Stardew Valley led the reported Steam Deck playtime ranking for 2025, followed by Balatro and Hades II. The list’s two 2025 releases in the top ten were Hollow Knight: Silksong and Megabonk; most of the other places went to established favorites.
The reported top 10 Steam Deck games of 2025
The following order is reproduced by Steam Deck HQ and attributed to Valve’s chart. The report labels the period January 1–December 31, 2025.
- Stardew Valley
- Balatro
- Hades II
- Baldur’s Gate 3
- Hollow Knight: Silksong
- Hollow Knight
- Cyberpunk 2077
- Megabonk
- Hades
- Red Dead Redemption 2
Steam Deck HQ’s reproduced ranking places Hogwarts Legacy at 11th, ELDEN RING at 12th, and Vampire Survivors at 13th. Its full top 20 also includes The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition, Brotato, Slay the Spire, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, DAVE THE DIVER, The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, and Fallout 4.
Only two 2025 releases reached the top 10
PC Guide identifies Hollow Knight: Silksong and Megabonk as the two 2025 titles in the top ten. The rest of the list is a mix of older releases and sequels, with the original Hollow Knight alongside its newer follow-up.
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PC Guide reports that Hollow Knight climbed 25 positions after Silksong launched. That is a change in rank, not a measure of hours played. It also says 25 of the top 100 were brand-new additions to the list; that figure describes new entries to the ranking, not necessarily games released in 2025.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 placed 23rd according to PC Guide, which also reports that the game received Verified status after winning Game of the Year. These are separate facts: a chart position reflects reported popularity, while Verified is a compatibility label.
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Why familiar games keep showing up
The ranking’s shape suggests that Steam Deck play is not limited to new releases. Its leading positions include games with very different formats: the farm-and-life simulation of Stardew Valley, the card strategy of Balatro, the action roguelike of Hades II, and the role-playing adventure of Baldur’s Gate 3. Further down are long-running favorites such as Hades, Skyrim Special Edition, and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
That mix is consistent with the appeal of a portable gaming PC: players can return to shorter runs or ongoing saves, as well as spend time in large adventures. But the chart does not provide individual play-hour totals or player counts, so rank alone cannot show how much more one game was played than another or explain why it ranked where it did.
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How to read this ranking—and its dates
There is a discrepancy between the date windows in the two reports. Steam Deck HQ labels its reproduced list January 1–December 31, 2025. PC Guide describes the tracked period as January 3, 2025–January 2, 2026. Those windows are not identical, so the precise period depends on which report is being cited. Valve’s live Steam Charts page links to Best of 2025, but its accessible text does not preserve the historical Steam Deck ranking. The list order and date labels above therefore remain attributed to the dated reports rather than presented as a directly verifiable current Valve chart.
“Most played” is a popularity or play-activity ranking, not a sales chart, review ranking, or compatibility certificate. Valve separates top-played and top-selling charts, and it describes Steam Deck as a portable gaming PC. The annual list does not disclose the ranking’s calculation method in the cited reports, so it does not support claims about exact hours or users.
Rank #4
- Valve is entering the gaming console marketplace with the new Steam Deck, a console geared towards PC gamers. The Steam Deck can be docked to a monitor, and used as a PC, or docked to a TV.
- Players can play a huge variety of games at any time with the comfort of a console and the freedom of a PC. Not anti-glare screen.
- Like the name suggests, the Steam Deck will include upgraded 1TB storage, and will include a carrying case. A micro SD slot will also enable expanded storage.
- Valve partnered with AMD to create a specialized APU optimized for handheld gaming, and Valve says the chip will deliver performance to run AAA gaming titles.
- The Steam Deck is outfitted with a 7-inch touchscreen, and two trackpads under the control sticks that allow gamers to operate games never designed outside of mouse and keyboard capabilities.
Popularity does not mean Steam Deck Verified
Valve’s Steam Deck compatibility program assesses how games are expected to work on the handheld; it is separate from the popularity chart. Valve’s labels are:
- Verified: works great out of the box.
- Playable: may require user tweaking.
- Unsupported: currently not functional.
- Unknown: not yet checked.
Valve says compatibility ratings apply to both LCD and OLED Steam Deck models and that reviews are ongoing. A game’s rating may change as the review process continues or the game is updated. To check a particular title, look at its current Steam store listing or in your Deck library; do not infer its status from its place in this historical ranking.
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