Why The Steam Deck Is An AMAZING Console - A Casual Gamer’s Perspective

this video is sponsored by Best Buy I have fun memories tied to playing video games I remember my sister and I would take 30 minute turns playing Sims on this PC I would play Counter-Strike with my cousins at a computer shop in the Philippines my friends and I would play Ragnarok in high school and in college I would have friends sleep over at my house and we would play five stack League of Legends way too much that we would have to pull all-nighters and finish our architecture projects and of course I also love playing on my own games like God of War Last of Us Grand Theft Auto NBA 2K and many more however as I got older I had less and less time to play video games in 2021 I got a PS5 and it reignited my love for gaming to the point that I actually built my first PC fast forward to March 2023 I pulled the trigger and got a steam deck I've been using it for over a month now and I'm here to share my experience think of the steam deck as a handheld gaming computer slash console that can run the simplest of game games to AAA titles and everything in between I've been wanting to get a handheld gaming device for a while and naturally I considered getting a Nintendo switch however none of the games really appealed to me which is why I never got one but that's not an issue with the steam deck steam has over 50 000 games in their library and although not every game is supported there are more than enough games for every genre you can think of not to mention new games such as Hogwarts Legacy was released theme deck verified unlike others I did not have a bunch of games in my steam library to start with but thankfully they always have sales going on which I absolutely took advantage of recently they had their spring sale and I was able to get some games for as much as 80 off I got six games for the price of one or two games and that's crazy to think about since I have limited time to play nowadays I think I'll be good for a while playing on the steam deck is such a pleasant experience initially I was worried that it was going to be cumbersome but it's actually lighter than it looks it is a big device but the size isn't an issue when in use it feels just right although mostly made out of plastic the steam deck feels great to touch the buttons are solid I love the placement of the joysticks they feel natural to interact with while holding the steam deck the triggers feel great when pressed and these back buttons are clutch and creating an even better gaming experience playing games that require a mouse input is much easier with the use of these track pads obviously they are not a perfect solution but it gets the job done the 7-inch LCD screen in my opinion is more than adequate when playing games it has enough brightness when needed and when I'm playing at night I turn on the night mode to make it easier on the ice the bezels don't bother me as much as I thought it would of course I would take a bigger screen and an OLED panel but I'm satisfied with the choice valve made here when playing games the fans do kick in which can get hot and relatively loud but you kind of get used to it it becomes white noise and it is often drowned by the speakers of the steam deck which is a surprisingly good and Loud most of the time I use my airpods Pros with noise cancellation on which makes fan noise a non-issue the first game I downloaded in the steam deck was an indie game called firewatch it's a walking simulator that has nice visuals great story and it's not overwhelming which allowed me to get acquainted with the steam deck without any pressure there are no quick reactions needed it's a pretty chill game that I definitely recommend but I would suggest that you get it on sale as it is a short game I also downloaded a point-and-click game called The Broken Sword this game came out in 1996 and I remember playing it on the PS1 with my cousin I thought this would be a great game to play on the steam deck it has beautiful hand-drawn graphics and animations fun puzzles and a great story although I think the steam deck thrives when running indie games or older titles playing AAA games are just as fun I am playing through Red Dead Redemption 2 for the first time and man am I in love with this game the storyline is so rich the gameplay is amazing and the visuals are stunning even on the 7-inch display of the steam deck I find myself immersed in the beautiful Wild West while playing I get an almost constant 40 frames per second which I know does not sound exciting but for a smaller device like this it's perfectly fine the gameplay still feels smooth and you get a bit more battery life out of your device yes you can Tinker with it and get a bit more performance if you want but I made a decision to experience the device with little to no adjustments I barely have time to play and when I pick up the steam deck I want to maximize my play time and at the end of the day I bought this device with portability as a priority and performance comes in second the beauty of this theme deck is the fact that you can play anywhere you want after working for 8 to 10 hours a day sitting at a desk playing for an hour or so on my PC does not sound very appealing of course if I'm playing Warzone or any first person shooter I'll be on my PC but typically I find a window of opportunity to play for about 30 minutes to an hour and a half after dinner my wife and I would usually sit on the couch after our evening walk and unwind and when I didn't have the steam deck I would just be on my phone and end up responding to an email or do something related to work this theme deck gives me a fun way to disconnect from the never-ending workday of being self-employed without being tied to a specific room I can be by my wife while playing and we can still chat and it feels like we're still doing something together recently I took the steam deck on a trip to California and it was so nice being able to play during our five and a half hour flight I can play for as long as I want without feeling guilty about not being productive as much as I love playing Kingdom Rush on my phone it does not compare to the joy of using this theme deck when playing a game like Broken Sword I can get a little more than 6 hours of battery life and games like Red Dead Redemption 2 or Hogwarts Legacy I can get about two hours take that as you wish but for me I rarely play for more than two hours at a time and when I do I typically we have an outlet nearby or I use a power bank to give it a bit more juice the community for the steam deck is amazing