U should instal plugin : -vibrant deck (making your steam deck display colours saturation looks like oled screen) -HLTB for steam deck (showing status how long you've been playing story/ achievements/extras, on each games) -boot animation changer -css loader (changing steam deck UI/interface/themes) -steamgridDB (changing game covers/artworks so easily, u can download it inside) Etc there is so many amazing plugin u can find cheers :)
simple, straight to the point and very clear. absolutely amazing video. keep in mind, even if a game shows unsupported it doesn't mean it wont play. I have well over 1300 games and plenty of them are unsupported and I can still play them just fine. Don't let that rating deter you from buying a deck or a game for your deck.
@@SeeingStarsGaming steam deck battery absolutely suck that’s the reason why I never bring my steam deck with me on the go play game for like 90m minute or 2 hour and the battery is dead plus the LCD screen its not better than the switch oled screen i rather bring my switch oled with me on the go than my steam deck cause the battery on the switch oled last much longer than the steam deck battery
I’m new to Steam gaming and got my Steam Deck last week and games are soo cheap compared to the eShop! I end up spending waay too much on games haha! Great video! Happy New Year! 😄
bring your steam deck on the go and let see how long the battery last on the steam deck when u playin your game on it it only last about 90 minute or 2 hour
@@stevenjohnson8736 I’m a busy man so a 90 minute gaming session for me is near impossible wherever I may be so yeah the battery life is just fine with me
Really cool stuff, thanks for sharing this with us! I would highly recommend learning about the "Golden 40" that leverages the 40Hz capabilities of the Deck's display. Inevitably, you'll often end up worrying if a recent release can run at 60FPS on there. The Golden 40 would massively help here: Due to the fact you can lower the panel's refresh rate to 40Hz through the Quick Action Menu, you are able to go for 40FPS instead of 30. Why you may ask? Despite a 10FPS additional payload to the Deck's graphics APU, 40 FPS is right in the middle between 30 and 60 FPS in terms of frame pacing - meaning a nearly-60 FPS experience. Try it out! If you want to see this in action, feel free to give an older video of mine a shot, where I tried to explain this comprehensively. Cheers!
I was just surprised with the 1TB version yesterday as an early birthday gift from my brother, and I am highly enjoying the ability to sit on my couch and play PC games. I don’t have the space for a PC setup at the moment, but he knew I wanted to play games that are available on Steam. So this is looking like a great alternative! And I found your well thought out and made video which has made me even more excited! I can already see that I’m going to get a lot of use, possibly even more than my Switch!
Love this! I just got one and I'm finally playing all those Steam games I bought which sat unloved and neglected, for the same exact reason as you - after working all day, I want to get out of my office and chill downstairs on the sofa! I rarely game at my desktop so this has been a GAME CHANGER!! (scuze the pun)
LOVE THE PUN!!! I'm so glad you're enjoying it and that you can finally give some love to the games you've bought over the years! It definitely is such a game changer 🙌 playing on desktop just doesn't hit the same after you've sat in front of the same monitor all day for work 😆
Its also worth noting that you can replace the thumbsticks on steam decks very easy. 8 screws to get the back plate off then its a couple screws and a ribbon cable to replace them. You can even get a kit to add in better ones for like $30
The greatest limiting factor for the Steam Deck is battery life. I've found that playing graphically intensive modern games usually runs the battery dry between 90 minutes and 2 hours, depending on settings. Thankfully, cozier games tend to be way less demanding. I think I was getting close to 5 hours with A Short Hike, and a bit more with Beacon Pines. Lil Gator Game and Cozy Grove were between 4 and 4 and 1/2. So the cozier your gaming, the less the Deck's biggest limitation is going to apply to you.
