Despite my insistence on playing seemingly every new game released, there has always been one massive blindspot for me – PC gaming. As a kid, my family did not get a true PC until my 16th birthday, and all I really played was some Team Fortress Classic with my buddy Brandon. Eventually in college, I decided it was time to become a real PC gamer. I recruited my electrical engineering roommate, Kevin, to build me a PC “capable of playing Doom 3”. He did, and it was glorious for the hour or so until I got too scared by all the teleporting demons and decided to give up on that PC gaming life.

As years passed, I was sure PC gaming just wasn’t in my future. It seemed like too much work compared to the ready-to-go consoles I was accustomed to, and most of the big releases were on systems I owned anyway. Sure there was the occasional Indie game that I would miss out on, but I could manage that. Finally, for my birthday this year, I got a Steam Deck, suddenly providing me with access to more titles than I could imagine and quickly making me the victim of many a Steam Sale.

Now, four months in to my handheld PC gaming journey, let’s check in on some highlights from my time with Valve’s delightful not so little machine.

Nightmare Kart

The first thing I downloaded to my shiny new Steam Deck was the epitome of what I was missing by not having a gaming PC. This free and just legally distinct enough kart racer based on a personal favorite of mine, Bloodborne, could not be played anywhere else and was the perfect magical start to get me to fall in love with my new device.

While it is a shame that some last minute lawsuit threatening shenanigans by FromSoftware meant that LWMedia had to reskin everything, it still absolutely captured the feel of Bloodborne in the goofy absurdity of a PSOne-era Kart racer. Sure it could be a tad clunky, but it was a hell of a lot more playable than a Kart racer from the 90s. What truly impressed me was how they managed to combine a ton of different game modes to capture the essence of the various major boss fights and areas of its inspiration. It was unlike anything I had ever experienced before, and without my Steam Deck, I would not have had the chance to do so.

Yars Rising

Most games from the Atari 2600 feel absolutely ancient and not fun at all to play these days, but Howard Scott Warshaw’s inaugural foray into game development, Yars Revenge, is a rare exception. It is a tightly crafted bug space shooter that I often describe as giving the thrill of pretending you’re Luke Skywalker taking down the Death Star with a one in a million shot at the end of each level. If something Yars related comes out, I will play it. This includes a very well done Game Boy Color adaptation and some uninspired reboot attempts like Yars Recharged.

When I heard Yars was being made into a Metroidvania, my curiosity was instantly peaked. Could Atari actually put some effort in and deliver an experience that felt new? The answer, shockingly, was yes!

Now before I extol the virtues of this weird mash-up, I must point out that in order to enjoy this game you have to exist somewhere in the strange Venn-Diagram overlap of people who like Metroidvanias, River City Girls (developer WayForward’s most famous previous entries), and the Atari 2600. If similar to me you find yourself among those odd individuals, then please give this game a chance.

As is customary in most Metroidvanias, the gameplay starts somewhat slowly, but it comes into its own once you start to unlock special abilities. The fact that all of these abilities are based off of the very limited number of things in the original game adds a certain level of charm and originality to things. Where the game truly shines, though, is in the hacking mini-games that put unique spins on the Atari 2600 gameplay of Yars Revenge throwing everything from Missile Command to Centipede at you for a challenging and thrilling journey.

Overall, it’s a solid 8/10 game that has some issues with the traversal mechanics being a skosh too slow and some embarrassingly clunky, trying too hard to sound like Gen Z dialogue but ultimately succeeds as a love letter to the Atari 2600 with creative twists. Normally, I would have played this on my Switch, and sure enough, it is available there. However, I chose the Steam Deck for it due to the lush and larger OLED screen that really made it pop. That is one downside to the Steam Deck; my Switch now feels like a small child’s toy in comparison, relegating it to docked mode only.

Tiny Terry’s Turbo Trip

I had heard great things about this short and odd little adventure, and I knew that I had to check it out given the rare opportunity to play as a video game character with my less than exciting name. The game itself consists of collecting junk to upgrade your car, so that you can take the titular turbo trip to outer space. While junk can be found throughout the confined city of Sprankelwater, it is best acquired by performing a checklist of quirky side quests for your fellow citizens that include stealing cars, catching bugs to create a tasty new snack, doing yoga, and checking on a slowly combusting sun bather, which make the game feel like Grand Theft Auto crossed with a cartoony N64 platformer.

It’s all incredibly weird and charming, and your mileage on it will vary wildly depending on if you find it funny or annoying (I found it to be hilarious and laughed out loud several times). Overall, it’s a tight 3 or so hour escape oozing with personality that is a fantastic palate cleanser from bigger titles.

UFO 50

The newest game in my Steam Collection might be the most ambitious yet. UFO 50 is an amazingly unique experience featuring 50 full length NES-style games from the creator of Spelunky. The central premise is that you are dusting off these old titles from a fictional system that existed from 1982-1989. Through playing them, you can see the company’s growth and how they built on previous titles. It is throughly fascinating, but a word of warning, the games are crushingly hard and often obtuse in that classic NES way from the 80s. Still, there’s something for everyone here.

So far, I have only played about 15 of the 50 titles, but I have been thoroughly impressed with how fleshed out and true to the era these games feel. Early highlights so far include the sacrificing puzzler Mortol that has you hilariously killing off your characters to create paths to go through, Velgress, an autoscrolling arcade platformer where you try to beat your score by reaching higher floors, Hyper Contender, a platforming fighter where collecting rings is the key to victory, and Cyber Owls, a 5-in-1 game featuring beat-em-up, shoot-em-up, and more modes.

There’s still plenty more I cannot wait to check out including sequels to some of the games mentioned above and other entries like a turn-based JRPG. It’s the kind of title that is best for playing in spurts while you watch TV only to suddenly discover you have no idea what has happened in your show because you are on your fifth new game in half an hour.

Closing Thoughts

After four months, I could not be happier with my Steam Deck. It’s an incredible machine that has opened up a ton of new games to me, and it is also inspiring me to replay some favorites like the Tomb Raider reboot and Resident Evil 2 Remake as they go on super sale. While I may never get super into the AAA twitch shooters that dominate PC gaming, it’s the perfect device for me to explore a fun world of indies and more from anywhere.