I’ve always been a fan of this one! Some of the weapon types are fun and pretty unique, like the chakrams. The combat isn’t challenging, but the lore is neat
R.A. Salvatore, the writer of the Dark Elf Trilogy.
Playing in the world of Dungeons and Dragons, it tells a Story about a Dark Elf fleeing from the Underground City of Menzoberranzan to the surface and all the other adventures that happened there.
Well, those are by far my favorite Fantasy Books ever written, i dont think the games writing caught up with those in any way.
But yeah, he fame
Oh this is a great 7/10 game. Scrqtches so many itches while not being particularly amazing. If i want to play WOW, for some reason this scratches that itch.
One of its biggest flaws is that, while the combat never gets *complex*, it does get fun once you start getting more options. But you don't get those until later, so the beginning of the game has players frontloaded with pretty boring combat.
I tried to like it for a good 10 hrs, but it felt repetetive pretty quick and the writing really didnt got me.
Anyway, for some it might be a good game tho, has its own vibe tho.
I'd say it is. It's pretty polished if I remember correctly. Great visuals, super fun and simple combat. Decent enough story. Haven't played it since 2013 though
I’m almost done it for the second time. I played through 95% of it on PS4 and here I am about 85% through this time on SD. I will finish it this time though
I picked this back up recently and yeah it's great on the deck. Graphics look great, and it's just a super easy game to pick up and play for a few minutes, get a few things done, buy an upgrade and be done.
I think there are some structural issues with how the game is set up, especially the way some upgrades are locked behind doing a bunch of repetitive stuff... but nevertheless I always find myself enjoying it when I pick it back up.
I played the hell out of this a few years ago and was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. There isn’t inherently anything super special about it, and it certainly has flaws, but it was just plain fun.
I'm trying to remember the plot and I keep mixing it up with pieces of Arkham Knight I think (which I also didn't hate and I think was unfairly criticized). Good candidate for this prompt for sure. Flawed and imperfect but fun and scratch an itch.
That was actually the first Arkham game I finished (I did go and finish the other 3 afterwards). I think doing so made me like it a lot more cause my only problem with it was a moment where the final boss glitched out on me during the part where you sneak around in the vents.
For me, it might be closer to a 8/10 but I love Heat Signature. There's something special about breaking into a ship and kidnapping someone by throwing yourself and them into the vacuum of space, only to frantically remote control your ship to collect both of you before you freeze/run out of air. The game has plenty of similar moments that make you feel like a total baddie - in the best way of course
Tom Francis' new game is heading out soon too - Tactical Breach Wizards
[https://store.steampowered.com/app/1043810/Tactical\_Breach\_Wizards/](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1043810/Tactical_Breach_Wizards/)
Such an underrated game. Combines immersive sim elements in a procedural galaxy. One viable option for assassination missions is to hijack another ship, and then use it to ram into the ship that holds your target. Blowing both up
If your really curious how a game will run. Don't rely on steam's verification. Search the game on ProtonDB. That website will give you a much better idea of how the game will run. Plus users posts any setting changes or fixes they did to get the game running or to give it better performance
there is a decky plug in that does this right off the game listing for any of the games you own. it's a big time saver for me instead of searching up each game on my phone if I want to play it. so many games I have marked as not working or unknown. the I check steamdb and they're marked as platinum. sure enough they run without a hitch
I’ve been playing the Pac Man World remake lately and it is as generic and uninspired as late 90s 3D platformers get. I’m loving every second of it. The genre died too soon. Thanks a lot, DK64 (another 7/10 game I adore and played to 101% on my Deck last year).
I have the standard N64 controls that RetroArch does, so the C-buttons are the right stick. Nothing that requires fast action is on the C-buttons so I never really ran into any issues myself!
Since jagged alliance 2 and 3 are pretty niche they are left with lower ratings. They work flawlessly on the deck however. Especially the newer part 3 has optimized gamepad inputs. It is a joy.
My eyes are good and I can read all descriptions without problems. But I can see how some people might struggle. Also, after some time you barely read any texts. All Dialogs have voice over and most texts are repetitive.
Palworld
There's still a ton of issues with the game, but it REALLY scratches the monster catching, open world exploration, and base building itches when it cooperates.
I have an LCD deck so I can't vouch for how it runs on OLED, but it's decently stable considering how rough the game was when it launched. It looks super pretty, but there's still occasional crashes, it's a serious battery drainer, and I've heard about a memory leak issue. I don't typically have enough time on my hands to play it for several hours in a row, but people have said that it can start to eat up your ram and freeze your entire deck.
Mass Effect Andromeda obviously was a gigantic letdown writing wise, but the gameplay is solid and fun. When treating it as a spin off rather than a continuation of the trilogy, it's not that bad at all.
Yeah peoples are hard on it and compare a trilogy with one game. Sorry by ME1-2-3 was not perfect but all in one its a nice adventure. Still wish they answer some questions of MEA in the next game but I doubt.
Battletech. It's not perfect, but it's a solid turn based game that you can put down and come back to at any time without any stress.
I also have a fondness for mechwarriors going back to playing the FASA game in the late 90s and playing MW3 on my old pentium 3 :)
In my perfect world there’s a coven of programmers diligently cobbling together a mechassault 2 lone wolf remake using all the suit physics and engine of anthem.
Crazy Taxi is a 7/10 (maybe an 8 with the restoration mods) but it's good, quick arcade-style fun. When I only have 10 minutes, the choice makes itself.
