Things like this are why I seriously think the next steam deck may include an ARM based version. Possibly a smaller, lighter, more switch like device alongside something more like a z1e equivalent device.
Steam Frame may do a lot for VR but also for ARM gaming.
My secret hope though is risc-v also somehow gets on the map.
Big fan of Melvor Idle, Assembly Line 2, Mindustry, and Homequest. I’ve played all of these a couple of times and even redownloaded them all at one time or another.
Downwell and Holedown are both fantastic games played in portrait. But I won’t lie; lately I’ve fallen back into Marvel Snap and I live it. (Not love, live.) But never spent a dollar on it.
Goddess of Victory NIKKE fits what you are asking.
It is a high quality Free-to-Play mobile game played in portrait mode and completely playable with one hand (depending on how wide your device is). As long as your don’t care about leaderboards, it also isn’t Pay-to-Win. It is playable on PC as well, which is how I play these days. As a Day 1 Player, you don’t need to spend any money to play, enjoy, or progress in the game.
In terms of negatives:
Some people may not like the anime art style (game is playable in various language dubs, including Korean, Japanese, English, and depending on region, Chinese, which are optional downloads to reduce filesize) or the character designs, which have huge… personalities
If you don’t care about time limited events or being at the top of leaderboards, its not hostile to your playtime and mental health. Go at your own pace.
It is a gacha game for characters and skins, but the game gives players a lot of options, so unless you’re trying to be #1 on the leaderboards in your server, having every character max level isn’t that important.
They recently added a “Story Mode” for the campaign, which significantly reduces the difficulty of all the missions in the 40+ campaign chapters so that players can enjoy the story without needing to have as powerful characters. I think you get reduced rewards as well, but its a nice addition. You can also get photo film rolls to unlock past time limited events (not licensed or collab ones though) so you can enjoy the stories of those as well. You don’t get the rewards for them as they were running, but still can experience the stories and minigames. You get plenty of free currency for free character rolls, no money is needed. Unless you really want a skin or really like a licensed collab and want to buy an IP specific bundle or something.
Basically, for a free player, there is A LOT of story content available to keep your busy for a while. Play at your own pace, and don’t worry about leaderboards and you’ll be mostly fine. The biggest advice is to try to get 5 characters 4 times each. If you are playing the regular difficulty story, there is a point where it is required to progress, and is often referred to as the only “wall of progression” in the game.
I want to see puzzles that are implemented using the physics engine. And I don’t mean “toss the axe in the proper arc to trigger the gate” physics. I mean “stack the bricks on one end of the seesaw to balance it long enough to make the jump to the next platform”. Or “use the blue barrels’ buoyancy to raise the platform out of the water”.
Yesss and more destruction physics. I miss watching cars crumple and get torn apart like in the burnout games. There was a really old ww2 dogfighting game where the plane wings could get sawn off and you’d see this smoking plane spiralling into the ground while the wing flew off in the opposite direction before the plane exploded on the ground.
Check out Wreckfest. It’s mostly basically rallycross with plenty of damage. The physics is better than in Burnout, afaik. The sequel game was just recently either released or announced.
I think those were mind blowing when I first played hl2, just because real time physics and destruction was novel, but now I think they grind the pacing to a halt. I think they just don’t work in an action shooter IMO.
My opinion is the exact opposite. Narrative games, even action shooters, need to have high action and low action parts in balance. If high action segments are excessive, it can lead to combat fatigue. If low action parts are excessive, the player gets bored and the pacing dies.
Half-Life 2 E1, the “Low Lives” chapter, has probably the most stressful combat in the game because the player has to balance so many things. Shooting the zombies attacking Gordon versus helping Alyx fight. Helping Alyx versus keeping the flashlight charged. Firearms versus explosive props. All of that in oppressive darkness. Combat fatigue sets in. The short puzzle segments, even as simple as crawling through a vent to flip a switch, are opportunities to take a breath, absorb the environment, and prepare for the next segment – especially at the end of that particular chapter, when the player escapes the zombies and has a chance to wind down.
At the same time, puzzles, by their slower nature, are excellent for delivering narrative and player training, and to let the player absorb the atmosphere. Alyx’s first encounter with the stalkers in “Undue Alarm” wouldn’t have had the same emotional impact if the player could just pop them in the head and move on.
In contrast, most of “Highway 17” is just a prolonged vehicle-based puzzle. By the time the player reaches the large railway bridge, they might be sick of driving. I know I was. It’s a relief to finally engage in some platforming and long-range combat while traversing the bridge.
So what are the narrative values of my two examples? The cinderblock seesaw in “Route Kanal” is just player training. A show, don’t tell method to let the player know that physics puzzles will be a factor. It’s also a short break after the on-foot chase, before the encounter with the hunter chopper. In “Water Hazard”, the contraptions serve a larger narrative purpose: they’re the tools of the rebels’ refugee evacuation effort. The player utilizes them like one of the refugees would have.
The best bits of the Half-Life games are the more slow parts. Just taking in the environmental storytelling, solving simple puzzles, etc. Helps to make the more action sequences feel more impactful and intense.
When I was replaying ‘HL2’ around ten years ago, I ran around the whole map looking for where I can get outside of the plot course, especially in the slower parts of the levels. This culminated in me driving the hoverboat up a three-meter-high wooden platform, falling from that platform myself, and not being able to climb up again to get the boat. After which I had to run from the attack helicopter on foot, and swim by myself later on that level.
I use about the same approach in the original ‘Deus Ex’, which I’ve been replaying recently: investigating every nook and cranny, being 100% stealthy, trying to go where the game shouldn’t allow me to be. I actually found an exit from a scripted part of a level where only one path is normally possible — though there was nothing to do outside of that part. The game also gives experience points for getting into some remote or secret places.
The first time I boot up the game, immediately show me the settings menu. Whether its window settings, sound volume, subtitles, or graphics settings, please do not make me sit through a long cutscene or (god forbid) make me play the game without being able to adjust settings first. Sometimes the window is screwed up, the graphics are pushing my system too hard, or any number of other issues on first boot.
I can think of 1 or 2 games that booted to settings or booted to a truncated settings menu with common settings, but I would love if this became standard for all PC games.
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Aktywne