Some games I’d rather play on PC for various reasons (immersion, control scheme, etc), but then some games felt just right to play on the Deck, Blasphemous, Pentiment, Citizen Sleeper…
I’m looking for more games like that, ideally 20-30 hours to complete, easy to pick up and put down, and good performance
Instead of a gaming computer, the last time I had some spare cash, I built a NAS. When I had a little again, but not enough to really build out a high end rig, I got the OLED Deck and immediately bought Factorio. I’d been binging Factorio content, recently found some channels like Dosh Doshington, DocJade, etc and knew I wanted in. For a PC game, that really wants a keyboard and mouse, it plays friggin fantastic on Deck.
More recently, because I was watching SMW romhack players a while back and Pangaea Panga just released Super Dram World 3, I’ve gone all in on learning Kaizo Mario games. Panga’s “Kaizo Kindergarten” is a great intro, along with “2Kaizo2Learn.” “Joy of Kaizo” is a beautiful dedication to Bob Ross’ “Joy of Painting” where level backgrounds are recreations of paintings from actual episodes of the show. It also features difficulty options and the beginner mode is pretty noob friendly. At least for someone like me who hasn’t played SMW since my SNES was hooked up in the 90s. Anyway, if you’ve fond memories of SMW it’s almost a crime not to revisit it and its hacks, either on a Deck or any portable emulator.
This is super interesting. To me Factorio feels so clumsy when you can’t access keyboard shortcuts. How did you get the controls to work well?
As Minnels pointed out, Wube put in work to make the game controller friendly for the Switch. On Deck, the trackpads make it even better. I play with the default settings but, like the OG Steam Controller, the controls are further customizable through Steam’s own interface. There are a few community layouts people seem fond of, which probably map some toggles or whatnot missing from the default layout, but I think it’s incredibly playable as is.
I’ve been on a hiatus from Factorio for about a month now but I’ve set up a dedicated server on the aforementioned NAS. I think I’m going to go another another bender soon and use it as an excuse to learn a little LUA and maybe Grafana as well. I think it’d be fun, once my build is semi-stable, to let it run unpaused even when players aren’t connected and have alerts set up based on the tracked stats. Will see how that pans out.
Sounds interesting. I wonder how that experience will balance with regards to establishing new mines… I could imagine that stable defenses can be set up against biters, but that resource patches will quickly run out if the game is left alone for 48+ hours
I think they made the controls controller friendly with the release of the switch version. Haven’t tried it myself but maybe should one day. Love Factorio.
Well, there’s a couple I’ve only ever played on the Deck. Dave the Diver, and Ball X Pit are two I would recommend.
This was the last push I needed to pick up Ball X Pit. I’ll tell my family I can see them next Christmas instead.
It’s really fun. I grew up playing games like Arkanoid on the Apple IIGS, so I’ve always had a love of the genre. And Ball X Pit reinvents it with another genre I like, rogue-lites.
I picked it up, put 30 hours into it in just a few days, and beat it.
Would HIGHLY recommend.
Absolum. I found myself doing more runs while out on my deck than at home. Totally enjoyable on both tho
That game is so good.
Wreckfest
I can recommend Balatro!
Roguelites have all been great on the Deck. Brotato, Enter the Gungeon, Hades 2, etc etc.
No please I can’t afford a new rehab
I second (third?) this. On the desktop it felt kinda boring. But it’s amazing for a quick pick up and play session on the Deck. Can’t recommend it enough. :)
I think it may even be better on the phone.
Caves of Qud
Doesn’t seem like a controller friendly game at first glance, but it’s so well optimized that I cannot go back to PC with it.
I also get like 4 hours of battery life out of it, which I use up regularly.
Bring the TDP down to 6W and you’ll get at least 6.5 with no impact on gameplay
After playing CoQ with controller support I find similar games unplayably uncomfortable. It’s done so well that it’s shocking to look back at how the UI used to be and remember the game wasn’t designed from the ground up with controller in mind.
Ive been waiting for a good sale to get it, can’t wait to dive into it
Have bought that game a while ago but never came around to play it so far. Hope I get a bit of time to spend delving into Qud during holidays.
Doesn’t seem like a controller friendly game at first glance, but it’s so well optimized that I cannot go back to PC with it.
Why don’t you use a controller on PC?
Well, any 2D indie game with controller support is perfect for the deck: (Like the hollow Knight series, or Hades).
Got Hi-Fi Rush on sale. And the inputs feel much better than on my PC (I blame my Bluetooth controller).
Want something with a classic feel (other than emulators)? “Heretic + Hexen” (for some doom-like action) and the Soul Reaver remaster play really well (and I got that one on GoG).
I have more, but those are the ones I play exclusively on my deck, now.
Were Heretic and Hexen remastered? I’ll get them if so. Heretic was the first game I played multiplayer on a PC, before we even had Internet. My friend hosted a game across town and I dialed into his PC with a modem. Blew our parents’ minds.
Yes! They just shadow-dropped the remaster out of the blue. I got it for free since I owned the old versions of both games on steam.
I just need to convince my friends to play with me xD
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. It’s the main reason I bought the Deck, so I could play it on the go.
Is it still working on the Deck after the EPIC integration update? Not really clear based on the recent negative reviews.
It isn’t for me, no. It gets stuck at the Loading screen overlay in the main menu. If I turn off WiFi I can play but only from a new save, I can’t play any existing saves. The Epic integration is obviously broken.
Bummer, guess I’ll hold off on it for now.
Yakuza 0
I wish so much I could play it for the first time again.
CrossCode is really nice on the deck
I might cheat a bit here, but for me its emulation with RetroArch since launch! I love the additional trackpads that give me features not possible on a regular gamepad. I setup my own menus and functionality. Can’t wait for the official Steam Controller (2) to launch, so I can use this on my PC too.
Dredge.
Yes! The basic graphics and textures worked well on a small screen but the 3d and lighting was still a treat
No Mans Sky. Plays great on the deck and flying with a controller feels better than keyboard and mouse.
Mass Effect Legendary Edition feels great on the deck and apart from the whole EAing it right up its to me much better playing on the deck than PC.
Apart from a few performance dips, Hardspace Shipbreaker is great on the deck, tried several times with keyboard and mouse but playing on the deck was much more enjoyable and I completed it for the first time last year.
But Ball X Pit, Enter the Gungeon, Balatro are probably more what you’re looking for.
Recently God of War Ragnarok
9bit Armies, Northgard, Spyro, Cuphead, World of Warships, The Expanse, The Last of Us 1&2
Can’t imagine playing any strategy game without a mouse!
It’s slow using the touch pads or touchscreen but I have The Mechanism Bag and attach a mouse to it, the bag holds the Steam Deck, mini folding keyboard, wall charger and a battery pack. For extended trips or for small parties I bring a USB monitor and extra controllers that go in a backpack.
I guess I normally wouldn’t use the deck in an environment where that works!
How’s Northguard with the control scheme? I only played it on PC
It’s a little slow but Northgard is a fairly slow game anyway so it balances. I use the track pad and triggers like a mouse and use the stick to move the camera, you have to play around with the mouse speed until you dial it in, takes a little getting used to but it’s definitely do able. If I have time and a table I also have a Bluetooth mouse that attaches to my bag.
