Bazzite delivers the SteamOS experience Windows handhelds need – and it's terrific

Every time we review a Windows PC gaming handheld, the inadequacies of Microsoft’s OS just can’t be ignored, but what if Steam OS could run on systems like the popular Asus ROG Ally? That’s the dream for a lot of players and while Valve has made encouraging noises about expanding its OS to run on other handhelds, there is a free solution you can try now. Bazzite offers Linux builds similar to SteamOS for popular Windows handhelds, providing the pick-up-and-play ease of the Steam Deck in combination with the power of AMD’s fastest mobile chips. So is this solution as seamless as it seems? What’s the install process like? And can it match Windows performance?

My overall impressions of Bazzite are very positive. This is more or less exactly what you’d expect out of a ROG Ally running SteamOS natively. The interface is almost identical to SteamOS, and operates with a similar level of responsiveness and general polish. You get the same console-centric interface, with smooth controller navigation and actual working suspend/resume functionality – something Windows struggles with. It’s also remarkably stable – about as stable as SteamOS on my Decks.

For those who don’t have experience with SteamOS, imagine an operating system with the Steam Big Picture mode front and center, and you’ll have a decent impression of how it functions. Technically, Bazzite is based on a different version of Linux – Fedora and not Arch Linux – but you’d be hard pressed to tell the difference in typical use. In fact, Bazzite’s interface is so similar to SteamOS that it’s a lot faster to outline the ways in which they differ than the ways in which they are the same. One difference is that there’s a new menu to control certain ROG Ally-specific features, like the various TDP modes and lighting options, which are accessible by pressing the right back button. I’d say it’s superior to Asus’ own options here, as configuring the lighting requires entering the actual Armoury Crate app on Windows.

I could go through specific areas where I’ve encountered the occasional bit of bugginess but the Universal Blue team – the makers of Bazzite – have addressed a lot of them since I first started work on this project back in August. There are some remaining quirks, like how the menus can be slightly slower to respond on Bazzite, along with some shared issues between Bazzite and SteamOS, like how the audio slider misbehaves. In general, expecting the operating system to be about as fast – and about as convenient – as SteamOS is on Steam Deck is a reasonable assumption.