

No, it took time to get Proton to where it is now. If it was released together with the Steam Deck, it just wouldn’t have had as much game support. Proton already existing also made the SD that much more trustworthy. Proton’s initial release was in 2018
I enjoyed it, but not more than the original. From what I remember, which is not as much as I thought, it became a bit of a slog for me either midway through or towards the end, which didn’t really have a pay off like the first eps of the original did.