New Steam Tool Shows Which Games Can Run on Steam Deck

(Image: Valve) Today is a special day for those who were first in line to officially order their Steam Decks. After a seven-month wait, early adopters who put down a $5 deposit back in July can complete their purchase and expect to receive their new handheld console in early March. In anticipation of this occasion, Valve has rolled out a new tool that conveniently lets players know which games from their own library are compatible with Steam Deck. 

Valve has been touting its new(ish) “Deck Verified” program for a while now as its teams go through the painstaking process of reviewing Steam’s 50,000-plus titles, then tossing them into metaphorical bins depending on how well they play on Steam Deck. As most know by now, games that have undergone this process receive a verified, playable, unsupported, or unknown label. (The difference between verified and playable is that playable games require a bit of adjustment on the player’s part in order to offer a pleasant experience.) As of our last check-in on February 16, the program had reviewed 580 games total, with 309 verified, 211 playable, and 60 unsupported.   

But in order to find out exactly which games from their library were considered verified or playable, players had to search through a pair of unofficial lists as they were updated. This was inconvenient, and obsessively checking a list every day to find out if I Am Bread has finally been reviewed is no way to live. (It hasn’t been, in case anyone was wondering.) So Valve came up with a better solution, just in time for its first console’s debut: a simple little webpage that tells those with existing Steam libraries which of their games have been through the Deck Verified review process. 

Each verified, playable, or unsupported title from a player’s library comes with a “Steam Deck Compatibility” button that, when clicked, provides more information about the how and why that game is—or isn’t—a good match for Steam Deck. Clicking the button reveals how legible in-game text is on Steam Deck, how well the game’s default graphic configurations perform, and other considerations that are important to determining how enjoyable gameplay might actually be. Verified games pretty much say they’re ready to go right out of the box, while playable games might need players to change a few settings before settling in. 

The new tool also tells players how many games from their library remain untested—a number you can still refresh and obsess over, if you want. 

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