Games on Surface Pro
The Microsft Surface Pro line seems to be popular with businesses and so each generation ends up in the used market at low prices. As of writing, a used Surface Pro 5 goes for around £140 and a used Surface Pro 7 is around £200. They're a relatively cheap way to try out the all-in-one experience.
I've recently been using a Surface Pro 5 in tablet mode to play and share some of the more casual games in my Steam library. Ones that don't make much sense to play at my desk or TV, ones that ideally support touchscreen controls, and ones that I don't want to play myself but others can play. So, I'll share my thoughts and experiences as I go.
Lower resolution
Surface Pros typically have high resolution displays. 2736x1824 at 200% scaling in my case. Of course, for games, this resolution is way too high. They'll struggle to run, warm up the device, and drain battery quickly. Being a 3:2 aspect ratio, there's no good default resolution to fallback to without letterboxing.
A way around this is to use Custom Resolution Utility (CRU). This lets you add custom resolutions to the display using EDID overrides.
After a lot of experimentation with various 3:2 resolutions, I went with 1368x912. It's exactly half the default resolution so it maintains the scaling and provides a consistent experience. On a 13 inch screen, games still look great too.
Lower framerate
While most games provide a way to cap framerates or enable vsync, not every game does. Excessive frame rates will cause the device to go warm and drain battery quickly. In general, I avoid playing games with heavy motion that can't reach 60 FPS. For the rest, I'm happy with a stable 30 FPS.
In these cases, RivaTuner Statistics Server (RTSS) lets us set a global framerate cap. More recent CPUs and GPUs provide official software with framerate features.
Linux support
As of writing, I don't recommend using Linux Surface if you're planning to play games on your device. There are too many caveats and specific features do not work, such as using EDID overrides to lower the resolution.
Touch-friendly games
Finding and knowing which games are touch friendly on Steam is a bit of a pain. There are games with proper touchscreen support and games that are playable with the touchscreen by simulating a left-click.
Steam has a "Touch-Friendly" store tag. This is useful but not 100% accurate. Publishers and the community might not use the tag properly leading to both false positives and negatives.
The "Touch-friendly games" Steam Curator provides a more human approach but relies on the curator finding and reviewing the game. There are also a bunch of "Surface Pro" curators, but they look abandoned.
PCGamingWiki has a "List of games that support touchscreen" page which is another good curated reference.
Combining these sources should provide good guidance around purchases. Besides, if a game doesn't work properly, there's always Steam's generous refund process.
List of games
These are my personal experiences trying various games on a Surface Pro 5.
Aces & Adventures
❌ Not playable on Surface Pro 5. Too demanding, low framerates.
Bloons TD 6
✅ Playable.
Cogs
✅ Playable. Fiddly touch controls. Touch and hold to turn the puzzle.
Faerie Solitaire Remastered
✅ Playable.
Glass Masquerade
✅ Playable. Fingers can make it hard to see the puzzle piece when dragging them.
Hidden Folks
✅ Playable. Increase screen resolution to see details while zoomed out.
LYNE
✅ Playable.
Monument Valley
✅ Playable.
Oh...Sir!! The Insult Simulator
✅ Playable.
PAC-MAN Championship Edition DX+
❌ Not playable. Uses an on-screen touch controller that feels unresponsive and generally bad. Should have used touch gestures.
PictoQuest
✅ Playable.
Pilgrims
✅ Playable.
Pixross
✅ Playable. Simulates mouse clicks so cannot zoom and mark.
Slay the Spire
✅ Playable. Fiddly touch controls. Need to enable touch mode in settings. Even then, still a bit fiddly.
Wordle
✅ Playable. Menus can feel unresponsive. No framerate cap so need to use an external cap.
World of Goo
✅ Playable. Fiddly touch controls.
Sticky Business
❌ Not playable. No touch controls.
Geometry Dash
❌ Not playable. Very high touch input delay.
Conclusion
Despite its aging hardware, the Surface Pro 5 is still great for general use and casual gaming. As the prices of newer models come down in the used market, Surface Pros will no doubt continue to be a solid choice.
Thanks for reading.