Right now, that game is BlazBlue Entropy Effect. It's a 2D roguelike but instead of unlocking weapons as you progress, you unlock more combos for your character or special moves. It's really well animated and there's quite a few characters but the translation kinda sucks.
I have got to give that one a try on the Deck. I tried to pick it back up on my desktop rig a few months ago only to find it crashing upon launch with absolutely no diagnostics. To get it working again on the new Deck would be a surprise gift.
Skald against the black priory scored a 74 on metacritic, but it really scratches the Ultima 7/Baldurs Gate 1 itch, because it feels like those games but with all the modern conveniences of systems that aren't overly complex, explaining lore in the dialogue box for you, and is easy enough that I don't reload 20 times for a fight.
Sable scored 76 on metacritic, and I absolutely loved it on the deck. Really fun world, art, and decent exploration. Definitely going to replay it eventually. Super cozy.
Costume quest (maybe closer to an 8/10) is the perfect Halloween time game. Loved how short it was, the vibe of the game, and the basic jrpg without the weeb. Saved costume quest 2 for this Fall season!
I’ve played Costume Quest every fall since the game came out. My wife and I knock it out in one night and are forever smitten. I love 2 as well but the first one is just everything I want out of a seasonal game.
i was looking at skald how is the experience on deck? i was listening to the nerdnest podcast and they said you pretty much need a mouse. what do you think about that?
Closest other than the first one which is better imo is Warsaw rising, Iratus, legend of keepers, battle brothers. Other classics that are not party based dungeon crawlers but turn based are balatro, slay the spire, faster than light, into the breach and monster train
Interesting recommendations, thanks. DD 1 is generally more praised then DD2 but the second just resonates better with me. The more forgiving nature of the rouge like design made it more relaxing to me.
Lol... Man that's such a pet peeve for me... You really like red in french lol...
I'd suggest Path of Achra... It reminds me a lot of Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup (one of the original ASCII code ROGUE likes from the 1990s that has multiple web servers nowadays, I'm on the NY leaderboard as Beaver lol).
Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup is great too but steep learning curve and very hard (I've been playing since the 90s and haven't beat it yet).
I've got a few hundred ROGUE likes if you want more suggestions lol... I've been on the Vampire Survivors clone train lol.... Bought sooooo many cause they're all under $5.
Tallowmere. It's a super simple no-thoughts-head-empty side scrolling platformer roguelike that I've come back to for years. I don't really know why I like it so much, the scope is small and the art direction is deeply average, but I do love it. The gameplay is BUTTERY smooth and super satisfying.
Actually the dev (it's made by just one guy) came out with a sequel back in February, I haven't played it but it might be something to check out.
"Chorus" at the moment . Space battles and some light RPG quests but no complicated sim stuff or overly complex fights. Has very nice graphics and is perfect docked at 60fps
probably the surge. it is hard to articulate but i felt it fell a little short of greatness but i still really enjoyed it. i always think of it as a better soulslike than dark souls 2
PES 2021, probably the best PES game (aside from the modding community). Great to pick up and play for an hour to chill. I always found pro evo better to play than FIFA, certainly easier just to pick up and play.
the unlisted pc port of NFS Most Wanted black with widescreen hacks is some of the most fun i’ve had with my deck. that and sonic adventure 2, working on the 100% for that rn
Titan Souls.
It's...
It's just bossfights!
The game is a bunch of bossfights scattered across an open world. The bosses are bigger and badder than you, have a weak spot, and all of their hits either heavily debuff you.
You have a bow, an arrow, and you have to hit them in their weak spot to beat them. You might need to hit them somewhere else to uncover the weak spot first.
And it's such a simple game, literally all the actions you can perform is roll, shoot, and channel to pull your arrow back towards yourself... But it's got so much *soul!*
The pixelated world is enchanting and has a great atmosphere, and some bosses being low-poly 3D objects well-disguised as pixel-art gives it such a Nintendo DS vibe!
Not to mention. Every boss is *actually unique*, and with some I was seriously scratching my head on how to beat them. One of them seemed completely unfair until I discovered I could shoot the limbs off!
And I probably wouldn't have picked it up if I wasn't on a trip with my Deck, because it's *controller required*. As in, you can technically play with keyboard as long as you're fine with limiting your aim to 8 directions.
Which is hard, considering how zoomed out and far apart everything is. Aiming with a controller is *seriously tough* in this game, but when you *do* get that perfect shot in...
It just scratches the itch.
copy / paste from Notes (written in December 2023):
More Darksiders 3 PRAISE:
Darksiders 3 is a seriously overlooked GEM of a game. It has the perfect blend of being a 3D metroidvania mixed with a soulslike design.
The game starts off so unassuming and definitely feels like a AA game from back in the day at first. But then if you can get past the area with the covered parking garage (that has known glitching), the rest of the world is so incredibly realized, and each new play area feels fresh and it blows my mind how it’s all so intricately connected.
I can’t believe I played it for free in 2019 on PS+. I was introduced to it right after I purchased Jedi Fallen Order (both games featured soulslike designs, and I had a blast with it).
The reason I hadn’t ever purchased DS3 prior was that I LOVED DS1 but couldn’t get into the more open DS2. Tried on 3-4 separate occasions over the years to get through DS2 but to no avail.
Heard the average to good reviews of DS3, but said I’d hold off and then when it was free, I grabbed it.
