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In the time I played Frostpunk 2, it became my go-to city builder. I love the post-apocalyptic theme, and it is very replayable, but the fact that every single element in the game has some importance to it made me feel like I had to utilize everything at my disposal to really keep my people happy. It is a lot of information at times, and there are some UI elements I would have wanted to see more often, but it is small in the grand scheme and is just such a fun game to play. It is a bit harder to run on the Steam Deck, and the RAM creeping up is a little concerning, but this is still wonderful to play on the Deck. I hope that future patches can help it perform a bit better with gamepad support and lower RAM usage, but I am happy overall!
SWORD ART ONLINE Fractured Daydream has a crowd that it caters to and caters to that crowd well, in my opinion. The story mode is designed with SWORD ART ONLINE fans in mind, with references to numerous anime story arcs and characters appearing with sound cues that signify that their presence is significant. Sadly, why their presence is significant isn't conveyed in the game, so your poor reviewer (who isn't an SAO fan) had to go look at a wiki to find out why this person appearing is such a big deal! Fortunately, for non-SAO fans, the storyline is generally decent, the concept of SAO is easy enough to grasp, and you can sort of figure out what's going on as the story progresses. The gameplay also doesn't disappoint, with over-the-top visual effects firing off in every direction, making you feel like you're using weapons of mass destruction on that spider-looking thing about the size of a large dog. Performance on Steam Deck is middling, and while the story mode largely runs well, you do have to put up with some pixelation due to the resolution scaling if you want somewhat stable performance in online play. However, the game is fully playable on the Steam Deck, with great controls and acceptable performance. If you are a SWORD ART ONLINE fan, I don't think it would be a stretch to say that Fractured Daydream might be the best SWORD ART ONLINE video game yet.
Undisputed is an unapologetically complex fighting game. With controls that will take some getting used to and AI that will proceed to beat you down until you get used to them, this isn't a game for everybody. But if you are looking for a boxing game and you've been starving for a good one for some time, Undisputed is at least worth giving a chance and seeing if it's the one for you. The performance on Steam Deck is a little disappointing. We have to run at the lowest graphical settings to get the game up to 40 FPS, which is the minimal "playable" frame rate. Even then, we get dips close to 30 FPS on some arenas without removing all of the crowd. Undisputed can be played on the Steam Deck, but it's far from the best way to play it.
Even with some issues that I found a bit obnoxious, Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero is by far my favorite Dragon Ball game. It modernizes the Budokai Tenkaichi gameplay into something more accessible, cinematic, and downright beautiful. The gameplay is addicting while being deep once you get into the nitty-gritty of the moves you can use, and I adore the custom battles you can make. I do wish the UI and menus were less tedious, and the camera angles in some instances during battle can get in the way, but the sheer fun I had actually battling outweighed it all. I do wish performance on the Steam Deck matched the amount of fun I really had with the game, and I do hope it will get better with some patches, but it is technically playable, as long as you can deal with the drops and slowdowns that could occur.
As I said earlier, Akimbot feels like a condensed form of a Ratchet & Clank game, and that's great. The game is short, and most players will be done here in less than 10 hours. While there are collectibles in the form of data logs, they don't add much to the game besides backstory, so I don't think this is the kind of game you'd play through more than once. However, the shortened length keeps the story going, meaning things are interesting. Good, fluid movement backed up by a solid combat system means Akimbot is a game I can recommend to any 3D action-platformer fans looking to embark on a new adventure. The dynamic between our 2 protagonists is good, even if it does take some time for Exe to lighten up a little. As for Steam Deck performance, we are kept to 40 FPS and will still get frame rate drops occasionally. We're also running on low settings with resolution scaling, so the visual fidelity isn't particularly great. Still, the game remains perfectly playable, and at no point did I feel I died due to performance issues or lack of clarity. So I can give Akimbot the thumbs up to be played on the Steam Deck.
Caravan SandWitch is a delightful morsel of exploration and storytelling. While the gameplay’s simplicity might put people off if they need a challenge to their games, I appreciate how much love and care went into this. While its performance on the Steam Deck is more power dependent than I expected, I had enormous fun with it, and it is probably something that can be improved with patches. I will not be surprised if it makes my Top 10 list in December.
BIOMORPH is a fantastic Metroidvania with souls-like combat that incorporates some interesting mechanics to make its combat stand out. It has a great setting and story, but the Kirby-like gameplay, where you can assimilate and take the form and abilities of other creatures while using them to destroy enemies or get past obstacles you couldn't before, is fantastic. It an feel a bit hard at times, especially in combat, but it's a great time overall. And even though it has weird slowdowns from time to time in bigger maps, it plays extremely well, and I can't recommend it on Steam Deck enough!