I recently picked up a Steam Deck and I can also vouch for it; the device is far more than the sum of its parts and is clearly something Valve was only able to pull off after a decade plus of various software/hardware integration experiments.
SteamOS is the star of the show, and it is both fluid and easy to use while also putting more customization and flexibility at your fingertips than any other game interface I’ve seen. The integration of custom operating system, custom game wrapper tech, and their standardized hardware has produced a device that offers the power and flexibility of PC gaming with a user experience that is getting closer and closer to the “never think about it” ease of use that consoles provide.
It’s not the most powerful; it’s really a 720/800P gaming machine, but games look great at that resolution and you can run a lot of games at comfortably playable frame rates.
I had some doubts after I bought mine when I saw the ROG Ally come out alongside hundreds of “OMG THE STEAM DECK KILLER HAS ARRIVED” videos; but it didn’t take long until I saw a lot of those same content creators return their Ally and come back to the steam deck because although the hardware is slightly more powerful, the user experience end is so much worse than it just wasn’t worth it. Not to mention some serious QC issues with it.
I’ve been a PC gamer for a long time; I think I’ve been active on Steam for 18 years now. The Steam Deck is the best PC Gaming experience I’ve ever had. The hardware is great, the controls (and mapping ability of those controls) are great, the interface is great…everything is just top notch about it. Do I wish it was more powerful? Well that’d be great, and one day it will be. But everything about the experience is so good, I don’t mind some of the drawbacks. It’s encouraged me to get into my backlog of games and genuinely enjoy exploring them again. The Steam Deck just makes it so seamless and easy to play your games.
In fact, I’m getting close to time to build a new PC, and the Steam Deck has really changed my thoughts on it. Seeing how far Proton and SteamOS have come…I just really want Valve to take another shot at the Steam Box. A lot of its shortcomings aren’t issues now, and add in some good Steam Deck integration and have it target 1440P/4K Upscaling, you could create an affordable box that taps into a successful and growing ecosystem. I’d buy one in an instant and just not bother with a new PC build in the years ahead.
That’s how much I genuinely believe that the Steam Deck/SteamOS experience is that good these days!
Well, I, like many many, others am playing Baldur’s gate.
But, honestly, I still find time for ol’ trusty falconBMS. (It’s a tiny but very loyal playerbase, thinking about starting a page for it on lemmy somewhere)
Caves of Qud is a really neat turn based roguelike that kinda focuses on exploration. It’s a bit hard to get into but if you do it’s really neat. Very very keyboard friendly, its my go-to game on my laptop.
Oh god I know too much about this. Long comment. Sadlol.
What kind of cast? Above or below the elbow?
I had above the elbow for 9 weeks once and below 3 times for 3-6 weeks on my right arm. Only below the elbow on my left but 5 times. My bones aren’t so good.
Above the elbow I played a lot of Warcraft 3(long time ago lol), Civ, AoE etc. Games that only required simple clicking but lots of hot keys to control. Above the elbow cast prevents a lot of you ability to rotate your arm so switching the mouse to your left doesn’t help much.
Below the elbow it depends if your thumb is immobile or not. If your thumb is free then it’s a matter of buying a cheap small mouse that will fit in your palm with the giant cast bulge. FPS and fast movements will be painful and not recommended but slower games and general use isn’t much impeded.
Immobile thumb is maybe the worst. Grab a cheap number pad and place it under your hand so you can use four fingers on the buttons. Mouse in your left hand. This severely limits what you can do with a computer.
Look up some brain exercises to ease the transition between sides of your brain and handedness. Also hold on to the skills you develop in these few weeks. Being able to work right or left hand helps with a lot of manual tasks with weird angles like using a drill under a sink or what have you.
I have a nice full arm cast from my elbow to my wrist (Oberarmschiene). I just learned that I will have it removed next week already, because they don’t want to immobilize it for too long, but I was told it will hurt a lot after it’s removed, so we’ll see how that goes…
My thumb is indeed mobile, but my wrist is locked in place, so it is indeed quite uncomfortable to grip a mouse.
If you are into VR, Beat Saber has some one-handed songs and Pistol Whip is mostly one-handed. The exercise of playing those games improves overall circulation which helps the healing of fractures.
For Spider-Man, I guess the easy answer would be Miles Morales, huh? :P
But I know what you meant, its a game with ridiculously fun mobility though its hard to find a good equivalent. There’s few things that feel as good as webslinging. So on that front (Open world + Mobility) I’m going to suggest the Just Cause series. 2 is generally the one people are the most fond of, though I vastly preferred 3. 4 is a mix of both but it didn’t gel well with me. You are not quite Spider-man, but a grappling hook and wingsuit go a long way of providing a similar experience.
For Genshin, the one game with open-world and exploration I’ve swapped around with it before is Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. Large world, fair number of sidequests (I’ve actually never finished the game from how big it is) and a lot of climbing - with no stamina bars. The loot quality feeds the same endorphins as a good gacha roll, and its free.
bin.pol.social
Ważne