It should come as no surprise that I play and review an absurd amount of games here at The Koalition. Some are great, others..not so much but with that said, the main question I get asked constantly, especially on The Throwdownshow over on Twitch is “What games do you like and what games are you playing for fun on the Steam Deck?”.
So, I figured I put together my 7 favorite games I enjoy playing on my Steam Deck daily. They may have various playability statuses on Steam Deck but all work great and I’ve had no issues playing any of the games on this list. And since it’s Black Friday and all these Eshops are having massive sales, I also included the sale prices and a direct link to help everyone out. FYI the 7 are not in any order. I’m just jotting them down on the list.
1 – Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1+2 – Sale price $15.99 – Steam Store
Man, I love skateboarding. I spent a good amount of my high school years and early 20+ skating around Manhattan or at BAM in Brooklyn. Is for this reason that the THPS series has remained such a key part of my gaming life. It brings me back to those free-roaming days and THPS 1+2 IS A DAMN MASTERPIECE!
All the maps have been updated. The gameplay has been updated to incorporate moves from 3 & 4 like wall rides and reverb. I can play THPS for hours without a 2nd thought just by jumping into free skate with my created version of myself and rolling.
2 – WWE 2K23 – Sale price $19.79 – Steam Store
I LOVE pro wrestling. In fact, 90% of us here at The Koalition love pro wrestling, WWE, AEW, NJPW, indies, whatever. So, I was super hyped to play WWE 2K22 on my Steam Deck last year. Unfortunately, it had a variety of issues that would cause it to randomly crash. The community eventually found a workaround but thankfully when WWE 2K23 came out, it had none of these crashing issues even with the “unsupported” Steam Deck status.
All the modes work great including Royal Rumble, community creations, online multiplayer, and of course war games. It’s amazing to see all this happening in the palm of my hand. The only issue I ever had was in John Cena’s showcase where the Cena cut-scenes stutter a bit, but nothing game-impacting, and no slow down or lag.
3 – Huntdown + Soundtrack – Sale price $5.38 – Steam Store
I’ve done “must play” game lists before and I’m pretty sure I added this one and will continue to scream to the heavens that this is one of the best 1980s versions of the future sides scrolling shooter you will ever play. The controls are simple, duck, shoot, throw bombs, knives, etc.
But the overall art design, soundtrack, and voice acting are AWESOME! I fought one boss that sounded just like the legend Macho Man Randy Savage. Think Escape from New York, RoboCop, and Blade Runner. Just typing this makes me want to play a few levels.
4 – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge – Sale price $17.49 Steam Store
This was the first co-op game I played with 3 other friends. We were all on Steam Decks in a chat using the deck voice chat. Not only did we play this amazing Beat’em Up, we finished it in one play session.
I love the classic TMNT arcade games and Shredder’s Revenge continued with that look and feel while providing quality-of-life improvements such as the ability to revive down teammates and upgradeable movesets. This game also has so much replayability with its arcade mode and DLC.
5 – Street Fighter 6 Sale price $32.46 – Green Man Gaming (Steam key)
When it comes to fighting games, there is only one that brings a big smile to my face, and that’s Street Fighter. In fact, the first game I loaded on my Steam Deck was Street Fighter 5. I was blown away that it worked and felt like I was in a dream. Could this really be happening? Am I really playing Street Fighter 5 on a handheld? DAMN RIGHT I WAS and this was no dream.
So when Street Fighter 6 arrived and Capcom confirmed on day one that it would be verified to work on Steam Deck, I was over the f’n moon. Street Fighter 6 is packed with modes, characters, and a whacky story that makes no damn sense but is still fun to play so I can upgrade my created fighter who looks like Bruce Leroy from the last dragon.
6 – Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales – Sale price $29.99 – Steam Store
I could just say, well, it’s Spider-Man and move to number 7…. but I won’t. This game runs smooth as butta on the Steam Deck. It never gets old swinging around NYC fighting crime.
I really enjoyed this one over Marvel’s Spider-Man, I feel it had better music, a fun campaign that wasn’t too long, and a good mix of side missions with random encounters to keep you entertained.
7 – One Finger Death Punch 2 – Sale price $1.99 – Steam Store
This game by far has the simplest controls. It’s 2 buttons, X to strike left and B to strike right. Yet, it’s one of the most addictive games I’ve ever played. Constant waves of enemies running at you and it all comes down to timing your attacks. This is the modern take on the old NES Kung Fu. Hit and don’t get hit, time your strikes, and button mashing will end your run quickly.
The game also has a narrator who will even point it out if he notices you are button-mashing. There are a variety of enemies types to keep the game fresh along with weapons you pick up during battles. The better you perform the more stars you get and earn points to upgrade the weapons you find. I love this game and for $1.99 everyone should have it and if you already own it buy a copy for someone as a Xmas gift.
This concludes my list. Please let me know if you plan on checking out any of these games along with your own favorite games to play on the Steam Deck. Happy Holidays!