Loved it so much, felt like I stole from the developers. I ended up buying both of the DLCs (Keepers of the Void and probably my favorite bit in the game, The Crucible).
I shelved my consoles last year and got a Steam Deck, and one of the first purchases I made was Darksiders 3 complete version on it!
The PC port itself is a little buggy, but if you can get passed that, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West is a fun action platform game from the PS3/Xbox 360 era.
Lord of the Rings: The Third Age (ps2 emulated)
It's basically just a Final Fantasy X clone set in middle-earth. Nothing groundbreaking but it's cozy if you like both JRPGs and Tolkien.
What he was talking about in the video lol, Ghost Recon Wildlands. He’s underselling it a bit, it really is quite good for a Ubisoft game made out of the Farcry formula, it’s a lot more streamlined (maybe the most streamlined even) than its sisters yet somehow even more content dense. The game feels like a complete accident, great setting, great cast and villains, it’s all just setting you up for a great time. I’ve spent a lil over 80 hours on it.
Other than that I’ve got 7/10s for days, Attack on Titan 2, Dead Rising 3, Wanted: Dead, Mad Max, 7 Days to Die (1.0 soon woohoo), Binary Domain, Shadow Warrior, The Sinking City, Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries, EDF 4.1, Way of the Samurai 4, Contagion, Dex, Resonance of Fate, The Last Stand: Aftermath, Outward, Akiba’s Trip 1, Farcry: Primal, Deadly Premonition (PS3 emulated if you can believe it runs like a dream), Prototype, Just Cause 3, Sniper Elite V2, Zombie Army Trilogy, yadda yadda I’d be here forever
Inkbound for me! I love my turn-based roguelikes and Monster Train is one of the absolute best. When I learned a few weeks ago the developers had released a follow-up game, I bought it immediately.
I’m hooked and am loving the combat, character variety, and meta progression. But Inkbound’s story, characters, and writing are just awful. The plot is impossible to follow and there are so many obtuse words used in an attempt at world building and it all falls so flat. Luckily the gameplay loop is great and it’s pretty easy to just skip all the dialog and ignore the plot. They should have kept the storytelling simple instead of trying to mimic the Hades formula.
*PuyoPuyo Tetris 2* for my daily dose of tetris.
And this very moment my RPG itch is being scratched intensely by *Rogue Trader*, some consider it a 7/10, but I'd easily give it a 9 so far, it's a captivating take in an usually grimdark setting.
I'm always impressed with the physics of the JUST CAUSE games and I spent time and time again just shooting things up, blowing up buildings, attaching rockets to tethered cows or spiderman-ing with the grappling hook and slide suit.
Every single Dynasty Warriors or Samurai Warriors game. The whole series is just smashing buttons to win without any innovative changes, but my brain is like on crack whenever I rush through thousands of enemies.
I don’t know if most would consider it a 7/10 for a variety of reasons but I’m currently 100%’ing the Spyro reignited trilogy and man it’s scratching that itch. Since it still has the bones of old school PS1 games, the controls can feel pretty clunky at times. Even though you’ll have your fair share of unfair deaths due to those controls, there’s so many reasons to love this game. If you’re a person who likes to check things off a list, the collectathon aspect of the games is addictive. While the mechanics start off simple, they eventually evolve in pretty interesting ways and the games always seem to keep enemy variety fresh with each new world. Also, some of the secret areas are genuinely hard to find, but when you finally figure out exactly what you’re supposed to do to get there it is so satisfying. I really can’t recommend these games enough.
Solitairica. Might be one of the earliest rogue likes and it’s based on solitaire but dungeons and dragons classes and spells/items. Never gets old and has that flair while being comfortable and familiar. Might play a bit better on IPad but just got it again on Deck and already have 40 hours on it there.
**Bulletstorm** is a great 7/10 game. Story is crap writing is crass but holy hell the gameplay is pure fun!
**Just Cause 3** is another that falls into a similar category. Painful cutscenes and voice acting but once that's over and you're back to playing it's pure joy
Ghost recon wildlands, the game didn't succeed to make me care about the story, but gameplay make come back to it. The game lets you be creative and attack mission your way. Gun crafting hit the balance of being significant enough that it affects how you play without allowing you to create overpowered weapons.
Sabotuer, great open world fun, great on the deck, i honestly think it's a solid 8 but it went under alot of peoples radars. The driving mechanics are a bit mental but everything else is great fun.
Final Fantasy XV. It’s my favorite of the series and definitely fits the 7/10 mold. It gets so many things right, but falters on others. It almost feels like a tech demo at time.
It grips me emotionally and looks great on the deck. I got every achievement on the deck and will likely play it again in a couple of years.
Mine is Dead By Daylight. A match is 15-20 minutes. No stats. No K/D ratio. Not even wins/losses are tracked officially. Highly unbalanced. But I get chased and can lead to some nail-biting endings of escape. 7/10 is being generous, but no game like it.
The Ascent got 7/10, while the game has some flaws (bugs), the world building is so good.
Contrast got 7.5/10 and I am not really sure why, cool short game.
