Steam Hardware

Doom (2016) or Doom  Eternal. Both fantastic games, run on anything and I saw Doom Eternal on sale foe 10%.

was gonna recommend considering piracy, but since its against the rules I will respect that and recommend some of my favorite games i play on the SD and my PC instead:

• very chill relaxing game: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1455840/Dorfromantik/
• one of my favorite games of all time: https://store.steampowered.com/app/548430/Deep_Rock_Galactic/ (ROCK AND STONE!)
• really good online FPS (i dont actually play this one the sd as i dont like playing it with a controller but ive met people on there that do): https://store.steampowered.com/app/2073850/THE_FINALS/
• and for lasts a non steam game: Minecraft, no not bedrock edition (i dont think that even runs on linux well) java. install the prism launcher and then with that use a modpack with the controlify mod, it has built in steamdeck support. Such a cozy experience playing MC on the Steamdeck, especially with a friend that you're next to irl.

Rimworld works weirdly well on the Deck, if that's at all up your alley. Hades (both I and II) and BALLxPIT are two of my recent faves.

I would look at indie games like nobody saves the world and look for all the emulators and roms I could get my filthy mitts on.

If you don't have it yet I would spend some of that money on a few months worth at least of mulvad VPN. It would... Open some doors.

I kinda need a list of all games mentioned in this post that are not first-person/in egoperspective (i get mad motion sickness) so I can go and put them all on my wishlist and buy them all one by one 

Vampire survivors is a couple bucks and worth every penny. I got slay the spire balatro bundle for 13 bucks and would also recommend.

I would probably get:

• Megabonk (£6.37/$8.61)
• Fallout 3 Game of the Year edition (£5.27/$7.12)
• A Game About Digging A Hole (£3.17/$4.28)
• Power Wash Simulator 2 (£16.99/$22.96) or Katamari Damacy REROLL (£15.99/$21.61)

My favorites on the Steam Deck so far are Marvel Cosmic Invasion (arcade style Beat 'em Up) and Deep Rock Galactic Survivor.

Tactical Breach Wizards!!! Then save the other $40ish for the next sale.

Oxygen not included

Factorio

These two will consume your life for so long and they're both on sale :D

Biy Sleeping Dogs, it plays great on the steam deck and its now 85% down to 3 euros.

Great story, graphics still hold up.

Furthermore consider Distance (Race like game), the precinct, hot brass, coromon.

This is 500+ hours of gameplay:

• Half-Life 2 ($2)
• Portal ($2)
• Portal 2 ($2)
• Psychonauts ($1.5)
• Psychonauts 2 ($9)
• Subnautica ($8)
• Hollow Knight ($8)
• Silksong ($16)
• Hades ($8)
• Disco Elysium ($4)
• The Witcher 3 ($3)
• Terraria ($5)
• Left4Dead 2 ($2)
• Kingdom Come ($5)
• Mass Effect 1, 2, 3 ($6)

For $50 I'd get (afaict current prices):

• Hades ($7.49)
• Pathfinder: Kingmaker ($2.99) (make sure to force-enable the Windows build on the Steam Deck, the Linux build has issues with gamepad input on the kingdom management screen)
• One Deck Dungeon ($1.99)
• Slay the Spire ($2.49)
• Wildermyth ($16.24)
• Against the Storm ($8.99)
• Terraformers ($7.99)

This totals now $48.18. If you have an additional dollar to spare, I'd also recommend to get something to scratch that retro-gaming itch:

• The Settlers 2 ($2.73 on GoG - needs DOSBox, for which I've written an install guide)

That's now $50.91 in total.

Tomb Raider Survival Trilogy for $7.19

Shadow of Mordor/War for $6.99

Prodigal for $1.49 - Zelda plus date sim

Toem for $3.99 - gotta photograph em all

Crosscode for $5.99 - SPMMOOTY

Saint's Row 4 $2.99

Vampire Survivors for $3.74 - everybody is legally required to have a copy

20 Small Mazes for $0 Doronko Wanko $0

My main recommendation is "don't put all of your money into a bunch of PS5 AAA games". PS5-ish games fit "if we turn all of the settings down, and render in 1/4 rez, and then AI upscale, and still your battery only lasts an hour". It often isn't a great experience here.

A strength of the Deck is in delivering an endless back catalog of PS4 and prior styles of games. Another is in bringing forward a ton of indie games that can't win at "marketing", can't afford to develop PS5-level visuals, so they fight like hell on "mixing up new and interesting gameplay" and "price".

If you’re on a budget, make sure to redeem the weekly free games from Epic and Amazon if you have Prime. You can play them all on your deck via Heroic Games Launcher.

Here are some extra "gift" games I have in my Steam inventory, mostly from the days when you could accumulate extra copies when buying bundles with games you already had. Message me (TheMinions, or anyone else, really) if you want to share your Steam id and have me send you some of them; I'm happy to give them all away. Note - it may be a few days, to give TheMinions first-come-first-serve, but I'll send the rest to whomever requests (message me your steam account id and the specific games you want). I'll likely delete this message when all are accounted for (many of these are likely cheap right now anyway).

