Here’s the thing most people still miss about the Steam Deck—and I’m saying this as someone who’s been yelling about it since forever—is that for decades, the PC had countless exclusive games that never set foot on a console. No ports, no Nintendo love, no Sony handshake—nothing.

And trust me, I begged. Pleaded. Lit prayer candles. Still nothing.

Then along came the Steam Deck, Valve’s magic handheld that finally turned PC gaming into something I could carry around without feeling like a dork dragging my laptop onto a city bus. Suddenly, all these brilliant PC-only classics felt like they’d always been console games—only better.

So, here are 10 games that console gamers never got their hands on, until the Steam Deck made dreams come true:

1. Blood. The nastiest corner of the Build Engine Holy Trinity—alongside Duke Nukem and Shadow Warrior. It’s gory, hilarious, and way smarter than it ever got credit for. Still holds up, especially with a gamepad.

2. Septerra Core. PC’s underrated response to Final Fantasy VII. A JRPG-styled epic, crafted by Western devs who knew how to nail the vibe. It deserved controller support years ago—now it finally feels at home.

3. Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold. Imagine Wolfenstein 3D in space, add aliens and vending machines that heal you, and you’ve got Blake Stone. Campy, colourful, and always overlooked—perfect for handheld fun.

4. Jazz Jackrabbit 2. Epic’s fast, snarky response to Sonic. It somehow managed to outdo Sega at their own game, and it’s criminal it never left PC—until now.

5. Super Fighter. DOS Street Fighter 2 was trash, but this Taiwanese indie fighter landed a clean KO instead. Fast, fluid, and shockingly addictive—a perfect fit for thumbstick abuse.

6. The Witcher (2007). Yep, Geralt’s gruff first adventure never landed on console. Plans were cancelled, dreams shattered. But now? The Deck’s got you covered.

7. Divine Divinity. The name is ridiculous, but the game? Undeniably one of the best action-RPGs ever made. A mashup of Diablo-style combat and Ultima-style worldbuilding that somehow works. Never saw a console port.

8. Ghost Master. Haunt houses, traumatize homeowners, and delight in their terrified screams. Think The Sims, except you’re the one causing trauma. A joy on handheld.

9. Flight of the Amazon Queen. Adventure gaming at its pixel-perfect finest. Indiana Jones-style puzzles, lush visuals, and humour that aged surprisingly well. Built for a comfy couch or commute.

10. Spark the Electric Jester 3. A new-school 3D platformer that beats Sonic at his own speed game. Tight level design, dazzling speed, and didn’t arrive on consoles—until the Deck gave it the spotlight it deserves.

Bottom line: Steam Deck didn’t just make PC gaming portable—it gave these gems a proper handheld life. It brought decades of overlooked, underplayed brilliance out of the desktop dungeon and into the light.

  • Donjuanme@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    6 个月前

    Oh my goodness, someone else who played ghost master! What a quirky awesome game! I wasn’t aware it was PC exclusive, because who the hell consideres PC to be “exclusivity”

    • atomicpoet@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      2·
      6 个月前

      “Enhanced Edition”.

      But okay, I’m swapping that out for Divine Divinity. Similar style of game, but just as influential.

  • ZephyrXero@lemmy.worldEnglish
    53·
    6 个月前

    Still not ported to a console. SteamDeck gives you a console-like experience, but it is not a console

  • SolidShake@lemmy.worldEnglish
    131·
    6 个月前

    I’m very confused… Before the steamdeck Alienware made steam boxes. We’re they good, meh. Would they sell like hot cakes today? Absolutely.

    But calling a handheld PC a console is just weird. Nothing stops anyone from building a compact PC and just plugging it in to a tv… You could also just run steam os on it if you wanted to.

    • atomicpoet@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      44·
      6 个月前

      To me, what makes a console a console is the console experience. As in, you should be able to navigate everything with a gamepad.

      • SolidShake@lemmy.worldEnglish
        6·
        6 个月前

        Yes. You can do that on PC. You can have steam run at startup andaunch straight into that one other mode it has. Or install steam os or bazzite etc. You don’t need a mouse and keyboard for a PC

        • atomicpoet@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
          42·
          6 个月前

          Yes, you can do all that. Hence why I refer to Steam Deck as a consolized PC.

          That said, the console experience on Windows 11 is subpar. Bazzite and SteamOS are far superior in this regard.

  • edgemaster72@lemmy.worldEnglish
    7·
    6 个月前

    So, did they actually get ports to non-PC consoles, or did console-form-factor PCs just become more prevalent?

      • BlackAura@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3·
        6 个月前

        With a built in game pad. And saying a game is SteamDeck supported means it supports SteamInput which means it supports the gamepad natively.

  • AnarchistArtificer@lemmy.worldEnglish
    4·
    6 个月前

    Despite not owning one, I really like the Steam Deck because I suspect it has made my transition to Linux far smoother (for a while, I dual booted because I was fearful that gaming on Linux would be difficult.)

  • XiberKernel@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    6 个月前

    You got Jazz Jackrabbit to run on the steam deck? I tried to install everything GOG had available (including 2) and had no success with heroic. Teach me your ways.

  • _spiffy@lemmy.caEnglish
    4·
    6 个月前

    Even just the RTS games that never came out. Northgard is great on the deck!

    • Björn@swg-empire.deEnglish
      2·
      6 个月前

      I made a control scheme for StarCraft. Worked surprisingly well. At least for single player.

      Of course that one had a Nintendo 64 release.

  • absquatulate@lemmy.worldEnglish
    6·
    6 个月前

    Holy shit - Septerra Core. That is a name I haven’t heard in a looong time. Glad to see it still exists

  • Phen@lemmy.eco.brEnglish
    14·
    6 个月前

    Sir, there’s something wrong here. I spent 20 years believing I was the only person who ever played Septerra Core, and it’s too long to change my mind now.

    • Glide@lemmy.caEnglish
      4·
      6 个月前

      I still have the CD in a box somewhere. It was loaned to me by a friend and I never gave it back. Hilariously, I still see that friend, so that might make for a fun conversation.

      • Phen@lemmy.eco.brEnglish
        3·
        6 个月前

        I got the game from some magazine, in a time I didn’t have many choices for games. I didn’t speak much English yet at the time so I had trouble getting past some stuff and didn’t get very far. I even named my first dog after the robot dog in the game.

        I picked it up on steam a few years ago and tried it again. I think I got much farther than I had back in the day, but still didn’t finish it. I think I might try it again on deck now.

    • Bartsbigbugbag@lemmy.mlEnglish
      2·
      6 个月前

      Same, and now this is the second mention of it I’ve seen on lemmy in two weeks. I got it for like $5 in a combo pack with a terrible mech game in the bargain bin in Walmart probably 20+ years ago. Never beat it, but the vibes are top notch and I replay it every few years. Still have the disks and all.

    • Duenan@aussie.zoneEnglish
      1·
      6 个月前

      I haven’t heard Septerra Core in a long time.

      I had to import it from the US when I was a kid and I’m pretty sure I still have the cd install somewhere in storage.