Caves of Qud

Doesn't seem like a controller friendly game at first glance, but it's so well optimized that I cannot go back to PC with it.

I also get like 4 hours of battery life out of it, which I use up regularly.

Well, there's a couple I've only ever played on the Deck. Dave the Diver, and Ball X Pit are two I would recommend.

I can recommend Balatro!

Yakuza 0

I might cheat a bit here, but for me its emulation with RetroArch since launch! I love the additional trackpads that give me features not possible on a regular gamepad. I setup my own menus and functionality. Can't wait for the official Steam Controller (2) to launch, so I can use this on my PC too.

Well, any 2D indie game with controller support is perfect for the deck: (Like the hollow Knight series, or Hades).

Got Hi-Fi Rush on sale. And the inputs feel much better than on my PC (I blame my Bluetooth controller).

Want something with a classic feel (other than emulators)? "Heretic + Hexen" (for some doom-like action) and the Soul Reaver remaster play really well (and I got that one on GoG).

I have more, but those are the ones I play exclusively on my deck, now.

CrossCode is really nice on the deck

Dredge.

Mass Effect Legendary Edition feels great on the deck and apart from the whole EAing it right up its to me much better playing on the deck than PC.

Apart from a few performance dips, Hardspace Shipbreaker is great on the deck, tried several times with keyboard and mouse but playing on the deck was much more enjoyable and I completed it for the first time last year.

But Ball X Pit, Enter the Gungeon, Balatro are probably more what you're looking for.

No Mans Sky. Plays great on the deck and flying with a controller feels better than keyboard and mouse.

Instead of a gaming computer, the last time I had some spare cash, I built a NAS. When I had a little again, but not enough to really build out a high end rig, I got the OLED Deck and immediately bought Factorio. I'd been binging Factorio content, recently found some channels like Dosh Doshington, DocJade, etc and knew I wanted in. For a PC game, that really wants a keyboard and mouse, it plays friggin fantastic on Deck.

More recently, because I was watching SMW romhack players a while back and Pangaea Panga just released Super Dram World 3, I've gone all in on learning Kaizo Mario games. Panga's "Kaizo Kindergarten" is a great intro, along with "2Kaizo2Learn." "Joy of Kaizo" is a beautiful dedication to Bob Ross' "Joy of Painting" where level backgrounds are recreations of paintings from actual episodes of the show. It also features difficulty options and the beginner mode is pretty noob friendly. At least for someone like me who hasn't played SMW since my SNES was hooked up in the 90s. Anyway, if you've fond memories of SMW it's almost a crime not to revisit it and its hacks, either on a Deck or any portable emulator.

Recently God of War Ragnarok

9bit Armies, Northgard, Spyro, Cuphead, World of Warships, The Expanse, The Last of Us 1&2

i can’t play hades (1 or 2) on anything other than the deck now. similar with dave the diver.

Absolum. I found myself doing more runs while out on my deck than at home. Totally enjoyable on both tho

Death's Door and Hades

It wasn’t a single game, it was switching so easily between something deeply engaging like Disco Elysium, and something that made me feel like it was the grown-up grandchild of a gameboy, specifically Brotato. I have so many hours in Brotato. Send help

Wall World sucked me in

Wreckfest

Agree on Pentiment and Citizen Sleeper, I played them in bed before going to sleep. Another game I played the same way and loved was Heaven's Vault. If you don't have a problem with using the touchpads instead, Roadwarden is a good one too, text heavy but quite interesting IMHO.

Brotato...so much Brotato...

Nova Drift - Asteroids-like shooter roguelite.

UFO 50

1 - I grew up with the NES & now I have nostalgia for a game system that never existed.

2 - You literally get 50 games for the price of admission, so there's sure to be something that clicks.

3 - I couldn't imagine playing with a keyboard and mouse.

4 - Seriously, fifty games!

Monster Hunter Rise. I used to lie in bed and play 4U for hours on 3DS, and now I'm doing it again with Rise and the Deck

BallisticNG

The Last Sovereign.

Doom TDA, it's good on keyboard and mouse don't get me wrong but it's SO GOOD on steam deck

Kentum and Megabonk are by far my most played games on Deck and both have almost no desktop playtime for me.

Gonna have to go with the KilaFlow demo because it can actually run on my deck without being low FPS. Most other games I play work just fine on my desktop but I like the demo and wanna play it on a good FPS.

I got hooked to the new Shinobi game demo I got when on Vacation. I freaking love the Deck.

Master Key - a little zelda-like (old school zelda) which was kind of a surprise find for me but got me hooked quite a bit. Very well suited to be played on the deck 🎮

Blake Manor

So many great suggestions added to my wishlist, thanks everybody!

I don't have the choice of PC as I bought a Deck in lieu of upgrading, which is where all my gaming happens now. The game that properly sucked me in though was Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, it was a splendid experience on the Deck. At the moment however, I've been taken by Megabonk and Hollow Knight.