Hello!

When I was a kid I dreamed of one day being able to play all those games that I saw on videogame magazines at the time: Ulitma series, Strike Commander, Tie Fighter, Privateer, Syndicate, Fallout, Full Throttle, etc.

Now I own them all on GoG and I would like to know how playable would they be on a handheld device like the Steam Deck taking into account that I am not very knowledgeable and would not be able to tinker a lot with configurations.

Thank you for your help.

Those two points feel like a conflict. Because of the compromises you have to make with the handheld form, you have to be willing to tweak and configure your games to work with them.

But, what's your budget/OS of choice?

The biggest problem is that these handheld devices have only gamepad controls, and PC games (except some semi-modern ones that are usually ports from consoles or indie games styled after console games) expect a keyboard and/or a mouse.

If the game has a decent port to console, you might be able to play that. (Ultima 4 SMS could be played on a handheld, but for Ultima 5 there's no semi-decent option, for example.)

1.The cheaper option would allow you only to play DOS games + those windows titles, that have their "portmaster" version (for sure Fallout 1 and 2 have those, you can check full list here: https://portmaster.games/games.html)

Here I would recommend either RG40XX (if you prefer to have more compact version of handheld) or Powkiddy X55, if the comfort with bigger screen is more important
(for first one be sure to check some discounts, as it quite often is sold with lower than the "official" price tag).

2.Second option is more expensive, but then you can play almost any GOG game, DOS or Windows one.

So here Windows handheld would be a good option, I personally use devices from GPD-Win series. Unfortunately, since GPD-Win 2 they aim into better components and as a result, price is quite high. GPD 1, 2 and 4 have all physical micro-keyboard, which may be sometimes useful (I read that some old game refuse to launch if they don't detect physical keyboard, but I couldn't verify it). There is currently GPD-Win Mini, which is closer to those original Win 1 and 2 (in terms of size), but it's quite expensive (I personally didn't use this one).

But that's just me, as it seems that currently whoever is willing to play Windows games, is using either Steam Deck or Rog Ally or one of those "louder commercially" handhelds. I didn't use any of those though.

It depends on the game. A lot of old games with non-scaling UI's (where increasing the resolution makes things like text or buttons smaller & smaller) don't look great on 7" screens (that are 1/4 of the size of the typical 14" CRT's they were designed around). I don't own a handheld but I did test quite a few games on Android phones & tablets (via Winlator), and many looked & played a lot better on a 12.7" tablet than a 6.5" phone, ie, the biggest issue wasn't "technically" getting them to run, but rather the ergonomics of what's "runnable" vs what actually feels pleasant to play for longer periods on a small screen are two different things. Point & click adventure games were no problem, yet RTS's where you have to click on tiny individual units with either a finger or a "joystick", or RPG's / 4X games with small text, etc, weren't great. It's really something you have to test for yourself (maybe you can borrow one from a friend for a day).

Just to clarify for context, I have had access to most micro pc machines. They are all trash. Even when you have a unit that works out the box. It begins showing signs of failure not long after, with extensive use. Using such machine for 3+ hours per day for example.

Should also be noted the reliance of the primary battery. Lacking a BIOS battery, really messes up the devices when the primary is detached. The only device that it didnt matter was the Legion Go and that device had certain flaws that crippled the entire OS, to a non functioning state. But you could detach the battery without a problem. Go figure.

Anything by GPD will have defects at manufacturer level. Plus each competitor as well.

The only handheld that hasnt been a shitstorm is the Odin 2. Being android....good luck getting Winlator to function. Many games will work, but most wont. Plus, you still need a mouse.....on a handheld. Keyboard too for that matter.

I’ve been told that ./play.it works nicely with the Steam Deck, but I have never tried that myself. This is mostly incidental to ./play.it having support for Arch Linux.

Despite that, I would advise against buying a Steam Deck.

My budget is not very relevant. I am ready to spend a proper amount of money as long as the device is comfortable to use with these games.

I want something I can use on the couch, on a plane or while commuting. I do not want a laptop.

If such a device does not exist yet, well, I will keep on waiting, but I do not want to purchase something that will provide a sub-optimal experience.

I would rather pay more and get something that will be able to play all games, or least as many as possible. Thank you very much. I have been looking into some of the games that I would want to play and, indeed, many of them need a keyboard to work properly. I will have to try one of those GPD thingies to see how realistic it would be to play for hours on a tiny keyboard.

Why is that? I am unfamiliar with most of the games that I would like to play, so, maybe what I am going to say is stupid, but, for games where speed is not important (like turn based games), will an analog joystick be able to work as a mouse?

And for the keyboard, do these games need lots of different keys or just a few like space, return, etc.? Because if it is only a few, maybe they can be mapped to controller buttons.

Going with example of GPD Win 4, it has two "modes" (switching at any moment with one small button), one of them is making d-pad, buttons etc a gamepad buttons, other mode is making them a selected keyboard buttons, and one of the thumbsticks is controlling the cursor of the mouse (shoulder buttons are left and right mouse buttons). In my opinion - it's quite good solution ,works well with turn-based strategies, platform games etc.

Because it has Steam in the name and created by Valve, which we all know is the spawn of Satan. They are the cause of Ebola and the Corona virus. They rape your little sister while your mother is watching, all while bunrning jews in concentration camps. They are eating the cats and the dogs, and is the cause for all the gun crime. Will also probably be the cause of the sun exploding some 7 billion years in the future. So if you buy a Steam deck, then you support all that.

Because I would never, ever, support the company that pushed for global adoption of DRM in video games distribution, and succeeded at it.

Thanks a lot for your answer. The more I think about it, the more I believe that a GPD with integrated keyboard is the only device that could potentially do what I need.

Now I need to research them to be sure that they are comfortable to use for several hours on a couch.