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Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake is a fantastic re-imagining of one of the best entries in the Dragon Quest series, even if it misses some quality-of-life improvements I would have loved to see. The game is drop-dead gorgeous and has a solid gameplay loop that I enjoyed. The extra features to speed up battles and automatically let your team fight helps with late-game grinding, and the vocation system is a joy to play around with. The new content is also a nice touch, and I particularly enjoyed playing with the new Monster Tamer vocation. However, there are some little nuisances here and there that I wish were touched on. Some of the text can take a long time to read, with some unnecessary pauses, which is in stark contrast to how fast-paced other parts of the game are, and it ends up feeling like a nuisance. It's small in the grand scheme, but it happens in almost every battle or whenever you need to save, and many other JRPGs go a lot faster when doing something similar. However, Dragon Quest 3 is a joy to play on the Steam Deck. The small compromises don't hinder the performance and playability of the Steam Deck, and it deserves that Verified badge it has. Regardless of how you play it, whether you want better battery life or 60 FPS, it will be wonderful no matter what.
Had this game debuted in 2024, this would likely win my Game Of The Year award. Even when not on sale, its base price of $17.99 is a steal for the quality of what’s on offer. There have been a few minor bugs, but these were so infrequent that they were barely worth mentioning. Chilling, brilliant, and disturbing, Slay The Princess is in its best condition yet with the arrival of the Pristine Cut.
Metaphor: ReFantazio is a step forward for ATLUS, of which I am a huge fan. The story and characters are both fantastic and engaging, while the combat and the new changes from them are wonderful. I love the entire archetype system and the new fantasy world that they built. It still has the deep story and meaning behind it that we have come to know from the Persona series, but with a new fantasy angle that I dig. There are a couple of areas that feel a bit monochrome or textures that don't look amazing, and I do wish getting around was a bit easier, but these criticisms are far few compared to just how enjoyable the game is.
came away from CLICKOLDING with mixed feelings. The atmosphere of the game excelled in keeping me unsettled, to the point I didn’t care how repetitive the clicking became. That is the whole point of CLICKOLDING, after all. For $3, it is hard to argue against trying the game at that price. The technical problems I encountered left a sour taste in my mouth. While it is certainly playable on the Steam Deck, the lack of accessibility options and settings brings down the experience for me.
Slitterhead is a mixed bag at times, but it is an intriguing and enjoyable time for the most part. The combat feels great and utilizing abilities, regular attacks, deflecting, and swapping bodies on the fly makes for a very rewarding experience. The story itself is wonderful, and the visuals exemplify the horrific nature of these monsters and how they form. It can feel a bit stiff at times, and I wasn't a fan of how the backstory was told, but it's still a great time that feels unique against the current lineup of horror games. It is hit or miss on the Steam Deck in some areas, but it will hold for the most part. It feels great on the portable screen, especially with HDR support. Overall, this is a wonderful experience, and I highly recommend it!
Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven is one of my favorite JRPGs I have played in recent years. The wonderful gameplay mechanics and storytelling that feel unconventional and non-linear succeed in creating a distinctive experience that can't be easily found anywhere else. I love that the decisions you make impact each aspect of the game, and the Inheritance mechanic is a cool way to change up your playstyle throughout the game and progress the narrative. It won't appeal to everybody, and I didn't feel that invested in the characters, but the pros heavily outweighed the cons. I am also so pleased that playing on the Steam Deck works so well. It's a ton of fun, runs extremely well, and is such a joy. This is easily the best way to play, and I can't recommend it enough!
[REDACTED] is a game the developers should be proud of. The combat is fast-paced and smooth, and the variety of upgrades keeps the gameplay fresh, even though the world is quite repetitive. While I wish the game had more content so it lasted longer, it is a budget title and priced accordingly. I wouldn't say no to some DLC that added a set of biomes to play through, though that might be difficult with the game closely following The Callisto Protocol's world. As far as how [REDACTED] plays on the Steam Deck, I can't offer any criticisms here. The game is basically flawless. The controls work well, the graphics can be run on their highest settings, and we can keep a modest TDP limit, all of which make [REDACTED] a great game to play on your Steam Deck.
Life is Strange: Double Exposure starts off with a strange story, which quickly turns into a perplexing one and ends up being slightly bizarre and worrying. If you wanted to continue Max's story from the original Life is Strange, this should satisfy that desire. The original game is referenced quite heavily throughout, so if you haven't played the original Life is Strange, I recommend you do so before playing Double Exposure to get a full grasp of everything mentioned. If you don't fancy playing the first game, then Double Exposure does explain some of the events that take place so you can get by. You just might not fully appreciate everything mentioned. The gameplay is pretty middling. There's nothing particularly interesting going on here, and Max's powers of going between timelines, while novel, are on the basic side, and you use them for the same thing over and over again. The story more than makes up for this, though, and as the game progresses, it takes over more and more from the gameplay. As for Steam Deck performance, it isn't quite as performant as I'd like. You will have to accept some frame rate drops from 30 FPS to make the game look "OK," but I played the entire game through on my Steam Deck, so while I would recommend you use a more powerful device to play this if you have one available, don't hold off on buying Life is Strange: Double Exposure if all you have to it play on is a Steam Deck.
Fruitbus is a relaxing and cozy game, barring some annoying design choices. It's the perfect cozy game with little consequence to your actions, and it's interesting to make different recipes and customize your bus. It does have some bugs, but the developers are working on ironing those out before release. However, performance on the Steam Deck is a bit of a mixed bag.
