25 Best Steam Deck Games To Play Right Now

If you just bought a Steam Deck and are wondering what to boot up first, we've rounded up a few of the best games to play on it, including major AAA hits like Spider-Man Remastered and Elden Ring, under-the-radar indies such as Dave The Diver, Sea Of Stars, and everything in between.
Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
0:17 Elden Ring
1:12 Cult of the Lamb
1:43 Dredge
2:07 Arcade Paradise
2:50 Card Shark
3:21 Spider-Man Remastered
3:48 Children Of Morta
4:11 Cursed To Golf
4:51 Cuphead
5:41 Dave The Diver
6:21 Disco Elysium
6:50 Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster
7:24 Hitman 3
7:42 Into The Breach
8:21 Left For Dead 2
8:48 Monster Hunter Rise
9:21 Octopath Traveler II
9:53 Ori And The Blind Forest
10:26 Rogue Legacy 2
10:57 Sable
11:34 Sea Of Stars
12:09 Stardew Valley
12:41 Unpacking
13:04 Vampire Survivors
13:30 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
13:55 Outro

[@jefferrrson1x]

I just wanna say that the Steam Deck OLED is the best device I have purchased in my adult life. I’m 33. And it brings me back to my game boy days. It’s unreal how much backlog I have and with emudeck it’s amazing. Just perfection. 10/10.

[@mizanulhoque9657]

How do i get bios and Roms?

[@RichieLanderos]

The SD has knocked down a little bit of my backlog. It’s awesome. When I hop on my pc. It’s so easy to play with friends online. So a lot of my games never even got touched. I take my SD almost everywhere with me

[@Ray-dl5mp]

This review makes me want to buy this. Been thinking about it for awhile.

[@Optimusprime809]

It's one of those industry shaking, transformative technologies that come about every blue moon or so! Such an exciting piece of tech!

[@jefferrrson1x]

@@Optimusprime809 it really is. I can’t believe we’re in a time where we could literally play any game on a handheld. The convenience is crazy. And it really institutes that gameplay experience is better than graphical fidelity. I used to believe graphics was everything as a kid but now, the deck being just “good” running games is fine rather than being on a pc with the highest settings. It’s brilliant !

[@fatroc33]

Since owning a Steam Deck (which is been about a year) I have played the following from beginning to end; Cyberpunk 2077 (98hrs) Borderlands 3 (78hrs) Red Dead Redemption 2 (86hrs) Control (36hrs)

[@jacksonjabba]

That’s a great list! Playing through cyberpunk right now with about 60 hours in

[@spursdynasty7378]

Luck you ! I wish I had the time to game like that today 😂 I miss those days …

[@JustxLiving909]

Got 220hr RDR2 50hr cyberpunk 30 BRDlands3

[@fatroc33]

@@JustxLiving909 Wow! You put that much hours on the steam!?

[@farewellashenone3286]

Was about to ask if cyberpunk and rd2 runs well on it but since you’ve put that much hours on them, i kinda got my answer now thanks😁

[@Nucleosynthese]

My Steam Deck has been one of the best purchases I have ever made.

[@koammudo43]

I just got one and it's amazing.litterally this morning haven't even got to use it like that yet cause I'm at work lol 😂

[@YoungCub]

completely agreed. Just had the best plane ride of my entire life. It’s really revolutionary

[@koammudo43]

@@YoungCub best console I ever bought it's so amazing

[@harrygameprod]

As a game developer and content creator myself, I think that the Steam Deck and other handheld devices over time will change the way developers think about the interface of their games when designing for the PC. Because if you only think about the big screen when designing interfaces and buttons, it can be suboptimal on a device like Steam Deck. Always great to see new ways of playing our favorite games.

[@LaymanGamin]

What games u developed

[@myles5388]

You highly underestimate the laziness and incompetence of most developers😂

[@myrigatoni]

I highly recommend Persona 5 Royal, runs flawless on Steam Deck and is a great portable game

[@Logicalization]

I’ll take your word for it but I hope it’s not anime 😮

[@SodaPopBot]

​@@Logicalization It is, but it's pretty good

[@DaOrkistBoyAround]

How's the battery life while playing?

