What are you playing?

I have power banks for my Nintendo when I travel.

Does it allow mods? For example, I play Stardew Valley vanilla, but could I mod it and have that work on Steam Deck?
I believe its down to how the game handles them but Stardew seems easy enough.

 

figmentPez

Staff member
I finished the main storyline of Control, and I absolutely would not have done so without activating the assist mode. I just don't get excited about fighting difficult fight after difficult fight. The game wore me down to the point where I just was not having fun any more, trying to live up to the challenge the designers had in mind. It's not rewarding enough to my brain. Too many instant-death pits, bullet sponge enemies, and enemies that respawn while you're still in the same damn room trying to find the thing you're supposed to destroy/interact with.

I loved the story, the aesthetics, the reality bending visuals, the strange lore, the creepy sense of dread.

What I didn't like: feeling super squishy all the time (even after getting the shield), the boring upgrade system that the game would have been better off without, the frequency of bottomless pits that are insta-death and send you back to the last save point, constantly having to play at my best to make any progress.

When I finally did activate Assist Mode (which is really good, with a lot of granularity to the options), and make it so that I wasn't made of tissue paper, and so that a full clip of ammo could reliably kill at least one enemy, I started to have a whole lot of fun with the game. I still died several times in some of the boss battles, since I didn't crank things all the way up, or enable invincibility, or one-hit kills, but I enjoyed things a lot more without my heart racing, and the pacing of some of the setpiece moments was a lot better when they weren't broken up by long loading times after each death.

I'll keep playing the DLC missions, which seem pretty fun (and have pits that don't instantly kill you, but reset you back onto the ground!)
 
Control is a mixed bag that I really enjoyed despite having many of the same frustrations, but I'll be God damned if the Ashtray Maze isn't one of the finest setpieces in modern video games.
 
I finished the main storyline of Control, and I absolutely would not have done so without activating the assist mode. I just don't get excited about fighting difficult fight after difficult fight. The game wore me down to the point where I just was not having fun any more, trying to live up to the challenge the designers had in mind. It's not rewarding enough to my brain. Too many instant-death pits, bullet sponge enemies, and enemies that respawn while you're still in the same damn room trying to find the thing you're supposed to destroy/interact with.

I loved the story, the aesthetics, the reality bending visuals, the strange lore, the creepy sense of dread.

What I didn't like: feeling super squishy all the time (even after getting the shield), the boring upgrade system that the game would have been better off without, the frequency of bottomless pits that are insta-death and send you back to the last save point, constantly having to play at my best to make any progress.

When I finally did activate Assist Mode (which is really good, with a lot of granularity to the options), and make it so that I wasn't made of tissue paper, and so that a full clip of ammo could reliably kill at least one enemy, I started to have a whole lot of fun with the game. I still died several times in some of the boss battles, since I didn't crank things all the way up, or enable invincibility, or one-hit kills, but I enjoyed things a lot more without my heart racing, and the pacing of some of the setpiece moments was a lot better when they weren't broken up by long loading times after each death.

I'll keep playing the DLC missions, which seem pretty fun (and have pits that don't instantly kill you, but reset you back onto the ground!)
For me Control started feeling really difficult but quickly became more manageable as I got more powers, and then I really loved the challenge as I stormed through it. But I never actually finished it, and learning there's an assist mode now (I don't believe there was when I played) means I might jump back in and just crank it to easy to get through the story.
 
I got Catizens because I am weak for cat games.

Named after our huge, but friendly stunned cat and our little fighter, Butterball and Lu are off to win over and fight (respectively) for their fellow cats!
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And making him fluffier is an option!
 
I'm just TWO levels away from beating the main game in Cuphead before the Last course! I will KILL YOU King Dice, you Wayne Brady voiced BASTARD, YOU and your horrifying dice game!
 