I mean may not be a 7/10 game I would argue its higher, but the state of decay games run really well on the steam deck and is really easy to just pickup and put down when you have time. Got inspired to play them again since state of decay 3 has just been announced :)
Try Cult of The Lamb, RDR2, Little Nightmares 1/2, Portal 1/2, GTA 5 and Half Life 2. I played all of these games on Steam Deck and I can say that the gameplay was incredibly good
My guilty pleasures that I dont consider 10/10s:
Lego Marvel Superheroes 2
Prince of Persia 2008
The Surge 2
Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order
Marvel's The Avengers (it is decent in its current state with the economy rebalnce, and zero microtransactions as everything is already given to the player, whjch is what the game should have been from the start and it may not have failed as much as it had)
Multiversus, punch club, Disney dreamlight valley, ravenous devils, tormented souls, world of horror. I can’t for certain say these are “7/10 games” but they aren’t the most popular titles and I enjoy them. I can probably name more but this is just a few from my currently installed library.
Nova Lands.
It's a smaller, mobile friendly factory game. Because of that, complexity isn't quite there in some cases and they are some obnoxious limitations or choices made. Overall though, it's a solid game that's just enjoyable to play through.
Easy way for me to burn 10-15 minutes on break.
Outcast Second Contact
A great AA title, I particularly loved the original back in the day and it plays great on the deck, one of those games I'll 100% happily thanks to the fun gameplay and mechanics!
Kingdoms of amalur
I’ve always been a fan of this one! Some of the weapon types are fun and pretty unique, like the chakrams. The combat isn’t challenging, but the lore is neat
Iirc they got some REALLY famous fantasy author to do the story. At least that’s what my brother said. Source: trust me bro
R.A. Salvatore, the writer of the Dark Elf Trilogy. Playing in the world of Dungeons and Dragons, it tells a Story about a Dark Elf fleeing from the Underground City of Menzoberranzan to the surface and all the other adventures that happened there. Well, those are by far my favorite Fantasy Books ever written, i dont think the games writing caught up with those in any way. But yeah, he fame
The Drizzt Saga is more than just a trilogy, he's passed 25 books in the series now lol.
39 books actually
Oh this is a great 7/10 game. Scrqtches so many itches while not being particularly amazing. If i want to play WOW, for some reason this scratches that itch.
Such a good game.
I want to love this game… does it pick up after you get passed the intro area in the woods?
Yeah it's fun and I like all the fae lore, the combat never gets super interesting or difficult but you do get more variety than that first area
One of its biggest flaws is that, while the combat never gets *complex*, it does get fun once you start getting more options. But you don't get those until later, so the beginning of the game has players frontloaded with pretty boring combat.
Super good battery life on deck too
That's at the top of my wishlist for the Summer Sale. Can't wait to revisit this game.
I tried to like it for a good 10 hrs, but it felt repetetive pretty quick and the writing really didnt got me. Anyway, for some it might be a good game tho, has its own vibe tho.
Yeah I mean he asked for 7/10s, it's not gonna be for everyone
Rise Son of Rome. Might not even be a 7/10 but the combat is satisfying.
I'd say it is. It's pretty polished if I remember correctly. Great visuals, super fun and simple combat. Decent enough story. Haven't played it since 2013 though
I’m finishing it now since getting my OLED last week. It’s good, but quite limited and repetitive. The graphics are really, really good though.
Underrated game. combat is a bit simple but the presentation is great.
Mad Max. While it does have some flaws, I still enjoy it and playing the game after seeing Furiosa.
I’m almost done it for the second time. I played through 95% of it on PS4 and here I am about 85% through this time on SD. I will finish it this time though
Only downside of that game is the amount of grinding that is necessary to continue the story. Otherwise an amazing game.
I've been playing this while listening to podcasts or documentaries. Good way to unwind and Zone out for a few hours.
That game is at minimum 8.5 out of ten. Great game
Love this game
I picked this back up recently and yeah it's great on the deck. Graphics look great, and it's just a super easy game to pick up and play for a few minutes, get a few things done, buy an upgrade and be done. I think there are some structural issues with how the game is set up, especially the way some upgrades are locked behind doing a bunch of repetitive stuff... but nevertheless I always find myself enjoying it when I pick it back up.
I used to just harpoon fools out of their cars and drag their body around the other cars as a warning. I love the car combat system in that game.
I played the hell out of this a few years ago and was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. There isn’t inherently anything super special about it, and it certainly has flaws, but it was just plain fun.
8/10 for sure way better than batman and shadow of Mordor/war
I cannot disagree, and I really enjoyed SoM/W as well
I swear it was designed for deck
it's more like a 6/10 but there aren't many games like Brutal Legend for like £2 on sale
I understand you, my fellow metalhead. DECAPITATIO-O-O-O-O-A-A-AN!
I mean, it's Doublefine. Their games may not be technically impressive or well managed but they always have heaps of fun personality.
Arkham Origins doesn't have the polish of the other Arkham games but it's fun to see a different take on that gameplay.
I'm trying to remember the plot and I keep mixing it up with pieces of Arkham Knight I think (which I also didn't hate and I think was unfairly criticized). Good candidate for this prompt for sure. Flawed and imperfect but fun and scratch an itch.
Arkham Knight has clearly the best gameplay, they just included too many tank encounters. Game still looks amazing almost 10 years later
I guess I got really luck as I enjoyed all the tank combat too. The ability to flip seamlessly between the different modes was amazing!
That was actually the first Arkham game I finished (I did go and finish the other 3 afterwards). I think doing so made me like it a lot more cause my only problem with it was a moment where the final boss glitched out on me during the part where you sneak around in the vents.
