I really enjoyed Hero’s Hour, it’s eeriely similar to Mount and Blade but… pixel.
My gaming history is so diverse that I only recently realized that certain games have baises to certain styles of console now. Growing up I played a lot of NES and SNES games on an old hitachi laptop with the roms and a control scheme I didn’t know how to chance from PGUP PGDN and arrow controls. Never the less, my platforming 2D top down exploration feeling kicked in. Then the PS2 introduced me to 3D games and the different dynamics, but it was stolen so I got to explore the world of flash games until the Wii expanded the PS2’s dynamic games with depth of controllers. (Honestly it’s not talked enough about how Wii Sports is a form of AR.) Anyway, now as an adult the last nearly decade of gaming has been done mostly on PC, with just a few Nintendo games here and there between the 3DS, Wii U and Switch.
And through all of this, Nintendo has had very strong 3rd party titles - Retro City Rampage, Shantae, Shovel Knight, I mean the list could go on for forever. But what’s interesting is none of these kinds of games, even some dear classics like Phantom Brave/Disgaea, none of them fully appeal to me on PC. When I use the Steam Controller it helps immensely, but even then it can take some work to really feel “right”.
It wasn’t until I got the Steam Deck that I realized this connection between the smaller/portable nature of certain games to certain consoles. I mean, I was aware of it in the sense that I preferred certain games for certain consoles, but I never realized just how strongly “retro” games just need to be on a small screen with gamepad controls - and I loooved playing flash games on mouse and keyboard but the nostalgia of the screen format is just so overpoweringly nostalgic.
Anyway, all this to say - I have found a previously “nearly useless” part of my very large game library to be no longer “nearly useless”. There are now so many games that I have some interest in to at least try, because playing them on the Steam Deck just feels right.
Forager, Hero’s Hour, Monster Sanctuary, Blasphemous, and Yakuza (refound love for this one) are my 2022 replays top Steam Deck games. However during that time I also ripped all my Switch games to format shift them to the Steam Deck, so Marvel’s Ultimate Alliance 3 also got a lot of playtime.
Within the last year I’ve come across Smile for Me, Guts and Glory, and Narita Boy which I wouldn’t have normally played either.
As a piece of hardware and platform, I like it. I think that the OLED screen is definitely a win too.
But I carry a laptop and tablet (EDIT: and smartphone) with me already, and I rarely game much when out and about. Just not enough additional utility provided by the thing.
Thank you for putting into words what I've been trying to weigh out regarding a Steam Deck.
I think your tech arrangement is similar enough to my own and therefore just what I needed to read in order to convince myself I won't miss not having one.
I thought I felt the same, but after getting it I’m just super impressed. It blows the “gaming laptop” experience out of the water IMO. It’s not as good as a proper gaming rig, but for a budget device, the bang for buck is insane
I beat Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines for the first time on Deck. KBM controls bound to the system really did it for me and since it was a low spec game it ran flawlessly. And the game’s reputation holds up (well written and engaging but janky lol)
Well I didn’t first discover it on deck but I play a ton of Spelunky 2 on deck. Every time I boot it up intending to play something else, I see it there and go, “ooook just a couple rounds”
Got it into my cart within seconds, didn’t even get through more than the cart screen before I started getting 502 errors. Eventually went out of stock. But, showed back in stock a few minutes later and I was able to get my order in. My order email shows 12:29 (10:29 PST).
Already had a 512 Deck that I got in Feb 2022, but when you combine mainstream Linux gaming, OLED, and a translucent shell, apparently I have no self-control.
Bloodstained is a top contender, I can’t say I first discovered it on the Deck, but it just feels right on a handheld, in a way that it didn’t with controller on desktop, and the Switch just isn’t good enough to run it at a passable framerate.
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