Ys X: Nordics is one of the best entries in the Ys series thanks to great on-foot combat, an engaging cast of characters, and beautiful visuals, even though the general story, variety of locations, and naval combat could have been improved. It is also wonderfully optimized, making it near perfect for the Steam Deck.
Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered is a faithful remaster of the 2011 release, which is both a great change-up from newer releases and sadly missing some nice quality-of-life features that make third-person shooters more enjoyable.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms 8 Remake is a solid strategy game that feels like it may have needed some more modern enhancements. The team clearly wanted to stay faithful to the original, and I think that's awesome, but it ended up making the game feel a bit slow and repetitive. The mechanics do take a little bit of time to get into, but once you do, it gets a lot more enjoyable, and I had a blast trying to take over the map and use my own custom officers to try to take down Lu Bu and Yuan Shao. It runs pretty decently on the Steam Deck, with most of the text being very readable and having great controller support. It does drain the battery more than I expected, but it's very playable, and I found this the best way to enjoy it, thanks to being able to suspend/resume the game whenever. It's a solid choice for strategy fans, and it will be awesome for those who loved the original, but it may be hard to digest for newer fans.
Fear the Spotlight became one of my favorite horror games, and I almost immediately played it this year. The story is engaging, even if it is semi-predictable, and I love how you interact with the world and how the physics works. I do wish it was a little longer, and it is quite short and easy, but it's a great experience that I recommend, especially if you enjoy classic horror games. It also runs almost flawlessly on the Steam Deck, both at 30 FPS for a more retro feel and 60 FPS for a more modern feel. Both are great ways to experience the game; you can't go wrong either way.
My primary feeling about Funko Fusion is confusion. Funko Pops and their design often appeal to children, and Funko Fusion feels like it should be a kid's game by its design. The game seems to tiptoe around the area of violence in some worlds, and then straight up lets you blow people's heads off with a shotgun and blood splatter a few moments later in another world. At this point, I wonder if Universal dictated to the developers what was and wasn't allowed to be portrayed concerning certain IPs. While this isn't a dealbreaker in itself, it highlights a problem throughout Funko Fusion: the game seems to have many half-baked ideas. Still, the dev team lacked the time or imagination to carry them out. The visual presentation and the technical aspects, such as movement and mechanics, work fine. The problem is that the puzzles are repetitive and tedious, the combat feels hollow, and many missions worldwide are variations on finding lost animals or defeating a series of minibosses. Performance on the Steam Deck is at least decent. You can play Funko Fusion at 40 FPS if you run the lowest settings, with the option to go down to 30 FPS to save some battery life. The controllers also work great, although some of the text in speech bubbles may be hard to read sometimes.
2024 has seen many fantastic indie titles, and Arco is among them. If you like tactical games with deep world-building, or if you want a challenge, it will sate those taste buds. I like both, and although Arco pushed me to hell and back on the difficulty front, it deserves its Overwhelmingly Positive score on Steam with every juicy mouthful of berries, and it is a great Steam Deck performer.
Just like Nightdive Studios continually does, Killing Time: Resurrected is the definitive way to enjoy this title. It is definitely not a game I was expecting to see Nightdive tackle, and it's a new one for me, but the wacky real actors, story, and tight, responsive retro shooting sold me on it. With how weird the game is, and it being a retro shooter, it won't appeal to everyone, but it is definitely worth your time to try it at the very least. And with fantastic support for the Steam Deck, this is a great first-person shooter to dive into wherever you are.
Unknown 9: Awakening left me with a mixed feeling, but I ultimately had a good time. I love the lore and world that is being built through this game and all the other forms of media around it, and the voice acting is superb against the mediocre story. The powers you have really shake up combat a lot, and it is so much fun when chaining everything together, but the janky camera and small issues all build up and create an obnoxious when not using the abilities you have. And while it is technically playable on Steam Deck, it does require compromises and will have drops. But, if you are looking for a linear adventure with PS3/Xbox 360 vibes, you are in the right place and will have a great time here.
MechWarrior 5: Clans is a Mech game for Mech fans. If you want a game that portrays these mechs for the whatever-ton steel beasts they are, then this is the game for you. The storyline takes a bit of a backstep, but the characters are interesting enough, and the gameplay more than makes up for a somewhat vague storyline. There are some issues, such as the friendly AI doing some things that will make your life difficult, and the performance seems far worse than it should be, but if you have a PC to brute-force through the performance issues, the game overall is solid. I would have given MechWarrior 5: Clans an 8/10 for gameplay, but the severe performance issues and crashes lower it to a 7/10 gameplay score for me. Unfortunately, the above-mentioned performance means that the game is unplayable on the Steam Deck, and given how poor the performance is, I don't think it'll just be a case of "a patch will fix it" for this one.
Neva is an outstanding short experience that wows on so many fronts. The visuals are extremely appealing and vibrant, while the story tells an emotional, wholesome tale that feels elevated thanks to telling it in a more unique way through actions versus dialogue. The gameplay is a bit simple, but it does the job for the scope of the game. And while I had some stopping points with the environment, it was ultimately worthwhile and didn't take too long to figure out. It is also perfect to play on the Steam Deck, and I can't say that enough! This is an essential for your portable library, especially if you have an OLED screen.
Europa is a short but sweet adventure through a beautiful world that really shines on the Steam Deck. The game is phenomenal looking, and in almost every scene, I found areas that I could take a screenshot of that would be a perfect wallpaper for my phone or desktop. The gameplay is simple, but for the length of the game, it works really well, especially with the interesting story attached. The game itself runs great at the highest settings and can hit 60 FPS with some minor tweaks, all while keeping the great-looking visuals. As long as you go into this expecting a 3-4 hour adventure, you will not be disappointed playing this one on the go.