Burnout Paradise (not remastered), Dicey Dungeons, backpack hero, peglin, cat quest, pokemon infinite fusion (not on steam), broforce, Cassette Beasts, distance, enter the gungeon, Streets of rogue

Hades Dead Cells Halls of Torment Bloodstained Vampire Survivor Backpack Hero Megaman/megamanx collections(just picked these up from.a humblebundle if they are still available) Brutal Legends

EmuStation(bit of a setup on this but worth it if you want to emulate things)

Saints Row III plays wonderfully, and has a great mix of quick and longer play objectives, which really makes it fit the times and places I play on my SteamDeck.

On top of all the great suggestions here I’d like to point out that the deck is a great emulation machine. Everything up to the ps2 era runs flawlessly but it can also do pretty well with Wii u, ps3 and Switch emulation too but performance will vary from title to title.

It’s also a great fallback in case the deck gets unhappy about not having a network connection (YMMV but some people have pretty bad issues with this) and steam games won’t start. Non steam games work just fine regardless of whether or not you have an internet connection.

Brotato is a perfect game for the Deck and it’s my favorite from the “auto shooter” genre.

If you like platformers, I highly recommend Pizza Tower.

The platforming is as if Wario Land and Sonic had a baby. And it’s more refined than both of those games. The art is amazing, and it’s reminiscent of old cartoons like Ren & Stimpy and Courage the Cowardly Dog. And don’t even get me started about the music, there’s some absolute bangers in there and the tracks add a lot to every level.

• Persona 5 Royal
• Persona 4 Golden
• Persona 3 Reload

Deep Rock Galactic

It’s an FPS, it plays great on the Deck, it supports simultaneous mouse and gamepad (so you can have faster/precise aiming but still use game controls), and it’s tons of fun.

Get Heroic Launcher to add games from GoG, Epic, and Amazon Gaming (make sure to turn off Steam Runtime, Esync, and the anti-cheats in your settings; turn on per each game if you need them).

And keep an eye on !freegamefindings@lemmit.online and !freegames@feddit.uk

Some cheap ones-

Vampire survivors

Into the breach

Your only move is hustle

Portal 1 & 2; aperture science desk job

Spelunkey

Slay the spire

Enter the gungeon

Hollow Knight

First of all, make a habit of checking IsThereAnyDeal before getting any PC game. There are lots of PC game stores, many selling Steam keys for less than Steam. Or you could get a bundle with some games you like, some you would never think of, for less than the price of 1. Right now I think Fanatical is about the best of the bundlers, Humble sometimes has good stuff too.

You might want to get more of your games on GoG than Steam. It’s a little more work to set up Heroic to handle GoG, but after that it is pretty close to automatic. Once you have a GoG game working, it is never going to say “I know there is an update out there and I refuse to play until you download all 50 ziggabytes of it on your tethering”.

I’m not particularly fond of FPSes, so I can’t help you there. If you haven’t already played Batman Arkham or the new Tomb Raider games on a console, catch up on those? The Humble Mind-Bending Masterpieces bundle is fantastic, being stuck on a couple of puzzles and having them roll around in your mind during dull ship duties could work together. Fanatical’s 3 for $5 BYO Relentless bundle has Red Faction Guerilla, Void Scrappers, Graveyard Keeper or Neverinth?

Oh and for games that will just kill your down time (if that’s what you are looking for).

With mouse and Keyboard

• Civilization 5 or 6
• Cities Skylines
• Jurassic World Evolution
• Kerbal Space Program

With just a gamepad

• Elder Scrolls 4/5
• Fallout 3/4/New Vegas (in order)
• GTA San Andreas (though if you can PCSX2 with the widescreen patch)
• Batman Arkham Asylum/City/Knight
• Saints Row 2/3/4
• Watch_Dogs (can’t say how nice UPlay will be with no login)

With multiple controllers (and friends)

• TMNT Shredders Revenge
• Castle Crashers
• LEGO [INSERT FRANCHISE HERE]
• Most ROM bundles like Disney Afternoon, Capcom Arcade Stadium, Sega Genesis Collection etc.

If there’s any retro games you like, consider emulating!

Also, just wanted to say that I enjoy docking my deck to the TV and playing with a controller. Been playing Ark Survival Evolved with my brother all week

I have been reconnecting with Left 4 Dead 2 and the master chief collection, as far as shooters go.

Receiver 2 is a twist on the FPS/shooter genre where you need to more meticulously operate your weapon. The game happens inside a weird dream-like world. I think it has a native Linux version.

Crypt of the Necrodancer is a great rogue-like music-based game. Best game of 2015 imho. Has a native Linux version.

Lemmy communities you should keep an eye out for is: !gamedeals@lemmy.world for freebees and discounts. The other social media site that shall not be named also has a similar community with the same name.

As for new games when in doubt, Humble Bundle. They currently have some fantastic game deals right now if you are a fan of Capcom or Indi games. Outside of the Destiny 2 bundle I’ve heard nothing but positives from them.

Now as you say you are new to PC gaming I’m going to recommend you some niche/personal fav games of mine that either aren’t on consoles, or aren’t know well on consoles.

• Antichamber, a first person “shooter”, that’s more of a mind bending puzzle game. The most atmospheric game I’ve played and a wonderful time.

• Most thing from Valve, Half Life 1 & 2, Left for Dead, etc. All good fund and often onsale for dirt cheap. Get it if you find it for the right price. The YouTube series “Freeman’s Mind” is worth a watch if you want a see what the gameplay is like.

• Portal 1 & 2, Valve FPS and puzzle games. Well known, and obviously recommended. Play in order is advised.

• Slime Rancher if you are looking for a framing game in the first person

• Star Wars Dark Forces, Star Wars in the Doom Engine. Not the biggest fan but it’s the first in a series of fun adventure games.

• Star Wars Jedi Knight Dark Forces II, This is an interesting genera of game. It is a FPS, but it’s in the mission structure of the old doom games. With a narrative of Star Wars. There are light sabers, and you can cut off your enemies limbs. Fun time

• Star Wars Jedi Knight II/Jedi Academe, aka Dark Forces III. Same as the first game but you get your saber quicker. Had a blast with academe.

• Super Hot: Super. Hot. Super. Hot. Super. Hot.

• Team Fortress 2. Team based hero FPS before Overwatch. I’ve heard the quality went down recently but I haven’t checked.

• Wolfenstein The New Order. Just a very angry dude killing nazi’s what’s there not to love.