Submitted 4 weeks ago by Kruulos@sopuli.xyz to steamdeck@sopuli.xyz
I’m curious what ‘surprising’ games people have played last year on their Deck.
Most likely the most played games matches the top 10 list from Steam but I’d like to hear also about those lesser known games that you enjoyed, got working (give hints for the rest of us) or just would like to recommend to us.
My most played game was Brotato. It just plays so well and one run lasts about 20mins which is perfect for me when I don’t want to commit too much time.
My most surprising game is probably a Trackmania which took a while to get working because of the Ubisoft launcher not playing nice with Linux but then again there are so many guides to get it working it’s not that big of a deal. For me I had to change the wlan MTU packet from 1500 to under 1000 and all was well.
Outside tinkering I’d suggest Heaven’s Vault. Adventure/Puzzle game where you decipher an unknown language from glyphs. You can quit and next time you pick the game it will give a summary where you left last time storywise - such an awesome quality of life for short gaming bursts
Inscryption. I love card battlers and bought it just for that. I didn’t expect my mind to be blown at every twist! Easily one of my Top 5 games of all time. Controls were a bit wonky on deck but I got used to it after a few hours.
yeah I ended up using toch screen most of the time.
When I can finally beat act 1 boss I’ll be there with ya… I’m usually good at deck builders… usually…
Inscryption is a game that wants you to break it, as it will progress the story. Try to do all the puzzles in the cabin, and be sure to collect all the cards that are new.
Eventually, it will become almost trivial in order to get you to progress.
Inscryption is great!
RetroArch
I am a huge emulation fan and on my Steam Deck I often tend to play games I do not on my big PC. Off course RetroArch itself is not a game and it supports many systems and games, therefore its a bit unfair to list it here. But I played Game Boy Color, SNES and Mega Drive/Genesis games, such as Wario Land 3 and Crusader of Centy (or Soleil). I play RetroArch on my PC too, so even then the most played “game” on Deck is RetroArch. This shows how much I like emulation.
South Park Stick of Truth
I had this game in my back catalog for many years and always wanted to play it. Well I did a few hours and never finished it. The game is alright and its presentation is really good matching the quality of the TV show. But I don’t know, at some point I got a little bit bored by its gameplay and was stuck and could not progress.
The End.
Most played is Satisfactory, most surprising is the Marathon trilogy because I was surprised it was available at all, playable on the deck, fully supported, and free.
My top Deck games match my overall Steam list because my Deck is my only gaming PC.
Unicorn Overlord, took me. While to get into it but then I got completely hooked.
Is that on Steam? I can’t find it.
Nope, emulation via Ryujinx.
It’s so polished and intricate!
Honestly I don’t play any specific games more than others. I usually play them, beat them, move on.
Call of Juarez is a really fun and simple pick up and play game (I hate complicated games). Actually quite an ugly game, despite running at a locked 90/800p. I’m on my third playthrough now.
Adrift was a really visually and audibly beautiful game, but also kinda boring and frustrating (I still don’t understand how to navigate even though I beat it yesterday). The price makes up for it.
I’ll mention Neva and Planet of Lana in the same breath, as they are very very similar games, but both excellent, simple and beautiful. Frustratingly, they do not run at 90 FPS or 16:10. The puzzle aspect made Lana more fun but the battle aspect was way more fun in Neva.
My Friend Pedro is kind of a modern 2D Max Payne style game that I’ve got a lot of hours in.
Warzone 2100. Such a great RTS for a handheld
Elden Ring was my most played of 2024 on Steam. Which is surprising to me, personally, only because I played through SOTE it ONCE and I was done. Still has the highest hours on Steam for the whole of 2024.
But I was obsessing over Echo Project’s visual novels after finally checking out Adastra, too. Since those aren’t on Steam, this explains my stats being pretty low on Steam.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard for both. I didn’t think I would like it all that much. I don’t even remember why I bought it. But I ended up loving it so much 😍
Better than the previous parts? Or at least as good? I totally ignored it so far. Not because of the “woke”-hate but just because the big ones rarely do anything worthwhile anymore and my expectations usually reach ocean-levels currently.
I played Veilguard before any of the other Dragon Age games. I did, however, start Dragon Age Origins after, and I just finished it. It’s obviously a much older game, but even disregarding the more primitive visuals and animations, I still think I like Veilguard better. One big change is that you can’t directly control your companions, which is a slight bummer, but combat overall is much more fun. The companions also have much richer stories than in Origins.
My most played game was Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth, followed by Metaphor ReFantizio, both excellent games, as well as being new releases that run well on Deck.
