are Steam Deck Verified (from top to bottom):

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16 comments

lukas333 Dec 30, 2022
Didn't know about CULTIC, is it that good?
Xpander Dec 30, 2022
Didn't know about CULTIC, is it that good?
Only played demo, but it looked extremely good. If you ever played Blood (the first one) this is pretty similar to this, but with some nice modern improvements.
udekmp69 Dec 31, 2022
I have owned the deck since September and haven't played a single one of these games lol PC gaming has such a gigantic library of games.
Scytale Dec 31, 2022
I'm doing my part!

I'm not brave enough to look up my exact playtime, but I'm fearing I'm reaching the 1000h on the Deck since I received it.
trev0r Dec 31, 2022
Hades is perfect for the Deck.
Renzatic Gear Dec 31, 2022
Didn't know about CULTIC, is it that good?

I liked it. I didn't think it quite reached the level of Dusk, which is my favorite of the recent boomer shooters, but it is fun.
dvd Dec 31, 2022
Interesting that Cyberpunk is still there given how buggy and frustrating game it is.
Botonoski Jan 1, 2023
Interesting that Cyberpunk is still there given how buggy and frustrating game it is.
I've put 30+ hours onto that game on my Deck and have so far only encountered rather mild visual bugs.
ElectricPrism Jan 1, 2023
See you all next year
dvd Jan 1, 2023
Interesting that Cyberpunk is still there given how buggy and frustrating game it is.
I've put 30+ hours onto that game on my Deck and have so far only encountered rather mild visual bugs.

I did a second playthrough of it on the latest patch, and ironically encountered more bugs (floating radios at main quest locations, getting lunched into the stratosphere from a motorbike, enemies fusing into cargo crates etc...) than in one of the first patches. Performance is worse too. But that is not what makes the game frustrating for me.

It's just that the cool artwork and some interesting characters are hidden in a bad game. It truly feels like you're playing just to get to the next dialouge/cinematicy moment. In the witcher 2/3 i loved those as well, but combat/free exploration was interesting in its own right.

On my second playthrough i was surprised how much less of it i remembered after 1 year gap compared to the witcher which i last played 2 years ago. I guess hype truly carries a game. I'd hope they can carry the good forward to the next and come up with something better for the rest.

It's a shame too as I think a lot of good stuff got buried in the crap game: Johnny, Judy, Panam, the the Peralez', Jackie, Goro, Misty, Viktor, Evelyn they are all interesting characters and would've been better served if they focused more on normal missions than on 'gigs' and whatever. (and they put the Johnny missions, that are some of the best at the end so so its easy to miss wtf...) I refused to do any of those in my second playthrough, simply since the gameplay is the worst part of the game. There is no difficulty, "Very hard" is a cakewalk, only "challenge" is the 1-shot snipers in maybe 2 of the late game missions. Otherwise the enemy couldn't really scratch my character, which was an anti-tank build btw.


Last edited by dvd on 1 January 2023 at 8:20 am UTC
Lanz Jan 1, 2023
Glad to see CULTIC and Cyberpunk 2077 make the list. CULTIC is easily the best retro FPS since Ion Fury, and Cyberpunk 2077 has been pretty well totally fixed by CD Projekt Red and is definitely worth the play-through.
Botonoski Jan 1, 2023
Interesting that Cyberpunk is still there given how buggy and frustrating game it is.
I've put 30+ hours onto that game on my Deck and have so far only encountered rather mild visual bugs.

I did a second playthrough of it on the latest patch, and ironically encountered more bugs (floating radios at main quest locations, getting lunched into the stratosphere from a motorbike, enemies fusing into cargo crates etc...) than in one of the first patches. Performance is worse too. But that is not what makes the game frustrating for me.

It's just that the cool artwork and some interesting characters are hidden in a bad game. It truly feels like you're playing just to get to the next dialouge/cinematicy moment. In the witcher 2/3 i loved those as well, but combat/free exploration was interesting in its own right.

