Steam Deck

My favorite gaming device I got this year is Valve’s portable PC, the Steam Deck. That’s right, I caved. Did I have to purchase the version with the most storage space and a higher price tag, thus making my month’s rent payment a dicey situation? Probably not. But I definitely don’t regret it in the slightest.

The inciting incident for my purchasing of a Steam Deck wasn’t to play the new hotness video games like the rehabilitated Cyberpunk 2077 or to see if it can run Crysis 3. The prospect of playing the Mass Effect trilogy again on the go or cozied up in bed was what got me to open my wallet.

Aside from my Steam Deck playthrough of Mass Effect hitting the hurdle of who I’m going to romance this time around, having a Steam Deck has dramatically increased the amount of time I play video games this year. I’ve sunk countless hours into playing the massive backlog of my Steam library, as well as have putzing around on the Steam Deck’s web browser. Plus, its custom boot video animations are sick as hell.

Most importantly, the Steam Deck is my preferred portable gaming device by virtue of how sturdy that hoss feels to hold, never cramping my hands up during a play session. Cough cough, Nintendo Switch 

Isaiah Colbert, Staff Writer