I like mySteam Deck. It’s handy when I want to play a demanding game, but the telly is in use. I’m not going to force my partner to watch me playSpace Marine 2or Cyberpunk 2077 when she’s not interested in either genre or subject matter. So, she can watch something she wants to and I can play a game next to her on the sofa.
My other use for the Steam Deck is playing indie games that I can’t be bothered to sit at my PC for. While I need my ultrawide PC monitor to read all the text inBaldur’s Gate 3(despite itrunning surprisingly wellon Deck), games likeDave the Diverand The Banished Vault feel made for the Deck. Again, I sit on the sofa having a nice chat with my partner as she watches something else. It’s far better than secreting myself away in my office to swim around shooting sharks, that much I can tell you.
However, the Steam Deck falls down when I take it outside. It copes fine in the November frost, it just doesn’t do journeys. If I wanted to playCyberpunk 2077on the go, I’d get around 45 minutes of action on a full charge. I could probably spend an hour beforehand twiddling settings to up that to an hour or even 90 minutes, but that’s still ridiculously short battery life for a handheld console.
I understand that CD Projekt Red’s sci-fi RPG is an impressive game for a handheld to run full stop, and I’m in awe of the Deck’s buttery frame rate and reasonable graphics whenever I dip back in for another mission. However, even indie titles that require far less processing powerdon’t last much longerthan Cyberpunk.
Note: The Steam Deck is an impressive piece of kit, but its ridiculously short battery life makes itunfit for purpose
I get around four hours of Dave the Diver gameplay before my Deck shuts off. This is a pixel art game about swimming with fish and making them into sushi. It really isn’t that strenuous. To put this into perspective, I traveled to Newcastle this weekend, and the trip took me five and a half hours each way on public transport. Yes, this is an indictment of Britain’s criminally underfunded rail system, but this also means that I wouldn’t have been able to play Dave the Diver for the duration of the journey. As it happens, I’m well aware of the Deck’s drawbacks, and didn’t pack it for precisely this reason.
Never have I once looked at my Steam Deck and thought, “This needs a better screen.” Sure, I would have liked an OLED display at launch, but this is a handheld console; I’m not expecting 4090-level graphics on a 4K screen. I’m expecting to be able to take it on the go wherever I may need it.
As it is, my Steam Deck lives in my house. Often I’ll have it plugged in and charging while playing due to the poor battery life, something which isn’t advised if you want to take care of the console in the long-term.
TheSteam Deck OLEDis focusing on the wrong problems with the original. Sure, there’s a little battery boost, but it’s not enough to make a difference. An extra 30 minutes with Cyberpunk or an hour with Dave the Diver isn’t going to change players’ habits with the console; if you want people to treat the Steam Deck as a portable PC, then the battery should be the sole focus of the next iteration, not a brighter screen. If the Steam Deck 2 isn’t truly portable, it’s pointless.
