Top 20 games played on Steam Deck in the past month, sorted by playtime.

Worth noting that Steam doesn't track playtime for non-Steam games. So this doesn't include Minecraft, Retroarch, or anything purchased through Itch, GOG, or Epic.

No doubt Fortnite would be somewhere on this list. Minecraft too. Not sure what else would be a guarantee.
- Fortnite can’t be played unless you’re running windows
Do you think any of such games would be in the list?

I'd imagine only a smaller subset of people even set up their Steam Deck for third party games.
- Emulation Station might, since a lot of people use it as a frontend for their emulators. Since ES runs in a separate window while you play, all the time spent playing emulated games would all add to ES's total.
- I dunno, I feel like the Steam Deck's core audience is "people who liked the Switch's form factor but also like mods and third-party launchers."
I plan to add the GOG version of Cyberpunk once I get an SSD.

The fact the SteamDeck can play all of these at decent graphics and FPS in their full fat PC version still blows my mind

I honestly reach for it more than my Xbox or switch. it's easy to pick up and put down. easy to charge. and stuff runs fine on it.

It's not for everybody, but I love my deck.
- I was skeptical at first and I finally gave in two weeks ago and it arrived last week.
  
  I love my Steam Deck, this seems dumb but I actually use it to stream my ps5 and more intensive PC games. It easier to move around and pick up and put down. I've started to play games I bought years ago. Finished Limbo and Inside and playing Bioshock Remastered.
I've been playing Baldur's Gate 3 on my Steam Deck since release, it's been such a great experience I can not recommend it enough, I never thought I would be able to play such a great game confortably from my bed on a "handheld" (?).
- How far are you? I've played it on my laptop but I'm concerned how well it would run act 3
- Right?? A great experience on a game that literally just released and is HUUGE
  
  Even a theoretical Switch Pro probably couldn't keep up 😂
Ehh... Starfield chugs on my Steam Deck to the point where the slowdowns make it practically unplayable. >.<
- Very true, I should've thought more clearly about this specifics of some of these. Pretty sure it's literally only up there because either people are trying to fix it and this constantly launching it / having it open makes it #2.. or it's just up there because it's new and very popular
- Yeah I wouldn't recommend Starfield on the Deck at this point. It's a bit too unstable to be enjoyable.

Please add text content for accessibility and discoverability to a post like this.

The image reads:

Baldur's Gate 3
Starfield
Cyberpunk 2077
ELDEN RING
ARMORED CORE™ VI FIRES OF RUBICON™
Stardew Valley
Sea of Stars
No Man's Sky
Vampire Survivors
Red Dead Redemption 2
Grand Theft Auto V
DAVE THE DIVER
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth
Hogwarts Legacy
Brotato
Slay the Spire
Fallout 4
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition
Hades
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Top 20 Steam Deck games of September 2023, by hours played

Thanks for that. Really hate images that are just data… :(
- Don't hate me bro :)
Isn't there a bot for that?
- I see no such bot comment. Do you?
Sounds like something that needs a bot. Transcribing every meme you want to post and source is just asinine lol.
- This is not a meme though...

Reviews of starfield on steamdeck: probably not the best experience maybe stick to more powerful devices

Average Steamdeck user: fuckin watch me, peasant.

I wonder if hours spent playing using Remote Play on the Deck counts towards the total.

While I prefer Sunrise/Moonlight, playing Starfield using streaming off your main gaming PC is a pretty good experience!
- Moonlight is unreasonably capable. I initially dismissed it when I had shoddy performance between a wireless desktop and the steam deck. Then I set up tailscale and tried it outside the home during a lunch break, it was impossibly smooth. I thought maybe it was something to do with the fiber at my work. So I tried it at a friend's place in the next town over with the same ISP, impossibly smooth.
  
  Now I'm in the process of overhauling my home network to figure out why it's better outside my home.
- Hmm, because that makes me wonder if they also count it as a play for the host machine.
  
