Discussion Should I buy a Steam Deck or a Switch?

[leonokarin]

I want to buy a handheld console to play games while lying down. The Switch has some exclusive games, but I often play indie games like Darkchaser:Battletide and Astral Ascent, which are not available on Switch, so it seems that the Steam Deck might be more useful for me?

 

[Ge0force]

I prefer the Steam Deck. A lot more games, a lot cheaper games, infinite backwards compatibility, free online gaming, mods and so much more. The track pads are also great for indie games made for the mouse.

 

[kio]

The general rule of thumb is to go where the games you want to play are.
That being said, I'm not right now it's the best time to buy any of them as new hardware will probably be announced soon.

 

[MonthOLDpickle]

I just use my phone to play games from my PC when I am in bed or out of town. You may have different experience but remote link play has saved me many times during boring ass Chinese New Year holiday, which is usually a week or more.

 

[CommodoreKong]

Steam Deck let's you play a huge amount of Steam games, the games are often cheaper on PC than Switch, and it can do a ton of emulation (including Switch emulation).

 

[Paul]

I have had steam deck for years and it is great, but I think if I was in the market now I would probably consider waiting for new gen. It is getting a bit long in the tooth for new big budget games.

 

[Stevey]

Solely going on how many times I've had to read "perfect for the Switch" I would have to go with the Deck.

 

[spindoctor]

If money isn't a concern I'd get the Steam deck today. It has the bigger library (and all the other benefits listed above). I'd hold off on the Switch because the next generation device is due in a few months and backward compatibility is almost a given. Any game that you haven't played yet on the Switch will run better on it and it's just a matter of waiting another 6 months or so. Unless you're really desperate to play some Nintendo exclusive and there are whispers that even those can run on the deck in some mysterious ways.

 

[MegaApple]

Hold of Switch until new console announcement.
If you can, I'd say hold off on SD, there is some discussion regarding hardware floating around.

 

[fantomena]

I very much like how the posts here are not in the vein of "Switch sucks, Deck is better", but instead rather informative posts and this is despite this being a Steam/PC-focused forum. Most places on the Internet would probably give you some hyperbole like the example I just wrote.

 

[hersheyfan]

Using a handheld PC is a whole lot better than using a Switch - better performance, wider selection, cheaper games.

Whether you opt for a Steam Deck though is pretty dependent on what kind of user you are (and I say that as a Steam Deck owner twice over, I got the LCD and upgraded to the OLED).

If "it just works" is a key selling point to you on the NSW, and you hate fiddling around with stuff in general, I'd recommend picking up the ROG Ally instead. You see a game on Steam, you buy it, it'll work. There's no "this game doesnt work because its got EAC", or "this game doesnt work because the Japanese folks who developed it were part moon octopus" - my cousin, who is a more casual gamer, shifted from a Deck to an Ally and was exponentially happier with his experience.

Considering the price and its compatibility, the Steam Deck remains the better value. But I'm happy with it given the context that its a complementary gaming device for me - if shit doesn't work, no big, I'll just play it on my desktop or my laptop. But having a Steam Deck as my sole PC gaming terminal would drive me insane, lol.

 

[Shahem]

Steam Deck, not even a contest.

 

[edin]

A new Switch / successor is definitely closer than a new Deck based on what we know from interviews from Valve so definitely wait on a Switch, but if you want to get a Deck, I recommend getting the OLED one. As someone who regularly uses both Decks (OLED + LCD) and also Switch (launch + OLED), I basically play everything on the OLED Deck unless it isn't available natively on Steam or it runs terrible in which case I play on PS5/XSX.

For indie games, there's no contest really. Deck OLED is the way to go. I've been playing so much UFO 50 on it lately and I just bought Animal Well. You can always play the Nintendo exclusives on the next Switch or see if the current one becomes a lot cheaper when the successor is announced. I would hold off on a Switch unless you have good trade in potential wherever you buy from.