The Steam Deck’s latest update improves battery life

By Cristina Alexander April 27, 2022

PC gamers who are lucky enough to have gotten their hands on the Steam Deck amid the ongoing supply chain shortages will be happy to learn that Valve has updated it to improve its battery life, retool performance, and add a lock screen.

The company says that thanks to the latest update, which went live on Monday, the Steam Deck won’t deplete its battery if it’s idle or not being used for long periods of time. The average battery life for the portable system runs between two to eight hours, but program it with the wrong settings and it’ll run short of 90 minutes, which had prompted players to buy a battery pack to keep it running for longer.

The improved battery life also helps the system’s power, making the LED backlight screen dim automatically a few seconds after disconnecting it from a charger to make the gameplay experience better in dark environments. This might be beneficial for those who play on the Steam Deck in a dark bedroom during those late-night hours.

Valve has also given the Steam Deck a lock screen. You can set this feature to pop up for you to enter the PIN when you turn Steam Deck on, boot it up, log in to it, or when you switch it to Desktop Mode. The PIN can be put in using the touchscreen or the controls, depending on your preference.

Valve has also added localized keyboards for 21 additional languages (excluding Korean, Japanese, and Chinese for now), as well as other new keyboard layouts. You can also switch between multiple windows within a single app or game, which is useful for web browsers or games with launchers.

You can find the full patch notes on the Steam Deck website to learn more about new features that came with the update. If you want a more simplified version of the notes, you can visit Valve’s news page.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Tech News

Cristina Alexander

Gaming/Mobile Writer

Cristina Alexander has been writing since 2014, from opining about pop culture on her personal blog in college to reporting…

Gaming

Every game verified for the Steam Deck

Two players using Steam Decks to play Stardew Valley.

The handheld market has always been dominated by Nintendo. It essentially invented it with the original GameBoy, and each subsequent device has only gone on to be more popular and financially successful, leading all the way to the hybrid Nintendo Switch console. Others have attempted to break into that lucrative market, PlayStation most notably with its PSP and PS Vita handhelds, but every other company has backed out for failing to hit that sweet spot of price, power, and compelling software. Enter the Steam Deck.

Marketed as a portal PC, the Steam Deck has all the potential to be a strong competitor to Nintendo's Switch. The console is an almost completely open platform and is much more powerful, though it does have a much bigger price tag attached. However, if it really can run all your Steam games, that extra upfront cost could be worth it to take your library of hundreds of games wherever you go. That's assuming all your games will work on the Steam Deck. So far, not every game on Steam has been verified to work on the handheld, so we've compiled a full list of what we know you can play right now on your Steam Deck.

Gaming

The best games for Steam Deck

Final Fantasy VII Remake running on the Steam Deck.

The Steam Deck is the newest handheld to hit the market and aims to compete head-to-head with the likes of the Nintendo Switch. Unlike the Switch, the Steam Deck isn't meant to double as a home console but is more like the Switch Lite in that it is only usable in its handheld form. Also unlike the Switch, this little machine is a beast in terms of power. With access to your Steam library, there needs to be a lot of processing and graphical power to make these games run as well as PC gamers expect.

While not every game you have in your library is available to play via the Steam Deck, a good number are. If you have a Steam library as large as most people do, then sifting through all those titles in your backlog to see what to play on your brand-new device might take all day. Instead, we've gone through all the currently verified games that play on your Steam Deck and selected the best ones to try out first.

Gaming

Gotham Knights is unplayable on Steam following latest update

Red Hood fights a Talon in Gotham Knights.

Gotham Knights players are reporting that the game is no longer playable on Steam following the latest software update.

Fans took to social media outlets to complain about the problem that began last night, when they downloaded an update with a patch that would improve keyboard issues, co-op gameplay problems, and overall game stability -- all complaints that cropped up since Gotham Knights launched last week. According to PC Gamer, the patch temporarily removed controversial anti-piracy software Denuvo on Wednesday, but when it was patched back in 15 hours later, the update rendered the game unplayable.