Steam Deck First Review Shows us some Big Surprises. Right after an unexpected delay, the steam deck is almost upon us and the reviews keep on rolling in. it looks as if the valve’s handheld PC is making quite the impression in more ways than one.
Steam Deck First Review Shows us some Big Surprises
Some of the pros and cons of the systems seem fairly constant from person to person, but of course, there’s some wiggle room depending on the preferences of everyone and what they were expecting to get from the Stream Deck, to begin with.
The overall consensus is that it’s a cool piece of gaming hardware that’s a great way for steam users to enjoy some of their games. It can be while traveling or even just detached from their PCs, as well as a great jumping-off point for some people who might get interested in playing PC games for the very first time.
Well, it is if they get to grab one. Immediately valve starts sending shipping notices to people that we’re able to reserve a steam Deck back when that window was first launched in July of 2021, and even then, it would be heading in reservation order. So if you were not able to toss in your lot the last summer you would have to make some reservation through steam and wait until, as stated by valve, sometime in Q2 of 2022 for it to arrive.
The Great Part
Most of the positives of the steam deck have been unanimous, with game informer polygon, The Washington Post, and pretty much everyone else that is praising its ability to play a lot of games straight from their steam libraries in a more portable fashion.
And of course, the portability itself has turned into a big talking point as the steam Deck offers much better performance, great visuals, and a more extensive selection than its only real competitor: the Nintendo Switch.
Another common standout is the ability to thoroughly control layouts, all thanks to the steam Deck basically being a gaming pc mushed right into a portable form. Similarly, most of the reviewers get to appreciate the overall build quality and the feel of most of the physical control buttons – especially the control sticks, gyroscopic options, and haptic pads.
Also, there is the openness of the steam Deck for customization and repair. Due to it being a gaming PC, just as mentioned previously, users are given the option to install additional apps or even an entirely new operating system, and by all accounts, it seems to be quite simple to expand the device’s internal storage.
And it’s been designed with parts repair and replacement in mind – though valve recommends that you do not actually do any of that yourself if you do not know hardware maintenance.
The Downside
Also, there are a few consistent complaints, however, one of the biggest ones is the number of games that actually works on the steam Deck currently, and they are still rather limited. The list is expected to keep on growing as time goes on, but for the main time, there’s the very possibility that you would not be able to play some great games on this new handheld at the moment.
A lot of people have noted that it can become quite an ordeal to have to dig through game and steam Deck settings in order to eke out the optimal performance that is found on a game-by-game basis. And once the game is up and is running, there’s the matter of battery life.
Well, depending on the game and the settings, you might actually only get one hour of Playtime in right before you would be required to recharge it. or you might just be able to play for several hours. Well, this depends on how much the thing that you are playing pushes the system.
Those previously-mentioned control customization options happen to possess their very own downside, as some reviewers noted that it can become somewhat of a chore to have to manually reconfigure control settings right from game to game. And, as nice as the somewhat sizable library of games that are available may be, the limited storage space has led to the need for you to swap back and forth between SD cards for some.
