I’ve been a Steam Deck owner for a few years now and tend to have a daily routine with the system. When I get my hands on the Valve handheld, I look at the games on sale, calculate my savings to see if I can afford something, switch to Desktop Mode, check on classic games I can try emulating, and then eventually play a game.
Does this make me a PC gamer? Maybe.
The fact that I mess around with Deck settings before sitting down to play a game makes me wonder if this is what PC gaming is about. Granted, the Deck is still a handheld with built-in controls, but the various customization options in games and the handheld itself do lead to plenty of tinkering on my end. At most, I could be one of those filthy casual PC gamers that other people hate.
When playing some of the more powerful PC games on the Steam Deck, I always ensure the visuals are set to Medium or Low settings. Less powerful games like SoulCalibur 6 can be played on max settings without much visual sacrifice, but that’s the exception, not the norm. Even when a game can be played on high settings, I prefer to keep things on Medium or Low for better battery life and longer game time.
Adjusting the FPS has also been a lifesaver, giving me the option to choose between prettier visuals and better performance. Even if I don’t care that much about framerate and resolution, the fact that certain titles can look or play better through adjusting the settings can be mind-blowing. It’s nice to see some of these options on Switch 2 and PlayStation 5, so we can choose how these games play on our consoles.
Valve’s Steam Deck is partially responsible for making PC gaming more popular, offering a more console-oriented experience that many newcomers can easily gravitate towards.
But once players realize how they can improve their gaming experience by changing Protons and the like, it can be argued that they’re one step closer to being a PC player. It’s an interesting way to change your gaming lifestyle, that’s for sure.
Because the Deck is a handheld that’s more comfortable with controller-based gaming, I wouldn’t call myself a full-time PC gamer. There are times when games don’t have natural controller support and I have to look for Community Layouts to make them play well with the Deck, which sucks. I also haven’t used the Deck for actual computer things like work and playing YouTube videos, making me an even faker PC gamer.
Maybe in the future, I’ll own a high-end PC that can play all of these powerful games that the Steam Deck can’t. But why would I want to do that when I can bring the Deck wherever I want?
Plus, it looks cool and can play all my favorite PS2 games, so there isn’t much of a reason to abandon this PC handheld, at least not yet.