Valve’s Steam Deck is something of an anomaly in the world of portable consoles in that it’s living up to the hype it has created. Yes, it’s not perfect. It’s big and beefy and the battery life could be better, but many portable consoles have promised the world (ie PC gaming on the move) and failed to deliver. The Steam Deck delivers.
That’s not to say that the latest expansive RPG will run on it without a hitch. That’s pretty understandable. One can dream, but a handheld PC is not at the point to compete with home set ups just yet.
Valve are working on that, though. Regular updates and fixes are being made to make more Steam titles compatible with its hardware, and the games retailer’s ‘Great on Deck’ page is a very handy resource for deciding which titles have passed all compatibility checks and are ready to be played portably. That includes the likes of God of War, Elden Ring and Spider-Man remastered, but delve beneath the surface and there’s a treasure trove of great, cheap titles to discover.
What’s more, the Steam Deck’s delayed official dock is now available for order, according to Valve, and the console is now available to buy with no wait. Now, it’s time to delve into what bargains you can play on it.
Additional copy by Justin Mahboubian-Jones and Alan Wen
Cuphead (£14.99)
Cuphead will likely end up on every ‘best of’ list from now until the end of time, and for good reason.
This run-and-gun classic puts you in control of Cuphead and Mugman, who have the unenviable task of collecting souls for the devil. Not ideal. Players zip, shoot and fly their way across beautifully drawn levels inspired by the sounds and cartoon styles of the 1930s. Dragons, fairground rides, Las Vegas slot machines and giant frogs are just a few enemies that Cuphead and Mugman must face. It’s difficult. Very difficult, and will have you turning off your console in a childlike strop before picking it back up again five minutes later.
The recently released Cuphead companion, The Delicious Last Course, brings yet more beautifully drawn baddies and an additional playable character to consoles. A must own.
Return to Monkey Island (£19.49)
LucasArt’s Monkey Island series is something of a rite of passage for those who spent an offensive amount of time sat in front of a Windows 95 computer. The point-and-click puzzle and adventure series followed the trials and tribulations of Guybrush Threepwood as he swashbuckled and smartmouthed his way across a fictionalized pirate-era Caribbean.
The series, known for its dry wit and colorful character, spanned 19 years and five games, with Threepwood last appearing in 2009’s Tales of Monkey Island. For thirteen years Monkey Island laid dormant, but this year the series was revived with Return to Monkey Island under the direction of its original creator, Ron Gilbert.
Return holds on to all the elements that made the Monkey Series so beloved. The dialog is witty. The environments are immersive, while the puzzles are a fine balance between engrossing and enraging. At the time, we called it ‘a last hurrah for the golden age of pirate adventures,’ and is certainly worthy of your hard earned booty.
Stardew Valley (£10.99)
Had enough of combat, globe-trotting and intrigue? How’d you like to spend your evenings engaged in something a little more relaxing and gentle – while still retaining that dopamine-dumping gaming loop that ensures you’ll be playing long past midnight?
Allow us to present Stardew Valley, a game in which you take over and run a dilapidated old farm; not a farm plagued by zombies, not a farm upon which an evil corporation wants to drill for oil – just a farm on the outskirts of a sleepy countryside town, with some land and a few buildings you can develop. As the seasons roll by, you’ll meet your neighbors – and maybe even fall in love and start a family.
And don’t worry, this has far more in common with Harvest Moon than it does Farmville, concentrating on gently prodding you into being more productive rather than constantly chucking stuff in your face.
The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow (£11.39)
The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow follows the story of a young Victorian woman, Thomasina Bateman, who has been invited to an unsettling northern town by a stranger for mysterious purposes. What could possibly go wrong?
Lots of things it turns out, and it’s the job of Bateman to find what darkness lies under the apparently quaint village of Bewlay. There are puzzles to solve, villagers to interrogate and dark secrets to uncover, all to a score that broods heavier over time.
Visually, The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow is a throwback to the heyday of 8 and 16bit games. It builds its foreboding English landscape through beautifully blocky and purposefully low-res pixel art, akin to playing a version of The Wicker Man for the Atari.
Hades (£19.49)
Failure is an important part of Hades, where each run has a random layout of enemies and death sends you right back to the beginning. That sounds like a turn-off for those preferring a story over a challenge, but this roguelite is more forgivable than most – and better too.
This dungeon-crawler’s fast and tight combat feels terrific to play as you hack and slash your way out of the Greek Underworld to the surface. And Hades is very addictive for diving back in for another go, seeing what this weapon or that upgrade can do or what you’ll find in the next room. Even if you’ll have to face numerous setbacks, few games make you feel so godly.
Little Nightmares II (£24.99)
Little Nightmares 2 is the follow up to Tarsier Studio’s breakout horror puzzle-platformer. If the predecessor’s grotesque imagery of twisted adults and cannibalism left you wondering what the heck is going on in its wider world, this might just give you the answers.
