Valve's Steam Deck reminded me of what's most important in gaming — and it's not graphics

White Valve Steam Deck displaying the Steam Store, with an 8BitDo controller and VITURE Pro XR AR glasses in the background.

(Image credit: Rael Hornby / Laptop Mag)

The Steam Deck marked its third anniversary on Tuesday, a milestone met alongside reports that estimate Valve has shipped over 3.7 units as of the end of 2024, accounting for 48% of all handheld gaming PC hardware sold that year.

While that's still a fraction of what Nintendo managed to achieve with the Switch — and potentially an even smaller fraction of what it hopes to achieve with the Switch 2 — the Steam Deck has become one of the more important devices of the modern era, an incredible achievement for a product exclusively sold through Steam, with no presence on digital or brick-and-mortar store shelves.

After all, if it wasn't for the Steam Deck, could we really bank on the influx of handheld gaming PCs we see today? Valve's handheld paved the way for the ROG Ally, Lenovo Legion Go, and MSI Claw to follow, each now offering follow-ups in the form of the ROG Ally X, Legion Go S, and MSI Claw 8 AI+.

Since the Steam Deck's launch in 2022, the rate of handheld releases has skyrocketed, and their increasing performance potential leaves Valve's handheld further in the dust each time. You'd have to be a stark-raving masochist to settle for the opening-tier performance of a Steam Deck at a time like this. Or so I thought until I finally got my hands on one.

Now all I care about is having a good time.

The Steam Deck: Far from handheld gaming's hand-me-down

Compared to its newer, shinier contemporaries, the Steam Deck could be viewed as an aging relic. And, according to comments from Valve's Lawrence Yang, a freshly Decked out (ahar) hardware follow-up could still be a ways away as the company waits for a "generational leap" in compute that makes it worthwhile. It lacks the raw power of the ROG Ally X, and is dwarfed in resolution by the Lenovo Legion Go, but, in all honesty, none of that really matters.

Some PC gamers won't touch a game unless it's dripping in ray-tracing sweat and boasting a polygon count that could rival Pixar's filmography. I've lost count of the number of times I've seen the comment "Looks like PS2 graphics" from somebody who either greatly misremembers console gaming's sixth generation, or perhaps wasn't even alive for it.

I was, though. In fact, I first started gaming on my dad's Atari ST, and that kind of perspective on graphics and performance is priceless when you look at today's visual splendor compared to the rudimentary wireframe models of the original Elite. It also gives me the right to openly tell those people that they're categorically wrong. Gameplay is king, and that's why Tetris will forever be far more engaging of a game than any moment spent in the cinematically beautiful world of The Order: 1888.

Despite its aging hardware, the Steam Deck reminds me of what matters most in gaming: fun.

One of the best things about the Steam Deck is its limitations. I'm not here to tweak settings until the game looks like real life with reticles, chase frame rates, or crank sliders. I'm here to play games, and great games are defined by gameplay — not graphics.

Sometimes, good enough is good enough

I may have been almost three years late to the Steam Deck party, but I in no way feel like I inherited handheld gaming's hand-me-down. The Steam Deck still thrives, with its OLED refresh giving it the visual edge over others even if it does sport a lower resolution, and the experience is constantly tweaked and refined through Valve's ongoing software updates.

More importantly, I'm playing more games now than I have in years. Its console-like pick-up-and-play mentality makes it incredibly accessible, and, regardless of how a game looks when crammed into its 1280 x 800 screen, the all-mighty Steam Deck verified badge lends me a great sense of confidence in the stability of each title I get myself invested in. All while stripping away the distracting veneer of ultra graphics presets that has led even me down the "good graphics = good game" path of visual hypnosis before.

And if I ever get the itch to enjoy some of the more visually impressive titles in my Steam Library, well, I still have my trusty gaming laptop to fall back on. The Steam Deck doesn't need to do everything. It just needs to do what matters most: deliver fun gameplay.

Sure, more powerful gaming handhelds exist, and even more are just around the corner, but I don't need cutting-edge in my handheld experience.

I'm happy to spend less time obsessing over settings, and more time playing. Sometimes, good enough is actually good enough.

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Rael Hornby, potentially influenced by far too many LucasArts titles at an early age, once thought he’d grow up to be a mighty pirate. However, after several interventions with close friends and family members, you’re now much more likely to see his name attached to the bylines of tech articles. While not maintaining a double life as an aspiring writer by day and indie game dev by night, you’ll find him sat in a corner somewhere muttering to himself about microtransactions or hunting down promising indie games on Twitter.