Yes, I completely agree! I think Valve is planning to release a newer model that has better battery life which is great since it can get pretty annoying to have to charge all the time for more demanding games.
i can see where the battery can be a problem. Im lucky to game in places where I always have access to a charger. Couch? 20 ft charger. Bed? steam deck charger. Car? i have a full outlet in my back seat that is 45W. I don't currently have a portable battery but its because I literally have zero need for it. (and they are expensive) Would it be nice to not need to plan for a short battery life, yes absolutely. BUT I personally think its a nice trade off for the powerhouse that this thing is. The way I like to describe it to my friends that ask about the battery life is that Id never expect my PC to be able to run for 4+ hours on a chargeable battery, so I don't really expect that from the deck either. For the price point that they kept it. Im personally very happy with it. I do understand that Im in a convenient situation and not everyone has the luxury of having a charging solution around every corner. The cozy games I play give me multiple hours EASY without needing to plug in, but AAA titles are a different story in most cases. I hope they can find a solution to the battery life that doesn't add too much to the cost for the end user :(
@@firefoxx903 YES I totally agree with your take as well! For the amount that it can do I think the battery is a fine trade-off for me. I tend to use it more casually around the house and I really love how I can play AAA titles if I want to on my bed lol
@@SeeingStarsGaming I have some health issues that cause chronic pain. Specifically in my lower abdomen and back. The only thing that seems to help when I'm having a flare is to lay down flat on my back. Not idea for a PC desk setup 🤣 The steam deck is an absolute life changer for me. I get to have access to my steam games from anywhere in or out of my home. Previously I would have to just cut my loss and either play a different game on my switch or just find a movie to watch. Now I can play the games I actually want to play. I love this little device more than I ever thought I would but WOW. I can't imagine my life without it now!
@@SeeingStarsGaming Yeah, they said that in an interview recently. That they were looking into something with a nice screen and more battery life. Both of which would be pretty awesome. But batteries are big and heavy, so I'm going to wait patiently to see what they do. Integrating a big heavy thing without throwing off the balance of the unit or displacing some important feature is something of an engineering feat. It would be incredible, though, if they upped the power storage from 40 watt hours to 60.
I’ve had my Nintendo switch for 3+ years now and haven’t witnessed joycon drift. I’m thinking at this point it’s how people take care of their switch or jam the thumbsticks lol
Straight to the point! I love that. No fluff. I’m considering a deck, just because. I mostly play cozy games on my switch, so I wasn’t sure if a deck would fit my playing style. It’s still on my maybe list, so we’ll see. Thanks again.
Note the one downside of getting the cheapest model is the limit of space to store shader cache files. These files are stored separately from the game , these are downloaded before it starts downloading the game. This is not a problem at first until you install more and more game on the Deck. These files are still on the Deck interior storage even after you uninstall a game. Search on You-tube how to clear out shader cache files and/or how to more these files to the SD card. Note by moving these files to the SD in big titles like God of War you will have performance drops when a new area in loaded within a game. Indy games will run just fine with these files moved to the SD card but they often don't require large shader files either. You can also upgrade to a SSD interior storage. If you want to install a lot of games , like a TB SD card worth and don't want to move files around as often as well don't want to take the back of the Deck to upgrade the SSD I would recommend you getting 256 GB model.
I absolutely love my Steam Deck, but the one thing that bugs me the most is how Valve handled the "Deck Verified" markings. There are lots of games that are listed as "playable" because the one mark against them is that you need to use the onscreen keyboard, and so many of those games only have you enter a name. I know Valve is trying to play it careful but considering the store home page on the Deck is curated for "Deck Verified" games only, it seems unfair to those games.
Yeah I completely agree with that! It's super unfair! I've seen a lot of "playable" games that run wonderfully but are hindered by the onscreen keyboard which is silly since it works perfectly fine.
Love the informative video Denise! I’m definitely super interested in the Steam Deck but might wait for the next iteration since it seems like it takes a little more tech fiddling than the plug and play Switch. And hoping more colors come out!
Thanks so much Lena! I actually haven't had to fiddle with my steam deck too much and a lot of games have been working great so far. So you don't have to configure your steam deck if you don't want to but the option is there! But it might still be a good idea to wait to get one bc I heard valve is planning to release another steam deck that has better battery life.
@@marios.2975 nah, don't think it would come that fast. Battery is a long time problem even in mobile phones now. Id say 2yrs atleast for 1.5 SD. and 4yrs for SD2
Just buy one! You won't regret it! I actually use my deck as my main pc and main console! Since I got it, I haven't touched my laptop or my PS4! All I use is my Deck haha, I also use it to dual boot between SteamOs and Windows 11 split between a 1TB ssd internally, and I use either SD cards to hold games, or I also use a external SSD for more storage.
