Windows on Steam Deck - Pros and Cons

The Steam Deck is a very flexible device and one of the things that you can do with it is install Windows onto it. 

Now, I'm going to get right into the meat of the article and give my pros and cons behind having Windows installed on the Steam Deck.

Flexibility is one of the main pros for me, when Windows is installed on the system it allows a lot of freedom. You can download and install other game launchers such as Ubisoft Connect, BattleNet, Epic Games etc. I liked this, because of the free games which I've picked up over on Epic Games store. However, there is a way to download these games through desktop mode on SteamOS using Lutris or Heroic Games Launcher, but I have to admit, I haven't had much joy with getting games launching or working smoothly using this method.

Having Windows installed also allows you to play games which might not be possible through SteamOS due to Anti Cheat not being compatible with Linux, so games like Destiny 2, Modern Warfare 2, FIFA 23, are all playable on Steam Deck when Windows is installed.

My Steam Deck Experience

Ever since the Steam Deck was announced it had always piqued my interest, the ability to play my steam library handheld and wherever I wanted was a massive draw. Another draw for me was that games tended to be cheaper on steam and there wasn’t a subscription to pay to play online. Win win I thought. When the Steam Deck eventually launched I didn’t have the funds available to be one of the first in the queue to get on, so I put the idea on the back burner until I did.

Dying Light 2

 

When the original Dying Light was released back in 2015 it quickly became one of my favourite games, I played countless hours of it, had the DLCs and I even bought the game again on the Nintendo Switch (Which I will say is an absolute gem to play in handheld).

So, you can imagine my excitement when Dying Light 2 was announced and they showed that first glimpse of the game, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it and when it was finally released it was pretty much everything I hoped for.

Switch OLED

When the Switch OLED was announced, it wasn’t the Switch Pro that people had hoped for, however, it was a nice addition to the Switch family and brought with it a few tweaks and upgrades. But the main question on everyone’s lips was, is it worth the upgrade?

What I’ll look at first is the design, now, the shape of the Switch hasn’t really changed much if at all. The key difference you will notice straight away is the bigger 7′ screen and the more discreet bezel surrounding it. This was one of my biggest gripes with the original Switch models, to me, the screen should have been this big from the start, there was no need to make a bezel that thick. There were a lot of times when I found it quite distracting when playing handheld, however, on the new OLED Switch, that is a thing of the past and it looks stunning with the thinner bezel, and to me, it really does make the difference.

Elden Ring

Elden Ring had been one of those games which I had um’d and ar’d over, in the build-up to release I had watched a lot of gameplay videos to see if it caught my interest, and it did. The world looked stunning from the previews that I had seen, the only issue that still played on in my mind was that it was basically a Souls game, and I knew from previous experiences that me and these types of games don’t get on.