Steam Deck

I just started Bioshock 2 Remastered. It runs surprisingly well.

Just finished up Assassin's Creed 2 - my all-time favorite game but first time playing since I had my Xbox 360. I remembered the free-running/parkour being a bit finicky but this time around it was just infuriating. Also had a hard time with some of the controls being bound correctly (navigating the map being the worst offender). I still recommend the game because the campaign, the modern day story, and the historical conspiracies sub-plot are just too good IMO. I just also found a good chunk of my time spent yelling at Ezio to jump where I wanted him to go.

Started up Dinkum for some casual play - just have an hour or so played but seems to be good so far. Not sure how much I'll play of it - I get kind of bored with this style of game. Looking for some pointers with getting started. (Same thing happened with Stardew Valley for me)

Spyro Reignited has been really fun to pickup for quick play sessions. I do get more stutters than I'd expect on the Deck when loading levels. Think my graphics are all set to medium so prob need to tinker to get those smoothed out. Definitely recommend this game though.

Tales of Phantasia, Far Cry 4, Control, Divinity 2, Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster.

Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster is like, the 4th version of FF1 I've played and the most polished. Would definitely recommend.

I like the setting of Far Cry 4, but I think I was more engaged by Far Cry 3's story.

Divinity 2 is way different than any other game in the series, being a 3rd person action RPG. It's ok. Nothing to write home about.

Tales of Phantasia I'm playing the PS1 version translated from Japanese. It's the first game in the long running Tails series, and is absolutely wonderful. I'm near the end and just found out that the best version is the PSP copy that comes bundled in Tales of Phantasia X Nakiri Dungeon, the sequel, and has full voice acting(albeit in Japanese). The only version that made it to the states is the far inferior GBA version, which I own a physical copy of, but I am currently WAY further than I ever got on GBA.

Control is absolutely one of the best games I've ever played. Thr rich lore, superb game play, relatively glitch free, full sense of progression, metroidvania-like in its design, plenty of side quests, diversions, and collectibles. 10/10

I just finished Tohu, Kraken academy and Killer Paradise.

Killer Paradise was really cool. All success unlocked.

Kraken Academy was good but the loop is a little boring and the plot easy to guess. Some jokes were funny. All success unlocked too.

Tohu was good despite easy puzzle and very short.

I’m going for Remnant from the ashes, and trying to push a little more into ghostwire tokyo, and i’m tempted by Disco Elysium on the Humble Choice this month.

Also i will try grime, and waiting to be with friends to coop on fury unleashed.

So, I got some games from the sale and slowly started playing them a little...

Slay the Spire seems to be quite liked, but it's not really my thing. Beat the game with three of the four characters I have access to and it still hasn't really "clicked". If somebody could explain to me what makes this game so (supposedly) great, maybe I'd be able to appreciate it a little better?

I also got Redout 2, because I really enjoyed the first part and thought the second should be at least as good. So far I like it, seems like a graphics upgrade and some gameplay enhancements from the first part. However, with ai assist disabled, the difficulty curve seems to be brutally steep. Also, even though I have only played like 8 tutorials and 3 campaign tracks so far, I have already had some issues with clipping through the course after jumps, which might turn into a rather annoying trait if it remains an issue. Still, would recommend. It's a beautiful antigravity racer with terrific "car" mechanics.

Apart from that, I got the gog version of Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri running (although the videos don't work). It's kind of my comfort game which I keep returning to.

Just finished Lil Gator Game which was such a charming little game. The writing was great and the achievements were even painless to wrap up after I rolled credits. Super cute and cozy, do recommend.

Otherwise, still chugging along on Octopath Traveler II which is a big improvement over the first game imo. Between a willingness to play with the camera angles, more flexible story structures, and some good QOL, this is definitely a much more enjoyable experience for me than the first.

Stardew Valley and Halls of Torment

I got the Deck from Summer Sale and since then I've been playing:

• Horizon Zero Dawn
  • Been waiting to play this one for years, but haven't had Playstation since PS2 or proper desktop PC in years. SD fulfilled all my expectations, never getting a desktop PC anymore!
• Halls of Torment
  • Enjoyed Vampire Survivors on Xbox, enjoying this one
• Hogwarts Legacy
  • Seems really "meh", so played only couple of hours.

