I ordered a new OLED Steam Deck that is scheduled to deliver tomorrow. I have ZERO experience with Steam or emulators, so I'm excited to get into something new, especially since my kids are usually occupying the PS5/Xbox when I can play.

With that said, if anyone has any tips/tricks, must dos/donts, accessories etc., I'd appreciate it.

I'm curious if I need to look into getting a VPN for some of the downloads. I'm not saying I'm planning on doing anything illegal…. But ya know, if I download something questionable, I don't want to get popped for it.

Reddit megathread for archive.org links.

Chiaki4Deck if you have a PlayStation



Greenlight if you have an Xbox



Emudeck for emulators.
https://www.emudeck.com/#how_to_install

If you're doing emulators make sure you get the Decky plug in loader. Lots of things I use every time from walk throughs to screen settings to emulator achievements. Tons of stuff.

Also make sure you've got a couple of the sd cards. I printed labels for mine for emulators, 4x, flight stuff and can pop those in and out.

Also the stock case is fine but there are better ones out there. If you're traveling a lot pick up a USB c dongle dock and an HDMI cable or look at something like the XReal Airs if you're spending a lot of time on planes.

Just purchased the OLED steam deck. Had an accident late last month and will be on short term disability until April. Figured that I might as well purchase something to help pass the time. I've only ever been a console gamer so this is new territory. My brother in law has one and introduced me to it last week. We'll see how invested I am these next couple months. Game recommendations from this forum would be nice.

Play Aperture Desk Job. It's basically a tutorial for the Steam Deck controls. And has a great sense of humor.

I've been thinking about getting one for my wife who plays the Switch primarily, is there any kind of learning curve moving to a Steam Deck?

the steam deck can do a whole lot, but not everything that its lauded for is easy plug&play like a switch. some games require some tweaking here and there, and emulation even more. that said, theres a crapton of games that effectively are plug&play, so it can be as complicated as you want it to be

Very little in my experience.

I'm planning on downloading Emudeck this weekend and getting some emulator games.

Question: every video I've watched on YouTube doesn't really show how the games get loaded onto the SD. Once you download the emulator, does it automatically download games too, or do I need to get on Reddit/Google and find some codes?

Yeah you'll have to find your own roms for emulation.

#1 said:

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Just purchased the OLED steam deck. Had an accident late last month and will be on short term disability until April. Figured that I might as well purchase something to help pass the time. I've only ever been a console gamer so this is new territory. My brother in law has one and introduced me to it last week. We'll see how invested I am these next couple months. Game recommendations from this forum would be nice.

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So I got it delivered last night. It's a great piece of hardware to say the least. The screen resolution is incredible. I downloaded Desk Job from the rec above. Like you said, its a fun eay to learn the contollers and its free. I also downloaded Stray for my step daughter and Counter Strike 2. I was deciding which "Big Game" to purchase. I went ahead and started downloading Elden Ring. It says it works great on the Steam Deck. Heard a lot about the game and I'm excited to get started. So far, I'm enjoying everything.

For anyone that doesn't want to fidget with Greenlight for Xbox streaming, you can buy an app called XBPlay on Steam for $7 which works really well

#1 said:

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#1 said:

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Just purchased the OLED steam deck. Had an accident late last month and will be on short term disability until April. Figured that I might as well purchase something to help pass the time. I've only ever been a console gamer so this is new territory. My brother in law has one and introduced me to it last week. We'll see how invested I am these next couple months. Game recommendations from this forum would be nice.

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So I got it delivered last night. It's a great piece of hardware to say the least. The screen resolution is incredible. I downloaded Desk Job from the rec above. Like you said, its a fun eay to learn the contollers and its free. I also downloaded Stray for my step daughter and Counter Strike 2. I was deciding which "Big Game" to purchase. I went ahead and started downloading Elden Ring. It says it works great on the Steam Deck. Heard a lot about the game and I'm excited to get started. So far, I'm enjoying everything.