@@MrRunItUp no hate, I have a ps5 , series X , switch and mid tier PC. But I’m planning to get a steam deck for daily usage since i spend 90% of my time at work, would be great to access my steam library outside of my home.
I have two gaming pcs one in my living room and another in my bedroom, but the amount of hrs I played on the them pales in comparison to the hrs and hrs of time I have clocked in on my steam deck. Poor things are collection dust now 😂. One thing to note about the thumbstick grips or covers, they would need to be capacitive. Otherwise you would lose gyro control in games that use it, gyro gets activated when the steam deck detects you fingers on both thumbsticks. Also another point to note about the original steam deck dock is that the reason why it’s $80 is that not only the dock but another charger is included as well the same one that’s shipped with the steam deck. I think you could still get it cheaper by getting a third party dock and charger, but not bad if you’re wanting a first party one. Btw good job on the vid you have covered all the key points 👍🏾 wish you happy holidays and the coming new year.
Lol it's just so easy to pick up the Steam Deck over any other console or PC so I completely relate haha I had no idea about the thumbstick grips! Thank you for letting me know! Most games that I've been playing recently don't require gyro control so I think I'm safe but I'll keep a mental note when I do try games that do require gyro control 😊That makes sense why the dock is more expensive! Haha I didn't realize it came with the battery too.
I too think it's big and bulky at first but after a few months it's so comfortable to hold and play. My hand doesn't feel cramped at all. Now my Bluetooth x2 controller feel so small and uncomfortable 🙃
This video was sooo good by the way! I feel like your editing and presentation of the information skills are so good and are getting better and better each time!:) I’m truly impressed with each video you post and can’t wait to see your next upload!😊
On the subject of gaming compatibility, you can use protondb to find out if your games are going to work and if you need to do some extra things to get them to work.
"cozy casual gamer" would be an good name for your channel. I'm the kind of person that gets stuck in the weeds with technical specifications and details so it's refreshing to get a more casual point of view from your video
Funny how it being "bulky" was kind of a letdown for so many people who preordered it/are still on the fence about it when for me it was a selling point coming from a switch OLED and feeling my hands hurt from it being so small and me playing sporadically but for long sessions
I actually took some time to think about what i wanted between a new laptop or a Steam Deck and just ended up getting a gaming laptop since i do take it to work often and love having the option between watching anime or playing games. Might still get one later down the read tho
I really appreciate the opinion from another girl gamer. I just bought a Steam Deck and love it. I'd like to know what games you like to play. I like RPGs, but I'd like to know more about the cozy games you play. Also, how do you play Genshin Impact? I've watched many videos on it, and none of the ways to get the game seem easy. I play Halo on the Steal Deck, and it's rated as unsupported but plays fine. Love the video! 😊
Unfortunately I havent tried playing genshin impact on the steam deck yet but I watched another youtuber, Nemui Atelier, who was able to do it for her steam deck. She had more info in the description of her video but from what I know you have to dualboot and install windows onto the steam deck. It's definitely not as easy as installing the game directly from the steam library sadly. I'm releasing a new video which covers my fav cozy games for the switch and steam deck in the next couple of days so stay tuned for that 😉 😊
im hoping to place an order on a steam deck very soon, and maybe a few games to go with it. loved the video keep it up. and happy (slightly belated) holidays
If you want to play genshin you'll have to install Windows, unfortunately it doesn't run on linux or VM's officially, The process for doing so isn't too difficult and if I ever work up the courage to add extra storage to my Steam deck I might do a dual beat setup
