The Windows ‚full screen experience‘ could be so much better if it copied the Steam Deck.
Xbox is in a bad place right now. To fix its flagging hardware sales, Xbox intends to eventually offer us a console that could potentially marry the PC’s versatility with a console’s easy-breezy nature.
Our first glimpse of this was with the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X handheld. Compared to the other small-scale Windows PC gaming devices released this year, it offers a better experience overall. But despite the “Xbox” branding, it’s still nowhere close to what you truly want from a console. Windows is still beat by the SteamOS experience championed by Valve if you’re looking for convenience and—hell—even performance.
If you boil down the console gaming experience, you’ll find it’s centered on simplicity. The console gamer wants to be able to sit down, grab their controller or handheld, press the power button, and have immediate access to all their games. Before the ROG Xbox Ally, Windows 11 handhelds were stuck in the mire of the desktop, where one would inevitably have to engage the touchscreen to access installers, delete unwanted popups, or change necessary settings. The Xbox Ally brought us the “full screen experience” (FSE), a version of Windows that balloons every app to the full width of the display. It also centered the Xbox app as your main hub for hitting up any of your game launchers or getting straight into your favorite titles.
For PC players, the FSE is an evolution of what they were already used to with Windows. For console players who have never tried PC gaming, it seems like a paper wrapper on a bloated pile of unnecessary apps. And still, Xbox is treating its new OS with the kind of exclusivity you expect for any of its consoles. The FSE is currently tied to the Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X. Microsoft has previously been unwilling to confirm when the experience would officially come to handhelds like the Lenovo Legion Go, MSI Claw, or the original ROG Ally and Ally X. Lenovo previously confirmed the handheld version of Windows would be officially available by spring on the Legion Go 2, and based on my own sources, that still seems to be the case. What’s more important in the meantime is how Microsoft can improve the experience. Weeks after the Xbox Ally launched, there’s a lot more work that needs doing.The Windows FSE needs more TLC
You can get an unofficial version of the FSE on third-party handhelds. It requires upgrading to the latest 25H2 update, downloading apps like Vivetool and hooking up a mouse and keyboard while you follow one of several online guides. I went through the process of installing it on the Legion Go 2. There, you have access to the same Game Bar options with a press of the left-side Legion L button, while the Legion R key still triggers the Quick Settings menu for adjusting device settings. It works, though with less finesse than the device with the extra Xbox button on the side.
