(Hey, Quade/Andreas . . . hope all is well.)
A lot of us have been to the Steens. It's a fine/recommended place to go. Not much on the way to anything but lots of low-key stuff to do and see once you get to the area. And the Steens can be combined with investigation of the Owyhees and the Alvord and/or Black Rock Desert to provide enough substance for an impressive expedition-type trip
I posted one of the Portals's pithier trip reports, with a few pretty pictures, here:
https://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/malheur-steens-lakeview-or-spring-trip.61341/
but the forum has some others spread around, I'm pretty sure.
It's a pretty weather-dependent place to go, with late spring being about the best. In normal years, the snow hangs on at the highest points but the roads will be good. Summer is often uncomfortably hot, winter is dark and snowy. Mid-to-late September through early-to-mid October is generally good, too, though I enjoy having the extra daylight you get in late spring.
The Steen's trip also marked the high point for my Samurai Class A Motorhome, an idea which didn't exactly catch on,
https://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/samurai-motorhome-build-thread.61580/
and which wouldn't be mentioned except that the contrast with Trucky McTruckface strikes me as amusing as it gets in overlanding.