Thps3 and pikmin 3.

Although I'm likely to buy baldursg gate 3 in a couple days once I've heard how it holds up

Control, after finishing quantum break and Alan wake before.

Only just got my Deck. Still in the process of doing upgrades and mods. But while I have been testing my overclock and cooling mods and whatnot, I have put a few hours into Elden Ring and it's awesome on the Deck. The load times are insanely fast compared to my actual high-end gaming laptop. Looking forward to starting a new save on the Deck, after I have everything setup the way I want it. Waiting on a 2tb ssd to replace the 1tb that I just put in the a few days ago. Need to get that swap done before I can finish the cooling mod.

I've also put a couple of hours into the Demon Slayer game while testing. That game runs at a locked 60 fps, and plays amazingly.

Evoland II

Been playing a bit of Close Combat 3: The Russian Front. Picked it up from the summer sale and I've been wanting to try this series for as long as I've known about it (I think I read about CC2 in a gaming mag when it was new). Fun game but not the easiest to get running and nobody seems to be playing the games in this series with Deck of even a controller so I didn't really find any controller mapping for it. WNot a huge issue since the game is fairly easy to control even with just a mouse.

I tend to play lots of strategy games and such that usually rely on the mouse quite a bit, the deck is such a great device for this use case.

High on Life, runs ok on medium to high settings locked at 30 FPS, definitely enjoyable

High on Life!

AC Odyssey

Skul The Hero Slayer Horizon Turbo Chase

With the release of Book of Hours just around the corner, I dug out Cultist Simulator again. It runs well enough on the Steam Deck, but it needs mouse input (-> touchpads), and sometimes it flickers (this seems to be related to autosaves).

Overall it works well enough on the Deck so that it's fun to play. The flickering is annoying though.

darkest dungeon, mechanicus, the dishonnered series, witcher, ff7 crisis remaster, smash bros, random pokemon hacks, deus ex hr

I did limbo, guacemelee, inside. I started a cyberpunk game too, but switched to platform then.

Emulating Final Fantasy X. It plays really well, especially with save states and 2x speed.

It's been mostly Diablo 4 for me, but I'm also playing a ton of Picross via Yuzu. While I own these games on Switch, I really much more prefer the feel of Steam Deck in my hands.

Working my way through the first few Resident Evil games. Currently playing the second remake one.

I got mine recently and have been playing a little bit of a lot of different stuff, but the thing I've put the most hours into has been Midnight Suns. I did not expect a Marvel game to my new favorite turn-based tactics deckbuilder, lol.

The stupid open world collectible part blows chunks, but the actual core gameplay is shockingly fun, if not perfectly tuned the way some deckbuilders are. The extremely weird lightweight high school dating sim / bioware relationship management aspect is very odd but produces some extremely funny interactions at times.

Cities Skylines cause I'm hyped for C:S2. Also started and finished Layers of Fear 2, great game!

Horizon Zero Dawn, Super Hexagon and Hollow Knight. I tend to play Hollow Knight more often because Horizon Zero Dawn really drains the battery.

I just played Spider-Man Remastered. Had a blast. Thought I might get motion sick swinging around, but it wasn't an issue at all.

Finished The Last of Us Part 1 today. Now working on my Animal Crossing island 🏝️

I’ve been playing a handful of games:

• Demon’s Tilt: an excellent pinball game that runs great on the Deck. Also, the pixel art is very nice.

• Hades: a great roguelike, finishing the last few side quests now.

• Void Scrappers: a fun little survivors-like. Cheap and addictive.

• Cassette Beasts: similar to Pokémon, if Pokémon had actually innovated in the last few years. Awesome mechanics, and all the battles are doubles matches.

Just finished up Diablo 4 and now I'm playing Dave the Diver.

The Last Epoch, Pacer and Legend Bowl.