Arcade Paradise is a lovely basic business with an obscene amount of retro style arcade titles you can play at your whim (35!). It's wonderfully relaxing and the perfect escapism I crave right now.
It's 20 bucks and I give it up a decent thumbs up,

 
Yup, the biggest drawback is the battery life for me but it's honestly not worse than the switch playing BotW and power banks exist.
 
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So more Arcade Paradise for me and some of the glaring flaws are becoming apparent. The game is still very buggy. Oftentimes your tasks can't be completed because the game is tracking something it shouldn't be or some value had rolled over or something and it borks everything. The one that was the most disappointing to me was when I finally got a pool table in my arcade and the physics and mechanics of making your shot are so fucking broken, even the AI can't sink balls. No joke, it was turns of scratches before either me or my AI opponent could sink a ball on purpose. It's complete and utter garbage. It's maybe the worst virtual pool I've ever played in my entire life, counting every bad Newgrounds flash game or early Xbox Arcade shovelware.

The Whack-A-Mole game just straight doesn't work at all. Nothing pops up when you try to play it, making the achievement for unlocking all game goals literally impossible, which is hilarious to me.

Also, the separate currency you collect ingame for both upgrades to your abilities AND unlocking new songs on the jukebox comes in at such a snail's pace, I've been saving for what feels like weeks ingame just to be able to hire someone to empty the hoppers for me. It's going to take years to unlock all the CDs and by that time I will have had everything else done forever.

The developer has said the reason the game was delayed so long was that they were having so much fun making new arcade games, but I wish there were fewer better games rather than tons of slapdash games, many of which straight don't work.

Wait for a patch, if one ever comes.
 
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So after getting my Steam Deck, I've been using this awesomely powerful not-so-little handheld to play... Metal Gear Solid 2? On the PS2 emulator?

I never played these games back in the day, I played through all of MGS1 on my anbernic handheld and now it's time for 2. Game's great, this would have blown my mind as a kid. Honestly it still kinda blows my mind now.
 
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So after getting my Steam Deck, I've been using this awesomely powerful not-so-little handheld to play... Metal Gear Solid 2? On the PS2 emulator?

I never played these games back in the day, I played through all of MGS1 on my anbernic handheld and now it's time for 2. Game's great, this would have blown my mind as a kid. Honestly it still kinda blows my mind now.
It certainly blew my mind as a kid, I was enjoying the story so much I was able to play through the pc version with a keyboard
 
For nostalgia's sake, I reinstalled GTA 5 and I've been playing it quite a lot over the last few days.

Weirdly, though, the main thing I've been doing in this playthrough is investing in the stock market. I don't mean Lester's assassination missions, I mean just buying stocks and waiting for them to go up, and then selling them. I wonder if it means anything that the escapist fantasy I'm indulging in right now involves making lots of money from investments.
 
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Epic Game Store: Heyyyyyy buddy, free armadillo costume with Knockout City right now.

Me: Hmmm, I've never played Knockout City, but I do love armadillos. My user name is even ArmadilloGuy.

A little later: Oh hey, this game's not bad. And I was MVP in my first ever match!

Heh, I was also the only one on a 3v3 game to wear any kind of costume. I already had Knockout City in my library. Not sure if it was already free to play or if I got it through another Epic giveaway, but I had it.
ARmadilloGuy.jpg
 
Stray

Just finished it and...eh, it's okay? As I said before, once the novelty of being a cat wears off, the game itself is fine, at best. I kind of agree with Yahtzee's review, which he said there isn't really a core gameplay loop to the game. You get a really great, and satisfying, ability at one point, but it's so short, I don't even see the point of having it.

I'm glad I didn't give in to the temptation to pay the full amount for this. It's enjoyable enough, but it's not as good as what I thought it would be. Getting it for "free" through Playstation Plus was more than worth it for me and I'm probably not going to revisit it.
 
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Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove

Doing a replay of the first game, and a fullplay of the other three that I haven't beaten and I JUST remembered why the locks are in a certain order...in difficulty...so me wasting so much time on Propellor Knight and Mole Knight's stages before their preceding ones is on me.

