Another month has passed, and the movers and shakers in the Steam Deck most played games provide a few shocks, including Monster Hunter Wilds barrelling towards the top ten despite its poor performance. The biggest surprise is the influx of newly released triple-A games on the list, suggesting that Steam Deck owners are comfortable with trying to run the latest games on the handheld, even if performance isn’t ideal.
Despite being the best handheld gaming PC for most gamers, the Steam Deck is undeniably falling down the pecking order when it comes to overall system power – as we saw in our Asus ROG Ally X review and Lenovo Legion Go review, other options have far more powerful processors. This, you might expect, would contribute to a lessening interest in big, graphically intense games being played regularly on the handheld, but instead they are thriving.
Looking at recently released triple-A games on the list of the top 100 Steam Deck games for the past month – Avowed (94), Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 (71), Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii (64), Dynasty Warriors Origins (59), Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (32), Monster Hunter Wilds (27), Civilization VII (22), and Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 (9) all feature. Each of these games was released in 2025 and many are reasonably demanding on the graphical front.
What’s curious is that many of these games outright struggle for performance on Steam Deck, and huge compromises, such as aggressive upscaling using AMD FSR, are required to reach an acceptable frame rate. This clearly isn’t bothering Deck owners though, as many of these new releases have been on the most played list since their release as far back as January.
The Steam Deck most played list continues to also be held up by a mix of much older games and new hit indie games. Titles like Cyberpunk 2077, Skyrim, The Witcher 3, Fallout 4, and Grand Theft Auto V Legacy sit side by side with Stardew Valley, Brotato, Vampire Survivors, and Balatro.
The diversity within the Steam Deck most played list is always nice to see, but the continuing appearance of new games is becoming quite a surprise. I’m curious how the rest of the year plays out for Valve’s handheld, and whether new games can continue to perform on the aging hardware.
If you’re wondering what the best Steam Deck games are, you can check out our list which includes 30 titles that run great on Valve’s handheld gaming PC.
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