Suggestions for Steam deck

Aperture Desk Job is basically a tutorial to all the various features and controls of the Deck. And hey - it's also a fun short game!

If you google steamdeck best games, you get plenty of sites with a top x.

If you like oldschool one-screen puzzle platformers, Escape Goat 1 & 2.

In a broader platforming sense, I'd add Stealth Bastard Deluxe and other platformers like Celeste, Super Meat Boy, GRIS, Dandara, Limbo, Little Nightmares, most of Shantae's franchise... I'll skip the 3D ones but there are some good games there too. Read the store descriptions as some are precision platformers, other are more narrative than anything, others are action platformers, etc.

I've mostly used my Steam Deck to play Baldur's Gate 3 because my PC couldn't handle it and the results were good enough for me. I played through the Aperture Desk Job thing and it's more of a Steam Deck tutorial rather than a game, I still recommend going through it cuz it's informative and pretty short. I also played a bit of Dead Cells and Praey for the Gods and they both ran well.

ABZU

I mean it guess it depends if you're using it with a mouse and keyboard and external monitor, or as a switch. As a switch for me the things are too small to play complex games to enjoy them. So mostly for games that don't have too many things going on the screen at once and don't require too precise touching. So racing games like hot wheels, need for speed games, casual games like stardew valley, ara fell or other rpgmaker like games, walking simulators, bullet hells like vampire survivors and maybe simple puzzle games.

Here's the most played games on Steam Deck for November.

My personal favourites have been:

Horizon Chase Turbo
Tales from the Borderlands
The Walking Dead
Door Kickers: Action Squad
Children of Morta
A Short Hike
SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom - Rehydrated
Sky Force Reloaded
Tohu
Whisker Squadron Survivor
Battle Axe
Streets of Rage 4
Dredge
Slay the Spire
Shadow Warrior
Prey
Jupiter Hell
Dead Cells
The Pedestrian

One thing I'd definitely recommend prioritizing is Half Life. It was upgraded a bit lately for its 25th Anniversary.

The best game I've played on Deck was Baldur's Gate 3.

i personally think dead cells is one of the best to play on the deck
its a rouge like so you can play the game for a long time. (I think i have like 30hrs in the game. half of that is on steam deck)
The main benefit for me is that its 2d so you dont need to aim with a joystick.

https://www.howtogeek.com/882130/steam-deck-shortcuts-the-ultimate-guide/

Any Retro title with controller support should work fine.

So far I played with deck:
Vampires fall:Origins
Elex
Scrap Garden
Jurrasic world 2

Now I am playing Divinity Original sin and it works suprisingly great.

https://www.protondb.com/ will be very helpful. Some games raw flawless without having any indication on steam. Always double check a game you are interested in playing. Sometimes you just have to change the proton version.

https://steamdeckhq.com/game-settings/ is also good for games that can be heavy on battery. You can find the best setting for max battery and best visuals or best visuals which plugged in.

Me personally I've beaten all 3 Arkham games on my SD.

Super Meat Boy is a fun game, unless you're prone to tossing things after 2-10 hours stuck dying in one area.
It's very tough, so be warned that you'll prob have to put a lot of work into completing it. But it is satisfying.

The Borderlands series is also fun. I've beaten 3's main campaign on my Deck, and it plays wonderfully smooth. Its gameplay feels nice on the go, playing through an area while waiting on an appointment, or while riding in the car.

There's also The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, one of my most favorite games ever. It plays like a dream on the Steam Deck. I highly recommend checking it out. There's currently a multiplayer beta going on, which sounds like tons of fun.

I'll try to think of more for you. For now, there're three of my favorites.

Don't have a Steam Deck so can't confirm how well those titles work, still recompiling my sheet (since the previous one got corrupted) so some titles may are missing, and given the list includes some titles that would need to run through emulation, dump the non-PC games yourself (if your country's laws allow) or buy the ROMs if the devs give the option:

