Just a quick heads-up before you get to the end of the article and call foul. This is not going to be an article comparing the specs of the Nintendo Switch to the Steam Deck; I haven't even written a First Impression on the system yet, which I will get to when I publish that article in the coming weeks. This will not be an article claiming that the Steam Deck is a Switch Killer. There are not going to be any side-by-side comparison videos showing the same game running on both the Steam Deck and the Nintendo Switch to show how one system is better than the other. This article exists so that I can write out my thoughts about the Steam Deck and the Nintendo Switch, how I tend to play video games of late, and what my thoughts are on purchasing and playing games on both systems. And maybe if we are lucky, we might be able to solve this whole time management thing.
So I bought a Steam Deck, or as the Steam Deck goes, I pre-ordered it back in March after being on the fence for a while, but I figured that if I did not end up wanting to make the purchase, having an additional $5 in my Steam Wallet would not be a bad thing. But as weeks and months went by, I felt that it was more something that I wanted because of how much I have loved playing the Switch and having a handheld computer capable of playing Steam games (and potentially games from Epic and GOG will little issue). I had been a little worried that the Steam Deck might pull me away from playing the Switch, and while I have only had the Steam Deck for a few weeks, I have already removed a couple games from my Switch Wishlist and added more games to my Steam Wishlist. Most of the games that I removed were games that I already had on Steam and had either not played them yet, believing that I was more likely to play them in handheld mode than I was to boot them up on my computer, or games that are either verified or playable that I do not have for either system.
This is really the biggest difference between the two systems though even when the game is available on both systems I still have to do additional research to find out if it is playable on the Steam Deck. At least right now, when release dates and systems games are being released, there is no specific indication or logo when a game is released on Steam if it is also Steam Deck compatible. Even on games that are available for pre-order on Steam like the Dead Space remake or The Callisto Protocol, there is no indication if they will run on the Steam Deck. So when Octopath Traveler II says that it is being released on the Nintendo Switch and Steam, right now I do not know if it will run on Steam Deck.
The Steam Deck does offer a unique situation though, something that any console, as far as I am aware, is unable to offer. If I buy a game on Steam (or GOG, Epic Game Store, Origins, etc) I will "forever" have access to that game for as long as I have access to those accounts. After I replace my current laptop, those games will still be tied to my account when I install the client and I will again have access to all of those games. When I buy a game on a console, it is tied to that console, for the life of the console. I am also limited to the hardware for that particular console, which is different than the Steam Deck, because after it (eventually) dies, I can still access every game that I may not be able to immediately play on the Steam Deck (or my current laptop for that matter) I bought on that system because they are tied to my Steam account, but again, not all games are "playable" on the Steam Deck. I had a similar predicament crop up a while back. A game I had backed on Kickstarter sent out their backer surveys to find out which system I wanted the digital copy of the game on. When I backed the game, I had thought that I would want to play it on the Switch, but now that I have the Steam Deck, I am unsure if I want to pick up the game on Steam instead, again because I do not know if the game is or will be playable now, in the future, or ever. But it will 100% be playable on the Switch.
And then the question about physical games comes into the equation. One of the main reasons I like to purchase physical games is to have a physical copy. With that physical copy, I can loan it out to friends who have either not played the game before and are wanting to try it out before buying it for themselves or just play the whole game. I still love the idea of a friend borrowing a game. And so there are games that I do not have for either system, like Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1 & 2, Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, or Octopath Traveler II that I could see lending out. Do I forgo that ability for the few times I do lend out Switch games or do I have that game tied to my Steam account? And sure, there is the Switch Tax as games go on sale via Steam more frequently and often with a steeper discount than they do on Nintendo systems so would I pay a premium to play on an older system to show support to the developer/publisher/platform? More and more questions.
I do not feel, right now at least, that the Steam Deck will take over as my video game system of choice because there are still exclusives coming out on the Switch that I want to legitimately buy and play (as opposed to emulation). Each system currently and for the foreseeable future has its place. For digital-only games that are more graphically intensive such as DOOM: Eternal or Resident Evil VII, I will likely lean towards the Steam Deck whereas for games that I do not have as much of a pressing concern about the graphics like Octopath Traveler II I will likely lean more towards the Switch. For games that I want to share while I am playing and ease of pulling pictures, I might lean towards the Switch (because right now I cannot post pictures to Twitter directly from the Steam Deck, and admittedly I have not tried to download pictures from the Steam Deck to my computer without first publically posting them from my Steam profile). I am sure that there will be additional difficult decisions in the coming months as more games receive their green checkmark from Valve and as I figure out how I fit the Steam Deck into my playing of PC games from other clients and just off of my laptop because for the foreseeable future, I still prefer mouse and keyboard when playing first-person shooters..
So for now, I am very much enjoying playing both Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin on the Steam Deck, and Kingdoms of Amalur: ReReckoning on the Switch. They are not adversaries, but companions, and I currently refuse to see it any other way.
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