
Key Takeaways
- Use Steam Deck shortcuts for fast entry to options like screenshots, drive closing video games, and adjusting brightness.
- Set a lock display screen PIN to maintain others from accessing your Steam Deck and messing together with your library.
- Stream video games out of your gaming PC to the Steam Deck over Wi-Fi for extra space for storing and higher efficiency.
The Steam Deck has remained one of many best handheld video game consoles ever because it launched in the direction of the start of 2022, and with the OLED model now launched, it would not appear like that is altering any time quickly.

How to add non-Steam games to your Steam library
Lately, with each different firm having its personal launcher, you possibly can shortly discover that your PC recreation library is unfold out throughout a number of apps.
Other than making PC gaming accessible and transportable, one of many issues that makes the Steam Deck nice is how customisable it’s. There’s a lot you are able to do with the Steam Deck – so many issues that preserve us coming again to it. Listed here are a number of the finest Steam Deck suggestions and methods we have found by our time gaming on it.
Use Steam Deck shortcuts
To see a listing of helpful Steam Deck shortcuts, maintain down the Steam button for a few seconds. Among the most helpful shortcuts embody the next:
- Screenshot: Steam button + R1
- Power recreation shut: Steam button + Maintain B
- Present keyboard: Steam button + X
- Increase brightness: Steam button + Left Joystick up
- Decrease brightness: Steam button + Left Joystick down
- Enter key: Steam button + D-Pad Proper
- Tab: Steam button + D-Pad down
- Esc: Steam button + D-Pad left
- Present cursor: Steam button + Trackpad / Proper Stick (proper set off for left-click)
- Proper-click: Steam button + L2
- Left-click: Steam button + R2
- Magnifier: Steam button + L1
Valve
Give your Steam Deck a lock display screen PIN
If you don’t need members of the family or associates entering into your Steam Deck and messing together with your library, there’s excellent news: you possibly can add a PIN.
To show the PIN settings on, go to Menu -> Settings -> Safety. Set a PIN you will not overlook, and select whether or not to require one when waking or turning the Steam Deck on, when logging in, when switching to Desktop Mode, or any mixture of those three.
Ship the Steam Deck to sleep
Between gaming classes, you needn’t flip your Steam Deck console off utterly, and even stop the sport you are taking part in.
As an alternative, you possibly can droop and resume your gameplay with ease by placing your Steam Deck into sleep mode when you’re in-game, then switching it again on in your subsequent session and resuming from the identical spot.
To place the Steam Deck to sleep, merely faucet the Energy button, after which faucet it once more to wake it.
Stream video games to your Steam Deck
There’s one other approach to counter the space for storing difficulty on the Steam Deck and that is making use of Steam’s Distant Play performance (i.e. Steam Link).
When you’ve got a decent gaming PC with the Steam consumer and Steam video games put in on it, you possibly can stream the video games over your private home Wi-Fi from the PC to your Steam Deck.
This has two advantages: First, you needn’t set up the video games regionally in your Steam Deck, and second, you possibly can benefit from the additional processing energy in your gaming PC to get larger body charges and a smoother gameplay expertise.
It is simple to do: The lengthy story quick is that you just simply want each gadgets operating and linked to the identical community, then click on the Stream button on the related recreation in your Steam Deck library.
Activate Night time Mode to assist forestall eye pressure
Steam Deck’s Night time Mode might help forestall eye pressure, and might help your eyes and mind chill out a little bit extra if it is getting near bedtime.
It really works by slicing down on blue gentle frequencies emanating from the Steam Deck’s show. It would look a little bit orange whenever you first allow it, however your eyes ought to shortly regulate, and can in all probability thanks for it (or they’d, if that they had the power).
To activate Night time Mode on the Steam Deck, go to Menu -> Settings -> Show. From there, you possibly can schedule the time to auto-enable Night time Mode, or allow it instantly, and regulate Night time Mode’s tint.
Tweak Steam Deck efficiency settings
To tweak the Steam Deck’s efficiency, click on the three-dot menu button and navigate right down to the battery part.
