These are the best Steam Deck alternatives currently on the market, ranging from upgrade picks to cheaper handhelds.
Shaz from Pixel Swish: "From the Asus ROG Ally X to the Lenovo Legion GO to the Steam Deck, we’ve gotten a lot of PC handhelds over the past few years. However, for as impressive and exciting as these PC handhelds are, they all fall shy in one way or another from my dream device."
Valve gave a user Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 for free as compensation for the long wait during their Steam Deck repair.
I had a similar experience when I initially pre-ordered my Deck. There was an issue during shipping and they offered me a customer service perk for the hassle and let me pick any game on Steam. It was super nice of them. I got a copy of Rime.
Celebrate the holiday by getting some of the best Star Wars games compatible with your Steam Deck. Which one is your favorite?
Don't envy anyone competing with the Steam Deck.
Truth is none of them are as good. The cheaper ones are so much worse that I'd just pay more for a Deck. The more expensive ones aren't as good due to the lack of the Steam ecosystem and support the Deck has do I'd be spending more on something I like less. The only realistic challenger is a future Switch 2...until then Deck wins easily.