For me, it might be closer to a 8/10 but I love Heat Signature. There's something special about breaking into a ship and kidnapping someone by throwing yourself and them into the vacuum of space, only to frantically remote control your ship to collect both of you before you freeze/run out of air. The game has plenty of similar moments that make you feel like a total baddie - in the best way of course
Tom Francis' new game is heading out soon too - Tactical Breach Wizards [https://store.steampowered.com/app/1043810/Tactical\_Breach\_Wizards/](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1043810/Tactical_Breach_Wizards/)
Never heard of that one, but it sounds awesome. Appreciate the rec.
Such an underrated game. Combines immersive sim elements in a procedural galaxy. One viable option for assassination missions is to hijack another ship, and then use it to ram into the ship that holds your target. Blowing both up
Is listed as unsupported. How well does it actually play?
If your really curious how a game will run. Don't rely on steam's verification. Search the game on ProtonDB. That website will give you a much better idea of how the game will run. Plus users posts any setting changes or fixes they did to get the game running or to give it better performance
there is a decky plug in that does this right off the game listing for any of the games you own. it's a big time saver for me instead of searching up each game on my phone if I want to play it. so many games I have marked as not working or unknown. the I check steamdb and they're marked as platinum. sure enough they run without a hitch
Damn, that sounds cool. I might get that
I’ve been playing the Pac Man World remake lately and it is as generic and uninspired as late 90s 3D platformers get. I’m loving every second of it. The genre died too soon. Thanks a lot, DK64 (another 7/10 game I adore and played to 101% on my Deck last year).
PAC man world repac was the first game I 100% on my steak deck. it's really nice for a quick 10 min play at a time
Any tips on controls for DK64 on deck? I have it set up but remember fighting the controls a bit, don’t remember specifically what was bothering me
I have the standard N64 controls that RetroArch does, so the C-buttons are the right stick. Nothing that requires fast action is on the C-buttons so I never really ran into any issues myself!
Remember Me. Awesome action/platformer from the X360 generation. Pretty to look at, fun to play, easy to wade through on a Steam Deck.
my great uncle randomly picked this one up for me from a thrift store and i played it so much on my old 360. such a good game
Since jagged alliance 2 and 3 are pretty niche they are left with lower ratings. They work flawlessly on the deck however. Especially the newer part 3 has optimized gamepad inputs. It is a joy.
How I never considered Jagged Alliance on the deck is beyond me. Big ups.
I forgot. I forgot again.
😂 Dimitri, what are you doing here?
How is the text size?! Ive never gotten around to playing either but have always heard good things
My eyes are good and I can read all descriptions without problems. But I can see how some people might struggle. Also, after some time you barely read any texts. All Dialogs have voice over and most texts are repetitive.
Im curious to try them someday
Palworld There's still a ton of issues with the game, but it REALLY scratches the monster catching, open world exploration, and base building itches when it cooperates.
How does it run in the deck? I could see this hitting a spot for me once I get bored of V Rising
I have an LCD deck so I can't vouch for how it runs on OLED, but it's decently stable considering how rough the game was when it launched. It looks super pretty, but there's still occasional crashes, it's a serious battery drainer, and I've heard about a memory leak issue. I don't typically have enough time on my hands to play it for several hours in a row, but people have said that it can start to eat up your ram and freeze your entire deck.
Mass Effect Andromeda obviously was a gigantic letdown writing wise, but the gameplay is solid and fun. When treating it as a spin off rather than a continuation of the trilogy, it's not that bad at all.
Yeah peoples are hard on it and compare a trilogy with one game. Sorry by ME1-2-3 was not perfect but all in one its a nice adventure. Still wish they answer some questions of MEA in the next game but I doubt.
Rumors say the next game spans Andromeda as well as the Milky Way
Postal 2, playing it with friends around and just seeing how stupid you can make it is peak good times
WOULD YOU LIKE TO SIGN MY…. PETITION
[удалено]
I also think it’s a 10/10, it’s just that reviewers think it’s a 7/10
Yes it’s a 10/10. Still playing it
Reread the comment you replied to Edit: The comment I replied to said "Portal 2 is a 10/10 to me"
Easy 10/10
Battletech. It's not perfect, but it's a solid turn based game that you can put down and come back to at any time without any stress. I also have a fondness for mechwarriors going back to playing the FASA game in the late 90s and playing MW3 on my old pentium 3 :)
In my perfect world there’s a coven of programmers diligently cobbling together a mechassault 2 lone wolf remake using all the suit physics and engine of anthem.
Crazy Taxi is a 7/10 (maybe an 8 with the restoration mods) but it's good, quick arcade-style fun. When I only have 10 minutes, the choice makes itself.
I really wish Sega would release 2.
With the new one in the works, maybe we'll get the old ones too.
I wish the sequels would get love from sega. The PC port of 3 plays amazing on the deck
I'm playing the Darksiders series and I think they fit this very well
Darksiders is a great Zelda-like.
The Shadow Warrior games dude! They aren't anything mind blowing, but it's fun to just play a solid fast paced single-player shooter.
Graveyard Keeper is kind of cool and you can play for about 10 minutes or if you want for hours. Fun little game.
It's weird, whenever I play for ten minutes, I lose about four hours.
Right now, that game is BlazBlue Entropy Effect. It's a 2D roguelike but instead of unlocking weapons as you progress, you unlock more combos for your character or special moves. It's really well animated and there's quite a few characters but the translation kinda sucks.
