I totally agree on the pacing. The Red Strings Club is a masterclass of storytelling in a video game format.
I think it’s hard to describe as a game to gamers… the actual gameplay is pretty vague, the various minigame activities are almost inconsequential, but taken as a whole it’s a perfect experience.
I really enjoyed both Far games. I never felt like any of the puzzles were large enough to get tedious. When I finished Lone Sails I just wished there had been a longer section of driving the ship… it kind of felt like you never got to reallygo before there was some interruption that you had to stop and get out for.
Jazzpunk was one of those games that left me wishing there was more of it.
Manifold Garden is just such a perfectly executed atmosphere, it’s hard to do it justice with description - like walking around inside an Escher drawing.
CD Projekt has been building up expectations, previewing intriguing scenes and customizations that never came to pass.
It went to promise real-time AI that would grant over a thousand NPCs a variety of roles and actions that, complete with a day/night cycle, was designed to change up their routines. But as fans began playing, they quickly discovered this wasn’t true.
Then, there are the gameplay and AI issues that hinder the experience. A game like Cyberpunk 2077 runs on crime, and CD Projekt promised realistic interactions with the police. One would fully expect officers to come running if a crime was committed out in the open with witnesses, or even in a remote alleyway. Sadly, there is nothing realistic about a bunch of cops spawning unexpectedly around the player with guns firing – especially if no one even witnessed the crime.
Basically all of the marketing turned out to be lies and the game that CDPR promised never existed.
Is it possible that some of the discomfort comes from trying to use controls that are too small?
I also have big hands, and I find the Switch controllers uncomfortable because they feel like they were meant for baby hands, and they’re flat so it’s an effort to keep hold of them. I find the Deck very easy to hold because its grips are built like a proper controller and all the buttons are within comfortable reach. The ergonomics make a big difference.
Valve put a lot of design effort into the form of the Deck:
Don’t get a Steam Deck. It’s far too convenient. Everything just works the way it’s supposed to. You tell it to install a game, it does that. You tell it to run a game, it does that. You need a break, you just tap the power button and it goes to sleep. You want to play again, you just tap the power button and it resumes the game you left running like nothing happened. You want to install a bigger hard drive so you can have more games, you can do that. You want to replace the sticks because you’ve worn them out, you can do that. You want to plug it into a TV and use it to watch Netflix, you can do that. You want to plug it into a monitor, mouse and keyboard and use it as desktop, you can do that.
You’ll sit on the couch and play games, you’ll sit on the shitter and play games, you’ll sit in bed and play games. You’ll take it on the bus, the train, the airplane, no problem.
Don’t buy a Steam Deck, you won’t get anything else done.
Oh, but you might finally play some of those untouched games in your library, so there’s that.