In the days leading up to the Switch 2 launch I couldn’t help but feel sad for my Steam Deck. Once my pride and joy, a delight I’d take great pleasure in telling people about and even demonstrating, it had started to gather dust. I was about to enter the age of the Switch 2, and I didn’t think I needed two handhelds in my life. So certain I was of the Deck’s move down the pecking order, I even looked into how much I’d get for selling it. Goodbye my chunky boy, you served me well.
Steam Deck: Feb 2022 – June 2025.
June rolled around and I was, as predicted, Switch 2 enveloped. Mario Kart World every day, every evening, every weekend. Fast Fusion in-between, a bit of Welcome Tour, some Cyberpunk 2077. In my house the Switch 2 had quickly become the most-played console, with even my son choosing to play his mammoth Fortnite sessions on it instead of the Xbox (if you’ve not seen it on Switch 2, it’s a huge improvement over the game on OG Switch). My daughter, only four years old and not really able to play games yet, even felt the excitement, wanting to pose for a photo alongside the Switch 2 – not even the console, but the cardboard box it arrived in!
This kind of enamourment happens all the time, of course, but I really did get a wonderful sense of something new and exciting from the Switch 2, the kind you get when you just know you’re holding something supremely cool. Having something new that you like tends to make you want to do more with it. Something that happens to me all the time is how I might not touch a console for a while (let’s say, the PS5), but then a new game will arrive for it (Astro Bot was this game for me last year), and suddenly I’ve finished it and then find myself working through Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut and firing up whatever is on PS Plus.
With Switch 2 I experienced this but in a broader, playstyle sense. My time with the Switch 2 launch lineup had rewired my mind and I was back in handheld mode. In truth I’ve never been a huge fan of handhelds. Sure, I’ve loved and adored plenty of handheld games (Ridge Racer(s) on PSP is a standout, MotorStorm RC on Vita another gem), but I’d always opt for the console under the TV whenever I could and never felt comfortable playing ‘outside’. But Switch 2 fever has resulted in, sorry eBayers, a return of the Steam Deck.
Rather than sitting casually on the sofa with Switch 2 in hand, I started to reach for the Deck. 30 minutes of Vampire Survivors? Yes please. 20 minutes of end-game wandering in Tunic? Sure. Art of Rally before Escape to the Country and dreaming of an easier life? There’s time, the intro is generally just people repeatedly saying they want to move somewhere with more space for their dogs and somehow having a budget of £800k despite working in media. I’ve played on my Steam Deck more in the past week than I remember playing it at any moment since launch.
I’m not going to look them all up so I’ll just assume most of these games are also on Switch and playable on Switch 2. That’s not really the point, unless you are keen for some game recommendations and only have a Switch 2 – so, OK, I did just check and all three of those games are supported on Switch 2, but aren’t necessarily any better on it compared to Switch. Great games, though. The point is that the Switch 2 has revitalised my interest in the Deck.
Thanks for that, Switch 2. I’m now back trawling through Steam sales to pick up bargains I’ll likely never play and tinkering with emulators, and still trying to fit in time with Mario Kart World. I have no idea how I’m going to cope once Donkey Kong Bananza arrives in a few weeks.