Admittedly, that description sounds quite sinister for a game where you play as a pint-sized young boy journeying through a scary world with a yellow raincoat wearing sidekick. But Little Nightmares II is a beautifully horrid title, filled with twisted set pieces to keep you up at night.
Portal 2 (£7.19)
The beauty of discovering a new gaming console is that with it, players rediscover the games they once loved. Portal 2 is one of those titles, an oldie but very much a goodie.
Portal 2 was met with rightful praise upon its release in 2011, and it more than holds its own in 2022. Its storyline remains compelling, and to this day features some of the best voice acting in video games. ATLAS and P-body, Portal 2’s main protagonists, haven’t lost a morsel of charm or humor in over ten years. After so many years, remembering how to solve a puzzle brings with it a wave of satisfaction and nostalgia in equal measure. And for those who haven’t experienced Portal 2 before, we envy you.
Crazy Taxi (£5.99)
There are certain games that stick with a person for life. Games that, as the years go by, playing them emits a muscle memory reaction.
Crazy Taxi is one of those games, a bonafide arcade classic alongside the likes of Time Crisis and House of the Dead. Hurtling across a version of San Francisco, knocking virtual bystanders out their way, is as joyfully chaotic today as it was upon Crazy Taxi’s release in 1999. And yes, buses traveling too slow still causes virtual road rage.
Crazy Taxi’s modern incarnation has thankfully changed little since it first debuted. There are still only two main modes, Arcade and Original, as well as 16 mini games. The controls remain as clunky as the graphics, and there are still thrills to be had in driving off a huge ramp.
MadMax (£15.99)
There are no shortage of games that appeal to the type of people who believe they’ll thrive in an apocalyptic world. 2019’s Days Gone asks, how would you survive in zombie ravaged Oregon? The Last of Us 2 premises, how would you survive in zombie ravaged Seattle, but what if those zombies were also mushrooms? From war (Fallout) to walking (Death Stranding), today, any apocalyptic experience can be played out in HD.
To that list add 2015’s Mad Max. Mad Max, the game, is essentially a playable carbon copy of Mad Max, the movie. Earth has destroyed itself, oil equals power, archaic gangs roam The Wasteland dressed in chainmail and you, a lone wanderer who’s somehow kept their chiselled good looks in a world without soap, need to survive.
Mad Max was largely slept on at the time of release, perhaps due to too many disappointing movie-video game tie-in adaptations. Since then, though, it’s since grown into something of a cult classic, where gamers fight for scrap in an open world wasteland. And in an overcrowded market, Mad Max offers a unique spin on the end of the world.
Totally Accurate Battle Simulator (£15.49)
Totally Accurate Battle Simulator has a simple premise, who would win in a fight between one historical figure and another? It’s an immortal question, one that TABS tries to answer in a simple, yet delightfully silly way.
TABS is part strategy game, part uncontrollable mass of flailing bodies in what its developer, landfill, calls ‘wobbliest physics system ever created.’ It pits cavemen against knights and pirates against woolly mammoths. Is the pen mightier than the sword? Make an artist and a samurai fight to find out.
TABS is a game that can be picked up for a few minutes or will mercilessly squeeze several hours from the day. Don’t just take our word for it, though, as TABS has also been rated the 20th best Steam game of all time.
Yakuza 0 (£15.99)
Yakuza 0 places you in the neon-lit underworld of 1980s Japan. The economy is booming, capitalism is thriving, and for two junior gang members, Kiryu and Majima, crime is paying very well.
From there, things get pretty weird in this delightfully bonkers action beat ’em up. As Kiryu and Majima make their way through the richly detailed streets of Tokyo and Osaka, the duo can can punch, kick and breakdance their enemies into submission. Minigames range from playing Mahjong and Blackjack to disco dancing in the club. One particular side-quest involves leading a street performer to the bathroom before, well, the inevitable.
That said, later Yakuza titles, such as Yakuza: Like a Dragon, have since upped the absurdity, allowing players to use spatulas and something called a ‘celestial microphone’ as weapons. It’s not to say flailing a kitchen utensil like a nunchuck isn’t fun, but Yakuza 0 succeeds in toeing a line between serious gameplay, story and silliness.
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is arguably Hideo Kojima’s magnum opus, a story of rage, revenge, and offing unsuspecting guards in a myriad of creative ways.
Set amidst a backdrop of the Cold War, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain offers all the heart-pumping stealth action that’s to be expected when sending an angry Solid Snake into a deadly warzone. Where it excels, though, is in the freedoms it offers players. The open-world environment allows for dynamic play, whether it’s the freedom to ensnare enemies in a series of meticulously laid traps or to run in all guns blazing and hoping for the best. Day and night cycles and dynamic weather can make or break a mission. So, too, will giant mechanized robots wishing to destroy you.
The future is uncertain for series, though. Since The Phantom Pain’s release in 2015, Kojima has left Konami with the latter keeping the rights to his creation. However, if Snake’s ninth outing proves to be his last, then he can rest easy.