  Also, how common is steamlink use? Would love to see how much it's utilised on the deck/steam in general. I tried it myself but unless your host is connected over Ethernet it's a bit on the slow side.
My thoughts exactly.

I absolutely love my Steam Deck. But playing even Cyberpunk on it made me run back to my PC.
- I wonder how many steamdecks are owned by people who dont have another option for a gaming device that supports games like Cyberpunk and Starfield.
  
  My lil bro is playing starfield on the steamdeck rn since he can't play it on his main PC tbf.

Crazy that Binding of Isaac is still in there, it's been years since the last release and it's not really in the public consciousness the same way something like Vampire Survivors is. Fantastic game though, happy to see it continue to succeed

Probably because the new one is getting a lot of press and people go back to it
Edmund said there's will be a normal online coop, finally.
Replayability is fantastic, keeps me coming back.
I wish it would go on sale… ever. I’ve bought it multiple times across several platforms now, I really don’t want to spend $60 trying to get all the DLC on PC

Dave the Diver is such a gem

I played about 8 games in a row that I couldn't get into until I found this one. It is definitely enjoyable.

So proud of Skyrim, GTA-V and Fallout-4 holding strong decades after their release. They could be the most played games of the century

I think their age is also an advantage on the Deck. Since the requirements are lower they run better then new AAA games.

One Day I will finish Cookie Clicker. One day I will be free.

I installed a mod that didn't play super well with my other mods. It got me to finally say I was done.

I had no idea vampire survivor was such a hit. Feels like that would be a great handheld game.

It’s available on mobile apps stores I believe.
- It runs fine in a browser for free as well.

I think these would be better if they worked like ratings charts and showed relative changes since last month.

Wait starfield works on SD? I thought it was too slow. Has there been a new patch?

Mods + cryoutilities has it running pretty dang good!
I actually went on vacation the day it released. I installed it on my deck to be able to play when at the hotel. I put 14 hours in starfield on my deck. It's PLAYABLE but not really ENJOYABLE. You have to turn it down to almost the lowest setting to play it reliably.
I played like 80 hours on steam deck. I don't think it's as optimized as Todd claims (RDR2 is much older and looks much better), but it plays alright.

No mods or anything, just settings tweaks.
- I did not know you could play with a controller on PC. Is thist a steam customization for the deck ? (When I plug my xbox controller nothing happens in control settings or anywhere)
I found it playable but being completely honest, the graphic settings are the lowest and while it looks fine enough for things nearby… shooting at enemies more than a few meters away means aiming under their name. Due to dumb circumstances making my gaming pc unavailable, I’m currently playing it “on my Mac” through GeForce Now.

Starfield ? How ?

It's just for one month
- But how can a steamdeck run starfield ?

I really want to enjoy games like Fallout or GTA on the Deck but compared to mouse/keyboard it's just really bad. I cannot understand how so many people like to play games like CoD or Battlefield on consoles.

I usually use gamepad controls and try and shoehorn gyro as mouse input. Doesn't always work but when it does it's really decent for FPS all things considered.

Average steam deck

OK Sisyphus

Hades was so good

Elden Ring is approaching 2 years in a few months and I can't believe it's still going this strong.

Skyrim came out in 2011, sir
- Binding of Isaac wants to know your location

I'm contributing to #Stardew and #SlayTheSpire 👍

It's impressive to me that games made by small teams or solo artists are going toe to toe with games made by the entire Western hemisphere. Stardew Valley is being played more than RDR2?

A graphically demanding game being high on this list is more impressive to me. BG3 looks like a claymation game on the deck, I wasn't expecting it to be anywhere near as high.

Glad that Sea of Stars is so high on the list!

It's weird how the fromsoft games are the only ones in all caps.

Seems to be a Japanese thing. Several of em do that. Wish they wouldn't.
Famous from soft game DAVE THE DIVER
- YOU DIVED
- Oh, haha...I hadn't noticed that it is also in caps.

