I’m surprised noone mentioned xbox series S yet. It is really cheap (I got the certified refurbished version for 180€ and it looks and works like a new console). With the game pass you get a huge amount of games, including new games (Starfield, Avowed and Stalker 2 will be included on release in the pass) and also many games from the previous generations you might want to catch up on (Elder scrolls 3 to 5, Yakuza series, GTA5, Star Wars games, Persona series, Minecraft,…). If you’re willing to spend more, you could also get the series X, but personally I think it’s not worth the extra money because the higher performance doesn’t translate to more fun gaming (IMO). Larger memory is nice to have though.

I also have a steam deck and think it’s a great product, but being a handheld, it is a fundamentally different console with different advantages and disadvantages.

Concerning the games you asked about, I recommend Minecraft, Stray (buy on sale, it’s great but really short), Elder scrolls series and Life is strange if you’re looking for a beautiful story. Since you’re getting a steam deck, you might wanna check out Pokémon fan games and rom hacks if you’re a Pokémon fan. I find them to be even better than the originals. Ironic that I can easily play the Pokémon games I want on the steam deck, but would have to put in a lot of work to get them running on a Nintendo console.