Recommended games?

[tishi wishi]

I have had my steam deck for a week and have only been playing verified games like Vampire Survivors. Evoland and Stardew Valley.

I’m curious about what other games might be worth downloading onto it. What’s a game you recommend?

[ReBoot]

An obvious one is Aperture Desk Job.

As for others, any particular genre you fancy? I could go on forever and a day about how the Shadowman Remaster is a fantastic 3D-metrovania which would be somewhat pointless if you aren't into metrovanias to begin with.

[MUD]

Rollerdrome
Europa

[tishi wishi]

Originally posted by ReBoot:

An obvious one is Aperture Desk Job.

As for others, any particular genre you fancy? I could go on forever and a day about how the Shadowman Remaster is a fantastic 3D-metrovania which would be somewhat pointless if you aren't into metrovanias to begin with.

I tend to lean towards cozy games but I do like metrovanias so I’ll need to give that game a look.

[ReBoot]

If you are into metrovanias, another easy pick would be https://www.protondb.com/app/606280

[Frogstophe]

If you enjoy twin-stick shooters and Zelda-like exploration, then definitely take a closer look at Minishoot' Adventures. Played the entire thing on Steam Deck and it worked like a charm.

[HolyFoxSox]

I'd highly recommend Dead by Daylight if your into the genre of horror, and aspects of teamwork where you have to help you and your teammates escape the dark clutches of the entity.

[D. Flame]

Monster Hunter World
Nioh 2

[Haruspex]

The Tomb Raider 1-3 and Soul Reaver 1-2 remasters are fantastic on the Deck, and they're not demanding at all so you'll get lots of battery life. I've also found the Deck to be an absolute monster when it comes to burning through my JRPG backlog. If you like a good JRPG, try the Trails series, Persona 4, 5, and 3, Shin Megami Tensei 3 Nocturne, the Ni No Kuni series is amazing, Dragon Quest 11, all the Final Fantasy games (12 is my favorite). I've beaten about half the Yakuza games on the Deck and they were fantastic there. I could go on and on, but on the more action oriented side try Nier Automata and Nier Replicant. Those are a really good fit. Metal Gear Rising Revengeance, any of the Devil May Cry games, and the Resident Evil remakes.

Really it would be easier to make a list of games that the Steam Deck can't play well, so just play what you like. Although the Deck can do multiplayer just fine, for me the best fitting games are singleplayer titles that play well with a controller. Right now I'm trying to get through Blue Reflection because I picked up Blue Reflection 2 during the winter sale.

[Romaki]

The Remaster of Saints Row The Third works perfectly on it, better than on Windows 11.

[Jenaverse]

Originally posted by tishi wishi:

I tend to lean towards cozy games but I do like metrovanias so I’ll need to give that game a look.

Cozy games I enjoyed thoroughly on SD last year was Bandle Tale and Dave the Diver.

[@R+5]

Originally posted by tishi wishi:

I tend to lean towards cozy games but I do like metrovanias so I’ll need to give that game a look.

maybe tldr, but maybe you will find something useful.

Another well known metroidvania that runs in linux is "hollow knight".

https://store.steampowered.com/app/367520/Hollow_Knight/

if you consider platformers as "cosy" (in general), you could also check "shovel knight" (2d, "retro style") and "a hat in time" (3d, similar in many aspects to 3d mario games, and one of the best imo; this one has also a lot of replay value thanks to mods that add new features as well as many user made levels).

https://store.steampowered.com/app/250760/Shovel_Knight_Treasure_Trove/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/253230/A_Hat_in_Time/

is possible to play "conan exiles" (a survival style game) in offline mode, and in a "individual controlled server". Doing so can allow you to fine tune and even prevent raids or most combat like aspects, and the reason for that can be to explore the world map, as well as focus in the "fortress building aspect" of the game (imagine a minecraft-like experience, which can make it very "chill").

side note:
i tried that once, and running it in a old laptop with very low settings, but didnt backup my settings or my save file properly, so i lost them (it ran well enough). i spend little time hunting of doing combat, so it actually works; you can also change with mods or in settings how much resources you can harvest, to you can focus more in building rather than farming items.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/440900/Conan_Exiles/

"city skylines (1)" also works in linux, and should work in the deck, but i ignore how well the deck could handle large cities without needing to tweak some settings to improve performance. this one also has a ton of mods, and make the game a lot better, even if you dont buy any of the (imo) expensive dlcs (i own only two; few are actually good or interesting). avoid city skylines 2 (lack most of the features that makes the original still attractive for new players and interesting)

https://store.steampowered.com/app/255710/cities_skylines/

and if you think "collectaton mechanics", mixed with action, can be described as "cosy", then maybe you could give this game a chance, even if the original studio disbanded mostly from mismanagement. the game starts slow, but i occasionally return to it because the way its narrated, and the gameplay and mechanics are interesting, even if they could be a lot better if they could be refined and polished. i still hope as new dev that cares gets the ip, and relaunches it or makes a sequel with mods and level editor. the game was poorly promoted, and presented in a way that may you think is more about horror or stealth, but actually isnt (is a bit of stealth + collectaton; the story has some dark aspects, but isnt "horror"; maybe "dark fantasy" + "scifi" could be closer)

https://store.steampowered.com/app/551770/ECHO/

i have played all of those in linux (minus hollow knight), in an old 2010s laptop with and i7, 166gb ram and 2gb ddr3 gpu, so they all should run and look better in the deck with less performance related adjustments. i also have played most of them while listening podcasts, videos or audiobooks (even with the limited memory they all run well).

you can find most of these games with very good discounts when theres a sale.

[Mahjik]

Originally posted by Haruspex:

Really it would be easier to make a list of games that the Steam Deck can't play well, so just play what you like.

+1000

[tishi wishi]

Thank you all for your recommendations! I already own quite a few of these games so I’ll definitely give them all a go now. :) glad to see so much can actually run on it.

[Jenaverse]

Originally posted by tishi wishi:

Thank you all for your recommendations! I already own quite a few of these games so I’ll definitely give them all a go now. :) glad to see so much can actually run on it.

There’s no harm in test running any games you already own onto the deck. Worst case is they don’t run well or don’t have controller support.

If you have a PC, you can even stream the games straight from your PC to your SD.

[Bͥatͣmͫan]

Dead space 1 2 3 runs perfect (not the dead space 1 remake!)
Resident evil from Resident evil 1 remake everything in between up to resident evil village (re 8)
minus re 4 remake, it don't really run the greatest on the steam deck.