Steam Deck is undoubtedly one of the best handhelds that were ever created within an affordable price point. From the design to its specs, there is a lot going on that we have to give Valve credit for. Now, if you own a Steam Deck, we have some insights to share that will make your handheld gaming experience on it even better.
9 Steam Deck Tips & Tricks
Steam Deck is hands down one of the best handhelds that we got to see in recent times. If you own one, here are our top tips and tricks that you can adopt for your Steam Deck.
1. Shortcuts
While the Steam Deck already comes with plenty of useful buttons, there are a handful of shortcuts to control the brightness, pop up the keyboard, and right-click just like we do on a PC. These are really useful in case you don’t want to go through the settings again and again to perform a certain action.
2. Performance Sliders
Steam Deck is powerful enough to run plenty of modern titles such as Cyberpunk 2077 and Spider-Man. But if you want to save up battery power and increase the longevity of your games, there are plenty of performance options that you can tweak. Just press the three-dot menu button located at the bottom right, navigate to the battery section, and adjust the sliders according to your preference to make the Deck last longer or smoothen the gameplay experience
3. Custom Layouts
While the default controls of the Steam Deck are pretty fine for plenty of games, you can set custom layouts to make the gameplay experience even better. For example, you don’t have to use the joystick for aiming in shooting games if you don’t want to. Simply press the controller icon before starting any game, and you will be presented with custom layouts from both developer and the Steam Community. From there, select the one that makes the most sense to you, and you are good to go.
4. Desktop Mode
While the handheld experience on the Steam Deck is pretty enjoyable, you can even use it in desktop mode if you want to. Here is how Tomgsguide did it, Press the Steam Button, and from there, go to power settings. Here you will find a “Switch to Desktop” option and that will get the job done. Switching back to handheld mode is pretty simple, as all you have to do is double-click the Gaming Mode option.
5. Non-Steam Apps
While playing PC games on the Steam Deck is great and all, what about installing non-steam Apps such as Discord and Chrome that we daily use?
The Good news is, you can install these apps along with a handful of others pretty easily. While you are in desktop mode, click on the Blue Shopping Bag icon from the taskbar, select any non-steam app that you like, and add it to your library. Later on, you can find these under the Non-Steam tab on the top while you are in desktop mode.
6. Gyro Sensor
Playing FPS games on a handheld or console often feels limited as you don’t get to enjoy the free movement of a keyboard and a mouse. Thankfully, the Steam Deck is equipped with a Gyro Sensor which is as close as a console can get to mouse-like movement. The gyro needs to be activated on each game separately, and once you get comfortable with it, there is no going back.
7. Emulation
Steam Deck itself is equipped with quite the beefy specs, which ultimately can be turned into an emulation machine if you wish. Just install Emu Deck On your Steam Deck, and from there, you can install tons of emulators such as RPCS3, Cemu, and PCSX2 to play retro as well as previous-gen console games pretty easily.
If you need help mounting ISO files for emulation, check out this guide on how to mount an ISO on Steam Deck.
8. Updates
And if you have been facing issues regarding your Steam Deck lately, keeping it updated from time to time needs to be your top priority. While it is a no-brainer, people often forget to keep their Deck updated, which causes several issues later on. It is advised to keep the auto-update option on at all times.
9. Accessories
Lastly, we recommend getting some accessories for your Steam Deck that will completely change the way you play games on it. The device itself has plenty of ports and wireless connectivity, which can be utilized to use with external devices.
Wrapping Up
So that was all about the 10 Steam Deck Tricks. So, these are a number of tips and techniques that can help Steam Deck owners get the most out of their gadgets.