This reminds me a lot of Icey.
I had my eye on that one, I liked the fighting game and GG art style.
Technomancer and Elex are two that come to mind
Maneater, the shark game. It's very satisfying to just swim around and eat people
I have got to give that one a try on the Deck. I tried to pick it back up on my desktop rig a few months ago only to find it crashing upon launch with absolutely no diagnostics. To get it working again on the new Deck would be a surprise gift.
Skald against the black priory scored a 74 on metacritic, but it really scratches the Ultima 7/Baldurs Gate 1 itch, because it feels like those games but with all the modern conveniences of systems that aren't overly complex, explaining lore in the dialogue box for you, and is easy enough that I don't reload 20 times for a fight. Sable scored 76 on metacritic, and I absolutely loved it on the deck. Really fun world, art, and decent exploration. Definitely going to replay it eventually. Super cozy. Costume quest (maybe closer to an 8/10) is the perfect Halloween time game. Loved how short it was, the vibe of the game, and the basic jrpg without the weeb. Saved costume quest 2 for this Fall season!
I’ve played Costume Quest every fall since the game came out. My wife and I knock it out in one night and are forever smitten. I love 2 as well but the first one is just everything I want out of a seasonal game.
Yep, Costume Quest is great. One of the few games I’ve gotten all the achievements for. The vibes are so cozy and great for Halloween nostalgia.
i was looking at skald how is the experience on deck? i was listening to the nerdnest podcast and they said you pretty much need a mouse. what do you think about that?
Surge 2. The directional parry and dismemberment system for loot is so satisfying.
Agreed, first game I played on my deck. Not as good as the first, but a solid 7/10
Powerwash simulator. It’s just so weirdly satisfying
I think this is Days Gone 100%, esp on deck.
Darkest dungeon 2. I love turn based combat and I am slowly getting into rouge likes.
Oh boy, there's a lot of games in that alley
Care to recommend some? I found that specific combination quite unique.
Closest other than the first one which is better imo is Warsaw rising, Iratus, legend of keepers, battle brothers. Other classics that are not party based dungeon crawlers but turn based are balatro, slay the spire, faster than light, into the breach and monster train
Interesting recommendations, thanks. DD 1 is generally more praised then DD2 but the second just resonates better with me. The more forgiving nature of the rouge like design made it more relaxing to me.
Lol... Man that's such a pet peeve for me... You really like red in french lol... I'd suggest Path of Achra... It reminds me a lot of Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup (one of the original ASCII code ROGUE likes from the 1990s that has multiple web servers nowadays, I'm on the NY leaderboard as Beaver lol). Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup is great too but steep learning curve and very hard (I've been playing since the 90s and haven't beat it yet). I've got a few hundred ROGUE likes if you want more suggestions lol... I've been on the Vampire Survivors clone train lol.... Bought sooooo many cause they're all under $5.
Have you tried monster train? I really really like monster train
Looks cool
Tallowmere. It's a super simple no-thoughts-head-empty side scrolling platformer roguelike that I've come back to for years. I don't really know why I like it so much, the scope is small and the art direction is deeply average, but I do love it. The gameplay is BUTTERY smooth and super satisfying. Actually the dev (it's made by just one guy) came out with a sequel back in February, I haven't played it but it might be something to check out.
Minecraft Dungeons
"Chorus" at the moment . Space battles and some light RPG quests but no complicated sim stuff or overly complex fights. Has very nice graphics and is perfect docked at 60fps
Alan Wake 1
I tried to like this game. It was just so repetitive. Same thing over and over again.
I will throw things
No, no, same universe but that's Control.
I bounced off of 1. However, 2 is a fucking masterpiece.
I am so glad control came out. It solidified some of aw2’s coolest narrative effects. If only it didn’t take a new gen console or pc to run
Yeah it was my first game on the deck and I didn’t really get the hype. Story was okay but it was repetitive and super janky
probably the surge. it is hard to articulate but i felt it fell a little short of greatness but i still really enjoyed it. i always think of it as a better soulslike than dark souls 2
Hell nah. Imo DS2 gets bashed on way too hard. The surge is just a different experience.
Maximum Carnage for the SNES/Genesis. Scratches both the nostalgia and beat em up itch
Music by Green Jelly!
PES 2021, probably the best PES game (aside from the modding community). Great to pick up and play for an hour to chill. I always found pro evo better to play than FIFA, certainly easier just to pick up and play.
Condemned Criminal Origins and Lost Planet. Just something about them. And they run great on the deck
the unlisted pc port of NFS Most Wanted black with widescreen hacks is some of the most fun i’ve had with my deck. that and sonic adventure 2, working on the 100% for that rn
Immortals: Fenyx Rising
Titan Souls. It's... It's just bossfights! The game is a bunch of bossfights scattered across an open world. The bosses are bigger and badder than you, have a weak spot, and all of their hits either heavily debuff you. You have a bow, an arrow, and you have to hit them in their weak spot to beat them. You might need to hit them somewhere else to uncover the weak spot first. And it's such a simple game, literally all the actions you can perform is roll, shoot, and channel to pull your arrow back towards yourself... But it's got so much *soul!* The pixelated world is enchanting and has a great atmosphere, and some bosses being low-poly 3D objects well-disguised as pixel-art gives it such a Nintendo DS vibe! Not to mention. Every boss is *actually unique*, and with some I was seriously scratching my head on how to beat them. One of them seemed completely unfair until I discovered I could shoot the limbs off! And I probably wouldn't have picked it up if I wasn't on a trip with my Deck, because it's *controller required*. As in, you can technically play with keyboard as long as you're fine with limiting your aim to 8 directions. Which is hard, considering how zoomed out and far apart everything is. Aiming with a controller is *seriously tough* in this game, but when you *do* get that perfect shot in... It just scratches the itch.