"Oh but you need their power up for that one treasure stage-" YOU GET MORE TREASURE THAN GOD PAST MICK-the FUCK were you thinking?!

EITHER WEITHER still a great game, and STILL a plague on my OCD...because of the gold bags. Just let me DIE, why bring my precious GOLD into this?!
 
Bugsnax

Just beat it earlier. And while the gameplay isn't anything special, I found myself drawn in and enamoured by all the characters by the end. So much so that when the game gave me a chance to say goodbye to each of them before the credits, I really took my time. Right at the end, you're asked if you're ready to go and I actually said no, and looked back all the weird characters I'd gotten to know through this game.

The best way I can describe Bugsnax is Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs by way of David Cronenberg. It's weird as hell, with a bright, happy veneer covering a much darker story with surprisingly well written characters.

When I saw the original trailer, I had a feeling I'd like it. And I did.

EDIT: Thinking about it, I think saying the "gameplay isn't anything special" is too harsh and reductive. I actually liked hunting and trapping the various bugsnax. There are some good little puzzles in the game. And I found the boss fights fun, although not terribly challenging. You get a half a dozen different gadgets and traps, some you have to use with each other to complete puzzles or capture bugsnax. I got into using them more and more as the game progressed.
 
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Returnal

Got this through PS Plus Premium. I'm hit and miss on rogue-like games. More often than not, I lose interest in them before completing them. And that may happen here, but I gotta say, I'm really digging it at the moment. The graphics are fantastic and I love the premise. It's basically a AAA rogue-like, which I'm PRETTY sure is the first of its kind.

I also like that every time you die, the short cutscene before the reset seems SLIGHTLY different. And the characters' dialogue is slightly different. It makes the whole process slightly less tedious because it makes you feel like you're progressing through the story every time you die.

So yeah, not sure if it'll hold my attention long enough to beat, but it certainly has my attention right now.
 
For nostalgia's sake, I reinstalled GTA 5 and I've been playing it quite a lot over the last few days.

Weirdly, though, the main thing I've been doing in this playthrough is investing in the stock market. I don't mean Lester's assassination missions, I mean just buying stocks and waiting for them to go up, and then selling them. I wonder if it means anything that the escapist fantasy I'm indulging in right now involves making lots of money from investments.
That does feel pretty good. The drug dealing in chinatown wars was a similar timesink for me
 
Returnal

Got this through PS Plus Premium. I'm hit and miss on rogue-like games. More often than not, I lose interest in them before completing them. And that may happen here, but I gotta say, I'm really digging it at the moment. The graphics are fantastic and I love the premise. It's basically a AAA rogue-like, which I'm PRETTY sure is the first of its kind.

I also like that every time you die, the short cutscene before the reset seems SLIGHTLY different. And the characters' dialogue is slightly different. It makes the whole process slightly less tedious because it makes you feel like you're progressing through the story every time you die.

So yeah, not sure if it'll hold my attention long enough to beat, but it certainly has my attention right now.
Well, I give up. It's too punishing and I found myself more frustrated than anything else. I didn't feel like I made any progress and there aren't enough permanent rewards that carry over to make each run feel fulfilling.

I think Hades spoiled me for rogue-likes because it does everything right. Returnal is just a tedious exercise in frustration.
 
Thanks once again to PS Plus Premium, I played Days Gone for the first time.

It's...okay, I guess? It's yet another open world sandbox game, and not particularly novel. I like the scrounging mechanics, but the combat isn't all that great. I think I'll probably uninstall it.
 
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Thanks once again to PS Plus Premium, I played Days Gone for the first time.

It's...okay, I guess? It's yet another open world sandbox game, and not particularly novel. I like the scrounging mechanics, but the combat isn't all that great. I think I'll probably uninstall it.
I kinda like Days Gone for how weirdly chill I find it as a survival zombie game. It's not great (although the horde fights can be interesting) but I found something weirdly zen about just cruising around and maintaining your motorcycle.
 
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