Some lesser played games I would really recommend:
right before the holidays I got caught up in No Man’s Sky on the Steam Deck for a little bit, first time experience after following the whole fiasco. I’ve had it from a Humble Bundle or something for some time now, and I needed some diversity from Rivals and it did okay. Runs well on the Steam Deck without much effort changing anything, was able to use it in offline mode easily for my flights. Was really nice. Wasn’t on my year in review though since it was after that date, lol.
Otherwise, my year in review “You played on a Steam Deck!” shows Phantom Brave 71%, Children of Morta 16%, Sonic Mania 4%, Hero’s Hour (fun game) 3%, and Yu-Gi-Oh Master Duel at 2% lol. Oddly, ReVita isn’t on there probably for not technically being verified. I played that quite a bit this year though, so much so it inspired me to start trying to work on a game for a little bit.
Haven’t played a lot of games this year, 16 on Steam Deck and 18 on PC.
Played a lot of kids friendly games this last year (getting my daughter in to games) so many were surprising to me.
But of the games, she kept coming back to Alba’s Adventure - so that one racked up the play time.
My personal game that racked up the most time was Legend of Zelda, Echoes of Wisdom. After that, Judero.
Most played is going to go to backpack battles thanks to my wife hitting it nearly every night.
Most surprising would be path of exile 2, I didn’t expect it to work so well right off the early access launch
Surprisingly, my most played game last year was Powerwash Simulator. The game runs on a potato, yet I’m using an expensive steam deck to play it. Like, a lot.
Is cyberpunk any good on steamdeck?
It runs respectably well. I’m not picky, but nothing I’ve seen on the steam deck suggests it’s a gimmick ir anything. It runs just fine.
Surprisingly yes. You’re obviously not gonna be running it on ultra with raytracing, but it runs and controls well.
2024? Lots of different titles that I played for a while then moved on.
Helldivers 2 was nice enough, I’ve also played a lot of Slay the Spire and Deep Rock Galactic Survivor.
Most surprising (to me)… I got Moonstone Island on a whim.
It’s usually not a game I’d get, but id that was fun, it’s kind of a mix of Stardew Valley, with bits of Pokémon and Slay the Spire.
I forgot to mention Ascent which is one of my favorites. I played it early 2024, which feels ages ago It’s a cyberpunk twin stick shooter RPG.
It was really fun.
It’s also one of the games for which I tweaked my SteamDeck controls a lot.
I vaguely remember the right stick “snapping” too much for my tastes to the horizontal/vertical cross, which went completely away when I mapped it to a fake keyboard/mouse input instead.
I think I played the original Dark Souls more than anything else on my Deck (still can’t beat Ornstein and Smough dammit), but I was most surprised by how great Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands plays on it. The game runs buttery smooth, the HDR is gorgeous, and the controls feel magnificent in spite of using thumbsticks for an FPS
Warhammer 40K Space Marines 1, i have seen a lot of people having problems playing this old game on windows and I finished on the steam deck with zero problems start to finish
Only got it in December but I can’t run path of exile 2 on my pc so it’s getting a lot of hours on the deck. But I think last year it was brotato first overall
Most played - Hogwarts Legacy. It ran like crap on my desktop PC but the Deck handled it very well.
Most surprising - Wave Break. Its a beautiful game in both visual and sound. The gameplay is fun. It feels both nostalgic and modern at the same time. I highly recommend it for anyone who likes retrowave music and skateboarding games.
BallisticNG
On my PC there were two surprisingly good games: Driftland: The Magic Revival and Hammerting.
Driftland is a really interesting kind of strategy and I quite enjoyed it. Hammerting would be really great if the devs weren’t forced to cancel it by the publisher, as such it’s unfinished and the game doesn’t teach you pretty much anything, so the learning curve is steep. The game loop is fun at first, but gets repetitive (not surprising given it was cancelled).
HangingFruit@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
Elite dangerous. Felt for it, again.
BuboScandiacus@mander.xyz 4 weeks ago
Tou can play on deck !!!
HangingFruit@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
Absolutely! On foot can dip sometimes, and fan can certainly be heard on foot, but otherwise runs smooth
Vincente@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
I still want to play it these years as a Sci-Fi and Space Simulator fan. Is it that good? Why there are so many negative reviews on Steam?
Overall I downloaded it, thanks for reminding me.
HangingFruit@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
Not sure about the reviews. But if you’re a space sim fan, and not afraid of the grind, you’re absolutely gonna love it. There was some new content released with new ships. Can’t wait to get back to it in a year or so.
Also, absolutely perfect on steam deck. On foot can be a bit demanding, but flying is flawless.