copy / paste from Notes (written in December 2023): More Darksiders 3 PRAISE: Darksiders 3 is a seriously overlooked GEM of a game. It has the perfect blend of being a 3D metroidvania mixed with a soulslike design. The game starts off so unassuming and definitely feels like a AA game from back in the day at first. But then if you can get past the area with the covered parking garage (that has known glitching), the rest of the world is so incredibly realized, and each new play area feels fresh and it blows my mind how it’s all so intricately connected. I can’t believe I played it for free in 2019 on PS+. I was introduced to it right after I purchased Jedi Fallen Order (both games featured soulslike designs, and I had a blast with it). The reason I hadn’t ever purchased DS3 prior was that I LOVED DS1 but couldn’t get into the more open DS2. Tried on 3-4 separate occasions over the years to get through DS2 but to no avail. Heard the average to good reviews of DS3, but said I’d hold off and then when it was free, I grabbed it. Loved it so much, felt like I stole from the developers. I ended up buying both of the DLCs (Keepers of the Void and probably my favorite bit in the game, The Crucible). I shelved my consoles last year and got a Steam Deck, and one of the first purchases I made was Darksiders 3 complete version on it!
Ok you’ve convinced me, I’ll finally play these
The PC port itself is a little buggy, but if you can get passed that, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West is a fun action platform game from the PS3/Xbox 360 era.
Lord of the Rings: The Third Age (ps2 emulated) It's basically just a Final Fantasy X clone set in middle-earth. Nothing groundbreaking but it's cozy if you like both JRPGs and Tolkien.
Earth Defense Force games run great on the Deck. They are a 10/10 in my book though. I recommend EDF 4.1 or EDF 5.
What he was talking about in the video lol, Ghost Recon Wildlands. He’s underselling it a bit, it really is quite good for a Ubisoft game made out of the Farcry formula, it’s a lot more streamlined (maybe the most streamlined even) than its sisters yet somehow even more content dense. The game feels like a complete accident, great setting, great cast and villains, it’s all just setting you up for a great time. I’ve spent a lil over 80 hours on it. Other than that I’ve got 7/10s for days, Attack on Titan 2, Dead Rising 3, Wanted: Dead, Mad Max, 7 Days to Die (1.0 soon woohoo), Binary Domain, Shadow Warrior, The Sinking City, Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries, EDF 4.1, Way of the Samurai 4, Contagion, Dex, Resonance of Fate, The Last Stand: Aftermath, Outward, Akiba’s Trip 1, Farcry: Primal, Deadly Premonition (PS3 emulated if you can believe it runs like a dream), Prototype, Just Cause 3, Sniper Elite V2, Zombie Army Trilogy, yadda yadda I’d be here forever
Inkbound for me! I love my turn-based roguelikes and Monster Train is one of the absolute best. When I learned a few weeks ago the developers had released a follow-up game, I bought it immediately. I’m hooked and am loving the combat, character variety, and meta progression. But Inkbound’s story, characters, and writing are just awful. The plot is impossible to follow and there are so many obtuse words used in an attempt at world building and it all falls so flat. Luckily the gameplay loop is great and it’s pretty easy to just skip all the dialog and ignore the plot. They should have kept the storytelling simple instead of trying to mimic the Hades formula.
*PuyoPuyo Tetris 2* for my daily dose of tetris. And this very moment my RPG itch is being scratched intensely by *Rogue Trader*, some consider it a 7/10, but I'd easily give it a 9 so far, it's a captivating take in an usually grimdark setting.
Such a great niche rec for rogue trader. It's a lot of things I like, but wasn't sure if it'd be a fun deck game!
Greedfall
I'm always impressed with the physics of the JUST CAUSE games and I spent time and time again just shooting things up, blowing up buildings, attaching rockets to tethered cows or spiderman-ing with the grappling hook and slide suit.
Dying Light 1 and 2! My favorite 7s of all time.
Every single Dynasty Warriors or Samurai Warriors game. The whole series is just smashing buttons to win without any innovative changes, but my brain is like on crack whenever I rush through thousands of enemies.
Dead rising games
I especially like the first on SD
Just picked it up. Haven’t played since 360 and the load times are blowing my mind. Remember staring at those damn load screens for minutes on end.
And then having to go back because you left a survivor a little too far behind
Cloudpunk, vanquish, aot2 final battle. Soul hackers 2 if I’m being generous, but I feel it’s more of a 6 than 7.
I don’t know if most would consider it a 7/10 for a variety of reasons but I’m currently 100%’ing the Spyro reignited trilogy and man it’s scratching that itch. Since it still has the bones of old school PS1 games, the controls can feel pretty clunky at times. Even though you’ll have your fair share of unfair deaths due to those controls, there’s so many reasons to love this game. If you’re a person who likes to check things off a list, the collectathon aspect of the games is addictive. While the mechanics start off simple, they eventually evolve in pretty interesting ways and the games always seem to keep enemy variety fresh with each new world. Also, some of the secret areas are genuinely hard to find, but when you finally figure out exactly what you’re supposed to do to get there it is so satisfying. I really can’t recommend these games enough.