Attempt tweaking each the FPS and refresh fee beneath the efficiency settings to both easy out your expertise or enhance your battery life. Decrease framerates and refresh charges ought to enhance battery life, however go too low and gameplay may grow to be too uneven. You may also check out FSR as a Scaling Filter and decrease your decision to extend recreation efficiency – check out some totally different mixtures till you discover one thing that works properly for you.
If you wish to make changes only for the particular recreation you are taking part in, it is best to tick Use per-game profile earlier than altering something.
Remap your controls and use your again paddles
To remap your controls whereas in-game:
- Press the Steam button
- Choose Controller settings
- Hit A on the following display screen to pick Controller settings
On this display screen, you may see a map of the present controls there, however you even have the choice so as to add extra by clicking controller settings.
Now you can re-map numerous controls, however the different bonus right here is that you could map the again paddles to no matter you need.
The again paddles are hardly ever used for something. There are 4 paddles marked L4, L5, R4 and R5. You may assign these to in-game controls and use them to play extra comfortably.
Modify display screen brightness
To scale back the Steam Deck’s brightness, press the three-dot button on the right-hand facet of the Steam Deck to open the choices menu and tweak the brightness slider there.
Though it is tempting to crank the brightness all the way in which up, we might truly recommend turning it down.
One of many complaints folks have concerning the Steam Deck is its battery life. With out some tweaks, it is simple to chew by the hand held’s battery in two or three hours on the LCD model, and never for much longer than this on the OLED model.
Decreasing the brightness is one step in the direction of making your enjoyable last more.
Get your self a microSD card

SanDisk 512GB Extremely microSDXC
The SanDisk Extremely microSDXC is a wonderful choice to improve your Steam Deck’s storage simply.
We would extremely advocate buying a microSD card (or a number of) to present you entry to extra video games with ease. Video games will not load as quick that approach in comparison with NVMe SSDs, however it’s nonetheless nice to have further house with out large further expense.
The Steam Deck is accessible in numerous totally different storage format sizes: 256GB for the unique LCD model, and 512GB or 1TB for the brand new OLED model.
Although it is theoretically doable to replace the internal storage (and improve it), this is not going to be an possibility for a lot of.
We purchased a 256GB mannequin to save cash however discovered that we managed to fill the console up with simply 4 video games. Naturally, this varies relying on what you are putting in, however Forza Horizon 5, for instance, takes up properly over 100GB of space for storing.
Putting in a microSD card is an effective way to repair this storage drawback.
Try some in-game guides
To browse guides for the sport you are presently taking part in, press the Steam button and choose Guides.
The Steam Deck actually streamlines most of your handheld gaming duties, akin to altering efficiency settings and altering in-game controls.
It does this for recreation guides, too. By searching these player-submitted in-game guides, you may get the allow you to may must beat that boss or that stage, or discover that hidden space.
Positive, there are many guides to be discovered on-line, however it does make issues simpler with the ability to simply hit a few buttons and discover the right information proper there in entrance of you.
Modify your graphics settings and optimise your recreation
In case you attempt to play video games on extremely settings, you may doubtless discover that the Steam Deck would not carry out in addition to you need. Attempt turning the graphics down a bit. We did not discover this to be essential on a regular basis, however dropping to excessive settings could make a smoother expertise for those who want it.
The bonus right here is it nonetheless seems to be nice because it’s solely a small display screen anyway.
As PC players, we’re used to with the ability to merely launch our video games and bathe within the glory of visible delights.
In case you can entry a gaming PC, you should use the Distant Play streaming perform we talked about earlier to run video games on the Steam Deck at excessive graphics settings with out taxing its GPU.
The Steam Deck’s capabilities are a bit totally different from a fully-fledged gaming PC although, so some tweaking could also be essential.
There are a number of assets out there with the perfect recreation settings to maximise efficiency and enhance battery life. These are tried and examined settings for every recreation that may be price a glance if you’d like a greater gaming expertise with out the trouble of attempting to determine it out by your self.
ShareDeck and Steam Deck HQ are two websites with user-submitted settings which may allow you to with optimised settings in your video games.
Join different gadgets to your Steam Deck by way of bluetooth or USB
Due to its Bluetooth capabilities, the Steam Deck has the power to work with a wide range of gadgets, together with mice, keyboards and headsets. So, for those who want extra granular controls, you possibly can join these gadgets fairly simply.