[@stevenadscn949]

@@DaOrkistBoyAroundquite long, longer than 6 hrs

[@Tonnimon_Games-se6op]

good idea

[@MVIVN]

One game that never gets brought up on these lists is Sekiro! Not only does it run flawlessly on the Steam Deck, one very underrated feature is the ability to use the Steam Deck’s 4 built-in rear buttons /paddles to do stuff like drink your healing flask, cycle through consumables or cycle through your Shinobi prosthetic arm weapons without needing to take your thumbs off the analog sticks for even a moment during a tough boss fight. Steam Deck is by far my favourite and preferred way to play Sekiro! Switching Shinobi prosthetic tools with the rear paddles mid-fight has made me enjoy experimenting with different ones more often and it’s just so much fun! Really lends itself well to the very fast-paced combat in Sekiro.

[@JDabz96]

I'm still stuck on the guy with a spear on a horse, how do I best him?

[@Mrfrundlesuniverse]

@@JDabz96Brother there is no magic trick to defeat any boss in the game without mods/glitches. If you are genuinely struggling, I’d suggest hit, run away, and repeat but it would take a while. If you want to learn and get prepared for all the bosses then just learn the bosses patterns and practice parrying as the quicker you break their posture, the quicker you can defeat them. It’s a pattern recognition type of battle. Good luck brah

[@Samurai11267]

Adding the Yakuza franchise which is absolutely fantastic on Steam Deck, feels like it was made for it

[@kalebphillips9281]

You did Disco Elysium a disservice by saying it's all text without stating that it is fully voice acted.

[@Toadyru]

You are so right!!!!! Disco Elysium was a pleasure to play (great voice acting). Citizen Sleeper is an example of a text heavy game. Which also happens to be another great game for the Steam Deck.

[@Punisher6791]

Resident evil 4 Remake runs well too, about 45 fps in the most demanding areas of the game but you often can hit 60 throughout the game. Set everything to low and resolution to 1280x720 and turn on FSR2

[@PlopsicYT]

Correction about Hitman: After a rebrand last year Hitman 3 now houses the full World of Assassination trilogy. No need to own Hitman 1 & 2 to get access to previous content anymore. It's literally 3 great games for the price of 1!

[@BVaccaro88]

It's one of the best series of games ever made IMO. Really underrated and the best in the series.

[@aechean]

Chained Echoes is another fantastic RPG that works perfectly on the Steam Deck. Highly recommended.

[@danielelkadi3499]

I unfortunately would disagree with this one. I downloaded it after the hyped and played many hours but it never clicked and got really really board while waiting for it to get better. Not for everyone.

[@forrestnazaret-ip1vc]

Word up thanks

[@forrestnazaret-ip1vc]

So I can buy a seam deck 1.01 tomorrow lightly used for 330 or should I just hold out a bit and get a brand new oled?

[@Rexuhnt]

Just wanna say, Ori and the Will of the Wisps runs fantastic on the Deck. You can get it to 90fps if you’re on the OLED on high settings

[@MoAli72]

Good list. Many not heard of so will be checking them out.

[@iamdickel8574]

i agree with the list.. love every minute on gaming on my Steam deck

[@gabrielike1370]

Elden ring is so good on deck Feels like how botw felt like on switch

[@carlthewinner]

I love Children of Mortal!!! Thanks for featuring it!!!

[@Camerooonify]

Steam deck has replaced every other way of gaming for me. Best gaming device ive ever owned. Cant wait for fully fledged follow up device. Also Dave the Diver!! 🙌❤

[@douglasmurdoch7247]

Yeah somehow I’m also already excited for steam deck 2. I love the format, I love the screen, now I just want it to have more horsepower.

[@TheTrueWelshIdiot]

Me too. Best device I've owned, bar none.

[@BVaccaro88]

@@douglasmurdoch7247 100%. Have all my emulation needs on a Batocera setup on one of my sd cards. Everything about it is amazing. Can play my huge steam library backlog and many games play better as a handheld than on my PC. Only real wish was for some of the anti cheat to be able to work so we could play more online multiplayer games.

[@wutangtimmy3064]

@@douglasmurdoch7247Rog ally is already out!

