Have you bought a new Steam Deck, or are you about to take the plunge? Either way, we’ve compiled a list of 11 tips and tricks to get you started. There’s serious power lurking inside this laptop, and it’s worth taking advantage of.
Take a moment to memorize some shortcuts and menu locations, and you’ll be well prepared to use Valve’s handheld to its full potential. From proper hardware calibration to behind-the-scenes tweaks, these steps extend battery life for longer gaming sessions and open up your library to third-party apps.
1. Calibrate your battery
As with any electronic device with a rechargeable battery, it is important to calibrate your Steam Deck with the first few uses. When unboxing a brand new device, Valve recommends plugging in the included charger to wake it from the battery saver mode it was in during shipping. Check the built-in LED next to the charging port for its battery status:
- If the LED lights up, the device is receiving a charge. The LED will remain lit when the device reaches full charge.
- If the LED blinks after pressing the power button, the battery is currently discharged. Plug it in with the included PSU, check that the LED is on, and let it charge for at least 15 minutes before turning it on.
- If your Steam Deck appears to be loading normally but the power button is unresponsive, try holding down Volume + when you turn it on and then select Continue to boot from the BIOS options.
Try draining your Steam Deck’s battery to as close to 0% as possible before recharging it, to help properly calibrate the internal sensors and report an accurate remaining percentage. If you leave your device connected to mains power for an extended period of time, it may show less than 100% charge which is completely normal. Valve causes the vapor tire to slowly discharge to further optimize battery life.
2. STEAM Button Shortcuts
Holding the left side STEAM button at any time will bring up a cheat sheet with on-screen shortcuts to navigate the Steam Deck UI and any games you play. It’s a good idea to memorize a few shortcuts from this list in case you ever need to pull out the keyboard for text input games or adjust your input method.
- STEAM + B (long press) – Force game suspension
- Steam + X – Show keyboard
- STEAM + L1 – Switch the magnifying glass
- STEAM + R1 – Take screenshot
- Steam + L2 (soft drag) – Right-click with the mouse
- Steam + R2 (soft drag) – Left click with the mouse
- STEAM + Right Thumb Stick – Joystick mouse
- STEAM + Right touchpad – Like a mouse
- STEAM + right touchpad (click) – Left click with the mouse
- STEAM + Left thumb stick up – Screen brightness increases
- STEAM + Left thumb stick down – Screen brightness decreases
- STEAM + D-pad right – Enter key
- STEAM + D-pad down – Tab key
- STEAM + D-pad left – Escape key
Don’t worry if you don’t remember everything in your first few days; you can hold down STEAM button to update at any time. Some may find STEAM + R2 left click trigger and STEAM + L2 for the right click is a bit strange as they have almost switched places, but you get used to it after a while.
3. Performance limits
Most games will run as expected on Steam Deck, especially if they are in the list of verified titles. Still, to get the most out of your time with the console and extend battery life, you can make some tweaks with a pop-up performance menu. Press the right context menu button (three dots) during gameplay and navigate to the battery icon to access these options.
Cutting down the framerate cap and refresh rate can extend your gameplay before loading the Steam deck; try pushing down the sliders until you notice some significant drops in visual fidelity. If in doubt, try a 40 Hz refresh rate combined with a 40 FPS limit and enable half-speed shading if you play games with a pixel aesthetic like Vampire Survivors or Stardew Valley.
4. Check game compatibility
Although Valve lists games on the Steam Store using its verified system, some titles are reported as playable only, which may deter some new users from trying them out. Thankfully, the community at ProtonDB keeps a comprehensive list of all the necessary tweaks to make these games perform as well as they would on a Windows desktop.
Some require an easy switch to their Proton version on Steam Deck, and other multiplayer titles are often held back by an incompatible anti-cheat system. If you find that your favorite game isn’t officially verified, check out ProtonDB for a breakdown of why. Usually a game listed as playable by Valve can run perfectly after a few extra steps, so don’t be put off by the official verification status.
5. Adjust the game settings
Lots of games will automatically detect your hardware and enable the appropriate graphics settings, usually providing decent gameplay on Steam Deck. Some older titles may struggle to correctly identify the internal GPU or amount of RAM, resulting in unusually low quality images and poor performance.
Even modern titles can burn through the handheld’s battery life by overdoing certain graphical luxuries; adjusting the in-game settings is worth a few extra minutes to improve your experience. New sites have recently launched with community-based recommendations for game setups, including ShareDeck and Steam Deck HQ. Check them out if your favorite titles struggle to maintain a consistent frame rate.
