Mine’s completely fine and I exclusively use it with wired headphones (512 GB OLED with Audio Technica ATH-M50x headphones if that helps). No problems with dead pixels or loose buttons either. This sub had me convinced I was destined for a defective model one way or another, but nope, works and plays great.
This site shows the upcoming Steam sales. So if you’re content with your current backlog, you could hold off until December 21st when the Winter Sale starts. And this site lets you see historic lows and filter by sale percentage. For example, it says Fallout 3 and 4’s both had an all-time low of $5 and are currently on-sale for $6.59.
Tunic:
2D Zelda meets Dark Souls combat. Go in blind.
Wandersong:
A little bard must save the world! Has a Ted Lasso level of optimism.
Outer Wilds:
Space anthropology! Had so many “oh my god, WHAT” moments. Go in blind.
What Remains of Edith Finch:
A poignant walking sim about a cursed family.
Shadows Over Loathing:
Ridiculous gothic point-and-click set in the Jazz Age.
The Procession to Calvary:
Monty Python-style animatics in a medieval point-and-click comedy.
Superliminal:
Optical illusion-based puzzle game. If you like The Stanley Parable and Portal, I think you’ll like this.
Look up Decky Loader. It’s probably what you’re seeing with people using plugins on the Deck. I like using CSSLoader on it to change the Steam Deck’s theme and Animation Changer to change the startup animation. ProtonDB Badges is also useful for seeing how well a game will run on the Deck. It’s more comprehensive than the Steam Deck Verified label.