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The Steam Deck gaming experience
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scaine Aug 30, 2021
Yeah, I know it's still months away, but I've been dreaming...

All the chat I hear on the Deck is how it's going to (or not going to) run the latest and greatest games. Things like Call of Duty, Battlefield, or intensive older games like Prey, Dying Light, or whatever.

That's not how I'm going to be using mine. I have a £1500+ PC for enjoying those kind of intense, mouse+kbd games. The experience I'll have on my Deck will be much closer to the experience I had with my original GBA, the PS Vita, or the DS.

So here's a short list of games that I think are going to completely rock on the Deck. Games I tend to shy away from playing at my desk, but I'd relish if I was out and about.

Here goes.

Strategy
Dream Gate
Slay the Spire
Hadean Tactics
Dreadlands
Griftlands
Invisible Inc.

Action
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
Hollow Knight
Salt & Sanctuary
Indivisible
art of Rally
Carrion

Puzzle / Tower Defence
while True: learn()
The Room series
The Kingdom Rush series
Legend of Keepers

Fun / Adventure
Carto
A Short Tale
Unexplored
Mana Spark
Children of Morta
The Steamworld series

I mean, you could make huge lists out of this stuff, but my point is that none of these games are super-demanding really, and that's kind of why I'm really looking forward to spending more time with them on the Deck, on my sofa.

There won't be enough hours in the day, I reckon!
CatKiller Aug 31, 2021
I've got loads of games in my backlog that I'm sure will be great to work through on the Deck. Invisible, Inc, in particular, I really liked the art style and setup, but the turn-based procgen didn't really click with me sat at my desktop, but I expect will work better when I'm on a comfy sofa. And loads of small-helping indie games. I think I'll also start Stardew Valley again on the Deck. The Long Dark I got as far as building my first fire, then fell into it and died, so I'll give that another go on the Deck.

Some games that are on my wishlist for playing on the Deck first are:
Dead Cells
Hollow Knight
art of rally
BallisticNG
Basingstoke
Bastion
Transistor
Silence
Sword of the Necromancer

So some crossover with your list.

I'll also be getting my little one his own copy of Minecraft, which he can play on my desktop and I can join in from the Deck.
gradyvuckovic Aug 31, 2021
I've been forming a collection on Steam of games I own which I think would play well on the Deck, this is what I have so far:

Skyrim
Orcs Must Die 2
Poker Night 2
Cuphead
Fall Guys (if EAC is working)
Blur (old racing game)
Crash Bandicoot (both remake and emulated)
Darksiders 3
Tony Hawk Pro Skater HD
Cluster Truck
My Friend Pedro
Spyro
Sam & Max Save The World
Life Goes On, Done to Death
Octodad
Limbo
Inside
Plants vs Zombies
7th Sector
Stardew Valley
Snake Pass
Jazzpunk
Short Hike
Remember Me
Pulse
Bloodstained Ritual of the Night
Roombo First Blood
Absolute Drift
Sparklite
Enter the Gungeon
Bully
Transistor
Yooka Laylee
Firewatch
Darksiders 2
Escapists 2
Feather
Felix the Reaper
Little Nightmares
Talos Principle
Witcher 2
The Witness
Nier: Automata

Lots of indie games, controller friendly games, low spec games, older games, etc.
damarrin Aug 31, 2021
I think point and clicks will be good, too, with the touchpad(s). Any pixel art games should look excellent.
Ehvis Aug 31, 2021
I have no idea how it will turn out. I don't play 3d games with controllers and never have with the Steam controller either (never needed to). Something I want to try for sure are the Coma games since they don't have key rebinding, but should be very nice for a device like this. Apart from that, I'll see when it finally comes.
Liam Dawe Aug 31, 2021
I've been thinking a similar thing. I highly doubt I'm doing to use it for AAA/AA stuff at 30FPS. I'm personally much more likely to play a lot of the same things you've already said. Honestly can't wait. Being able to chill on the sofa with some quality games or in bed? Yep yep yep - want.
eldaking Aug 31, 2021
Well, I don't play many heavy AAA games so I'm not worried about performance. Also nothing fast-paced or online so small hiccups are nothing worrying.

But I play a bunch of big strategy games, with small text, lots of buttons and dense maps that are usually very well suited to play with keyboard and mouse sitting at a desk. I very much hope those will work well with the deck, I'd love to be able to play them in more comfortable settings and would likely be the main use for the device.

But the biggest improvement would be for those games I play with a controller (or would like to): metroidvanias like Dead Cells and Monster Sanctuary, simple RPGs like Stardew Valley or Terraria, or those RPGs I never finished like Shadowrun or Pillars of Eternity, tactical games like XCOM (stretching it a bit) and Invisible Inc. And also, various emulators... Those aren't that good with a laptop IMO, and would be just more viable in a handheld.

Also, what I consider casual games. Things like digital boardgames, tower defense, match-3, sudoku, some roguelites (slay the spire, demoncrawl, loop hero). Those games are good for when I'm in the PC and take a break, but also good for playing a short match without having to sit down in front of the computer.
scaine Aug 31, 2021
It honestly sounds like we're all mostly on the same page with this stuff. I just kept hearing people focus on the performance and whether it's going to play the latest and greatest. That's really not why I bought this device. The emulation possibilities are another angle too - provided you can land the ROMs, there's a whole lot of nostalgia waiting for you in a device like this!
Salvatos Aug 31, 2021
I don't have much of a backlog left and it's mostly point-and-clicks, which I may prefer to enjoy on a larger screen, but if I do buy a Deck I can see myself replaying Owlboy on it for sure for the classic handheld feel (my last handheld was a GBA with a single Mario game :P ).

I have a few roguelites that I might play more too if I can do it on my back:
Hand of Fate
Curse of the Dead Gods
Nowhere Prophet

I wonder how well the controls would get picked up by Flash or HTML5 games.
scaine Aug 31, 2021
Quoting: SalvatosNowhere Prophet

Aw, good shout. I'd like to spend some more time with that, definitely. That's also jogged my mind and I'd also like to spend a bit more time with Wildermyth and Fort Triumph, both of which impressed me when they arrived, but got overlooked because I was streaming The Forest on the GOL channel. Then I got my VR set and that was that.
CatKiller Sep 1, 2021
Quoting: gradyvuckovicThe Witness
The Witness isn't very good, btw. It's pretty, but the puzzles kinda suck, and the whole game is trolling.

The Talos Principle is the bomb, though.
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