For most of my childhood I only had a PC, and I was only used to using keyboard and mouse, controllers just felt less precise and harder for me. But at some point about 10ish years ago I got a controller just for Rocket League. Once I actually got comfortable with it I started using it for more games, eventually I came to prefer it over keyboard and mouse in pretty much anything that wasn’t in first person or some sort of strategy game with a lot of menus.
Never felt tempted to get a console, even during the era of exclusives I didn’t feel like I was missing out on anything. But when the steam deck came out I decided to get one, always been a bit of a valve fanboy and it kind of seemed like a PCish console in a way, basically a handheld PC (Though I never had any ambitions of using it for anything other than gaming). And I’ve been enjoying it way more than anticipated, especially for certain games I don’t ever wanna go back to playing on PC even with a controller. Most roguelites, metroidvanias and platformers pretty much feel like they were made for handheld, just using a controller with a screen (console or PC) can’t compare at all.
The best explanation I can come up with is that the screen is right there between your thumbs, it feels so tactile. It makes the controls feel more direct somehow, I guess it might have something to do with the fact that you can actually see your fingers while you play as well. I play way better, especially for fast paced or precise games.
Right now I’m revisiting Celeste a bit to see if I can beat some B side levels that I was struggling a few months ago, really determined to get actually good at this game this time around. Before that I played through Nine Sols, really hard but solid game, the combat especially felt great. I also have Croak on my radar, I tried out the demo a bit and it feels really nice, very smooth movement. It's a platformer with hand drawn graphics kind of like Cuphead but a more modern cartoon style, definitely gonna check that out when it comes out.
I still go back to the PC but pretty much only when my friends wanna play something multiplayer that I really can’t play well on the deck, mostly Counter Strike, Dota 2 and Deadlock. Other than that I stay away from my desk aside from work. I have a cozy couch setup and a nice little enclosed balcony with a hammock I sometimes use. It also feels so nice when I visit my family (they live 4 hours away) and I can just bring the deck for some gaming before bed.
I don’t even know if I would have been into gaming at this point in my life if I never got a steam deck. I really feel chained to my desk sometimes with how much work I need to do when we have some sort of crunch time, feels nice that my gaming hobby is separate from this now.