‘Black Myth: Wukong’ Claims #1 Spot Without Valve’s Stamp Of Approval

Remember those golden “Official Nintendo Seal of Quality” stickers that used to adorn NES and SNES games? Accompanying game manuals contained a short explanation, suggesting gamers should “always look for this seal when buying games and accessories to ensure complete compatibility with your Nintendo product.” That sentiment is remarkably similar to Valve’s Deck Verified program for Steam Deck, lending some peace of mind to gamers considering plunking down cash for a game to enjoy on their Deck. Black Myth: Wukong hasn’t received that coveted green checkmark — or any Deck Verified status at all — from Valve.

However, a complete lack of Deck Verified status hasn’t stopped the new don’t-call-it-a-Soulslike action RPG from developer Game Science — from rushing to the very top of the “Steam Deck Top Played” chart this week, dethroning games like Elden Ring and Stardew Valley.

What’s remarkable about this is that Black Myth: Wukong is the only game in the top 8 most played Deck games that doesn’t have that shiny green checkmark. And it’s the only title currently in the top 61 most played Deck games not to be designated as having some sort of compatibility, whether that’s Verified or Playable.

The game is also pretty demanding, listing an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 6GB or AMD Radeon RX 580 8GB graphics card as its minimum requirement — and that was tested by the developers with some type of image upscaling enabled. The Steam Deck, at least on paper, has slightly less raw compute power than those GPUs. Yet it remains a mighty capable handheld gaming PC.

I suppose it’s a testament to the massive popularity Black Myth: Wukong is currently enjoying. As I’m writing this, it currently has 2,229,858 people playing concurrently on Steam. And it’s sporting an “Overwhelming Positive” rating based on a whopping 245,000 reviews.

Still, with only a handful of Steam Deck ratings for the game at ProtonDB.com, demanding hardwarerequirements, and no Deck Verified status to speak of, it’s a bit of a gamble to fork over $60 to play it on Steam Deck. Granted, Valve has a very consumer-friendly refund policy which negates some of the risk.

This all suggests that Valve’s Deck Verified program may not carry as much weight as it did during Steam Deck’s first year or so. As I keep saying, the conversation around gaming on Linux has changed significantly thanks to Proton and Steam Deck. I honestly don’t believe the majority of gamers are even questioning whether or not the Deck can run games anymore. Rather, they’re asking “how well does it run?”

Forbes‘Final Fantasy 16’ Has Some Problems On Steam Deck, ROG AllyBy Jason Evangelho

On that note, something tells me I won’t be writing a similar article when Final Fantasy XVI lands on Steam next month…