First reviews of the Steam Deck

The first reviews of Valve’s Steam Deck are out and so far there has been almost nothing but positive feedback. Interestingly, the biggest concern of the fans has now turned into a plus. A couple of developers who have already been allowed to test the Steam Deck have given the first reviews of the new product.

Developers conduct first tests

Valve’s Steam Deck isn’t officially available for purchase yet, but some developers have gotten a first taste and had almost nothing but good things to say about the new device so far. Especially the Linux and Proton implementation of the handheld gaming PC was praised, which is quite surprising, because the original fear of many gamers was that using Linux Proton would affect performance and accessibility.

From there, it is now even more surprising that apparently the exact opposite is true. While the Steam deck doesn’t work with every game right out of the box, when it does, there seem to be few problems.

Mainly good feedback

To find out how the Steam Deck is being received so far, PCGamer talked to Valheim developer and designer Jonathan Smårs, who praised the Steam Deck. Here’s his take on the new handheld gaming PC: “Valheim worked from day one on the Steam Deck without any changes. The graphics settings obviously need to be dialed down a bit compared to my high-end PC, but I’m still impressed with what such a small handheld can do without platform-specific optimizations.”

He especially praised Steam Deck’s ability to get Valheim running without any modifications. The other developers PCGamer spoke with also confirmed that they had a smooth launch when it comes to Steam Deck’s software.

PCGamer also checked with Raymond Doerr, the owner of SixtyGig Games and the developer of Rise to Ruins regarding the new device. Doerr had this to say about the Steam deck, “I had some issues with the controls, but my game is not designed for a controller at all, it doesn’t even have the code to recognize/respond to controller input. I need to design a controller layout for it and write controller support for the game, but I guess my game will be playable on it once that’s done.”

Doerr expressed confidence that the Steam deck will be able to run Rise to Ruins, and that could be confirmation that the initial compatibility issues have been fixed.

Linux Proton as a plus

Considering how badly many fans reacted to the news that the Steam deck would run Linux Proton, it seems that Valve’s decision is paying off after all. With many fixable issues like controller detection seemingly having nothing to do with Linux, but rather stemming from the games themselves, there seems to be nothing standing in the way of a successful Steam Deck launch.

The Steam Deck’s list of verified games recently passed the 100 compatible games mark, with 60 verified and 40 playable. While not all of these games will support the technology, AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) upscaling technology will be available for many titles. Valve’s Steam Deck will ship on February 24 to people who were able to reserve it in the first round. Meanwhile, you can also reserve the Steam Deck again and if everything works out, it should then be shipped to buyers in a few months.