Some notes on Steam Deck

If you have been near any gaming community on the internet for the last 3 months, you probably would have heard of Steam Deck from Valve. While it doesn't have PS5-level hype & popularity, it definitely is still one of the hottest topic in the circle.

That's why I am not gonna do a review, or tutorials, because not only are there literally virtually thousands of videos on YouTube, there is a very high chance that any future updates from Valve will completely change how it works, which currently happens about twice a week (if you are on the Beta channel of software updates) 😅

Game compatibility

In general, just go to ProtonDB, as well as the official verification badge to see if the game you want to play is compatible or not. Here I am just gonna list a few specific cases that was not super clear to me:

• Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020: It is mark as no, not because it is too heavy of a game or something (that I know of), but because the part where it asks user to sign in to their Xbox account does not work. Either the communication protocol or something is not supported, or if you get the input screen showing, somehow there is no way to enter numbers for some god damn reasons, not even with Bluetooth keyboard 🤷‍♀️ 🤨 😑
• A lot of mouse-first games that got verified: There are apps that have good full controller support, like Euro Truck Simulator 2; there are games that with full controller support that is just ok, like Dorfromantik (unfortunately, using a 4 way joystick to navigate a hexagonal map is not as intuitive as I'd like); and there are games that works by basically just using the touchpad as mouse, like Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy. So your milage will definitely vary depends on what you want to play 🍀

Generally speaking, Proton is both better and worse than I though it would be. I am amazed how many games just works, but somehow it is not ready yet for the 1 game I want to try the most on Steam Deck (no I am not doing Windows on Steam Deck. I might as well just use my gaming PC)

How "anti-glare" is the "Premium anti-glare etched glass"?

If normal phone screen glass is a 1, and one of those matte screen protector is a 10, the Steam Deck anti-glare is probably like a 3.5 in terms of reflectiveness. So this should NOT be the sole reason why you pick the 512GB model. Just pick it if you don't want to bother with dealing with storage upgrade.

Other issues/room for improvements

Hidden SSID Wi-Fi AP does not work (well technically it worked once and then never again), I haven't got around to figure out how to report bugs (that does not involve typing the whole ticket description using the trackpads)

The 2 trackpad is definitely gonna take a lot of time to get used to, because a) they are tiny AF; b) there are 2 of them; c) they have absolutely terrible haptics (compare to Magic Trackpad), and d) they are emulating trackball and has the inertia and everything.

One thing to point out around all the noise complain, is that it also really depends on what games you play. Cause when I play driving simulator, the extra fan noise actually don't bother me at all. It's when I closed the game and realised how fucking loud it has been the entire time 🌪🌪🌪

Oh and the included wiping-cloth-looking thing looks awesome, but it is terrible as a wiping cloth, at least for the anti-glare glass. Just put a typical microfiber cloth that can soak up skin oil and stuff 🧼

These are the list of very random, and definitely not planned out thoughts on my Steam Deck. I am very excited to see what else it can play next! And for those who are still waiting for your email from Valve, stay strong 💪 💪 💪