and you can easily find simple ways on how people tweak their steam decks to make it run more efficiently as a Casual Gamer the fact that I can play Triple A titles in a portable device is already so awesome to me and if you consider the starting price of 399 dollars this is a really good deal in my opinion in fact people believe that steam is losing money at that price point and it's just a steam store that makes up for it speaking of deals whenever I'm shopping for any kind of gear or Tech I almost always check Best Buy's website first Sometimes I know exactly what I'm looking for and I'll just quickly check if they have a deal for that specific item then I'll order it and take advantage of their convenient curbside pickup other times I'm not quite sure what I need and I'm just looking for the best deal available and that's when I look at Best Buy's top deals page you can find it by going on their website it's the first tab you'll see think of it like having a search filter for only the items that are on sale you can find deals for anything and everything that you're looking for I have been eyeing the lgc2 to replace our living room TV it's an OLED TV that's perfect for movies because of its vibrant colors and the blacks and it's 120 hertz display and HDMI 2.1 also makes it ideal for gaming the fact that it's currently a hundred dollars off makes this even more enticing another thing that we are interested in is the Dyson V8 we have been wanting a cordless vacuum for a while and we almost bought this so many times in the past and at a hundred dollars off we might finally pull the trigger and recently I saw the PS5 become available for fifty dollars off there are plenty of other deals to discover from laptops headphones smart home and more these deals are always changing so I suggest checking this page out frequently especially before making any purchases also don't forget about Best Buy's price match guarantee if you can find a deal on something that you want Best Buy has you covered this theme deck was not on my radar at all in fact I considered getting a PS5 again and maybe use Remote Play but after looking into this theme deck it just offered a more affordable solution and a much better experience I can purchase games on the steam store and run it on both my PC and steam deck I don't have to buy two copies of the same game whenever I want the best experience I can hop on my PC and when I want to play on the go I can use my steam deck the coolest thing is that I can keep playing my game and make progress using Cloud safe I can even dock my steam deck and play on the TV for a console-like gaming experience admittedly the image quality is not the best but when you consider that it is not the primary use case of this theme deck it's pretty amazing when I am sitting on the couch about 10 feet away from the TV the image is perfectly acceptable and playing feels smooth enough to be enjoyable the steam deck's quick resume feature makes it so easy to pick up and play I can easily pause my game put it to sleep with the power button and when I'm ready ready to play again I can hit the power button and within two seconds or so I'm back where I left off this may seem trivial but trust me it's such a cool feature it makes it really easy to squeeze in some play time in moments that might have been wasted in the past at this point in my life I just can't carve out a time for gaming and typically I don't know I have time to play until it's already happening the steam deck is just so versatile it has the Plug and Play nature of a gaming console portability of a handheld device and customization of a PC it's a jack of all trades there are a good amount of available accessories for the steam deck and during the month that I've used it I have gotten a few that made the experience a bit better the steam that came with a carrying case and a charger which is nice however it makes carrying the steam deck a bit awkward I know I said that the steam deck feels just right when playing but it is Big to carry around so I got the magnetic case from water field designs in black leather this case looks sleek and classy and it's almost half the size of the official case it has an ultra plush liner cushion that give it ample protection for everyday use it uses magnets to open and close the case and I think this makes it even more accessible because of this design you can charge the steam deck while keeping it protected take note that this was designed to fit a bare steam deck and the original charger but I actually have been able to fit my steam deck even with a thicker case on like this one from jsox I got the cooler kit which comes with a bunch of different accessories which is super cool obviously you have the case for added protection you get the stand which is so clutch it's so useful for playing on the desk or when I'm on the couch or in bed but this mounting system right here allows you to attach different accessories like this cooling fan which works really well at keeping the steam that cool or you can mount a power bank just like this one from Shark geek to help extend the battery life the dock I'm using in my living room is also from jsox which I have set up using the power adapter that came with a cooler kit and when I have my steam deck docked I'm using a PS5 controller as I prefer it over an Xbox controller I do want to mention one more set of accessories that I've been playing with and it's called the deck mate it's a 3D printed set of accessories which actually is really cool and I highly suggest that you check it out if you're looking for something more compact so do I recommend this theme deck absolutely I honestly haven't been this excited about a gadget or Tech in a while if you are a Casual Gamer and you don't have much time to play anymore but you want to get back into gaming look no further I think the steam deck is the device that you're looking for if you guys made it this far in the video type in handheld in the comments below I hope you guys enjoyed this video if you did please give it a thumbs up if you loved it subscribe to the channel thank you guys for watching and I'll see you in the next one bye

Channel: Jon Imperial

Views: 144,779

Keywords: steam deck, steam deck review, is the steam deck worth it, is the steam deck worth buying, is the steam deck worth it 2023, steam deck experience, steam deck accessories, steam deck games, steam deck review 2023, valve steam deck, steam deck vs nintendo switch, steam deck oled

Id: dB5sDY5Wslg

Length: 11min 51sec (711 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 19 2023