So, if you just got gifted a Steam Deck over the holiday (whether by a loved one, or as a well-deserved treat for yourself), or are a long-term owner looking for something new to play, these are the Steam Deck games that I believe you need to play first…

For the first few days with the Steam Deck OLED in hand, all I did was load up different games to try and find the hard limit for the Deck's capabilities. As it turns out, as long as a game is Steam Deck Verified,

The Steam Deck is one of the best portable gaming devices around, despite one major shortcoming: It doesn’t run Windows. Unlike the Asus ROG Ally, the Lenovo Legion Go, and a fleet of other devices that come with Windows preinstalled, the Steam Deck uses Linux.

However, that was just the beginning. As game compatibility expanded and developers optimized for the Steam Deck, the more capable it became. On top of that, Sony started to bring PlayStation games to PC, with the likes of God of War 2018 and The Last of Us playable on the Deck; suddenly, this wasn’t just a Steam machine but also a pseudo PSP.