I’ve had an Xbox Series S, which I affectionately call Baby Xbox, since launch day. And yet I almost never play any games on it, compared to my other devices. Why? Because until recently I didn’t have the option to stream Xbox games to my Steam Deck. Now, thanks to a little app called XBPlaywhich costs $7 but is worth every penny, I’ll finally be running my Xbox just as often as my PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
Let me explain: I just love playing video games in handheld mode. Sure, I have two computer monitors and an impressive TV, but gaming on a laptop has huge benefits – namely, it allows me to play games and watch TV in the background. (Like a less crazy version of the three-TV lifestyle.) Especially when it’s a huge RPG with lots of little side quests, e.g. Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth on PlayStation 5, I find it much easier to complete and enjoy a game when I can play through part of it on Steam Deck.
Getting PS5 Remote Play to work properly on the device was a huge challenge; this requires the apply of a tool called Chiakiwhich I only understood after reading many threads on Reddit and watching many tutorial videos on YouTube. Final result? Still worth it. I apply PS5 Remote Play on my Steam Deck all the time – especially for immense RPG games.
I recently got it Metaphor: ReFantazio for Xbox, which started off well with me playing on the massive screen. However, I soon realized that this massive (but delightful) RPG would be so much better if I could get in a few play sessions in handheld mode. I remembered how annoying it was to have PS5 Remote Play working on my Steam Deck and figured I’d have to go through a similar problem this time.
NO. Even close! There’s a $7 app available on the Steam store right now called XBPlay and man, it just works. I can’t believe how well it works and how amazing it is Metaphor: ReFantazio looks like on my Steam. Configuring XBPlay took maybe five minutes at most. The hardest part was that Steam didn’t include XBPlay in my game library, so after purchasing it, I had to manually search for it on my Steam Deck and create a shortcut to it so I could easily find it in the future.
Since installing XBPlay, I’ve been converting everyone I know who owns an Xbox console about it. At this point I apply it so much that I have to shout it from the rooftops (which means, post about it on Polygon dot com). If you have an Xbox console and Steam, you must purchase this app. Don’t delay.
