Valve has put out a small upgrade for the Steam Deck in the Beta and Preview channels that seeks to improve the offline mode. This is a much needed fix.

We've seen quite a few complaints about issues with offline mode and when the Steam Deck just doesn't have an internet connection, so it's nice to see Valve put out some adjustments.

Valve also said they're "continuing to look at making the user experience of playing games without an Internet connection a better, more intuitive experience".

The problem of course is that Steam is an online store, and until now they haven't really needed to do all that much with offline mode since they largely assumed people were always online. With the Steam Deck though, that's not the case, it's a handheld designed to be taken with you so it's another older area of Steam to need some effort.