2022 aims to be one of the most remembered years in the industry, not only because of the number of great titles that are projected to launch, but also because of a very special event. Valve has taken the big step and will launch Steam Deck, its portable console with which to play Steam titles from our library.
Precisely that is one of the conflictive points of the system. While many major works will be playable without issue, there are doubts about more games. To be clear about what works and what doesn’t, Steam has enabled a verification system for Steam Deck, so you can quickly see if the game is enabled for it or not.
This is because while many titles work on the Steam Deck without any tweaking, others requirechanges to provide the best possible experience. Valve itself is doing fieldwork on the digital store, reviewing each work and assigning a category based on its level of compatibility. In total, we have four categories:
Verified
There are absolutely no problems with the game in question, it works on Steam Deck at full capacity and you do not need to make any adjustments to enjoy it.
Playable
We go down a notch and everything is not guaranteed to flow perfectly here. There may be some manual adjustments made by the user to the Steam Deck for optimal performance. Some examples could be choosing the controller configuration, using the touch screen… etc.
Not supported
The case that we least want is that if we find ourselves with this category, it means that we will not be able to play the title in question. Steam Deck will not be able to make the work work for different reasons, such as incompatibility with VR systems, as is the case with Half-Life: Alyx.
Unknown
One of the great mysteries that can appear on the screen. In this situation it is not that the game does not work, but that Valve has not yet verified its viability on Steam Deck. Everything may work fine or it may be unplayable; a coin toss.
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Requirements to be verified on Steam Deck
Since there are categories to qualify for, it’s evident that some kind of requirement has to be met in order to be verified on Steam Deck. Valve strictly follows several guidelines, which are as follows:
- Input: It is essential that there is support for controllers, that it presents the correct input icons and that an on-screen keyboard appears automatically if necessary.
- Display – Here each game must be set to the native resolution of the Steam Deck, either 1280×800 or 1280×720. Also, the default settings should not cause problems and the text size should be readable.
- Fluidity: some works present a launcher once we execute them from the library and in case this happens, it must be able to be managed with the console command.
- System compatibility: In case the game works through Proton, both the title and all software involved in the process must be compatible with Proton. You can’t forget about the anti-cheat system you use either.
Once these points have been clarified, it should be noted that in the first Steam tab of the Steam Deck we will see games that are fully compatible and verified. In the following pages we will begin to find variety, with titles in different categories. We will be able to see in the reviewed games the details regarding their verification and why they pass or not the Valve filter.
How to find out which games are compatible with the Steam Deck
Finally, while Gabe Newell’s company works to add a feature to see which Steam games are supported, there are platforms we can review it on. One of them is SteamDB, the famous page that collects data about the digital store. It has a section dedicated to showing which games have already been verified, although in order to use it you will have to login previously with your Steam account.
More simple and complete we have the Avery Café list, which directly shows us the category of each game. It has a search engine to quickly find the work in question and it only has a slight nuance, since it takes a little longer than SteamDB when updating the list. In any case, they are two good options to know which games you are going to play with your Steam Deck. Remember that the launch will take place from the end of February.