Valve’s Steam Deck is an extremely impressive little (or, not so little) handheld PC that has won the hearts of gamers who wish to experience their vast Steam libraries in a completely new light. Surprisingly, the Steam Deck is a fantastic way to experience games with long and detailed narratives.
Despite being a handheld with limited battery life, the portable form factor allows for shorter bursts of gameplay to tackle a few missions and side quests on the go, and is a great way to immerse yourself in your favorite gaming stories. There are countless story-driven games on Steam, but here are some of the best that should be experienced on the Steam Deck.
Updated on November 18, 2023 by Quinton O’Connor: Not only does the Steam Deck continue to sell well, but the new OLED model is sure to turn more heads than before. Naturally, we ought to keep this kind of article up-to-date!
13 Horizon Zero Dawn
With Sony’s push to slowly get their first-party titles onto PC, the best place to experience these PlayStation hits is on the Steam Deck. What better way to start than with the fantastic Horizon Zero Dawn?
The first Horizon tells a tale where humans have reverted to primitive tribal communities and inhabit a dangerous post-apocalyptic world with an array of vastly intelligent and advanced machines. It’s a captivating story full of intrigue and surprising revelations, and is a great showcase for what the Deck is capable of, with vast draw distances showing off the beautiful natural landscapes, and an impressive stable performance (when locked at a stable 40 fps). If you have yet to play the game, this is the best place to start.
12 Hades
At first glance, Hades is just another indie roguelike game, but there’s a reason why it topped so many game of the year lists on release. It has stylish combat, lots of customizable weaponry, a myriad of powerful boons granted from the Gods of Olympus, and strikingly vibrant visuals. It covers the roguelike bases exceptionally well, but its most interesting aspect is its superb narrative that is interwoven into the tried and true roguelike gameplay loop.
On Steam Deck, Hades is, unsurprisingly, a joy to play. It runs extremely well, and the portable form factor of the Deck lends itself perfectly to the pick-up-and-play gameplay style of many roguelike games you can find on Steam. It’s a great way to spend a boring morning commute before you set the Deck on standby, ready for you to pick up where you left off.
11 Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered
Insomniac’s version of everyone’s favorite neighborhood webhead was critically acclaimed and adored by fans on its initial release on PS4. It was great news that a remastered version of Marvel’s Spider-Man was coming to PC, and was made even better when it was confirmed to get Verified status on the Steam Deck.
This is the best that Spider-Man has ever looked or played in video game form, which also makes it the best Spider-Man experience on a handheld device. It feels great web-swinging at breakneck speed through the detailed streets of New York, building momentum by chaining together various wall runs, vault jumps and slick acrobatic flips. The story is faithful to the feel and tone of the comics, and is a must-play for Marvel fans. We can’t wait to see the sequel come to PC.
10 Uncharted: Legacy Of Thieves Collection
For many years, it was impossible to play any games from the fantastic Uncharted series unless you owned a PlayStation system. That all changed with Sony’s PC initiative and the release of Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection on Steam.
The collection includes Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy — two of the most recent games in the series, and arguably the best. After some welcome updates following its initial rocky PC port, the game runs the ‘Ultra’ graphics preset on the Steam Deck, meaning that the visuals will pop on the seven-inch 800p screen. It’s undoubtedly one of the best-looking games to play on the Deck.
9 Persona 5 Royal
If you’ve read a fair number of our lists here at TheGamer, and you’re not the biggest Persona fan, you might be getting tired of just how many times we’ve placed Persona 5 Royal in one. We can’t find it in ourselves to apologize; the game is that good. Maybe you’re put-off by the anime aesthetic. Maybe the writing is a bit… juvenile… for your tastes? It is problematic on occasion, too. We get it.
For the most part, however, Persona 5 Royal is one of the best-told JRPGs around, and you can tweak it to look fantastic on Steam Deck. The plot is gripping, the themes are solid, and the eclectic band of characters to meet, befriend, romance, or revile is second-to-none in the series.
8 God Of War
2018’s God of War was a masterful reboot of the beloved series, this time seeing Kratos and his son battle the Gods and mythical creatures of Norse mythology to honor the passing of Atreus’ mother. The gameplay is just as action-packed and brutal as you’d expect, with a poignant tale at its core that is brilliantly told through a single-shot camera approach.
As is becoming the norm of most Sony titles being released on Steam, it runs well on the Deck with the base graphic settings. Here’s hoping its sequel, Ragnarök, will get the same treatment when it is hopefully released on everyone’s favorite handheld.
