In February 2025, the Steam Deck will turn three years old. And while plenty of games still run like a dream on the portable PC, it’s clear that over time, more and more big new games are pushing this tiny computer to its breaking point. And it might be time for an upgrade.
Let’s be clear about something: the Steam Deck is awesome. Valve’s affordable and portable handheld PC launched in 2022 and has quickly inspired imitators while also making it easier than ever to play new and old PC games while chilling on your couch. I know plenty of people who didn’t play many PC games who now play a ton of stuff on their Steam Deck. It’s not a debate. The Steam Deck was a big hit and has changed the video game industry. That said, in 2024, it feels like more and more of this year’s biggest games are just not running well, or running at all, on the aging Steam Deck.
The recently released Silent Hill 2 remaster—which is very good—is currently marked by Valve as “Unsupported” on Steam Deck. Though you can still install it and you’ll discover that you can play the new horror game, you’ll have to turn most settings down to low and put up with some wonky performance in certain areas. It’s pretty clear this game is pushing the Steam Deck.
And it’s not alone. Here are other games that, according to Valve’s testing, are either “Unsupported” or just “Playable” (as opposed to “Verified”) on Steam Deck:
- Space Marine 2 – Unsupported
- Hellblade 2 – Unsupported
- Dragon’s Dogma 2 – Unsupported
- Black Myth: Wukong – Unsupported
- Frostpunk 2 – Unsupported
- Final Fantasy 16 (PC Port) – Unsupported
- Helldivers 2 – Playable
- Tekken 8 – Playable
- WWE 2K24 – Playable
- Suicide Squad – Playable
- Multiversus – Playable
Some of these games really struggle to run on Steam Deck. Space Marine 2, for example, can technically still be installed and played, but even with every setting turned down to its lowest option, it struggles to reach 30 FPS. Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, which is a very pretty game, can only kind of run on the Steam Deck after lowering the settings to the point where it looks awful. And then you have something like the massive open-world RPG that is Dragon’s Dogma 2, which struggled on current-gen consoles, and unsurprisingly, plays quite poorly on Steam Deck.
Now, not all of the games above are completely unplayable. For example, with some tweaks, you can get Black Myth: Wukong to run mostly fine at 30ish FPS on Steam Deck. The same is true of Helldivers 2. But one of the best qualities of the Steam Deck is that many games are “Verified,” and just work great right out of the box on Valve’s tiny PC. Having to dig into multiple menus, tweak Steam Deck and game settings, and check online for recommendations isn’t much fun, and I imagine that for a lot of Steam Deck owners, it’s not something they want to mess with just to play a new game.
The reality is that the Steam Deck is getting old. It wasn’t the hottest or most powerful device around when it launched in 2022, so it’s not shocking that more and more games are struggling to run on the device. Sure, there are plenty of games that run perfectly on Steam Deck, so it’s still worth buying if you want to play indie games, older titles, or less demanding single-player experiences.
But the era of being able to run “most games” on Steam Deck, an early pitch Valve made with the device, has come to an end. And now the question is: When will Valve release a more powerful version of the Steam Deck that can play these bigger games without melting your battery or having to lower every setting?
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