Brotato? Have no idea what's about, but certainly got me curious.

Check it out. It's a really fun game and perfect for the deck.
- Also Broforce - no idea why it doesn't get mentioned more often, it's incredible on the deck
It's like VS but wave based. Has a ton of playable characters that all manage to feel pretty distinct from each other. Pretty fun!

I feel good for CDPR. They fumbled the launch of Cyberpunk, but people are still playing the crap out of it, so I guess they handled it well in the end. It must be horrible to have worked on a game for years, only for it to blow up the way Cyberpunk did.

Edit: Though I suppose the launch was only "fumbled" on last gen hardware.

The media outrage was disproportionate and completely disconnected from how it actually worked. It was a success from the start. As you said, the fumble was on consoles mostly.

It's certainly good though that they worked so long to make it even better IMO.
- Revisionism so blatant it could run for office in a red state.

Glad to see I'm not the only with a spire habit that can't be kicked.

Slay the spire is too good.

I myself am still enjoying BG3 and Vampire Survivors on the deck. Not sure what game I will move to after BG3, but that won't be for another month or two at the pace I am going.

I love FROM games being all caps. Like Madvillain

FromSoft made DAVE THE DIVER? :P
I remember reading something about Japanese publishers using all caps because they don't use case in their own language. Something like that.
- i mean it just looks cool too

Vampire Survivors is still ging strong.

Out of those 20, 10 of them are either already on my deck or match my queue of games to play. Any reason to play skyrim special edition over legendary edition? I plan on playing the game without mods. I thought legendary edition would give better battery life. I do not remember is special edition has any worthwhile upgrades.

I think they both have the same battery life, but Anniversary has bundled Creator Community content with it.
- I watched a video on the differences, but it didn’t really seem like it was anything other than graphical. Since battery is the same, maybe I’ll just install special edition then.
Pure vanilla, the differences arent much. The only one i recall was better water rendering.

Theres a difference now if you consider mods, but vanilla is (mostly) the same
- Thanks, I played it before any dlc came out for the game and I was not blown away by the graphical improvements. I’m just going to stick with legendary edition. Maybe it won’t be any different but I just feel like it will be more performant.
- Thanks, I played it before any dlc came out for the game and I was not blown away by the graphical improvements. I’m just going to stick with legendary edition. Maybe it won’t be any different but I just feel like it will be more performant.
I got 12 :)

Bookmarking this, thanks for posting ! I'll add some gems to my try list :)

So a steam deck... Is this a handheld laptop or a streaming device to your computer?

It's a handheld, standalone computer. It can do game streaming from a PC as well, but it's powerful enough to run games like Fallout 4 at 40 FPS.
- Is 40 acceptable? All I ever see is people complaining if it's not 120 and I can't tell if it's just a meme or not. I play on console primarily for ease of use (I have toddlers), but I do have a pc that's mid range that does well but I just feel so isolated from my family every time I sit at the computer. Thinking about the steam deck but I know next to nothing of it.
- Cyberpunk 2077 with the new DLC can also manage 40 pretty easily
It's basically a gaming laptop in the shape of an oversized switch.

@mr_MADAFAKA @steamdeck None of the games I played on my #SteamDeck are on that list.
In fact I don't own any.

People really play this many games in a month? Even when I played a lot I mostly focused on very few games.

I'm playing three of these... Telling that Diablo is not there

Not on steam so wouldn't be on the list.
- Diablo 4 plays really well on the Steam Deck. Too bad there's not more content, besides endless nightmare dungeons once you get to the endgame.
Diablo is not available on steam though.

All of those AAA and I’m here playing Suikoden 2…

Slay the Spire?

Binding of Isaac?

Fucking Stardew Valley!

What are you talking about? Nearly half of them are indie games.

You play at least 20 different games per month?

I'm pretty sure this is all Steam Deck users on Steam. But I could be wrong.
- Makes sense. Sorry.

Time to play spot the actual RPGs.

I'm going with 4