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The Steam Deck launched in February 2022 and brought another platform on which players can enjoy video games while on the go. Similar to the Nintendo Switch, this handheld console is a product by Valve which allows players access to the entire Steam library of games in the palm of their hands.
This handheld console comes packed with a custom-built accelerated processing unit (APU) by AMD, named Aerith, after the character from Final Fantasy VII. The inbuilt CPU and GPU have comparable performances to high-end gaming desktops. The Steam Deck is available in three tiers for purchase, varying on its inbuilt memory, ranging from 64GB, 256GB, and 512GB.
While this portable console can play any game in the Steam library, some of the most expansive games are RPGs, which can keep players busy and distracted while on a bus ride home after a heavy work day. Thus, here is a look at five of the best RPGs one can try out on Steam Deck.
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Note: This article reflects the writer's opinion.
Elden Ring is among 5 RPGs that players can enjoy on the Steam Deck
1) The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition
Possibly the most popular RPG from the last decade, Skyrim is available to play on Steam Deck, including all of its very many DLCs. Or if one were looking for a more bundled pack, the Anniversary Edition is also a great pick, with upscaled textures and official mod support.
Skyrim follows the story of Dragonborn, a role the player's character discovers they must play in the eponymous nation. Plagued by a civil war, Skyrim is suddenly beset with rogue dragons roaming the skies, as no city or settlement is safe.
The Dragonborn discovers that they are capable of emulating the language of the dragons, able to generate powerful shouts using the Thu’um. As they embark on a journey through the land fighting dragons and humans alike, players can now enjoy this classic on a handheld device that is not the sole property of Nintendo.
2) NieR: Automata
Set in a world where humanity has ceased to exist, androids defend the planet from extraterrestrial machines which seek to dominate the planet. These are known as the YoRHa units, designated with different identities and missions, which are the primary line of defense against the machines. This is the premise of the game NieR: Automata, available on the Steam Deck.
The main story follows two androids, 2B (a combat android) and 9S (a scanner android), in their mission to protect the earth from these machines as they traverse the world, fighting back an alien invasion. The game requires multiple playthroughs to be fully completed, and another additional playable character, A2 (a rogue prototype), is introduced.
The combat is a hack and slash type, incorporating fighting normal enemies as well as various boss fights. Outside combat gameplay is an exploration open-world setting with role-playing elements. The game also switches genres at times, displaying shoot-em-up and text-adventure segments.
3) Monster Hunter: Rise
The Steam Deck also features all the Monster Hunter games from the Steam Library, as well as the most recent one, Monster Hunter: Rise, along with its new DLC Sunbreak. Developed by Capcom, the game only launched for PC in January 2022, while its latest expansion arrived in June of the same year.
Like all Monster Hunter games, Rise is set in a world overrun by gigantic monsters of various shapes and sizes. Players must take on the role of a hunter, which they can create, and perform tasks for the Guild, which looks over the land and protects sentient creatures from monsters.
Gameplay takes the form of various hunts, where the player has to track, locate and isolate a monster, which they then have to kill or capture. Upon successful completion, they are rewarded with various rewards, particularly from the monster’s own body. The game was initially a Nintendo exclusive but was released on Steam just a month before the launch of the Steam Deck.
4) Mass Effect Legendary Edition
The entire Mass Effect original trilogy is accessible via the Steam Deck, as is the Mass Effect Legendary Edition. This is a compilation of the first three Mass Effect games, which record the story of Commander Shepard and their fight against the Reaper threat that looms over the galaxy.
With polished graphics, framerates, and a unified control scheme across all three games, the Legendary Edition will look exactly like how players imagined the original games to be in their minds. Over the course of the main narrative, Shepard unearths a mysterious threat to remove all sentient life from the galaxy, leading him to various systems and planets across the Milky Way.
One of the best parts about the Mass Effect games was the inclusion of the Paragon and Renegade systems, which served as the two extremes between which each player’s Commander Shepard could exist. While Paragon is a law-abiding soldier option, it will be very fun to witness Renegade Shepard’s hot shot space cowboy attitude on the Steam Deck.
5) Elden Ring
It might be hard to believe, but the Steam Deck can smoothly run FromSoftware’s most recent video game, Elden Ring. Looking at its size, one should not underestimate this handheld console, as it is clearly built of sterner stuff, able to run it smoothly at a high graphics preset.
This new game by FromSoftware launched around the same time as the Steam Deck did, near the end of February. As a spiritual successor to Dark Souls, Elden Ring is set in a medieval setting, in the magical world of the Lands Between. Although one key difference is that while in Dark Souls, the world felt like it was well beyond its prime, the setting of Elden Ring still gives the players a world that is still limping on.
Combat is very similar to the developer's previous games, drawing a lot of inspiration from Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Demon’s Souls, and Sekiro. For the first time in a Soulsborne game, there is a dedicated jump button as well as a crouch option. Players are quickly running out of missing features to blame for their losses in a boss fight.
