Is it possible to play a game on Steam without downloading it to my underpowered computer?

[joesafdia]

I have a feeling the answer to this question is "no", but asking costs literally nothing, so here goes.

Is it possible to purchase a game on Steam and play them off, I dunno, the cloud or a browser or Steam's servers without downloading them to your computer and having to run them through your own machine?

I want to buy the Marvel's Spider-Man games. They're both on sale, and I'm perfectly willing to pay for what looks like two great games. But I have a problem. My computer's specs aren't up to snuff. I have an old laptop that I don't use for gaming (I'm a console gamer). It has 4GB of memory, but the requirements for the games are 8GB (with 16GB being recommended). It only has a 1.80GHz processor, but the games require 3.60GHz. I'm not even sure what graphics card I have. In other words, my computer isn't powerful enough to run the game.

Does Steam offer any sort of function where you can play a game directly from their servers rather than your computer storing and running the game? Or am I completely SOL unless I run out and buy a brand new computer (or a PS5), which I'm not doing?

[Muppet among Puppets]

Things like geforce now, playstation (something) and xbox game pass ultra let you stream certain games, if your internet is above 25mbit. For a fee.
Spiderman probably is not on any but playstation cloud, if at all. But check for yourself.

[Muppet among Puppets]

You need to have the games from the specified source, in those services. That is different in each one of them

[joesafdia]

Originally posted by Muppet among Puppets:

Things like geforce now, playstation (something) and xbox game pass ultra let you stream certain games, if your internet is above 25mbit. For a fee.
Spiderman probably is not on any but playstation cloud, if at all. But check for yourself.

Thanks. Though neither of them have Marvel's Spider-Man (Playstation Plus Extra and Premium have the Miles Morales sequel, which I also want, but not the original). And I think you need a 2.0 GHz processor for Playstation Plus, while I only have 1.80.

[Muppet among Puppets]

If you have games on steam or uplay or epic that run on geforce now, you can try the free plan. Look how that goes for you.
If you try moderate games, you likely test how the streaming works for you.

[Muppet among Puppets]

I checked geforce requirements.
PC Hardware Requirements

Dual core x86-64 CPU with 2.0GHz or faster
4GB of system memory
GPU that at least supports DirectX 11
NVIDIA GeForce 600 series or newer
If you are using a GTX 800m series, please read this knowledge base article
AMD Radeon HD 3000 series or newer
Intel HD Graphics 2000 series or newer

I used it on a quad tablet cpu, likely running around 1,6ghz,
2gb ram, windows 10,
and some integrated intel 600? No idea, but was good enough to play videos.
Did not have a problem.

[joesafdia]

Originally posted by Muppet among Puppets:

I checked geforce requirements.
PC Hardware Requirements

Dual core x86-64 CPU with 2.0GHz or faster
4GB of system memory
GPU that at least supports DirectX 11
NVIDIA GeForce 600 series or newer
If you are using a GTX 800m series, please read this knowledge base article
AMD Radeon HD 3000 series or newer
Intel HD Graphics 2000 series or newer

I used it on a quad tablet cpu, likely running around 1,6ghz,
2gb ram, windows 10,
and some integrated intel 600? No idea, but was good enough to play videos.
Did not have a problem.

To be clear, though, these services don't have the games I want. I'm trying to play the Marvel's Spider-Man games.

I heard you could download Steam Link on your smart TV and play Steam games on there. If I were to buy the Marvel's Spider-Man games on my computer, would I be able to play them on my smart TV and not have to worry about my computer not having the specs to handle it?

[Muppet among Puppets]

Originally posted by joesafdia:

Originally posted by Muppet among Puppets:

I checked geforce requirements.
PC Hardware Requirements

Dual core x86-64 CPU with 2.0GHz or faster
4GB of system memory
GPU that at least supports DirectX 11
NVIDIA GeForce 600 series or newer
If you are using a GTX 800m series, please read this knowledge base article
AMD Radeon HD 3000 series or newer
Intel HD Graphics 2000 series or newer

I used it on a quad tablet cpu, likely running around 1,6ghz,
2gb ram, windows 10,
and some integrated intel 600? No idea, but was good enough to play videos.
Did not have a problem.

To be clear, though, these services don't have the games I want. I'm trying to play the Marvel's Spider-Man games.

I heard you could download Steam Link on your smart TV and play Steam games on there. If I were to buy the Marvel's Spider-Man games on my computer, would I be able to play them on my smart TV and not have to worry about my computer not having the specs to handle it?

Steam itself has only "install and play". So it depends on your computer

[HistoricKombat]

Originally posted by Muppet among Puppets:

To be clear, though, these services don't have the games I want. I'm trying to play the Marvel's Spider-Man games.

I heard you could download Steam Link on your smart TV and play Steam games on there. If I were to buy the Marvel's Spider-Man games on my computer, would I be able to play them on my smart TV and not have to worry about my computer not having the specs to handle it?

No. Your game would still have to be ran from your computer. Steam Link streams the content from your computer to another display such as your TV or monitor. If your computer cannot handle the game, streaming it using a Smart TV app will not do you any good. What you are looking for is a service that Streams content from a cloud server, such as XBox Game Pass & Playstation Plus Premium, and Geforce Now.

As if this post only Boosteroid is offering Spider-Man for cloud gaming on PC, but you need a 2.5GHz processor.

What you really should do is consider investing for another computer or if you rather stick to console, perhaps a Playstation 5. Either way, it is time for you retire that old computer and buy a new one even if it is only for work or whatever.