I was on the same page as you almost a year ago! My only console was a switch and while I was very satisfied with it as time passed, it’s age started to show.

Getting a steamdeck and having a backlog of awesome AAA games to play on the go has made it my favorite entertainment purchase probably ever. Elden Ring would be a perfect start!

I started with Elden Ring and was super intimidated due to everything I’ve heard about the difficulty and etc but after a few hours, I fell in love. If you liked BoTW on Switch, you’ll LOVE Elden Ring. The difficulty varies a lot due to the crazy amount of options at your disposal.

If you’re having trouble with a boss or area, just go explore somewhere else and come back later, or go level up a bit, or switch up your play-style (e.g. respec to magic if you were using sword & shield) The possibilities are endless.

And while a lot of fans usually like ER for it’s difficulty, I liked it for the incredible world building. Amazing exploration, secrets to find around every corner, and tons of lore. It gave me the same feeling as when I played BoTW for the first time.

To keep things varied, I suggest also getting Cyberpunk 2077 (another game with amazing world building and increeeedible characters) for some FPS action and finishing it off with Final Fantasy 7:Remake for some slick JRPG combat; not to mention a great story. I got those three games simultaneously once my Deck arrived and rotated between them. I was never bored lol.

If you aren’t into Jrpgs or Final Fantasy, I suggest switching FF7 out for Hogwarts Legacy or Spiderman Remastered. Both also great games. Every game I mentioned works and looks great on the deck too, all can achieve medium to high settings with FPS around 30-40.

Whatever you do decide to go with, I know you’ll enjoy yourself no matter what!