The list (and how many copies I have):

Awesomenauts (w/ DLC) - 2x
Bastion - 2x
Contraption Maker - 1x
Dark Souls (not "Remastered" edition) - 1x
Defense Grid (w/ "Containment" DLC)- 1x
DiRT 2 - 1x
Frozen Synapse - 1x
FTL - 3x
Gunpoint - 1x
Hack n Slash - 1x
Half Life 2 Ep 1 - 1x
Just Cause 2 - 1x
Plants vs Zombies - 3x
Poker Night at the Inventory - 1x
Portal - 1x
The Walking Dead - 1x
Torchlight - 1x
Trine 2 - 1x
vvvvvv - 1x

I recommend getting some indie and pixel art style titles instead of just going for AAA. Reason being many of these are cheaper ($5-10, sometimes even less) so you can try different genres, and these titles also tend to sip battery so you will get lots of gameplay time.

Examples I have enjoyed, in no particular order-

Animal Well

Celeste

Stardew Valley

Vampire Survivors

Caveblazers

Balatro

Slay the Spire

Be sure to check out Steam’s own “great on deck” category in the store. Each game will also have an indication from Valve on the quality/playability with regard to the Steam Deck

Balatro and Slay the Spire both play great on the Deck and have amazing replayability.

Hades is a great roguelite and is on sale for $9.75CAD right now. If you like that then there's also Hades 2. It has a really cool story built into it which at least at the time was more unique in the genre.

Try to find slightly older games and they'll have steeper discounts.

Slay the spire.

Get Rimworld, and write a letter to your friends and family that you wouldn't see them in a while. Consider spending the rest of the money on IV stand so you stay hydrated.
Rimworld is a drug, it should be classified as a controlled substance.

I've put a disgusting amount of hours into Emberward. It's Tower Defense but no mtx and has a really fun Tetris blocks gimmck to build lanes.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2459550/Emberward/

Yes it's early access but it doesn't matter, the game is nearly done anyways, also on sale currently. There's good Steam Input profiles for the Deck. Dev is adding controller suppport for 1.0 but this doesn't really matter on a Steam Deck.

I've been replaying Dragon Age Origins at work modded via Nexus Mods and running DAO-Modmanager via WINE under Steam's compatdata prefix.

Vampire survivors is great for the vegetable state of mind play and usually cheap as fuck.

Core keeper is a great builder game,

Valheim

The old final fantasies like 4 5 6 7 9 10 if you can get them on sale. I've had nothing but success on steam key websites.

Mortal sin is amazing.

Slay the spire

Lego Star wars The Skywalker saga is so cheap right now and trust me its so fucking fun

Half life 1 and 2 and half life 2 episodes 1-2

Halo MCC

Portal 1 and 2

Team fortress 2 (probably want a mouse and keyboard for though)

Hogwarts legacy runs surprisingly well on deck too and it's like $6 right now

Make sure you have a game with sustenance and a game you can veg out on.

You definitely should mention what types of games you like, but I second Stardew Valley, Celeste and Balatro either way. They're great titles.

If you like cozy games like Stardew Valley, I recommend Mystia's Izayaka. You can get the bundle with all the dlcs for cheap right now.

Some other great games I can't recommended enough are Ikenfell, Cult of the Lamb, Later Alligator, Persona 4 and Crow Country.

Also, get an SD card and put Emudeck on it.

Edit: Forgot to mention: you can go on steamdb to get a list of free games that are Deck verified.

While the Deck is capable of running some big AAA games, I personally find that it shines in the low-power, "chill" games that you can play for a while, put down, and come back to when you've got some more time.

I'm a big fan of RPGs, so my #1 recommendation is Sea of Stars. Dragon Quest: Builders is also good, along with it's sequel, which is arguably better.

A good multiplayer game with endless hordes of monsters vs. your magic is The Spell Brigade.

You may not know this, but the Deck can also be plugged into a TV or monitor, and with the help of a USB-C hub, can support a keyboard and mouse too! If you go that route, then I can't recommend Dyson Sphere Program enough. Ooh! and Timberborn! It's both adorable and beautifully designed.

If you're more of a 3rd-person shooter type, Mass Effect: Legendary Edition is fan-fucking-tastic (my favourite series of all time) and it's currently on sale for £5. There are 3 games in the series, and make sure you start with the first one! You don't regret it.

Finally, note that you're not bound to the Steam store if you don't want to be. If you install the Heroic Launcher for example, you can get DRM-Free games from GOG for example. Sometimes you'll find that games are available on both platforms, but cheaper on one of the other, and GOG games don't come with controls on how many people can be playing it at the same time.

The Winter Sale goes 8 days still, so you have plenty of time. Some games in example from EA and Ubisoft require additional launcher or an account to play them. I usually avoid them.

Steam Deck Verified: 5 games including Cyberpunk for total $47,8

• Cyberpunk: $ 21
• Ace Combat 7: $4.80
• Resident Evil 2: $10
• Subnautica: $8
• Disco Elysium - The Final Cut: $4

More interesting Steam Deck Verified games

• Hollow Knight: $7.50
• Stardew Valley: $9
• Maneater: $4
• Divinity Original Sin Enhanced Edition: $4

Also have a look at games that require additional account or launcher:

• Red Dead Redemption 2: $ 15 (Steam Deck Playable, Requires 3rd-Party Account: Rockstar Games)
• Halo Master Chief Collection: $10 (Steam Deck Verified, Requires 3rd-Party Account: Xbox Live)