Play with one only arm...

[clam]

Hello everybody, I'm a new Steamdeck user -and I love it. I got it in order to entertain myself in hospitals. I need to dialyse 3 times 4 hours in a week since last summer, when my kidneys left me... My question is: do you know little (good) games on Steamdeck wich I could play with my only right hand during these times, when my left arm is plugged ? (I'm also playing sometimes with two hands, out of these care times!) Thanks !

[Haruspex]

Anything mouse-oriented would be good. Preferably games that don't require quick reactions. Strategy games, turn-based games, and adventure games are all good options.

[ugafan]

The easiest to play would be any game that can be controlled with just a mouse. You could use the right trackpad as a mouse. A quick search will turn up some titles.

But with a bit of tinkering, pretty much any game can be played with only one arm on the Steam Deck.

You can remap all the buttons with Steam Input. If you wanted to, you could set it up so all the controls on the right side of the Deck work as the left side of the Deck with the push of a button.

You could add an action layer. Then on the action layer, you could change right trigger to left trigger, right bumper to left bumper, ABXY to a directional pad, right stick to left stick, etc. Select a button to hold this layer. For example, if you use R4 to hold the layer, the controls will be swapped whenever you press R4.

Other things you could do...

Have the trackpad work as a mouse, but when you click it, it will work as a dpad.
Use the trackpad as a touch menu
Have R4 and R5 work as L1 and L2
Have R4 or R5 function as a walk button
Set joystick click as a walk button that you toggle on
Utilize double taps and long presses

There are many possibilities. If you have any questions related to setting up the controller configuration, I check this forum every day.

[invision2212]

You can play the entire series with just the touch pad. They are great games.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/46500/Syberia/

This is perhaps the best puzzles games ever made. There’s 4 of them in total

https://store.steampowered.com/app/288160/The_Room/

Another awesome point and click game

https://store.steampowered.com/app/260570/Gray_Matter/

This puzzle game is like the room but with much longer solutions

https://store.steampowered.com/app/522470/The_House_of_Da_Vinci/

I’ve played all these games and they are great

[steven1mac]

Point and click games are your best solution, it still might be troublesome unless you can keep the deck secure while playing games however,.

[WarnerCK]

I'll fourth the point & click adventure game recommendation.

Here are some more that I've personally played on the Deck.

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/16097/The_Darkside_Detective__Series_Edition/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/57640/Broken_Sword_Directors_Cut/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/336140/Unavowed/

There are also all the classics.

As well as fitting your control method limitation, they'll not use much battery.

[Mahjik]

Most games will try to default to gamepad controls even if it's not an action game. The builder game "Summerhouse" defaulted to gamepad controls. I changed it to keyboard/mouse to use the trackpads as I found that better for me. So any game you look at, think about altering the controls for you:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2379780/Balatro/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2533960/SUMMERHOUSE/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/535930/Two_Point_Hospital/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/646570/Slay_the_Spire/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1578650/Citizen_Sleeper/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1046030/ISLANDERS/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1455840/Dorfromantik/

[That Fish Guy]

Turn based strategy games and deck builders are also very easy to set up for 1 hand.

Dicey dungeon, disgaea, steam world heist, slay the spire, monster train

[DoomsDay]

deep rock galactic:survivor. You can map the right joystick to do the same as the left joystick. Its a fun little vampire clone and plays very well 1 handed.

[RSebire]

Get well soon, where there is a will, there is a way.

[nicoper]

By fiddling around with Steam Input, you can make most games playable with a single hand if you make creative use of the available inputs.
Might want to avoid fast-paced 3D games, but anything else should work fine. Mouse-only games are easiest since you just need the trackpad and maybe a few buttons for convenience binds.

[clam]

Thanks very much everybody! That's a lot of solutions to entertain my boring times !
Your help is realy kind. I'll try these games and I'll tell you. Thanks! Thanks!
(I've done Syberia, and all the collection, and I loved it !)
@ugafan , if you could tell me more about this action layer, and how to set it... It sounds really interesting !

[ugafan]

This will give you a brief overview of action layers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEh79r93vYY

1. Add the layer.
2. Select which button you want to use to hold the layer.
3. Change whatever you want on the layer. (e.g. change ABXY to directional commands, stick output, bumper, etc.) In game, it will swap to these these commands when you press the button to hold the layer.

[That Fish Guy]

Originally posted by clam:

Thanks very much everybody! That's a lot of solutions to entertain my boring times !
Your help is realy kind. I'll try these games and I'll tell you. Thanks! Thanks!
(I've done Syberia, and all the collection, and I loved it !)
@ugafan , if you could tell me more about this action layer, and how to set it... It sounds really interesting !

There is a very good "devilish deckbuilders" bundle on humble bundle right now, all of these games(from what I've played of them) would be excellent for 1handed gaming.

I hope your recovery goes well!

[clam]

Thanks again !
I also plugged a PS5 Dualsense Wireless controller to my steamdeck. It seems to work well, as I stay in the deck's menus... But when I launch a game (I've tried with Horizon Zero Dawn, Days Gone, Red Dead Rédemption II, ...) I only hear the steamdeck button's sound when I press the dualsense, with no effect in the game.
Would someone know any solution please?

[4tado]

https://store.steampowered.com/tags/en/Clicker/