I was in a similar situation (except the part where a family member was offering to help pay towards it lol) I have been gaming for 35+ years but for the last 5-10 not so much. I have every console from my entire life from my first Atari, NES, SNES, N64, GameCube, Wii, Switch ,Gameboy color, DSi, 3ds xl, Genesis, Sega CD, NOMAD, Game gear, Dreamcast, PS1-3, Xbox, 360, and One S. Near the launch of Series X/S and PS5 I had pretty much zero interest in buying a next gen console. Then I heard about the SD did more than a little research and decided to buy one! And I can say that the Steam Deck has rejuvenated my desire to play again. And it’s not just about portability or its hardware or OS. The best feature is the Steam Deck community! I’ve never been so fortunate to have so many tools, mods, software, and tech support for a device I’ve owned. (And I’ve had quite a few) Not to mention Valve consistently rolling out support as well. In conclusion you can’t go wrong with “Getting a Deck” .

I took advantage of some bundles:

Arkham Asylum, City, Knight and Origins

South Park tsot and tfbw

Metro Exodus and Metro Exodus PC Enhanced

Mafia Definitive Edition

Spent maybe 50$ for all of them