6. Custom Controls
Many games are fine with the default control scheme on Steam Deck, but it’s worth checking out community-made presets and sharing your own. The beauty of having so many buttons and a variety of input methods is finding what’s most comfortable for you, so there’s no obligation to use twin-stick aiming if it doesn’t feel right in shooters.
Tap the control icon before launching any game in your library to see a selection of bindings, including layouts directly from the developers and options shared by the community. They’re ranked in descending order, with the most popular at the top, and you can always switch back to the default layout if something feels off.
7. Desktop mode
Behind the scenes of the Steam Deck UI lurks a full-fledged (albeit read-only) operating system based on Arch Linux. This means you can connect a mouse and keyboard with a USB-C hub alongside a monitor, and it will behave like a desktop computer.
Apps designed for Linux can be installed via the pre-installed Discover app or via the Terminal using traditional command line prompts. You get direct access to the raw files of your installed games, and you can even make some hidden Steam Deck tweaks.
Right-click on the Steam icon on the desktop and select Steam settings the menu offers a toggle for uncompressed screenshots and changing the default storage location. You will probably need to take advantage of a Linux app like Spectacle to take screenshots in desktop mode since the usual STEAM + R1 the shortcut is currently not working.
8. Remote play
If you’re dying to try out the most cutting-edge games on the Steam Deck at the highest quality, you can choose to run them from your primary gaming desktop and use Remote play. Essentially live streaming the action through your home network, the controller’s latency is so low you’ll barely notice it outside of games that require frame-perfect inputs.
You can optimize the remote play by adjusting the remote play advanced hosting settings on your desktop PC to match the resolution of its streaming client, in this case Steam Deck, to cover anything up to 800p and push the GPU to work on other luxuries like anti-aliasing.
Starting in Desktop mode allows you to access Xbox Cloud Gaming directly from a web browser. We recommend using Google Chrome on Linux as it currently provides the highest video stream and lowest latency. Free-to-play games like Fortnite are even available without an Xbox Live or Game Pass subscription using this method.
9. Non-Steam Games
Part of your adventure in Desktop mode will install software outside the official ecosystem, including playing non-steam games on the Steam Deck. Virtually any game officially made for Linux can be installed, but the experience will differ depending on controller support and hardware requirements.
Use open source game launchers like Heroic gives you access to the Epic Games Store and its platform-exclusive titles. The same goes for DRM-free games purchased from the GOG store, although any titles simultaneously available on Steam tend to have more robust Steam Deck support, so check the compatibility reports first.
If you’re looking to scratch your retro gaming itch with your new handheld, we’ve got a comprehensive guide to the best Steam Deck emulators available to install from desktop mode. Back up your old titles and take them wherever you go with near-perfect console emulation and gameplay enhancements like save modes and remappable controls.
10. External storage
Valve offers a choice of 64GB, 256GB and 512GB of storage with the handheld, so running out of space for modern games could soon become an issue. Compatible with virtually all brands, we’ve rounded up the best SD cards for Steam Deck to help you choose.
Finding a close match to the maximum read and write speeds means you won’t overspend, and the extra storage space means you can install as much third-party software as you like. Just remember to format the card to the original ext4 format for best performance, and remove any external storage before attempting to disassemble the Steam Deck for DIY projects.
11. Compatible accessories
Valve’s portable PC is great out of the box, but it has tons of hidden features if it’s connected to the best accessories. Connect a mouse and keyboard for a traditional desktop gaming experience, or use Bluetooth joypads for a more relaxed session.
Even third-party carrying cases offer useful variants of the official model, designed to keep your Steam Deck safe in even the harshest environments. Pick up a powered USB-C hub and you’ll be able to connect almost any Linux-compatible peripheral. The possibilities are practically endless.
The official dock puts your games on the big screen but currently doesn’t improve performance in any way, so an HDMI port on a hub would do the same and is usually the cheaper option.
Get the most out of your Steam deck
These simple tips can help extend the battery life of your Steam Deck and improve the overall gaming experience. Our series of shortcuts and tricks is a good way to get started, but you can have a lot more fun with Valve’s versatile handheld. If you want to pick one up, check out our Steam Deck review to discover why we love it.
Head over to our ultimate Steam Deck guide for a detailed breakdown of its technical specs and everything else you need to know. Other than that, keep adding games to your Steam wishlist and keep an eye out for sales events. They pop up quite often, so you’ll never run out of great games to play, more likely you’ll build a sizable backlog.
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