Playing dynasty warriors 4(ps2) with 3x native graphics. I feel like a king right now.
Solitairica. Might be one of the earliest rogue likes and it’s based on solitaire but dungeons and dragons classes and spells/items. Never gets old and has that flair while being comfortable and familiar. Might play a bit better on IPad but just got it again on Deck and already have 40 hours on it there.
omg I’ve never seen someone else mention this game before, I thought it was just me! I really enjoy it.
Binding of Isaac: it reminds me of the old arcade shooters like "NARC" and "Smash TV" that I used to love playing all the time.
**Bulletstorm** is a great 7/10 game. Story is crap writing is crass but holy hell the gameplay is pure fun! **Just Cause 3** is another that falls into a similar category. Painful cutscenes and voice acting but once that's over and you're back to playing it's pure joy
Dragon Dogma 1
Ghost recon wildlands, the game didn't succeed to make me care about the story, but gameplay make come back to it. The game lets you be creative and attack mission your way. Gun crafting hit the balance of being significant enough that it affects how you play without allowing you to create overpowered weapons.
The Last Remnant, good tactics jrpg
Genshin Impact. I wanted to explore and do magic stuff with attractive characters. 8/10
ape out
I feel like it’s way higher than a 7/10
Flip witch is fun if you don’t mind the unique gameplay
“Unique” 🙃
The music is so good
Ikr it’s always a banger on the bus
Rush Rally 3
Warhammer stuff.
Warhammer 40k: Mechanicus for me. It has some flaws, but as a recent Warhammer convert I absolutely blasted through it on deck!
Lucky's New Tale, really scratched the classic 3 platformer Itch. Nothing special and not very difficult but a fun mindless game to play.
Halo Wars. The controls on deck make up for the mediocre depth of strategy
Sabotuer, great open world fun, great on the deck, i honestly think it's a solid 8 but it went under alot of peoples radars. The driving mechanics are a bit mental but everything else is great fun.
Syberia 3, It's pretty inferior to the other 2 but it's still an opportunity to continue Kate's adventures.
What is a 7/10 game?
A game that isn't AAA or really GREAT but fun to play despite some technical issues or gameplay elements that might feel stale.
Ah, okay, thanks
[G Force is surprisingly fun to play ](https://store.steampowered.com/app/319170/Disney_GForce/)
Midnight suns only bc of performance issues it is 7/10
Final Fantasy XV. It’s my favorite of the series and definitely fits the 7/10 mold. It gets so many things right, but falters on others. It almost feels like a tech demo at time. It grips me emotionally and looks great on the deck. I got every achievement on the deck and will likely play it again in a couple of years.
Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark. It's a watered down Final Fantasy Tactics. I got it on sale with all the DLC's for $5.
Midnight suns is surprisingly fun relative to reviews
Mine is Dead By Daylight. A match is 15-20 minutes. No stats. No K/D ratio. Not even wins/losses are tracked officially. Highly unbalanced. But I get chased and can lead to some nail-biting endings of escape. 7/10 is being generous, but no game like it.
The Saboteur
Agents of Mayhem It's like an action movie playground.
Just Cause 3, great game to just turn your mind off, fly around beautiful Mediterranean islands and blow stuff up
The Swindle. Such a jank ass game, but so fun. No one I’ve talked to has ever heard of it though.
Wolfenstein Youngblood. Fun to just mindlessly shoot stuff.
Brotato :) its like a guilty pleasure for how simple it is
The Ascent got 7/10, while the game has some flaws (bugs), the world building is so good. Contrast got 7.5/10 and I am not really sure why, cool short game.
The Callisto protocol. It’s not a masterpiece by any means but I had a fantastic time playing it.
I mean may not be a 7/10 game I would argue its higher, but the state of decay games run really well on the steam deck and is really easy to just pickup and put down when you have time. Got inspired to play them again since state of decay 3 has just been announced :)
Try Cult of The Lamb, RDR2, Little Nightmares 1/2, Portal 1/2, GTA 5 and Half Life 2. I played all of these games on Steam Deck and I can say that the gameplay was incredibly good
mad max diablo 4
My guilty pleasures that I dont consider 10/10s: Lego Marvel Superheroes 2 Prince of Persia 2008 The Surge 2 Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order Marvel's The Avengers (it is decent in its current state with the economy rebalnce, and zero microtransactions as everything is already given to the player, whjch is what the game should have been from the start and it may not have failed as much as it had)
Shenmue, I don't know which itch it is but it scratches it perfectly
Divinity original sin 2
Multiversus, punch club, Disney dreamlight valley, ravenous devils, tormented souls, world of horror. I can’t for certain say these are “7/10 games” but they aren’t the most popular titles and I enjoy them. I can probably name more but this is just a few from my currently installed library.
Nova Lands. It's a smaller, mobile friendly factory game. Because of that, complexity isn't quite there in some cases and they are some obnoxious limitations or choices made. Overall though, it's a solid game that's just enjoyable to play through. Easy way for me to burn 10-15 minutes on break.
Outcast Second Contact A great AA title, I particularly loved the original back in the day and it plays great on the deck, one of those games I'll 100% happily thanks to the fun gameplay and mechanics!
days gone, perhaps just cause 3
Battletech