RPS presents Steam Deck Academy: a grand repository of Steam Deck knowledge, made simple
This’ll learn ya
Welcome to (a possibly overdue update to) RPS' Steam Deck Academy, where the hot, plasticky vent fumes of knowledge and understanding are snorted directly into the brain-nostrils of the technologically curious. Do you have, or are considering, a Steam Deck or Steam Deck OLED? Want to know how to get the most out of it? Friend, you have clicked on the right link.
See, the Deck is great, partly because it’s just a small PC. Yet like all PCs, it isn’t always forthcoming with that greatness – you need to dig into it a bit, sometimes literally, with a tiny screwdriver. Only by delving deeper into your handheld can you unlock and unleash its true potential as a go-anywhere games machine, and that’s exactly what Steam Deck Academy is all about: giving you the know-how and directions to make your Deck the best it can be.
Scroll on, then, and you’ll find all the hopefully-helpful Steam Deck words ever committed to RPS: how-to guides, reviews, accessory roundups, and a whole heap of game-specific performance and settings overviews. Steam Deck Academy has been running for a while now so there’s plenty for new owners to start with, and I’ll continue updating these lists with new guides and features as they’re posted. The only thing I’m omitting are the thinkier, bloggier, usually long-form pieces like our Steam Deck OLED discussion or interviews with Valve – obviously give those a read if you wish, though right here, we’re sticking to more practical matters of how you can improve your own Steam Decking.
Want me to cover something specific? Let me know at james.archer@rockpapershotgun.com. Otherwise, onwards, to learning!
How-to guides
- How to enable Desktop Mode on the Steam Deck
- How to install Decky Loader on the Steam Deck
- How to install and use Lutris on the Steam Deck
- How to install Battle.net on the Steam Deck
- How to install the Epic Games Launcher on the Steam Deck
- How to play Game Pass games on the Steam Deck
- How to set the Steam Deck’s lock screen
- How to install Proton GE on the Steam Deck
- How to take screenshots on the Steam Deck
- How to record game clips on the Steam Deck
- How to use Steam Remote Play on the Steam Deck
- How to connect a Steam Deck to a TV
- How to install a new SSD on the Steam Deck
- How to format a microSD card on the Steam Deck
- How to calibrate and customise gyro controls on the Steam Deck
- How to use the performance overlay on the Steam Deck
- How to install Zenless Zone Zero on the Steam Deck
Hardware reviews and accessory guides
- Steam Deck review
- Steam Deck OLED review
- The best microSD cards for the Steam Deck
- The best Steam Deck cases
- The best Steam Deck docks
- The best Steam Deck accessories
- The best SSDs for gaming
Deep dives and tests
- The Steam Deck battery life guide
- Streaming games on the Steam Deck: GeForce Now and Xbox Cloud Gaming tested
- Doom Eternal’s ray tracing on Steam Deck tested
- How is the Steam Deck as a desktop PC?
Game performance reports and settings guides
- Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon
- Baldur’s Gate III
- Dead Island 2
- Dead Space remake
- Diablo IV
- Dragon Age: The Veilguard
- Dragon's Dogma 2
- Elden Ring / Shadow of the Erdtree
- Ghost of Tsushima: Director's Cut
- God of War Ragnarök
- GTA Trilogy – Definitive Edition
- Hades 2 (early access)
- Helldivers 2
- Horizon Forbidden West
- Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 (New)
- Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
- Manor Lords (early access)
- Metaphor: ReFantazio
- Palworld
- Redfall
- Nightingale (early access)
- Resident Evil 4 remake
- Spider-Man Remastered
- Starfield
- Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
- The First Descendent
- The Last of Us Part 1 (very important update here)
- Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection
- V Rising (early access)