On my second playthrough i was surprised how much less of it i remembered after 1 year gap compared to the witcher which i last played 2 years ago. I guess hype truly carries a game. I'd hope they can carry the good forward to the next and come up with something better for the rest.

It's a shame too as I think a lot of good stuff got buried in the crap game: Johnny, Judy, Panam, the the Peralez', Jackie, Goro, Misty, Viktor, Evelyn they are all interesting characters and would've been better served if they focused more on normal missions than on 'gigs' and whatever. (and they put the Johnny missions, that are some of the best at the end so so its easy to miss wtf...) I refused to do any of those in my second playthrough, simply since the gameplay is the worst part of the game. There is no difficulty, "Very hard" is a cakewalk, only "challenge" is the 1-shot snipers in maybe 2 of the late game missions. Otherwise the enemy couldn't really scratch my character, which was an anti-tank build btw.
My relationship with the game is complicated. Didn't touch it until it was obviously finished, as in I waited for the bad press to settle down and turn positive, than I bought it almost entirely to bench a rig, and kinda hated it a lot, just absolutely despised almost every aspect.
But then I tried again but with a different mindset, like I just decided to vibe with the setting rather than try to derive entertainment from it, and...the world just started to feel real and compelling, in an exact way I hadn't experienced since the playing original Dues Ex.
Certain things about the game resonate with me very strongly, enough to outshine aspects I dislike, which is much the same experience I have with all open world RPGs like this.
dvd Jan 1, 2023
Well that's exactly what frustrates me about it. There are story missions and characters that elevate the vibe, and highlight the good things, but outside those it just doesn't have the same grab as the Witcher. Even with that the strongest one for me definetly was the Toussaint expansion, where they nailed basically everything. As for the bugs, i played the gog version on the latest patch so i dunno, doesn't seem fixed for me. It wasn't crashy to begin with, and i haven't encountered any bugs in the earlier version so i guess i just got lucky.

I haven't played the original Deus Ex, but i played the recent one and i liked that better than CP2077.
Botonoski Jan 1, 2023
Well that's exactly what frustrates me about it. There are story missions and characters that elevate the vibe, and highlight the good things, but outside those it just doesn't have the same grab as the Witcher. Even with that the strongest one for me definetly was the Toussaint expansion, where they nailed basically everything. As for the bugs, i played the gog version on the latest patch so i dunno, doesn't seem fixed for me. It wasn't crashy to begin with, and i haven't encountered any bugs in the earlier version so i guess i just got lucky.

I haven't played the original Deus Ex, but i played the recent one and i liked that better than CP2077.
Different strokes for different folks I suppose, personally I don't like the Witcher 3, but I am also not big on fantasy.
rkl Jan 2, 2023
I don't tend to buy new games (I wait until they become dirt cheap), so the only 2 games I've played in both lists are Cyberpunk 2077 (on Stadia via a £50 hardware/game bundle deal that recently got refunded in full so it cost me nothing) and Vampire Survivors (on Android, where it's free).

You can tell I'm a cheapskate because my Steam Replay tells me that TrackMania Nations Forever is my most played game of 2022...yep, it's a freebie :-) Heck, I'm so tight, I still won't buy The Witcher 3 Complete Edition until it drops to £4.99 (it's been £6.99 in many sales, including right now).
StoneColdSpider Jan 5, 2023
You can tell I'm a cheapskate because my Steam Replay tells me that TrackMania Nations Forever is my most played game of 2022...yep, it's a freebie :-) Heck, I'm so tight, I still won't buy The Witcher 3 Complete Edition until it drops to £4.99 (it's been £6.99 in many sales, including right now).
Dont worry mate..... Doom (2016) was my most played game in 2022..... And I only bought it in 2022 cause it was cheap...... It was 8 Dollaydoos..... I waited 6 years for it to be cheap.......
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