I love my Steam Deck. For a while, I used it every day as my primary gaming platform. It fit into my life better than a console ever could, gave me access to a wider (and often cheaper) library of PC games, and opened up a world of retro gaming. As long as my Steam Deck was charged and nearby, everything was great. But things changed so quickly.
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My brain started doing some stupid things when Valve announced the OLED Steam Console – though I wish other people thought the same thing so I could at least get some degree of comfort from the collective pain. I desperately want the OLED Console, a slightly improved version of the device that has made my gaming life better, but I can’t get over the price. There’s no getting around it. It makes more sense to stick with the console that works for me and buy a suitably improved version. Steam Deck 2 Later.
In retrospect, maybe I was wrong. You see, as much as I loved the Steam Deck and sang its praises to anyone I could hear, something shifted in my mind once the OLED model came out. Almost instantly, the device went from something I couldn’t live without to just another gaming handheld gathering dust. In fact, I Can Using more advanced equipment has made me not use my old equipment at all. I do say that is stupid.
This has been going on for 10 months now – and while my personal experience hasn’t deteriorated, my brain has made a very strange choice. It’s like I’m punishing myself for not keeping up with the latest technology. Given how much I loved the Deck before, investing in OLED was probably the right choice. Now I’m stuck between wanting to take this step and knowing that a proper successor is closer than before. Which brings me to the PS5 Pro.
I’ve already given you the pleasure of reading my various random thoughts on the PS5 Pro, why I don’t want to buy one, and at the same time, why I’m desperate to get one so I can spend a few years with the PS5 in the latter half of its lifespan. The pros and cons lists always seem to have a lot of cons, and yet, when I think about the Steam Deck, I’m torn. Will my PS5 suffer the same fate as my former love?
I can see my future, and it’s not pretty. As I sit down to play Until Dawn remastered on PS5, I read about how it’s enhanced for PS5 Pro. This is pure speculation on my part, but you say better ray tracing and much-improved image quality… hmm. Sounds good. Like a petulant child who throws a tantrum because his ice cream is smaller than his brother’s, throws it on the ground in protest, and then misses out entirely, I turn off my PS5. I sit there and sulk. A 42-year-old sulk. Ruining my own enjoyment of things because of intense jealousy. Rich people have become poor people, and I don’t like it.
Maybe I should just buy a PS5 Pro. Stop fretting over price and how it fits into the PS5 lifecycle and just buy it. It would stop me from worrying about a device I’ll probably only use a few times a month to check out reflections in GT7 and jump around in Astro Bot.
It’s definitely not worth it. Is it?