Imo the Steam Deck is PERFECT for casual gamers. Most importantly for the cost: the base model has the exact same performance as the more expensive versions, it's just different SSD sizes and the highest end one has a matte display. I already had a decently sized microSD at home and bought a cheap matte screen protector for my base model, it's worked out great for me. Especially since I don't actually need to have a million games inatalled at once, it's enough for me to have a couple at a time tbh. And! The games are so inexpensive!! I got a Switch Lite first but the sheer cost of the video games was a real barrier for me. But on the Deck? I bought the entire Witcher trilogy for significantly less than half the cost of Witcher 3 on Switch. These days, if it's not a Nintendo exclusive I'm far more likely to get a game for the Deck than the Switch tbh. And I love the fact that it's user repairable - you can buy almost all parts and switch them out if/when you need to, with full step by step guides on how to do everything available (buy a bigger SSD, replace thumbsticks or broken displays, switch the fan for a quieter model if you got the "bad" version). For keyboard and mouse games, you can use the sticks or touchpads for a mouse, triggers for mouse buttons, and map the rest of the buttons for your keyboard keys. It works pretty well in my experience! And for unverified games, honestly I've not had any real issues. I installed ProtonDB early on and it's been pretty smooth ever since. It's just such a great device. Certainly not flawless, but at this price point it's hands down the single best gaming option. You can buy one device (no display, no controllers etc) and just play. The same is true for the Nintendo Switch, sure, but the Nintendo tax on games can be really significant. There are other handheld PCs as well, the GPD Win 4 looks freaking amazing and so much more compact than the Deck - but it's also several times the price, especially since I'd have to pay 25% VAT for a non-EU import... I'd love to get one, but that's a LOT of money compared to the €400 Steam Deck 🤷
Honestly, in the replacing Nintendo switch section, yes, the Steam Deck can, it can emulate almost any console that isn't Xbox One and Ps4, including the Switch, and honestly run most Switch games better. Unless you want to use the Nintendo Online capabilities, but if you just want it for the Switch games in general then the Steam Deck can replace it
@@flowfactoryinc07 well the first thing I did was download emudeck and transfer all the games from my emulator drive into this. I also have a pretty big steam library so I downloaded the big games I loved, and knew I would play. I haven’t tinkers the way I wanted too just yet, but it’s been a dream come true having this away from home.
I honestly wasn't sure if I would like the trackpads or not! But I absolutely love them! The tactile feeling, the smooth response, and, of course, the nice little clicky haptic feeling are amazing! VALVE out did themselves on the steam deck, but to be fair, they have been working on the steam deck since the 90's.... so I guess they had plenty of time!
Hey! I really enjoyed this video. I have also personally had a Deck for a little bit now, and I've explored for of the enthusiast side of it, so it's cool to be able to see a different perspective. Honestly, if you have Discord or something, I'd love to discuss the Deck and gaming more with you. You seem pretty passionate about a side of gaming that I'm not the most familiar with, so I'd love to learn more. Let me know! And once again, great, in-depth review on the Steam Deck here.
I got mine 6 months ago but with class i wasnt able to play on it as much as i wanted to, im struggling with the ps2 bios but other than that it’s pretty fun
You mentioned Switch exclusive titles. Well, as a matter of fact, the Steam Deck can play those too. Lol. Just lookup an EmuDeck tutorial, and it'll work great. If you want to do it legally/ support the devs, just buy the game from Nintendo first. No judgements either way though
Great video, and you definitely inspired my next video. I'm finally going to review steamdeck as well, and that's thanks to this video. Your delivery and commentary was great, and it is a style I want to try to learn from. Thank you for the inspiration! I subscribed, of course! Hope you're doing well, happy holidays and can't wait to see more content!
If there's one thing that doesn't worry me, it's the battery. Cozy Games are one of my main favorite genres as well as platform games and I hardly need to worry about downloading and playing time. But every now and then it's somewhat frustrating, even though I feel used to it because of years of living with the Switch.
The battery doesn't worry me too much either bc I rarely leave my house with the Steam Deck lol but I totally get it! It can get annoying to have to charge sometimes when you're in the middle of a game. It definitely breaks my immersion.
@@SeeingStarsGaming Me too. 😁 As I said, my game preferences are of medium demand for the Deck at most and I believe yours are too. I understand. 😅 It's happened so many times to me.
