The Steam Deck is a fairly slick-looking device. While it’s not the most lithe, it’s visually fairly appealing, and most people are happy to keep it as is. Then, there are those who go beyond to create their own ideal cases and colour schemes. Inspiration for these looks can come from a lot of places, but given that this is a Valve device, it’s only right that one of the coolest so far is based on Portal.
Portal, just in case you don’t know, is one of the coolest puzzle games of all time. It features some very angry robots, cakes that aren’t real, and, most importantly, reality-warping portals. By placing them on walls, ceilings, and floors, you catapult or teleport yourself to bypass all the hazards. There are two games in the series, and both are well worth your time. Unsurprisingly, they even work flawlessly on Steam Deck.
Since the portals in the game are blue and orange, Redditer toksreddit took inspiration for their shell swap. The case is a classic transparent one, which takes me back ye olde GBA days. Sadly, many of you won’t remember. If that makes you feel old, I’m sorry, but if it helps, I feel old too, and misery loves company. The buttons are then split, with one side metallic blue and the other metallic gold. Orange would be the aim, but the chosen storefront, ExtremeRate, doesn’t have a metallic option in that colour.
It looks incredible either way though, and has us wondering what other games would make for good crossovers. It’d make a lot of sense for Valve to introduce an official Portal model of the Steam Deck, and it could also go for Team Fortress, Half-Life, Counter-Strike, or Left 4 Dead models as well.
We could easily see games like Baldur’s Gate getting involved with a classic D&D dice theme. Even something like Helldivers 2 releasing a version that’s all about Super Earth could work. There’s definitely a market for official shells or clip-ons, and it’s weird we don’t have more. At least we’ve got all these wonderful modders, though; they’ll carry us forward for now.