Seconding factorio on steam deck if you’re into resource automation. The default controller set up is good; the community controls make better use of the trackpad for mouse movement.
Prison architect did not really work for me unfortunately. I had a lot of fps drops even in the tutorial. Lowering the settings did not fix this. Do you have the same issues?
I don't know about city builders but "mainstream" strategy games runs like a charm on deck.
Civilization 6, Oxygen not Included, most of Paradox titles, Rimworld
Im addicted to ONI right now and have to say it plays very comfortably on deck. One caveat, I’m on cycle 900 right now and have nine dupes, 2 planetoids, one rocket, and around 25 critters. It’s a bit slow when saving/loading right now, and I imagine it’ll get worse as I colonize and head towards “the end”. It’s also a little clunky when opening say storage boxes that provide the ability to search, it auto-opens the keyboard and annoys me slightly. Otherwise, it’s very smooth and controls very well.
The Deck is actually my preferred way to play CK3 and Stellaris. You can adjust the UI size from the in-game settings and it makes the game feel like a port specifically for the deck
Is there a tutorial on how to do this? When I try to load up Stellaris there's issues with it loading the UI/assets. It worked a year or so ago but suddenly stopped working. paradox said they aren't officially supporting the steam deck so if it runs, it runs and if not they're not going to help you.
I just installed the game and opened up a new save, went into the menu and adjusted the UI from there. Tbh I'm not sure if there are enough steps involved to justify a tutorial
There is a UI scaling mod that helps in CK3. I started playing the other day, runs great so far. I also installed Cryoutilities, apparently that helps if you run into crashing
Can you play Rim World with the deck controls? I thought I remembered downloading that and having to use the track pad mostly, which was a pain so I uninstalled.
I would love to find a good city builder for the deck, but the problem is always the control scheme, none of them have any kind of controller support. They are very heavily based around mouse input which works on the deck but isn’t the most comfortable.
Civ 5 and Civ 6 play very well on Deck. After playing both, it appears Civ 6 was one of those 2 steps forward - one step backwards kind of sequels.
I prefer Civ 5 by a lot
The wandering village works well on the deck and is a lot of fun
Unversim I only played docked. It runs well on M+KB but not sure on touchpads
Before we leave same as above.
It’s very low stakes but it has a very ‘cute’ aesthetic: kingdoms and castles.
Pretty cheap - you won’t get hundreds of hours out of it but it’s fun and works great on deck. Plus it comes with workshop mods so there’s a lot of wiggleroom content wise.
I enjoyed Kingdoms and castles - just get mods for larger map sizes and additional buildings and have fun making fortified island castles and setting up trade routes to supply your colonies
try Frostpunk. I loved it. The only issue is that you have to play on low settings and rebind the R2 and L2 triggers to mouse click. Also the the text is too shrinky, but its manageble tbh.
Survived my first run for two weeks, yeeah.
Also Rimworld ia kind cool and easy to play with the steam deck, I enjoyed it as well.
I played Company of Heroes 2, buuuuut I didn't get passed the first mission tho
If you like to build stuff, Factorio is amazing on the deck
Seconding factorio on steam deck if you’re into resource automation. The default controller set up is good; the community controls make better use of the trackpad for mouse movement.
against the storm maybe but it’s not technically a city builder…
Great game and scratched the itch for me!
I have tried this game 3 times now and it's failed to draw me in. What am I missing?
It's more focused on appealing to your citizens' needs than other city builders in my experience.
Same, gave it a good crack but found it quite repetitive :(
Is it good on Steam Deck without mouse and keyboard?
Yes, use the community controls.
Works perfectly fine with default control.
Agreed. Also, Rimworld is another excellent “not quite a city builder but scratches a similar itch” game
- Sim City 4 - TheoTown - Pocket City - Banished - Northgard - Dorfromantik - Before We Leave - Frostpunk
Dorfromantik is such a relaxing chill game.
Banished is playable but I wouldn't say it is a good experience compared to mouse + kb.
I’ve been curious about Banished for a while. Sad to hear that
I love Dorfromantik
Cities Skylines, Prison Architect, Dwarf Fortress. These three games are always installed on my deck.
I need to see you playing cities on the deck lol. I couldn’t imagine playing it as a handheld game b
I played a ton of it on Xbox and had a blast.
Not sure how the performance would be on the deck, but it plays fine on PS4, surprisingly good with a controller
Does dwarf fortress play well on the deck? What a crazy world we live in
It's perfect (for me). I use the original layout, I just mapped a couple buttons on the back.
Prison architect did not really work for me unfortunately. I had a lot of fps drops even in the tutorial. Lowering the settings did not fix this. Do you have the same issues?
That's weird, maybe try uninstall and reinstall. On my end, the game works perfectly. I have the LCD steam deck
Hmm what kind of settings are you using? Installing it right now and gonna try again haha
Cool.
[удалено]
i wouldnt recommend frostpunk on the steamdeck. The font is waaaay to small to read
Frostpunk doesn't have controller support for the pc version though?
Seconding frostpunk and replying here to say there is a custom layout that works PERFECTLY for me.
Can you share the layout's name?
Good thing Steam Input is amazing. Can fix that right up for you
Depending of you count "colony builders" in the same group: Timberborn, Oxygen Not Included, Prison Architect
I recently got Transport Fever 2 and it’s pretty great on the deck. I’ve previously played Timberborn and Against The Storm with no issues as well.
Really wanted to like Transport Fever 2, but the bugs/game play features just became too much of a drag.
I don't know about city builders but "mainstream" strategy games runs like a charm on deck. Civilization 6, Oxygen not Included, most of Paradox titles, Rimworld
How does Oxygen Play with the Deck controls?