I literally just cancelled an order I placed for the oled today for it because of the issue of not all of their games being supported on the deck i really hope they fix that soon
It's actually not an issue that Steam can solve by themselves. Developers have to make the effort to make their game compatible on the Steam Deck and I just can't see that happening for every single game on Steam especially for older games. The only solution for us, the consumer, is to manually search prior to purchasing a game and check if it's compatible or not. But I can see that being an extra step some people most likely aren't interested in doing because it can be a little tedious.
How are you playing Genshin impact on steam deck? Out of the box it’s not supported…there’s the Anime Game Launcher but you risk a ban. I appreciate an answer how you play Genshin on the Deck. Thx
Yeah obviously you can play it on Windows…or stream it via GeForce NOW for example. An anime Game Launcher works fantastically even though it has a risk. Still, the game doesn’t run too well on the deck. Low to mid settings only with bad battery live and fan noise is what you get.
Why not 🎉😂I'm after it these September I'm from the gutter ,I already got Nintendo switch today it's half a million in my country while steam deck worth a million 💋
Thank you, what a great review!! You covered all the basic questions I had, but I wanted to ask, is there any way to play offline or do you always need an internet connection? I'd love to take it on road trips, but worry I won't be able to use it w/out a connection /: For starters, I've got to save up some money to actually buy it! :]
According to the Steam Deck FAQ page if a game requires internet connection to play then it won't work but for most games once you download it you should be able to play it offline as long as it doesn't need to connect to the internet to function in the first place. Hope that helps!
It actually does run on the Steam Deck! Another RU-vidr by the name of Nemui Atelier had a great video on the Steam Deck where she showed herself playing Genshin Impact on the Steam Deck. She had some more info in the description on how she went about doing it. Hopefully that helps if you're looking into trying it out 😊
Thank you! They're the Geekshare Heart Button Caps if you're interested. It's adorable but they fell off very quickly after I put them on so I don't really recommend it. As an alternative I've seen some people buy small little stickers made of cloth/thread which they stick onto their buttons. It seems to last a lot longer and is probably cheaper. 😊
😢but still not available for me to buy one in my country, valve need to do something about it asap to let other countries to be able to purchase the steam deck too, it’s not like they can’t see to find a way to deliver to us, there’s ups/DHL and other delivery service’s…..
@@SeeingStarsGaming thanx for the reply ☺️ really want it so bad, actually there’s like someone selling it in my country but damn expensive not retail price..
Glad to find your review as I'm curious as to how the Steam Deck is to hold for us ladies with our little girly hands. Not too many reviews out there by lady gamers.
I'm glad you enjoyed it and I totally understand! It's nice to hear perspectives from similar people when you're trying to make an informed decision on a big purchase. You should check out some of these other female youtubers as well who have great steam deck reviews: A Casual Gamer, Cozy Gamer Kat, Nemui Atelier. 😊
I have very small hands (I could barely reach an octave on the piano when I first started learning, for reference, and even small ladies’ gloves are a bit long for my fingers) and I find the steam deck pretty easy to hold and love it, honestly. The main thing that took me a little longer to get used to is the ginormous r1,r2 and l1/l2 buttons at the top (switch user also) but I rarely use those anyway…also,.I don’t think the four buttons in the back are comfortable placements or easy to press but I’ve never seen a game implement them so it’s a bit of a moot point. It does get heavy to hold, especially moving between switch and deck consoles, but the hand grips on the deck are super nice and mitigate that feeling a bit. I know this comment is a month old but I hope you have found the handheld console of your dreams~~
So basically once u buy the steam deck you can download any of the games (after purchasing each of them through that system) that are on that system and play them. Do the games have to be downloaded through using PC at all or no?
Yes you can purchase any game available on Steam and download the game directly onto your Steam Deck. This can all be done through your Steam Deck but you do need to make a Steam account to purchase and access the games that you've bought. There's no need to download them through your PC. Hopefully that little explanation helps!
@@MerrickCamo520 anti cheat is the software the majority of big multiplayer games use to prevent hacking , this prevents us from playing games like Fortnite, call of duty war zone, fall guys , and other similar titles
not true. there are some games that cannot work on it. Some games are incompatible with a linux OS. Yes you can install windows, but for the minimal games that arent supported its not worth it. The number of games that wont work at all is few, but they exist.