• #hasicontent (PICO-8 engine with PC builds)
• ABZÛ (has PC builds)
• Asura's Wrath (PS3)
• Augury Red Code (GBC)
• Battle Chef Brigade Deluxe (has PC builds)
• BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extended (has PC builds)
• Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon (has PC builds)
• Böbl (NES)
• Bravely Default (3DS)
• Catherine Classic (has PC builds)
• Celeste (has PC builds)
• Celeste Classic (PICO-8 engine with PC builds; also a easter egg on the commercial version of Celeste)
• Celeste Classic 2 (PICO-8 engine with PC builds)
• Child of Light (has PC builds, albeit with Ubisoft's DRM)
• Codemancer (has PC builds)
• Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII- (has PC builds)
• Dandara: Trials of Fear Edition (has PC builds)
• Devil May Cry (has PC builds)
• Devil May Cry 3 (has PC builds)
• Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy (PSP)
• Downwell (has PC builds)
• Dragon Ball: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 (PS2/Wii)
• Dust: An Elysian Tail (has PC builds)
• Etherborn (has PC builds)
• Ever Oasis (3DS)
• Final Fantasy II (PSP preferably, since it's the most complete version)
• Final Fantasy VI (has PC builds)
• Final Fantasy VII (has PC builds but both ports are pretty old)
• Final Fantasy X (has PC builds)
• Final Fantasy XII (has PC builds)
• Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings (NDS)
• Genkai Tokki: Moero Chronicle (has PC builds)
• God Hand (PS2)
• God of War (2005) (PS2)
• God of War II (PS2)
• God of War: Chain of Olympus (PSP/PS Vita/PS3)
• Godzilla: Unleashed (PS2)
• GrimGrimoire (PS2, apparently current gen consoles too but need to confirm)
• Gunbird (versions differ, iirc mostly on plot being non-existent on versions based on the arcade version, so pick your preferred version)
• ICO (PS2/PS3)
• Ittle Dew (has PC builds)
• Lost In Dungeon (has PC builds)
• LYNE (has PC builds)
• Mary Skelter: Nightmares (has PC builds; updated version also included on Mary Skelter 2)
• Mary Skelter 2 (has PC builds)
• Metal Slug (has PC builds but most versions are just the Neo Geo ROMs being emulated, so run on an emulator of your choice if you prefer)
• Metal Slug 3 (same as Metal Slug)
• Micro Mages (NES)
• Minoria (has PC builds)
• Momodora: Reverie Under The Moonlight (has PC builds)
• Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch (has PC builds)
• Nix: The Paradox Relic (NES)
• No More Heroes (has PC builds but other than user complaints, dunno how well they run, so maybe the Wii or PS3 versions would be better?)
• No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle (same as No More Heroes, except only released for the Wii, at least since I last checked)
• Okami (has PC builds)
• One Strike (has PC builds)
• Parasite Eve (PS1)
• Persona 3 FES (PS2)
• Quest of Dungeon (has PC builds)
• Rabi-Ribi (has PC builds)
• Riddled Corpses EX (has PC builds)
• Saints Row: The Third (has PC builds, and preferably go for the original release since the remaster is the same as the OG, except a little more limited)
• Shantae and the Pirate's Curse (has PC builds)
• Shantae: Half- Genie Hero (has PC builds)
• Solatorobo: Red the Hunter (NDS)
• Tallowmere (has PC builds)
• Tanglewood (has PC builds but they're the Genesis/Mega Drive version emulated)
• The Fairly OddParents! Shadow Showdown (PS2)
• The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince (PS Vita/Switch)
• The Simpsons Game (PS2)
• Va-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action (has PC builds)
• Wishing Sarah (Game Boy and PC versions are emulated)
• Wonder Boy in Monster World (Genesis/Mega Drive and PC versions are emulated)
• World of Final Fantasy (has PC builds)

doom and doom eternal both perform insanely well

So far I finished:

• RDR2 30FPS lock wonderfull experiencie
• Days Gone 40FPS lock, wonderfull experience
• Resident evil 7 and 8 - works perfect out of the box
• Hi Fi Rush - A M A Z I N G
• Marvel Guardians of the galaxy - doesnt run perfect, some crashes but still enjoyed this a lot

Inhales...

Got mine almost 4 months ago to 2 points to share first:
First of all rely on https://www.protondb.com/ if it comes to how really game performs and what tweaks are recommended if needed.
Secondly you are not limited to your steam library, Heroic launcher which can be downloaded to desktop allows to play most of the games from Epic, GOG and Amazon.

With that intro here are some of the recommendations which enjoyed most from me:

• Vampire Survivors - started with this title, great for start
• Binding of Isaac:Rebirth - that serves for hundreds of hours alone, quite specific though
• Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice - probably was draining battery fastest of all games tested so far
• A Plague Tale: Innocence - runs very smooth
• GTA V - with proper settings runs perfectly
• Disco Elysium
• Outer Wilds
• Alan Wake
• Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion

I am also the proud owner of a Steam Deck. I don't recommend looking at AAA projects. This device is about a different kind of gaming. I enjoyed playing through the Batman: Arkham series, which I missed at the time. More Devil May Cry 4, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge, Blasphemous, Remember Me. In general, slashers, platformers and everything that plays well on a gamepad are good to play. If autonomy is not enough, set the lock to 40 fps. The picture will be acceptable, autonomy will be greatly improved.