I recently got a Steam Deck to see if I could whittle down my gaming backlog by playing anywhere that wasn't my desk. The first thing I did to help with that quest was to add one of the best 2230 SSDs for extra storage space, increasing it to 2TB to stuff with games. Figuring out which games to install was slightly trickier, as I've got nearly 1,400 games in my Steam library, and nearly 1,000 in my Epic Games Store account, which is also playable on the Steam Deck with some extra work. I've been working my way through my backlog of games for a few months now, and one thing has stuck out. For me, this capable gaming handheld is perfect for older RPGs and isometric games of every description. Here are my favorites so far.

5 Hades

A roguelike that I actually love

I have a real love-hate relationship with roguelikes, of which Hades is a near-perfect example. That's mostly because I am slow to learn game mechanics, and oh boy do roguelikes love to punish anyone that's not lightning-quick. The thing about Hades is that it changes slightly every time you die and get sent back to the starting point in the Underworld. The interactions with the fully-voiced supporting cast change every run, and you're never quite sure which of your extended family is going to pop up next.

See, as Zagreus, son of Hades, you're done with being stuck in the Underworld. You want to escape and see your mother, Persephone, in the realm of mortals. In true roguelike nature, you keep upgrades between runs, even if your progress through the land starts at the beginning each time. Your cousins, the Olympians, turn up to goad, cajole, and often aid your progress. It's perfect for the Steam Deck, as each playthrough can be agonizingly (or mercifully, depending on how you look at things) short, which is the sort of gaming the handheld console excels at. I don't fear failure in this game, as I either only have a short time to play or want to hear the next conversations with the Greek gods. Go play it, then pick up Hades II which is an Early Access game currently.

4 Fallout 4

Vault-tec has a lot to answer for

When Fallout 4 first came out, we never imagined that one day we'd have a handheld console powerful enough to play it on. I've played (and mostly finished) the Fallout series up to this point, but it was a struggle at times for me to continue. With Fallout 3, I eventually fell in love with the ambiance and the humor. Fallout: New Vegas was a slow burn until I met the opposing factions and the story proper started. With Fallout 4, I just couldn't get into it.

Until I started playing it on the smaller screen of the Steam Deck.

Suddenly it clicked. The low resolution screen was a blessing in disguise, as I wasn't tempted to throw mods at the game to make it prettier. I could just get on with exploring the wasteland around Boston in search of my son. Or, slightly more accurately, wandering around to find comic books to make me stronger, and personal notes to read to find out about the end of the world as we knew it. And while I find most FPS games to be trickier to play on the Steam Deck, thanks to the VATS slow-time system, combat is a joy. Now, if you excuse me, I have some bottlecaps to go scrounge.

3 The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

You've played it everywhere else. Now try it on the Steam Deck

The second RPG on this list and it's another Bethesda game. Skyrim is the fifth installment of the Elder Scrolls franchise, and it's very similar to Fallout 4 in how it plays, except you're in a fantasy setting with swords, magic, and dragons. When I was younger, most of my fiction reading was in similar settings, and yet I've struggled to keep playing Skyrim to completion. However, playing it on the Steam Deck has renewed my interest and I want to find out where my story, as the Dragonborn, ends.

The joys of shouting "Fus Ro Dah" and pushing hapless bandits off cliffs with the power of my voice can't be understated. I still don't really know what the overall narrative is yet, but I know I've left a trail of destruction and emptied caves, castles, and assorted ruins in my wake as I travel across the mountainous lands. The best part? The ability to save my progress at any time, so I can get closer to my objectives when I don't have a lot of time to play. Oh, wait, that's the second-best part. The best part is that I haven't had a single crash yet while playing with the latest version of Proton GE. I can't say that about any time I've played the game on a Windows PC.

2 Untitled Goose Game

Be a nuisance, it's fun

The deceptively simple mechanics of Untitled Goose Game feel almost custom-made for playing on a handheld console, even if it did have an Epic Games exclusivity deal at launch. The low-poly cel-shaded English village through which you guide the mischievous goose is fantastically quaint, and reminded me of places growing up. It's technically a stealth game, but you'd never know that if you just started playing, because most of the gameplay includes getting the NPC characters to chase you while staying out of their reach.

Staying uncaught is easier said than done, but the game doesn't punish you that much for failure. Instead, the NPCs tidy up the mess you've made, so you have to start again. The storybook feel of the game fits so well with the smaller handheld screen, tugging at my nostalgia for the village I went to school in, the console games I used to play, and the memory of multiple run-ins with geese that were anything but pleasant.

1 Ori and the Blind Forest

A practically perfect Metrovania

The last game I love playing on my Steam Deck is Metrovania, Ori and the Blind Forest. Well, it could have been any of a handful of similar games like Dead Cells that I've also enjoyed on the Steam Deck, but the environment and story of Ori won my heart. The practically perfect platformer is cute and terrifying in equal measures, just like every cartoon movie you might have watched as a kid. You play as a guardian spirit, Ori, on a quest to heal the Spirit Tree and the surrounding forest. All pretty standard fare, but it's wrapped up in an enchanting world to explore.

I grew up on Metroidvanias, from the NES onwards, at least by watching my friends play them. I could never quite remember where I had to backtrack to once a new skill or powerup was found. Now, of course, I can search for any number of guides that take the place of my imperfect memory, and I can relax and enjoy the gameplay of titles like Ori and the Blind Forest. They're the perfect end-of-the-evening game for me, where I just want to mindlessly jump between platforms as a type of meditation. And finally, I'm going to finish one of this genre.

The Steam Deck excels at clearing my gaming backlog

I've not had my Steam Deck for that long, and it's already helped me clear a dozen or so titles from my seemingly never-ending backlog. I know I don't have any hope of clearing it completely, but being able to get short gaming sessions throughout the day without being tied to my desk is liberating in more ways than one. I've also tried out dozens of other games, and sorted them into categories, so I know which ones I want to revisit at a later date, and which ones can stay in the unfinished pile. The Steam Deck isn't a perfect console, but it's perfectly suited to my current gaming needs.