600 hours of RTS on Steam Deck reveal Valve's greatest handheld triumph
The Steam Deck is now over four years old, newer gaming handhelds such as the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X ($1,199 on Amazon) offer significantly more performance, better displays and larger batteries. But there is one genre in which the Steam Deck remains unbeaten: strategy games.
The list of the 100 games most played on the Steam Deck is unsurprisingly dominated by controller-friendly indie hits such as Slay the Spire 2, Stardew Valley or Balatro, but role-playing blockbusters such as Baldur's Gate 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 are also on the list. Real-time strategy games are conspicuously absent, with only the turn-based Civilization VI just making it into the top 100.
This is not surprising, as traditionally consoles, controllers and consequently handhelds were simply unsuitable for RTS games. Selecting small buildings or units with an analog stick is too tedious, function keys are missing and even menus are awkward to use without controller support. After four years with the Steam Deck, however, it is clear that Valve has solved all these problems. The trackpads, the four programmable buttons on the back and the ability to customize the function of each button individually for each game make it easy to control even complex RTS titles.
172 hours of Stronghold - exclusively on the Steam Deck
In 172 hours, I was able to play through Stronghold Crusader: Definitive Edition on the Steam Deck, including all campaigns and lots of content from the workshop. The D-pad can easily control the game speed - essential, as you are inevitably a little slower on the Steam Deck than on a PC with a large screen and mouse. The shoulder buttons rotate the camera, the triggers serve as left and right mouse clicks. The camera is moved with an analog stick and the mouse is controlled with a touchpad. The buttons on the back, on the other hand, allow you to quickly select troop recruitment buildings.
Over 190 hours of Spellforce Platinum, 62 hours of Diplomacy is Not an Option and 38 hours of Stellaris on the Steam Deck have shown me that at least single-player RTS games on the Steam Deck not only work, but that it is finally possible to play them relaxed on the couch after a long day at work instead of sitting at the PC for even more hours.
While gaming handhelds such as the Zotac Zone or the Lenovo Legion Go also have trackpads, these are neither as large nor as ergonomically placed as on the Steam Deck, and Valve's haptic feedback is also helpful in controlling games precisely. Titles that require less precision, such as Frostpunk, or RTS games with surprisingly good controller support like The Wandering Village, can also be controlled on other handhelds, but from one hobby strategist to another, I can only really recommend the Steam Deck for this particular genre.
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