[@YoungCub]

Dave the diver has had me hooked for a week now. one of best games I’ve played and so good on deck

[@DK-rn7wd]

I would also add: - Marvel midnight suns - Cacoon - Diablo 4 - Resident evil 2/3/8 Really good games for steam deck

[@myles5388]

Didn’t think you could run Diablo games cuz of the launcher??

[@VapurWV57]

I just finished Inscryption on the deck and it was an amazing way to experience it, especially with the track pads to be used as a cursor. It feels smooth and perfect And Inscryption is incredible

[@ellogames96]

Great list Lucy :)

[@Optimusprime809]

Give Mad Max a try! Always so cheap to buy and you'll get a good amount of playtime!

[@BVaccaro88]

How good is it? I bought it on sale for dirt cheap and it's been pretty far down my backlog.

[@FullTimeDan]

@@BVaccaro88you won’t regret it. Finished it twice now, PS4 and on steam deck. It plays brilliantly on the deck

[@VeggieAndSomeReggie]

@@BVaccaro88the tutorial is grueling I can’t get myself to do it, after that it’s supposed to pick up.

[@justinkrall1438]

FINALLY I hear a solid mention of Children of Morta. 136 hrs happily spent. One of my all time favs

[@smdjuhurr9474]

5:58 Ngl this scene is wild right here seeing this at 1:00am on a Monday😂😂. Hearing “wild hodge pod” at the same time got me weak. Great recommendations regardless.

[@jacksonjabba]

Cult of the lamb is a perfect steam deck game. Lended my deck to my partner’s younger brother and they exclusively played cult of the lamb for over 120 hours

[@mercenarygary1]

Pretty cool of you to lend it to him! I haven't played Cult on my steam deck but I have played it a bunch on Xbox. I'm sure he enjoyed it quite a bit getting in 120 hours!

[@Default158]

I've been playing Dark souls remastered on my deck. Runs great.

[@kumarashwarya2185]

I am currently playing Hollow Knight on the deck, and it's a fantastic experience. Should be on the list.

[@BA-sw5dn]

Fallout 4 has been awesome on steam deck too. There are so many games to try. I'm excited for Hades 2.

[@asystole_]

+1 for Fallout 4. Plays absolutely perfectly on the Deck.

[@Clav_]

Just finished main story on Witcher 3 on my deck. Fsr 3 mod makes that game just insanely good at near flawless 60, even in Novigrad.

[@JustAJoX]

what that is insane

[@ms8201]

Great list

[@lilsourkraut1498]

Darkwood is another good one, on sale for about $3 and some change if you love horror it's an absolute gem. Wear headphones the atmosphere is great.

[@prince_warhero]

I have a long travel and visit coming up so this list is perfect though you should have released during steam winter sale haha

[@iridescent_92]

Another Inide Gem like Dredge is Jusant! Can´t recommend it enough as a relaxing Game for Steam Deck.

[@taylorlechleiter4443]

The Nintendo Switch OLED is the highest piece of tech I have played on...before that the last game I touched was GTA San Andreas in high school. Would it be dumb to ditch the switch for the SD and use it as my main rig? There are so many PS4 games, such as RDR 2, God of War, etc., that look fantastic from what I have seen. Most of the games on my switch are on steam/deck already

[@warnerlewtv6923]

Resident evil 7 and village runs really smooth

[@ssiliezar88]

got a beast of a PC with a 78003xd & 7900 xtx and i find myself not gaming on it much instead sitting on the couch and using my Steam Deck i love this thing Last Epoch plays great on it

[@wetteryan]

Started playing the ascent recently. Super underrated.

[@joseaca1010]

Hot Take: the Steam Deck is fantastic for old school PC games, these were never before portable, and most of them have quicksave options making portable sessions a breeze, also the battery lasts ages with the low power requirements of these games Just try playing Civ 5, Deus Ex and Wizardry 8, you will know im right

[@Level30Games]

What about civ6?

[@joseaca1010]

@@Level30Games good too, i simply have all the expansions for 5

[@Level30Games]

Gotcha thanks! I’m this close to pulling the trigger on the steam deck and civ is one of my most played games.

