Lenovo has announced a refreshed Legion Go handheld PC with a new, more ergonomic design, as well as support for SteamOS, the operating system of the Steam Deck. It’s the first third-party gaming handheld to support this system natively.
As announced by Valve, it’s providing ample support to Lenovo, and it’s also working on overall system compatibility to ensure other handhelds will be able to better use SteamOS in future. The team will be shipping a beta of Steam OS ahead of the Legion Go S shipping, so that “users can download and test this themselves” on other devices.
Valve has also confirmed that while the Lenovo Legion Go S will have a “Powered by SteamOS” variant, users will still be able to “go to desktop mode and install other game launchers and software.” SteamOS is simply being offered as a streamlined interface to allow players to access their games via Steam. (There will also be Windows 11-powered Legion Go S variants.)
To date, the biggest challenge with non-Steam Deck gaming handhelds has been appropriate UIs. With most of these handhelds running off Windows, controls can be finicky and unsuitable. The Steam Deck “difference” is that SteamOS provides a clean, sleek, and approachable layout for playing games, with its ease of use contributing to the prestige of the console. In that regard, it’s great to see new SteamOS-based devices on the menu.
Read: Steam Deck OLED review – An Australian perspective
In previews at CES 2025, Lenovo has also shown off a range of other features that indicate the Lenovo Legion Go S will be a significant leap up from its predecessor handheld. In our review of this device in 2023, we called the Lenovo Legion Go a bright new contender in the handheld gaming sphere, but one held back by clunky design and too many layered interfaces.
“It feels like a first draft of a much better, more robust console,” we wrote. “So many of its ideas are brilliant, and it would be unfair to discount the console entirely at this early stage … In essence, the Lenovo Legion Go is a device with potential – some of which remains unrealised. With tweaks to its chassis, software, and performance, it could be a great handheld gaming console.”
Many of our initial complaints about this device appear to be addressed in the design and functionality of the Lenovo Legion Go S. The controls are now built-in, rather than detachable. The console appears smaller and less bulky. At the same time, it retains its impressively large screen, and its AMD Ryzen Z2 Go / AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme CPUs should guarantee power and strong performance.
In the handheld gaming race, and with that all-important SteamOS support, the Lenovo Legion Go S is certainly a gaming handheld you should watch. As announced, the Legion Go S model powered by SteamOS will launch around May 2025. (The Windows 11 variant will launch from January 2025.)
There is also an improved version of the original Lenovo Legion Go on the way, with this featuring a big OLED display, as well as “up to double the RAM compared to [the] previous generation, and a bigger battery.” Stay tuned for more on these upcoming handheld gaming devices.