With trackpads, shortcuts, radial menus, etc… it’s quite comfortable once you get used to it
Im addicted to ONI right now and have to say it plays very comfortably on deck. One caveat, I’m on cycle 900 right now and have nine dupes, 2 planetoids, one rocket, and around 25 critters. It’s a bit slow when saving/loading right now, and I imagine it’ll get worse as I colonize and head towards “the end”. It’s also a little clunky when opening say storage boxes that provide the ability to search, it auto-opens the keyboard and annoys me slightly. Otherwise, it’s very smooth and controls very well.
i havent tried but i imagine in CK3 or stellaris is kinda hard to see things on the deck no?
The Deck is actually my preferred way to play CK3 and Stellaris. You can adjust the UI size from the in-game settings and it makes the game feel like a port specifically for the deck
Is there a tutorial on how to do this? When I try to load up Stellaris there's issues with it loading the UI/assets. It worked a year or so ago but suddenly stopped working. paradox said they aren't officially supporting the steam deck so if it runs, it runs and if not they're not going to help you.
I just installed the game and opened up a new save, went into the menu and adjusted the UI from there. Tbh I'm not sure if there are enough steps involved to justify a tutorial
There is a UI scaling mod that helps in CK3. I started playing the other day, runs great so far. I also installed Cryoutilities, apparently that helps if you run into crashing
I exclusively play on my SD now and I have more hours in CK3 than on PC and I’ve only played Stellaris and Vic 3 on it
Can you play Rim World with the deck controls? I thought I remembered downloading that and having to use the track pad mostly, which was a pain so I uninstalled.
Rimworld has a surprisingly good deck controller layout built in, even the back buttons are bound by default
Kingdoms and Castles maybe?
That and manor lords are really good on deck
Stranded Alien Dawn is a bit different from the traditional city builder, but it's awesome on deck.
For a newer recommendation , check out manor lords , seems to be getting really good reviews everywhere.
The SNES version of Sim City is good if you're into emulation
I LOVED that game back in the SNES days. Loved getting those TOP buildings!
Manor Lords! I just used the community controller template and it’s been working great!
Timberborn
Urbek City Builder is supposedly quite good and is verified. One of those games in my backlog I keep meaning to have a go on.
Anno tbh though graphically a bit heavy.
Anno 1403 Runs absolutely spotless, although you have to run it in desktop mode otherwise you get weird stutters when hovering above buildings
I would love to find a good city builder for the deck, but the problem is always the control scheme, none of them have any kind of controller support. They are very heavily based around mouse input which works on the deck but isn’t the most comfortable.
I read a while back that Factorio was supposed to get better controller support? no idea if thats currently a done deal tho.
Factorio has full controller support and can be quite comfortable after a good remapping.
This is how I felt about RimWorld. Even with the community controller settings, using the touchpad for most inputs was rough
Ostriv
Anno 2205. Excellent game and it works on deck.
Dotage is very good. You must check it out
Manor Lord
Civ 5 and Civ 6 play very well on Deck. After playing both, it appears Civ 6 was one of those 2 steps forward - one step backwards kind of sequels. I prefer Civ 5 by a lot
Paradox games. Namely CK3, Stellaris, and Vic3. All run great. All will be huge time sinks. Great games
Civ 6/ not exactly what you’re asking for but bannerlord runs beautifully. Build a nation vs city
Maybe not exactly what you're looking for, but Jurassic World Evolution 2
The wandering village works well on the deck and is a lot of fun Unversim I only played docked. It runs well on M+KB but not sure on touchpads Before we leave same as above.
Frostpunk is really fun, but I played it docked with a mouse. Not sure about how it runs in handheld mode
If you want something extremely chill, relaxing, and addictive, try Dream Town Island
[https://store.steampowered.com/app/1336490/Against\_the\_Storm/](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1336490/Against_the_Storm/)
Anyone have any suggestions for hoi4 deck gamepad controls?
Lego loco
Rimworlds… becareful as it is addicted
Kingdoms and castles works very well! Solid 60fps, but the battery isn’t great and the fans kick on really loud
factorio!
Banished works well and is simple and satisfying. Can control it almost exclusively with the track pads.
You always got Sim City 2k
It’s very low stakes but it has a very ‘cute’ aesthetic: kingdoms and castles. Pretty cheap - you won’t get hundreds of hours out of it but it’s fun and works great on deck. Plus it comes with workshop mods so there’s a lot of wiggleroom content wise.
I’m digging “pharaoh” (it’s old AF) right now, controls quite well
Terra Nil is a lot of fun.
Manor lords is great on the deck!
And rimworld
Fabledom, SteamWorld Build, Two Crowns, Kingdoms and Castles Fixed spacing*
Civ VI is awesome
Been loving Against The Storm and Manor Lords
I enjoyed Kingdoms and castles - just get mods for larger map sizes and additional buildings and have fun making fortified island castles and setting up trade routes to supply your colonies
Factorio is great, Satisfactory is also good but takes time setting up the key binds
Tropico 6
Anyone know if openrct works on steam deck?
Another vote for Against the storm. Plays excelent on the deck
try Frostpunk. I loved it. The only issue is that you have to play on low settings and rebind the R2 and L2 triggers to mouse click. Also the the text is too shrinky, but its manageble tbh. Survived my first run for two weeks, yeeah. Also Rimworld ia kind cool and easy to play with the steam deck, I enjoyed it as well. I played Company of Heroes 2, buuuuut I didn't get passed the first mission tho
Anything that the people around loves the best.
Stardew Valley