Final Fantasy VIII Remastered, Final Fantasy X/X-2, and Final Fantasy XII

If you want a solid, meaty RPG, Final Fantasy X will give you a tearjerker of a story with at least four or five hours of Steam Deck play time. Final Fantasy X-2, which is very different in tone but still a great game, will also work out well. As a note, the game selection screen doesn’t seem to respond to the d-pad or analog stick, so just use the touch screen (I suspect this launcher is what has kept this game out of Verified status). Final Fantasy XII should also land you in the four- to five-hour range.

I spend at least four months out of every year realizing that Final Fantasy VIII really was the best Final Fantasy on PSX, and thankfully it scores an easy five to six hours on the Deck—just make sure you’re playing the Remastered version (why the old version of FF8 is still on Steam is beyond me…). The old version not only isn’t supported, but has horrible, very bad, no good, wretched versions of this excellent soundtrack.

Sadly, other classic chapters like Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy IX don’t work terribly well on the Deck. Obviously the Steam Deck should be able to power through these games, but right now certain selection screens make them unplayable, even if they do run on the Deck. We’ll update here should that change.