A Dream Console for any Soul/Souls-like Gamers

Steam Deck reviews are in plenty, and adding to another tech review will do nothing for the community. Instead, let’s take a look at the Steam Deck through the lens of Souls and Souls-Like games, seeing if your favorite is compatible with the Steam Deck, and looking into my personal time and use of the system.

Before I get into the nitty-gritty  Adding the Steam Deck to my collection was the best purchasing decision I ever made. The Steam Deck is a mini computer that transforms the gaming experience into something incredibly user-friendly. I was pleasantly surprised by how easy to use the Steam Deck is and how intuitive it is to get everything installed. Once you download a game on the Steam Deck, the best thing about it is that however much progress you’ve made on the Steam Deck is then transferred over to your PC and vice versa. I  love how, at one moment, I can work on a game in the morning on the PC, capture footage for it, then pick up where I left off on the Steam Deck later that night. Not only does it run really well from what I’ve experienced so far, but there are so many ways to personalize it, with different start screens, or keyboard colors (which we need more options by the way).  There are a ton of ways to make the Steam Deck your personalized hub, an extended piece of you.  The way the Steam Deck operates between the desktop option and the Steam app is something I needed to get used use. Not just with finding my way around, but how to fully utilize this part of the Steam Deck. While yes, this console is incredibly user-friendly, there will be things that could stop you in confusion along the way. Simple tasks, such as how to take a screenshot or start a recording, I needed to look up because I wasn’t sure how to access those options.  I know there is so much left to explore on the Steam Deck, much like a Souls game when you think you’ve searched every nook and cranny, something takes you by surprise, pops up out of nowhere, and screams, “you forgot this”.  How Does The Steam Deck Apply to Souls/Soulslikes?

When it comes to the Souls/Souls-like experience on the Steam Deck, I’m happy to say that if these types of games are where you feel the coziest, then you’re going to enjoy your time with this niche on the Steam Deck. I was nervous to say the least to see how the performance would be with certain titles, especially Dark Souls. Now, while I don’t own  Dark Souls 2 on PC I own Dark Souls 1 & 3, and they both run beautifully. Thymesia is another game that, while certain text is smaller on the Steam Deck, runs seamlessly. When I played Thymesia on the Xbox, there were glitches, and the last part of the game was simply unplayable. I’ve noticed that a lot of the Souls-likes that may have had glitches or severe bugs don't have those same issues on the Steam Deck.

The thing that the Steam Deck tries to do is make every step I take easier. If the text is small, there is a magnifying option. The keyboard from the minimal use that I got out of it so far is precise and incredibly sensitive.  I was so worried that the controls on the Steam Deck wouldn’t work as well with certain games or have bugs/glitches to work past. With the Souls series, it already comes with a lot of bugs that are a part of the world of the game that give it its charm and character. So anything extra, I assume, is the Steam Deck acting up and not Dark Souls acting like its normal, rowdy, teen self.

Everything, when it comes to the Souls series, ran smoothly, without a hitch. As for the Souls-likes I own on my Steam Deck, I had no complaints. Ender Magnolia was gorgeous, and the frame rate kept up a smooth pace. When it came to NightReign, Elden Ring, Lies of P, Hollow Knight, and others, I was so pleased to see how they all worked flawlessly. The small text was the only real issue that could run a few people into a problem, depending on whether you just have bad eyesight and need to wear your glasses, to having any variant of blindness.

My verdict

As someone whose content revolves mainly around Souls/Souls-like content, having a console that can run these games successfully is a must.  The Steam Deck runs a lot of the Souls games and Souls-Likes on the market today, and I cannot tell you the unbridled joy I felt in booting up Dark Souls 1, while lying in bed relaxing with a green tea, and The Summer I Turned Pretty playing in the background. Besides  Souls/Souls-Likes, the majority of games in my Steam library work very well with the Steam Deck.  Playing Fields of Mistria, or Baldur's Gate 3, is still mindblowing to me, that this piece of tech is portable and powerful enough to play a variety of games. If your main niche of games is Souls/Souls-Likes, you will have a bounty of choice, and as I dive deeper into the Steam Deck, I will edit this piece with any updates on Souls/Souls-Likes that I play, potential bugs I find, etc.