Steam Deck works 'flawlessly' on nearly half the PC games tested so far

Steam Deck console from Valve
(Image credit: Valve)

We're starting to get a look at how well Valve's forthcoming Steam Deck handheld is handling some of the best PC games going, and so far it looks like it can play nearly half of the games tested "flawlessly."

The compatibility ratings come from Steam DB, which is keeping track of all the rating that Valve's Steam Deck testers have given individual games. 

Games are either rated Verified, Playable, Unsupported, or Unknown, with Verified indicating that the game plays exactly as it should, while Playable might have some minor issues pop up during gameplay, but nothing game breaking. 

According to VGC, this is almost always due to the player needing to type in text on the keyboard, which requires bringing up the Steam Deck's virtual keyboard.

Unsupported seems to be largely reserved for VR titles, which makes sense since the Steam Deck won't support any VR games. 

Notably, the list does label Persona 4 Golden as Unsupported, making it the only game with that designation so far that isn't a VR game. There is no reason given for that rating, only that "Valve is still working on adding support for this game on Steam Deck."

There are a lot of Unknown ratings out there at the moment since Valve's testers haven't gotten to those games yet. Valve is reviewing every game on Steam and assigning it a rating, so we can expect the process to take a while. So far though, out of 67 games that have been tested, 38 of them are Verified on the handheld, while 24 have been rated Playable. Five games (four of which are VR titles) are listed as Unsupported.


Okay, okay, here's the list, sheesh

Here is the full list of tested games that have been given a rating by Valve:

Verified:

  • Aliens: Fireteam Elite
  • Ape Out
  • The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth
  • Castle Crashers
  • Celeste
  • Circuit Superstars
  • Cuphead
  • Dark Souls II
  • Dark Souls III
  • Death Stranding
  • Death’s Door
  • Dishonored
  • Final Fantasy
  • Guacamelee! 2
  • Gunfire Reborn
  • Hollow Knight
  • Hot Wheels Unleashed
  • Into the Breach
  • Mad Max
  • Manifold Garden
  • Mark of the Ninja: Remastered
  • The Messenger
  • Noita
  • Portal 2
  • Psychonauts 2
  • RAD
  • Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth
  • Remnant: From the Ashes
  • Risk of Rain 2
  • Rogue Legacy 2
  • Sable
  • Scarlet Nexus
  • Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
  • Super Mega Baseball 3
  • Tetris Effect: Connected
  • Total War: Warhammer II
  • Tunche
  • Webbed

Playable:

  • Among Trees
  • Black Skylands
  • Bravely Default II
  • Cats in Time
  • Cookie Clicker
  • Crypt of the NecroDancer
  • Dyson Sphere Program
  • Factorio
  • Farming Simulator 19
  • Inscryption
  • NieR: Automata
  • Plants vs Zombies: Game of the Year
  • RimWorld
  • Rise of the Tomb Raider
  • Season of Mystery: The Cherry Blossom Murders
  • Slay the Spire
  • Stormworks: Build and Rescue
  • Subnautica
  • Swords of Legends Online
  • Tomb Raider
  • Tribes of Midgard
  • Valheim
  • War Thunder
  • The Witcher 2: Wild Hunt

Unsupported:

  • Arizona Sunshine
  • Budget Cuts
  • Job Simulator
  • Persona 4 Golden
  • theBlu
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John Loeffler
Components Editor

John (He/Him) is the Components Editor here at TechRadar and he is also a programmer, gamer, activist, and Brooklyn College alum currently living in Brooklyn, NY. 

Named by the CTA as a CES 2020 Media Trailblazer for his science and technology reporting, John specializes in all areas of computer science, including industry news, hardware reviews, PC gaming, as well as general science writing and the social impact of the tech industry.

You can find him online on Threads @johnloeffler.

Currently playing: Baldur's Gate 3 (just like everyone else).