7 Cyberpunk 2077
Cyberpunk 2077 has had a real resurgence in popularity since its initial disappointing launch. This is thanks to CD Projekt Red’s continued efforts to fix the bugs and performance issues that plagued the game when released. It’s closer now to what we imagine was the original vision for the game, and playing it on the Steam Deck is probably one of the more interesting ways to experience that vision. The expansion, Phantom Liberty, is the greatest leap from launch, revamping so many systems – and telling a great story in its own right.
First things first, the game runs surprisingly well (though it still does have its hiccups) on the impressive handheld, and even has its own preset graphics setting. The gameplay lends itself well to handheld play, as you’ll find yourself picking it up to knock out a few of the game’s fantastic side missions and to simply just roam about gorgeous Night City.
Bethesda Game Studios’ epic Elder Scrolls series is known for its expansive, ahead-of-their-time open worlds, their role-playing potential, their unparalleled atmospheres, their myriad of character builds… you get the point – they’re renowned. But both the fourth game, Oblivion, and (especially) its sequel, Skyrim, aren’t quite so universally beloved for the literary quality of their main quests.
Indeed, the studio appears to have topped out in this regard with the terrific central story in Morrowind. Much of the main quest’s writing is lively, engaging, and even a bit thought-provoking. Morrowind’s gameplay is certainly an acquired taste these days; there are intricacies upon intricacies. With a little know-how, though, you can iron out any archaic wrinkles (like failing to hit Mudcrabs with your sword early on, which is just painful to behold) with some quality modding.
Morrowind looks sublime upscaled on Xbox Series, but you can make it look even better, not to mention benefit from those mods, on Steam Deck. All portably… wild.
5 Mass Effect Legendary Edition
Ignoring the third game’s controversial ending, the Mass Effect trilogy is one of gaming’s best narratives ever told. It tells the galaxy-spanning story of Commander Shepard and his crew as they attempt to thwart the ultimate destruction of the entire Milky Way.
Though not a fully verified game on the Steam Deck, Mass Effect Legendary Edition still runs like a charm, and the remastered and upscaled graphics look great on it. It has all three games, including all DLC, and is over a whopping 100 gigabytes of space-hopping action — you’ll just need to be wary of your storage space.
4 Trails In The Sky: Second Chapter
Trails in the Sky: Second Chapter is the direct sequel to – wait for it – Trails in the Sky: First Chapter. Both games, as well as plenty of subsequent entries in Falcom’s seriously sprawling, totally interconnected Trails series, are available on Steam. Most play decently on Steam Deck.
The thing about Second Chapter is that, yeah, you really do need to play its predecessor before jumping in. And First Chapter can be narratively slower than is to everybody’s taste. But the payoff, from the shocking ending of First Chapter through the entirety of this outstanding JRPG, is positively worth the effort. This duology stars Estelle and Joshua Bright, with the gal taking the lead for much of Second Chapter specifically. Prepare yourself for one of the greatest protagonists in gaming; early naivety gives way to a heart-of-gold heroine who never stops being hilarious.
3 Red Dead Redemption 2
Red Dead Redemption 2 will forever go down in history as one of the greatest games of all time, which is in part due to its wonderfully detailed open world being set in the late 19th Century, its memorable and thoughtful characters, and its expertly interwoven narrative.
After putting out a much-appreciated update that smoothed out the initial kinks and crashes it had on the device, Red Dead Redemption 2 now runs like a dream on Steam Deck. As one of the most awe-inspiring games to come out of the last generation, it’s all the more impressive on Valve’s device and makes immersing yourself in a fully-realized Wild West open-world all the more enjoyable.
2 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is one of the best RPGs ever made, with a jaw-droppingly gorgeous open world and a profound and captivating story. It was an RPG experience that defined the genre for the previous generation and will be played and enjoyed for years to come.
Wild Hunt runs on the Steam Deck without any downsides or compromises. It’s the best way to play this masterful RPG if you’re looking to go portable. The base game and all of its fantastic DLC content are often on sale on Steam at absurdly cheap prices, which will give you even more reasons to pick up this masterpiece and play it on the go.
1 The House In Fata Morgana
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Look. The less we say about The House in Fata Morgana, the better. It’s a transformative, evocative, emotionally-fueled narrative experience. Even if you’ve never played a visual novel, you clicked on our list curious about story-driven games compatible with Steam Deck; that story-driven interest of yours means you should play this posthaste.
That’s it. That’s all we’re going to say. It nabs first place for a reason. Trust us, you won’t be let down.