Steam Machine compatibility checks are here, though not every game on the store enjoys a rating

Games on Steam have already been enjoying the various shades of the Steam Deck Compatibility check mark for some time now. Well, now you can check a title’s compatibility on both the Steam Machine and SteamOS right there on its store page.

A few beats after the Steam Machine’s June release, you can now check whether Valve’s funky game box is up to the task of playing the depths of your backlog at a glance. On Steam, just click ‘learn more’ next to the Steam Deck compatibility rating for a brief breakdown of what works and what doesn’t across Valve’s various hardware and software platforms.

However, not all games enjoy a full Steam Machine compatibility rating; as spotted by Ars Technica, Black Myth: Wukong’s compatibility is still listed as unknown, accompanied by a message that says “Valve is still learning” about the 2024 game, and that it doesn’t “currently have further information regarding Steam Machine compatibility.” In the case of Wukong, this could be because the game is too GPU and/or CPU intensive, causing the title to fail to reach a minimum threshold of, say, FPS while in-play on Valve’s game box.

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Otherwise, the game is listed as running “successfully on SteamOS”. That means you’re not limited to the Steam Machine’s hardware specs (or indeed its disappointing price point or availability). You could instead opt to enjoy Wukong plus all the benefits of SteamOS on hardier hardware from someone other than Valve, such as the Lenovo Legion Go S.

Swapping to SteamOS on your home machine, for example, can come with its own share of drawbacks, however. For just one thing, Valve’s Linux-based OS is known to often not play well with the kernel-level anti-cheat systems you’ll increasingly find in competitive games nowadays.

A Steam Machine connected to a 55-inch gaming TV with the SteamOS interface on display

(Image credit: Future)

Anyway, Valve is apparently “still learning” about a number of games when it comes to Steam Machine compatibility, including but not limited to Dragon’s Dogma 2, Elden Ring Nightreign, Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, and Resident Evil Requiem. That said, a number of games that are just about ‘Playable’ on Valve’s handheld—such as 007: First Light—make the most of the Steam Machine’s more powerful hardware and get bumped up to ‘Verified’.

Personally, I’ve been jumping between much less graphically demanding titles. Level-based diorama builder Shanty Town enjoys ‘Verified’ status on both Steam Deck and Steam Machine, plus SteamOS compatibility. My other favourite this month has been Magical Princess (I feel like the title says it all), which instead enjoys the caveat-laden rating of ‘Playable’ on both the Steam Deck as well as the Steam Machine due to some text input and button glyph display shenanigans.

For now, you can’t filter store results via Steam Machine or SteamOS compatibility, though that feature will likely soon follow. After all, the Great on Frame category was recently introduced, likely heralding the Steam Frame’s imminent release. When that VR headset drops, we’ll potentially see a similar compatibility category arrive too.