I was never a hardcore gamer. I only finished two games during my school years, and then didn’t really play once I began working. I returned during the 2020 pandemic since everything was home-based, but then left again once the restrictions eased.
In December 2025, my bandmate sold me his PS4 Pro for a very cheap price. I bought NBA2K26 since it was on sale, and I was thinking if my brother-in-law arrives, we can play that game together. I didn’t expect to like NBA that much, but it was addictive to me. I was playing one game before work, one game before dinner, then another 2 to 3 before I went to sleep. DAILY. I think I went through one season of basketball per month, and of course, my team was the champion in each.
I think I was in the second month of playing on the PS4 when I realized the redundancy of it all. I am seated at my workstation for hours at a time, only to take a ‘break’ and move to the living room to sit for another hour or so playing a game. At times, I played while lounging on the sofa, but then, the TV wasn’t angled towards me. Sometimes visual cues are hard to see from an angle. That’s when I realized that handheld consoles make sense and are not just a fad.
Luckily, I was given a Steam Deck OLED as a gift. I checked out the reviews, and it’s basically an aging device by tech standards, having been released back in 2023. It’s also suffering from unfair price increases due to the hike resulting from AI demand. The price, at PHP 46,990, puts it near the likes of ROG Ally X and MSI Claw, which are far superior in terms of specs. However, I’ve also seen videos where people who own multiple handhelds still return to the Steam Deck.
I don’t have the capacity to review multiple handheld consoles, but here’s what I think about it on its own. The Steam Deck is perfect for the adult gamer.
If you’re a returnee like me, or a late-starter into games, the Steam Deck is very friendly to use. Power it up, sign in to your Steam Account (or make one if you don’t have one. It’s worth it!) and you will see the games you have in your account. If you don’t have one, there’s a dedicated Steam button that lets you access the store. It also has a desktop mode where the interface becomes like that of a Windows desktop.
The great thing about the Deck is that you have a plethora of games from the PC world. Steam is also constantly working on its “Steam Deck Verified” titles so that more games can be played on the Deck despite its lower specs. In my experience, Tekken 7 is 30-40 fps, Dirt 5 is around 60 fps, and NBA 2K26 is at 40-50 fps. Now, being a PC console, there are tricks in the Deck so you can have more smoother gameplay. I saw someone playing NBA 2K26 at 60fps constantly, which I’ll have to learn later on.
If you’re accessing the Steam store from the Deck, you’ll also quickly see its own section of “Great on Deck” games. It even has newer titles like Diablo IV, Far Far West, and Pragmata. Of course, these verified games also get included in the highly lauded Steam Sale that happens every quarter. Watch out for the great summer sale in June! And of course, many games from previous years are slowly being verified.
The biggest perk of the Deck is how handy it is. You can play anywhere in almost any position you can think of. This is complemented by the OLED screen which is very sharp and vibrant (don’t even think of putting anti-glare screen protectors over it!), and the snappy Steam OS. You can put the device to sleep, press the power button and it will quickly spring back to life. You can basically complete one NBA game even if you just play on your quick 15 minute breaks.
Battery life is also superb. Again, it depends on your settings and the kind of game your playing. My experience is it can reach around 4 hours on a full charge when playing outdated games, especially the light indie ones. Tekken can have 2.5hrs, and the same can be said for NBA.
The Deck also allows you to control your device to prolong your battery life. You can limit its frame rate or how hard the device pushes the components in terms of wattage. Normally, it will use the full 15 watts, but you can limit it to 10 or less. It will result in frame drops, but depending on your game, it may or may not be noticeable. If you’re too lazy to do all that, just play plugged in. The device will bypass charging if the battery is full, so you’re getting power directly from the adapter.
The only downside I saw with this device is the hard case it comes with. First, it smells bad, and it simply won’t go away. Second, it’s too bulky. The 1TB version has an inner case that you can detach from the outer shell, so you have a slimmer case. The problem is, it’s not as stiff as a molded plastic one, so you’re still better off getting a case from JSAUX or Skull & Co.
The main reason I feel lucky that I was given a Steam Deck, and not a similar console from Asus, MSI, or Lenovo, is the company. I’m an Apple fanboy, but I bow down to Gabe Newell and Steam. I’ve seen a lot of game-adjacent companies turn their backs on the market in order to make a profit. Case in point, the recent price hike of memory chips because of AI demand. Steam doesn’t roll like that.
Steam has quietly innovated their gaming front over decades. Competitors say they have a monopoly on the market and while that is true, there’s also a reason for it. It works flawlessly. You can install and reinstall a game smoothly, the Steam Sale really puts titles in very attainable prices, and they support their hardware a lot. In fact, there’s an official toolkit for the Steam Deck available from iFixIt. Sure, it’s a US company, but at least there’s a fighting chance for a beaten and heavily used Steam Deck unit, instead of being thrown away.
This is why I see the Steam Deck as the best distraction that will surely last years. It has that Apple-level of hardware and software integration, backed with solid hardware support by the company itself, has a huge community of friendly modders and helpers in any socmed platform, and a massive library of games available for you. The price is painful, especially with the 1TB model now stepping at almost 50K, but I think it will subside once you start enjoying the device. Trust me, it is fun to have despite my busy schedule.