[@querubinangeles2478]

MGSV TPP and GZ are awesome to play on steam deck too

[@paulm.7967]

Bioshock not making the list hurts. 1 / 2 Remastered and Infinite run flawlessly at 60fps

[@dzadigital5613]

Brotato is miles better than Vampire Survivors. Fight me! :)

[@bupp291]

Games I have from this list: 18 Games I've beaten from this list: 3 ... I don't have a backlog, you have a backlog...

[@darkmist977]

About time to you do some proper content for the steam deck after what is the worse coverage of any outlet when the steam deck oled came out. You guys didnt even bother to check what changed when you did the video

[@Negativvv]

Add Final Fantasy 6 the Pixel Remaster to that list. Looks great on a small screen, excellent Deck battery life and it's one of the all time great RPGs.

[@marlowencna]

My portable bangers reco: 1. Disgaea 7 2. Nobody Saves the World 3. OlliOlli World 4. Redout 2 5. Them Fightin Herds

[@VicodinElmo]

The Yakuza games run really well too.

[@biglow7027]

Can some one with the AYANEO 2 or the AYANEO 2S check if Palworlds runs good? send the link of your youtube channel.

[@peroxxgoldee2559]

I might add that Shadow Of War might be the AAA game that runs the best on Steam Deck, and it's a pretty good game at that.

[@artax33]

Update on the FF Pixel Remaster, they now have all the things the console versions do like the better font and exp boost.

[@Zaeylo]

Red dead redemption 2 runs amazingly well.

[@TheTraveler980]

Inscryption, Control, and Prey are underrated.

[@joseaca1010]

Rogue Legacy 2 is amazing

[@niceguyniko]

God of War, Horizon zero dawn and cyberpunk all run surprisingly well.

[@powdertoastman83]

Pizza tower should be on this list too.

[@uniqtechniq9314]

Lucy James has a great voice ❤

[@thexen]

Guild Wars 2 is great on Steam Deck

[@sheld0n]

This list doesn't take advantage of steamdeck hardware capabilities. Where's Cyberpunk 2077? Baldur's Gate 3? God of War? Red Dead Redemption 2? If I didn't know better, this video would make me think that Nintendo Switch performance is about equal to Steam Deck. Try to get out of your pixel art comfort zone.

[@atomickaiser1934]

And not showing footage taken directly from a steam deck.

[@alanblack7108]

Add DAYS GONE to this list, runs great. first time playing it and the hordes are crazy

[@pipedream690]

These are mainly Indies. I'm really curious if the Super Switch (Switch 2) will end up being the more preferable indie machine or if the versatility of the Deck will surpass it.

[@backchurchboys]

For me being able to switch between my PC and the deck with cloud saves makes the deck version immediately better.

[@VicVaughn69]

Did I miss Hades? It’s perfect on the steam deck

[@TheTrueWelshIdiot]

Was looking for this take. Cannot believe they missed it. Nice taste.

[@aramis4347]

I live in Puerto Rico and they don't even send those here, is there any way that I can get my hands on one?

[@ElioHosri]

third party websites like ebay or mercarni

[@benjaminbruhn4360]

Diablo 2 Resurrected is also a blast on Steam Deck!

[@YoungCub]

Cyberpunk shocked me how good it looks

[@kewldean7013]

Trepang2 on the Steam Deck runs REEEALLY GOOD too!!! Change the quality settings to medium and it runs at 60fps perfectly

[@mattforthelikes]

The only flaw with the Steam Deck is that it wasn't around 10+ years ago.

[@Ray-dl5mp]

Great point. Probably a huge oversight.

[@Pooptheslayerr]

Brotato is a must it’s cheap and is just super fun to play on the steam deck

[@chrisdeponte2176]

Surprised to see no mention of horizon zero dawn. Also runs awesome on the steam deck 😁

[@filli2429]

i blieve blasphemous is defenetly a honorable mention

[@zegevieren8411]

dragon's dogma should be on here!

[@shaid1111]

The thing with the Steam Deck that I need to remind myself of is that all of the best games on the Steam Deck are very playable on Switch. And the ones that aren't don't need to be handheld.

[@projectill]

Batman Arkham series and Bioshock are also great on the deck.

