The Steam Deck now helps recreation transfers in your native community, permitting you to repeat put in video games out of your PC to the Steam Deck with out having to re-download them over the web. This function, which comes bundled with the Steam Deck beta replace launched final week, ought to assist scale back the quantity of web information you employ, particularly if you end up continuously redownloading hefty video games to your handheld.

To realize entry to the function, you first must allow Steam’s beta on each the Steam Deck and the Steam consumer in your PC. From there, choose the sport you wish to set up in your Steam Deck, and Steam will robotically test to see if any PC in your community already has the sport. If it finds one, Steam will start the sport switch course of.

It’s value noting that this function applies to PCs on the identical community as properly, so that you’re free to switch already-installed Steam video games to your PC from every other PCs in your family. Steam goes into extra element about the way it all works on its assist web page, and notes if the units lose connection throughout the switch course of “or no extra content material is offered,” Steam will obtain the remainder of the sport from its servers as an alternative.

You too can alter settings that dictate which PCs your Steam Deck (or PC) can obtain from. Whereas Steam units it to “Solely my very own units by default,” which implies you possibly can solely switch video games from the units you’re logged into Steam with, you too can set it to “Solely my mates” and “Any person” if you wish to get video games from a buddy or member of the family’s PC. Sadly, Steam doesn’t assist recreation transfers originating from the Steam Deck or PCs in Large Image mode simply but.

I don’t have a Steam Deck (but), however I actually want I had this function after I downloaded Elden Ring from my companion’s shared Steam library. Both approach, I’m joyful it’s right here now, because it’s good to have one thing that helps me keep under my web information cap for the month, even when it does make only a slight affect.