The Steam Deck Verified program was a upright start , but it ’s time to move on .

Valve separates compatibility with theSteam Deckinto four buckets . You have Verified game , which have a green check mark for Valve ’s seal of approval of approving , and you have Playable games , which would normally get a Verified badge had it not been for some small issues ( i.e. small schoolbook or invoking the on - screen keyboard ) . Those are the two category you gravitate toward .

Then , there are Unsupported game , which have what Valve sees as a game - break issue , such as the use of anti - cheat computer software that does n’t work on decent on Linux . And finally , obscure games , which Valve just does n’t cognise anything about — there are a lot of games on Steam . Valve lay out four criteria to earn a Verified badge , which you could see below .

Something that is n’t included here butdoesshow up on avow games is this line : “ This secret plan ’s default graphic shape performs well on Steam Deck . ” Valve has taken some flack for that , particularly with tough games on the Steam Deck likeThe Last of Us Part OneandNo Rest for the Wicked . But overall , this has been a adept system .

It ’s not sodding , but it ’s a good shorthand for quickly knowing if a secret plan will work or not . If you want to go profoundly , websites like ProtonDBare marvelous , but the Deck Verified programme still has its place . I know , at a glimpse , that I can playMarvel Rivalson my Steam Deck , but I ca n’t playApex Legends . That ’s helpful , albeit far from perfect .

But handhelds are changing , as are games , and it ’s time for the Deck Verified program to deepen along with them .

The times, they are a-

The most obvious star sign of that is theLenovo Legion Go Sthat come with SteamOS installed . This handheld is set to launch in a few light calendar month , it ’s officially license by Valve , and it shows the same Deck Verified badge that the Steam Deck does . That does n’t make a fate of mother wit . The Steam Deck and the Lenovo Legion Go S have two different chips in them , and presumably with a right orotund functioning gap between them — read mySteam Deck versus ROG Allycomparison for more on that . The idea of something being verified for the Steam Deck kind of falls aside when we ’re not talk about the Steam Deck .

That ’s just one machine , but Valve says it design to release SteamOS more broadly into betabeforeLenovo ’s hand-held releases . It ’s just a beta release , so germ , functioning issuing , and other problem are expect . But Valve clearly has ambitions for SteamOS beyond one gadget , and third - party interlingual rendition of Valve ’s open - root operating arrangement , such as Bazzite , are becoming increasingly pop . I ’m all for that expansion , but the more equipment that use SteamOS , the less helpful the Deck Verified program becomes .

The expansion of SteamOS is so exciting because there are handhelds that are more powerful than the Steam Deck . I do n’t really desire to drop $ 800 on anROG Ally Xif I can get the same experience on aSteam Deck OLEDfor $ 650 . But the ROG Ally X is more potent , and capable of run for more demanding game , which justifies the superfluous price . Hardware is meet the demands of game , but the Deck Verified program ca n’t number along for the ride .

Maybe you’re able to squelch anotherFinal Fantasy VII RebirthorCyberpunk 2077under the Deck Verified badge , but anyone who ’s played these games on the Steam Deck can tell you that the system is at its limitation . As time goes on , we ’ll see more games likeStalker 2 , Warhammer 40 K : Darktide , andSilent Hill 2that are Unsupported only because they ’re too demanding to feed on the Steam Deck . Valve was capable to use this system for three years , but I do n’t think it can go another three .

If you ’re not onboard yet , think about theSteam Deck 2 . Valve says it ’ll release a subsequence to the Steam Deck when it feel there ’s a “ generational jump in compute without sacrificing shelling life history . ” When that happens , will we have a system where some games are Verified but others , likeSilent Hill 2,are only Verified for the Steam Deck 2 ? I do n’t want to allot with that . I already went through the whole New Nintendo 3DS fiasco — Valve can do well .

Some simple fixes

I ’m not here to just complain . I have some ideas , too . And thankfully , they would n’t drastically alter the Deck Verified program all while cook it a lot more useful as SteamOS ( and handhelds more broadly ) scale up .

First , performance ca n’t be part of the equation . Valve ’s official criterion do n’t specifically call out performance , but execution is still a part of the programme . Games that are too demanding wo n’t be verify . It ’s fourth dimension for Valve to take out a line in the Amandine Aurore Lucie Dupin on performance as we see dissimilar handhelds that are using dissimilar screen and different hardware configuration . The program should tackle if the game works on SteamOS , or if it does n’t ; that ’s the only long - term solution without chase after new performance targets every few years .

In its office , Valve should use its strong plus : the Steam community . There are a lot of path Valve could go about this . perhaps there are some dropdowns in game reviews that show if the player used a handheld or not , and what handheld they used . And , maybe you may filter those reviews so you may easily find them instead of scanning the first few that pop up and hoping for something helpful . That help player , and it even helps developers , as you’re able to filter out out performance - touch on exit on handhelds — I remember quite a bit of vitriol aboutNo Rest for the Wickedat launch related to Steam Deck performance issues .

Valve could also have them in a separate orbit , perhaps with suggestions from drug user on how to get the ripe public presentation . That ’s one of the draw of ProtonDB , after all . If Valve want to hold its open - source feeler to software , it might even be able to mix ProtonDB into the Deck Verified programme — there are already ways to do thatthrough the Deck Tools software .

Beyond filtering out functioning , the Deck Verified programme needs more specifics about what make up an Unsupported game . justly now , the compass is fairly prominent , from games that flat - out wo n’t work to titles thatwillwork — and ferment well — with some inconvenient setup . For example , Batman : Arkham Asylumis Unsupported , but it work very well . You need to manually tapdance the launcher , and sleeping your handheld during gameplay can boot you back to the principal menu if you ’re connected to Wi - Fi . That ’s importantly unlike than something likeApex Legendswhich wo n’t work due to its anti - cheat package .

I do n’t want Valve to endlessly add more badges to the Deck Verified program , but one additional segment of games that work with significant workarounds would be welcome , peculiarly for older game likeArkham Asylumthat are n’t likely to see an update . Once again , Valve could leverage its community or point users toward ProtonDB if they want more information on the workarounds .

Valve wo n’t ever make the Deck Verified programme perfect . attempt to produce a simple program to tackle support that ’s inherently complex is ricochet to have contradictions and superintendence . However , the Deck Verified program can still be significantly better than it is now . And with the rising lunar time period of SteamOS , it ’s time to make those changes .