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Elden Ring is a great game. I would also recommend the following as your budget/time allows:

Hades - great game that is even better on steam deck than PC
Palworld - actually plays great on steam deck. There is a website with the best in game settings for it to run smooth.
Baldurs Gate 3
Cyberpunk 2077
Red Dead Redemption 2

I am considering buying one of these as well. Has anyone tried the following games on steam deck?

Hogwarts Legacy
Apex Legends
Palworld

HawthornAggie said:

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I am considering buying one of these as well. Has anyone tried the following games on steam deck?

Hogwarts Legacy
Apex Legends
Palworld

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My brother in law has Hogwarts on the deck. I played a little and it plays great. Palworld is all the buzz right now. Haven't played it but have watched videos on how it transitions on the deck. You need to tweak the settings a bit but after that, no issues based on the videos.

HawthornAggie said:

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I am considering buying one of these as well. Has anyone tried the following games on steam deck?

Hogwarts Legacy
Apex Legends
Palworld

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Youtube is your friend!!! Steam deck is huge, I'm sure you can easily find other vids with those games (this is the only one I searched for).

HawthornAggie said:

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I am considering buying one of these as well. Has anyone tried the following games on steam deck?

Hogwarts Legacy
Apex Legends
Palworld

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I mentioned Palworld one post above yours. I also own Hogwarts Legacy and it runs great on the deck.

I played Apex on PC, but haven't tried it on the deck, but it is steamdeck verified, so it should run very well.

HawthornAggie said:

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I am considering buying one of these as well. Has anyone tried the following games on steam deck?

Hogwarts Legacy
Apex Legends
Palworld

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I have Hogwarts. Good game.

Currently playing Red Dead Redemption 2.

Other games that were good:

Spiderman - both games were great. I played these the most in 2023.
Witcher 3
Vampire Survivors - really basic game but addicting
God of War


I ran World of Warcraft on it, just to do it but didn't play much. I did it more just to mess with the capabilities of the Steamdeck.

I'll have to retry Legacy on the Deck. It was painful the 1st week. Is probably "loads better' now.

Apex should be fine. It's not very demanding. And Palworld should also do fine.

The Falcom games (Trails and Ys) are great on there. Highly recommend if you need 500+ hours of content.

Been playing a lot of remasters like the old Final Fantasy's and Front Mission. All great for picking up on a plane.

Thanks everyone for the replies!

So my steam deck just stopped working. The screen doesn't turn on. However, the fan keeps running every 10 seconds and the haptic feedback is working. I did some research and this appears to be a known issue. Currently working with Steam Support. Will probably get a replacement but this blows. Just got it a couple weeks a go and will probably get a refurbished replacement.

**Update**
Was able to fix it with some steps I found on Reddit

Do yall have the OLED version? I have the original and was curious if it's worth upgrading. I upgraded to an OLED Switch and didn't think it was drastically different.

I have the original and will not be upgrading.

easttexasaggie04 said:

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Do yall have the OLED version? I have the original and was curious if it's worth upgrading. I upgraded to an OLED Switch and didn't think it was drastically different.

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The screen is somewhat better as is the battery life. Not worth the upgrade unless you get a good amount on resell of the old one.

For a very casual gamer, would the sale they're running now be a good time to pick up the LCD version?

Would I need the 512 GB? I mostly play turn based strategy type games, but am interesting in also trying out Path of Exile.

I would either buy the 64 and upgrade the ssd to 1tb or bigger, simply because you can never have too much storage. If that doesn't sound fun then I'd recommend the 512 because it'll fill up faster than you think.

Assume you are speaking to a technological idiot - how hard is it to install the extra memory/what would the cost be for that?

I haven't done it but there are plenty of YouTube tutorials that spell it out pretty good. 1TB ssd can be found for 80 bucks or less, 2tb in the 150 range. This one is currently on sale: https://a.co/d/0fXVEL11

Or you can do what I am doing which is use a bunch of 512 micro sds and switch them out like a Nintendo cart. Just make sure you get a good sd card with fast read speeds (like 130mb/s or faster. Just search reviews for steam deck or other gaming devices )