Since I bought it a year ago, I’ve mainly used the Steam Deck as a backlog machine. Or, knocking out a few dungeons in Diablo 4 before I go to bed. But Steam’s Best of 2023 shows that many of us aren’t afraid to make the Steam Deck work overtime on the best-looking games.
Of the top 12 games that reached ‘Platinum,’ nine of them give the Steam Deck a workout:
The Steam Deck portion of Steam’s Best of 2023 is “measured by their daily active player counts throughout the year.” The list doesn’t appear to be in order as I’ve seen games move around within their respective categories when reloading the page.
I love seeing Vampire Survivors on the list. It’s one of my favorite games since it was released in 2021 and has pushed the Action Roguelike (or Bullet Hell) genre to new heights. A similar game, Halls of Torment, also hit the most-played Steam Deck games list as it sits in the top 25. And if you can’t get enough of these games, check out Death Must Die. It adds a dash of Hades and Diablo to the mix and is a blast. It is in early access, so you’re limited to a single stage and 20-minute runs – but I’ve already put six hours into it since I bought it last week.
If you’re looking for ideas to boost your Steam Deck library, check out the complete list of the 50 most-played games on Steam Deck. Nearly all these games are on sale, with the current Steam Winter Sale ending on January 4.
And if you do get newer games with high-end graphics, check out ProtonDB. Steam Deck owners give their own mini-reviews on performance and what settings they use to achieve it. It’s a handy website to quickly find settings to help your games run smoothly.
