{"id":475282,"date":"2025-12-27T16:22:45","date_gmt":"2025-12-27T16:22:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/475282\/"},"modified":"2025-12-27T16:22:45","modified_gmt":"2025-12-27T16:22:45","slug":"8-great-games-for-your-steam-deck-from-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/475282\/","title":{"rendered":"8 great games for your Steam Deck from 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

I played a lot of games on my Steam Deck this year. It seemed like there was a never-ending list of incredible indie games to try \u2014 The Verge wrote about a lot of them!<\/a> \u2014 and many worked brilliantly on Valve\u2019s handheld gaming PC. Some bigger games made a splash on Steam Deck, too, and while they may not look as good as on a beefy PC, I\u2019m usually happy to deal with that simply because I can play them on the couch or out of the house.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re unwrapping a Steam Deck for the holidays this year, or have some Steam gift cards burning a hole in your pocket, here are some of my recommendations of games released in 2025 that you might want to check out. (And if you want more ideas, check out my favorites from 2024<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

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Image: Devolver Digital<\/p>\n

Ball x Pit blends elements from games like Breakout, Vampire Survivors, and city builders into a delightful, genre-blending roguelike<\/a>. In the main part of the game, you shoot balls toward an ever-advancing group of enemies, and after picking up a bunch of gems and upgrades, you\u2019ll eventually turn into a force of nature with balls flying all over the screen. After a run, you can build up a base to improve your stats and unlock characters \u2014 some of which are quite clever, like one that turns Ball x Pit into a turn-based game. And with runs usually taking less than 15 minutes or so, it\u2019s a great game to pick up and play on your Steam Deck.<\/p>\n

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Image: Kepler Interactive<\/p>\n

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33<\/p>\n

Sandfall Interactive\u2019s debut RPG floored me earlier this year; it\u2019s an outstanding package<\/a> with exhilarating turn-based battles<\/a>, a great parrying system<\/a>, memorable characters, a gripping story<\/a>, and music that I still come back to even though I finished the game months ago. On Steam Deck, the game doesn\u2019t look quite as good as it does on my PS5, but it\u2019s still playable and was recently verified for Valve\u2019s handheld PC. Folks on ProtonDB<\/a> also have some suggestions to tweak settings to make the visuals better. If Steam Deck is your only platform that can play the game, it\u2019s still a decent place to experience The Game Awards\u2019 Game of the Year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Image: Supergiant Games<\/p>\n

I know I put Hades II on my version of this list last year, but the roguelike got its big 1.0 update in September, and it\u2019s damn good<\/a>. Supergiant Games builds on the first Hades with a new protagonist, new boons to bring to battle, a bunch of new characters to give ambrosia to, two new routes to explore, and another banger-filled soundtrack. Supergiant even tweaked the ending to make it better<\/a>. Hades II is Supergiant at the top of its game, and just like my colleague Ash Parrish said in 2024, it\u2019s the perfect Steam Deck game<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Image: Team Cherry<\/p>\n

After years of waiting and lots of clown makeup<\/a>, Hollow Knight\u2019s sequel finally launched in September<\/a>, and thankfully, it was actually worth the wait. Silksong doesn\u2019t reinvent the wheel; it\u2019s still an atmospheric Metroidvania with adorable bug creatures, tough-as-nails bosses, and some bullshit<\/a>. But I loved that formula in the original Hollow Knight, and it\u2019s still excellent in Silksong.<\/p>\n

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Image: Poti Poti Studio \/ Wholesome Games Presents<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re looking for some relaxing puzzles, pull up a chair with Is This Seat Taken?<\/a>. In the game, you\u2019re responsible for finding seats for a bunch of adorable geometric shapes who have different needs. Some might want to sit next to a window, or maybe just not next to someone who smells. But if you can\u2019t find a seating arrangement that works for everyone, you can just move on to the next puzzle without any big penalty; it keeps the stakes low, and sometimes, some low-stakes puzzling is what fits the bill.<\/p>\n

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Image: Enhance Games<\/p>\n

I have very fond memories of playing the original Lumines: Puzzle Fusion on a PlayStation Portable, and more than 20 years after the release of that game, the Tetris Effect-like Lumines Arise captures that same magic. The trance-y visuals, amazing music, and absorbing Lumines puzzling sucked me in and briefly let me forget about everything else in the world; like my colleague Andrew Webster, I found Arise to be an almost perfect zen puzzle game<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Image: Pocket Trap \/ PM Studios, Inc.<\/p>\n

Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, I wrote that Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo would feel right at home on your Game Boy Advance<\/a> \u2014 and that\u2019s part of what makes it such a good fit for the Steam Deck. The game is a top-down adventure where you battle enemies and explore the game\u2019s world with a magical yo-yo, and you\u2019ll get cool yo-yo tricks like the ability to \u201cwalk the dog\u201d to cross bodies of water. With excellent pixel art and music filled with blaring horns<\/a>, it feels like a spiritual successor to the GBA games I loved growing up.<\/p>\n

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Image: Powerhoof<\/p>\n

The Drifter is inspired by the old-school LucasArts point-and-click adventure game formula, but instead of telling a silly, Monkey Island-like story, it cleverly turns the format into a dark, gripping thriller<\/a>. You can play with a mouse to point and click, of course, but if you want to use the Steam Deck\u2019s controls or a gamepad, The Drifter also offers a really smart control scheme that uses both joysticks to let you walk around and see what you can interact with. The story is full of exciting, mind-bending twists. And if you\u2019re anything like me, it will probably keep you up long after your bedtime.<\/p>\n

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