[@bozzydawg-boris1115]

This selection of games you might be well use a switch!

[@konradpiotrowski9549]

I am having issues with fast paced fps on controllers. For me they are not that great choice on handheld (mostly thinking here about Left for Dead 2). For these types of games k&m > controller

[@richardsonjarrett3164]

Should I get Dave the diver or cult of the lamb

[@poletooke4691]

How does saving on steam deck work? If I'm somewhere without wifi, how will my game save to the steam cloud saves thing?

[@Negativvv]

It'll save locally and re attach via Steam cloud when you get a connection. I've played games across a Deck and my PC via cloud saving.

[@poletooke4691]

@@Negativvv oh cool! Thanks

[@Negativvv]

@@poletooke4691 the only slight word of warning is when your device gets access to Steam again it'll show the local save files and the cloud one. You've only got one chance to choose as it'll overwrite the other save state

[@allenqueen]

Can I say that Steam Deck is the best thing to happen to Indie gaming?

[@kiryukiwami98]

Shenmue 1, 2 and 3 :)

[@AlgedonicSouls]

I recommend any Persona game as well

[@nathankalkoske454]

Is ac6 on steamdeck?

[@duckiemomo3338]

Man I want of these so bad but they're between 600-800 dollars in my country.

[@YoungCub]

More than worth than. Runs better than my old 1k gaming pc

[@romanpelc5201]

Diablo IV is also great on Steam Deck 🙂

[@Wrynwynn]

Is it?

[@ThatGuyAlon]

That’s good to hear. I wanted you to know play D4 on it

[@seanmcveigh27]

Does Baldurs Gate 3 not run on a Steam Deck?

[@JoshuaFaleatua]

surprised to not see Hollow Knight!

[@AustinSpaeth-bw8lu]

20 hours deep an nier automata runs flawlessly on the deck

[@Arnell_Long]

*25 of the best third party games that are available on the Steam Deck. When I see these channels that are about the PS5, Xbox, PC, Nintendo, etc...saying "the best Xbox games to play right now", but yeah 90% of them are third party. They should word it better word it better and say "the best third party games available on the Xbox"...but hey, that's justy opinion. ☺️

[@EdKenUK]

This is a good list with some titles I may look at, but the fact Hades isn’t on the list honestly invalidates it a bit don’t you think?

[@4rth]

anyone know what the game was that was shown at 0:06

[@IPLaaYRuthLesss]

Slay the spire?

[@Tony-jy2nb]

It's ghostrunner

[@Iamppp]

*video’s predominantly filled with games that look like they would run smoothly on a GameCube .. surely a stream deck can run games more impressive than this… cyberpunk? God of war? Forza?*

[@YoungCub]

Planned to reply this and say cyberpunk is proof the comment is not accurate. But I see now that you realize it can run AAA they just weren’t chosen for the list. Cyberpunk runs revolutionarily well, better than my 700-1000 $ gaming pc

[@simonl2072]

The telltale games especially the walking dead definitve edition!

[@agentcooki]

Hollow Kinight? 🫤

[@ryankim3299]

I don't really enjoy elden ring on the deck. It doesn't really run all too well I feel

[@wam1510]

Love lucy ❤

[@havanatf682]

Dissapointing that they copied the script, literally word for word, from, '23 Best Steam Deck Games You Should Play'. Which was posted over a year ago. For example, both Elden Ring and Disco Elysium have been copied

[@Sharp931]

Doom Eternal is fun on the SD.

[@GrimDarkDude]

can the steam deck play anything i cant play on the switch? besides elden ring this was the worst video to get me pumped on buying my steam deck, how is this better than a used gaming laptop?

[@Madlipi]

should try metal gear rising, smooth 60fps with long battery life with good visuals and game mechanics

[@WedoitforyouPropertyServicesLi]

hi guys, I'm thinking of buying o=this console, can someone tell me if you can play the old school games like settlers on here and has anyone tried to install GOG.....

[@hazzehummuz6688]

Thinking of buying a Steam Deck but so few optimized games, it's like a slightly better version graphic wise then a Nintendo Switch...

[@skbzy4710]

I’ve played pal world on this it’s decent

[@Makkavic]

Hades Deaf cells Hollow knight