The long term success of No Man’s Sky continues to impress as, following its latest Worlds Part 1 update, it has become the fifth most played game by Steam Deck users. The Steam Deck top played chart for July 2024 shows the game has risen a massive 32 places compared to June 2024, and the latest weekly chart changes suggest it even peaked as high as number three before dropping back to number four for this week.
The Steam Deck top played chart is a great way for gamers not only to see how the fate of any given game is going but also to see what new or old games might be worth a try on their own best gaming handheld. The top ten is dominated by RPG type games that lend themselves to slow casual exploration – rather than lightning fast interactions – and No Man’s Sky perfectly falls into that category.
After its infamous rocky start where gamers were left furious with the initial state of the game – No Man’s Sky has steadily become a well-liked game with a steady player base. However, it’s only following its most recent update that its place on the Steam Deck charts has really skyrocketed.
The No Man’s Sky Update 5.0 – Worlds (Part 1) – brings with it a “complete refresh of the universe,” including a new weather system, with cloud systems and wind, the latter of which interacts with the new water/sea system to produce dynamic waves and produce realistic-looking reflections.
New creatures are also included and there’s a “combat focused expedition” making for more of an inherent challenge aspect to the game, along with its exploration features. Visually, the game is worlds apart from its slightly drab, samey and empty look when the game first launched.
Elsewhere on the Steam Deck charts, the biggest drop this month is by Fallout 4, with seemingly the TV show-based hype for that series steadily appearing to tail off. Hades II also saw a big drop of 11 places down to 15th position while GTA 5 saw one of the biggest gains in the top 20, climbing four places to number eight on the chart.
Have you been firing up these games on your Steam Deck LCD or Steam Deck OLED? Or perhaps you use these charts as a great guide for which games to play on your Asus ROG Ally. Meanwhile, are there any handheld gems that you play that haven’t made it onto the top 10 or top 100? If so, let us know via our Facebook or X pages. We’d love to hear your recommendations.
In the mean time, our top picks for Steam Deck gaming can be found in our best Steam Deck games guide, where we list over 25 of the best games to play on your handheld.
