So far, not bad. I think I will love having one of my favorite games on the go.
There is some pop-in and some terrain holes in the distance. But I am so used to that stuff anyway, not really an issue for me.
The huge size of the Deck makes it a little difficult for me to melee/boost because of my small hands.
Now, is there a way to share my screens from the Deck? My phone does not do them justice. I will figure this out and report back.
UPDATE I can upload my Deck pics to Steam and I can see them in Steam but they do not show up in my screenshot folder…still working on this…
I went to desktop mode on the Deck and it is a bit sluggish. Also keep getting a message in Steam about the Deck being available/not available for remote play. There are bugs but did not affect my gameplay.
Ok I found a workaround, bit of a pain but here are some screens
1280x800 res but on a small screen it is not too bad.
That does sound wonderful. Is it 60fps or 30fps?
I do not know, lol. Will try to find out. I am going to say 30 fps but it is smooth. Just a tiny hitch here and there. But of course, I have only just begun to build.
The biggest problem for me is the teensy font. Had to slip my readers down for reading but I can play without them which is good because I do not like using them more than I have to.
Well, I ain’t getting any more than that out of my laptop without having it devolve into a fast-paced slide show…
I’m ok with 30fps if the quality is good.
This was my work around for posting pics, lol. Don’t know why they are not showing in my Steam folder. Still one of the bugs I guess. I had to open each one in Steam under my Shared screenshots for Today and then right click each one and Save As…so I started a Steam Deck folder to put them in.
The Deck tells you to upload them so you can access them on any device…needs work. Hmmm…maybe they are marked private…but they should still be in the folder with my other screens…
I played at least a couple of hours and the Deck stayed fairly cool. Just a little warm, not sure the Switch will fair as well. Holding my breath on that one.
Which version did you get? The sd version? What is the speed of loading NMS? Can you put SD cards with steam games on it? Usb-c? (for ssds). Can you see the screen outside on a sunny day? So many questions! Seems really worth it for £349 but I’m not sure I’d actually use it that much. But if I found £350 lying around somewhere, I’d get one. Hopefully I’ll pick one up next year on ebay for £200.
I bought the mid-range version. Does have an sd card slot which I just ordered so it is not here yet. I don’t know about it being pre loaded because I do see a ‘format sd card’ in the menu and I assume it will need to be formatted specifically for the Steam Deck. NMS loads fairly quickly but I have not played for very long or built anything big yet.
The charging port does fit a USB-C but I have not tried using a standard one. The charger that comes with it is wall plug only. However, since there is a desktop mode (for which you need a keyboard. I have not tried my cheap BT one. I assume I could use my PC keyboard once a dock is available) and the desktop mode is just like a PC running Linux and I have seen people working on it with documents etc…
As for outside, it is about the same as most electronic devices. If I stood in the shade, I could see well enough but if in the sun, there is a lot of reflection on the screen.
(Makes up some random questions)
How far away is the horizon on planets? What do storms look like? Do any animals have fur? What do the shadows of birds look like? Are the stars at night random white dots or do they look like the starmap? Is the warp effect equally psychedelic? Are the MT’s laserbeams equally blinding as on Desktop? What does (above/under) water look like? How laggy are settlements? Does the music sound like it’s coming from a tincan on a string? 
Does it use the same user account or completely separate? Can you go to your existing bases (possibly you haven’t collected all glyphs yet)?
… If Polyphemus logged on to a Steamdeck and went to that system that always crashes him, what would happen…? 
He would find that the experience aged him beyond his already advanced years…
So yeah, it actually looks better than I expected but I have not yet done many of those things since I had to start a new game. However, I plan on finding out. Now that I can play NMS while in bed…well, I was already addicted so I am sure it will not be a problem, right…?
My biggest question is what happens over time as I begin to build and establish a settlement. Will the game still run as smoothly? Questions I plan on answering.
The only real difference in the graphics is less is generated in the distance but the horizon line is just as far. In fact, grass etc…is generated closer but because of the smaller screen, it is not really that noticeable. All of the settings in the game were auto set to standard and I have not moved them around. I may, just to see what happens.
Here is some real time data for those interested. All settings were standard except texture at enhanced and anti aliasing to low. Sorry it is blurry but the Deck screen is not very photogenic
I had just played for 3 hours unplugged. Might could get another 30 minutes out of it before drained.
To answer your fps question, it is running at 60 fps and of course it fluxuates but I am on a fauna flora rich planet and I have not seen it drop below 40fps
Thanks! I’m so tempted, but luckily the waiting time is probably at least a year. I will wait. I will not give in to temptation. ha ha (I probably will).
3hrs is pretty impressive. Especially at 40-60fps.
Hey look! It’s me playing NMS IN MY CAR!!! 
oh yeah, oh yeah…
The reflection was not bad when holding it up. Totally playable and I got a kick out of it while waiting on a grocery pickup.
So I am posting this from my SteamDeck…I would like to post screens from here as well however, I have yet to find out exactly where they are in the files…
using a BT keyboard works well but, the icons for max/min are tough to get to (because they are so tiny and the screen is touch. Not sure if a BT mouse could be attached with a keyboard at the same time…) unless you know your keyboard controls…
working…
I did it!
Now I am exhausted and thinking about going back to bed.
I saw someone say they cranked the graphics up to Ultra with no visible affect on the stats…I am not convinced. That may be what I tackle next.
So I pushed everything except tess to High… 
Fps dropped to 30-48 fps. Temp went from 71 to 82 C and all of the cores were flashing red every few seconds…turned the settings back down…was scary.
And to be honest, it did not actually look so much better that it would be worth the extra wear and tear. Because of the smaller screen, I am happy with Standard settings and a higher fps with a smoother experience.
A little more info on the SD card, it shows as seperate so it is not integrated into the internal storage. I can now move games onto it.