Click on the Settings button, then scroll to flip Bluetooth on. Now you possibly can simply pair your gadget and use it. This works with loads of peripherals too.
You may also think about connecting gadgets by way of USB through the use of a USB hub that connects by way of USB-C. Merely join the hub to the Steam Deck’s USB-C port, and you will have just a few further ports in your peripherals (or maybe even a TV or monitor) to plug into.
Test for Steam Deck updates
Valve is repeatedly crafting updates for the Steam Deck to enhance performance and person expertise.
We would advocate regularly checking for updates for the Steam Deck. Do that by clicking the Steam button on the left facet, then navigating to updates. You may see an exclamation level on system settings when an replace is prepared.
A few of Valve’s updates for the Steam Deck have included some nice enhancements. One in every of our complaints concerning the Steam Deck initially was the followers have been too loud, however Valve launched a patch which made it a lot quieter.
Test recreation compatibility in your Steam Deck
Once you’ve bought your fingers on the Steam Deck, it is simple sufficient to see which video games will work properly. Those in your library are already marked as:
- Verified
- Playable
- Unsupported
- Unknown
We have discovered that the record of playable video games can shortly develop, so it is price checking your library to see if new ones seem.
The shop on the Steam Deck additionally factors you to suitable video games, so that you may be certain a recreation will work before you purchase it.
Additionally, simply because a recreation is marked as “unsupported” would not essentially imply it will not work. We have seen some video games that solely required some controller tweaks with a view to perform. So for those who already personal a recreation and need to play it, do not let that label put you off attempting.
Power-quit in case your Steam Deck freezes
In case you’ve discovered that your Steam Deck has frozen when you’re taking part in, you possibly can force-quit with simply a few button presses. Urgent the Steam button and B button collectively will force-close any recreation that is inflicting an issue.
Browse the desktop with Desktop Mode
To enter Desktop Mode on the Steam Deck, press the Steam button and choose Swap to Desktop beneath Energy.
Desktop Mode lets you use a full desktop surroundings – you possibly can browse the web, ship emails, transfer recordsdata, and even set up purposes such as you would on a laptop computer or PC.
Pocket-lint
Set up Epic Video games in your Steam Deck
In case you’ve exhausted your catalogue of Steam Video games or simply need to play extra, don’t fret as a result of you may as well set up Epic Video games in your Steam Deck. This may appear a bit like blasphemy, however for those who do not thoughts some tinkering, it is simple sufficient to do.
There are some apparent advantages to this as properly, since Epic is repeatedly making a gift of video games from its retailer. The method for putting in Epic Video games in your Steam deck is a little bit long-winded, however we have written a information that can assist you out (linked above).
Improve your Steam Deck’s inner storage

Corsair MP600 Mini
This PCIe gen 4 x4 NVMe drive is the right measurement in your Steam Deck and a worthy approach to improve it too.
One different factor you are able to do to enhance your Steam Deck is to improve the interior storage. The Steam Deck makes use of a compact NVMe SSD which is comparatively simple to improve, however it does take quite a few steps and a couple of hours to do.
You want the suitable instruments to get it open (not only a screwdriver) and loads of endurance, however for those who use a bigger M.2 2230 NVMe drive you may get quicker loading instances than you’ll increasing your storage with simply MicroSD card.
In case you improve your Steam Deck’s SSD, you may must reinstall Steam OS and should reinstall all of your video games.
We did it with Corsair’s MP600 Mini and took our storage from 256GB to 1TB with relative ease, and now we will retailer many extra video games and have them load shortly.
Dbrand
Customise your Steam Deck
The Steam Deck is a reasonably understated little bit of package, and it is also not prone to stand out from the gang you probably have a pair in the home.
In case you simply need yours to look a bit totally different, you possibly can go to Dbrand for some nifty skins to personalise your gadget. The corporate made an amusing Nintendo Swap-themed skin called Switchdeck however there are a bunch of different types out there too.
You may also check out totally different on-screen keyboard themes in your Steam Deck. To take action, go to Menu -> Settings -> Keyboard and you’ll select between totally different types and themes. You may also buy further types from Steam’s points shop.
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