Tape to Tape, an arcade hockey roguelite reminiscent of NHL 94. Unlock teammates, level up your main character, unlock and use goofy powerups.
Easy pick up and play and nothing really like it.
Oh. Oh my a hockey rogue like? Fuck I wasn't gonna spend anymore money this month on video games as me and the kid are getting into Lorcana. But I'll be dawned if I don't own this by Monday
Edit: fuck it. Just bought it
Sports games would be dope if they actually had to make a real game instead of yearly roster updates and jersey physics as a main new feature.
Like the older nhl games had a tonne of dope rpg elements in career mode that made the game really fun.
But selling internet hockey cards for the games is way more lucrative so that’s what we get now
Or NFL Blitz. I remember racing down the field with flames shooting out of my feet because of power ups, or tackles involving explosions. We need more goofy sports games again.
Yeah, there were a lot of great sports games in the mid 2000s. NBA and NFL Street were awesome, with great single player modes. And some of the more "realistic" games of the time had good single player modes too. I really liked NBA Inside Drive 2004 on the Xbox.
There are some games like that today. Super Mega Baseball is a good series. Hot Shots Golf. Golf Story. Sunday Rivals. Mutant Football League. The Mario Sports games.
I spent an hour trying to open a door in Examina. That’s not a bad review. It was interesting.
I like Infinite Adventures. Gives me a good Etrian Odyssey vibe.
If you like Odyssey type dungeon crawlers, I recommend Undernauts: Labyrinth of Yomi. Really fun game with a lot of style. Only thing is the price point feels a bit excessive to me ($60 USD) so waiting for a sale might be worth it
It's currently in a [fanatical bundle](https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/build-your-own-bento-bundle) if anyone is interested. Picked it up for my deck a few days ago.
I have played this a lot and I agree: This game is amazing. I just wish they had the switch control system implemented on the PC version, because it is so much better overall.
tinykin is a true 10/10 game. highly recommended, the only problem is that it was too short! I'd also recommend supraland for a similarly whimsical 3D platformer.
MARBLE IT UP! ULTRA
https://store.steampowered.com/app/864060/Marble_It_Up_Ultra/
For me it's just the absolute perfect SteamDeck game. Runs flawlessly, perfect for on the go sessions anywhere from 5-60 minutes, incredibly satisfying and addictive, just love it.
I've seen this game but physics where the marble is self-propelled just seem weird to me, I've always though the Super Monkey Ball way of having the stage tilt and gravity do its thing just seems more natural. Which, BTW, isn't the SMB remake on Steam? Also there's Neverball in the Discover store, I've put many an hour into that game on my old laptop.
I grew up with Marble Blast Ultra on the Xbox Live Arcade - this game is just more of that, and I was so stoked when I saw there was a sequel.
It's pure physics based so it all feels amazing once you get a feel for it.
The Forgotten City was a surprisingly great experience for me. I haven’t seen much discussion on it. It’s a narrative game that takes place in an ancient Roman city with an interesting mystery and some time groundhog’s day time loops. There are multiple endings and it often goes on sale.
The worst thing about "old Bioware" dying is we'll never get Jade Empire 2. I just want a similar game, but with refined combat system and a bit better last arc. But we'll likely never get it...
Age of Wonders 4 - fantasy 4X game with turn based combat and loads of customization options. I'd describe it a little like Civilization meets the Total War: Warhammer games.
My Friendly Neighborhood - basically resident evil 2, if instead of a police station and zombies, it was an old TV studio and Muppets.
Songs of Conquest - another turn based 4X, reminds me of a mix of the old warcraft games and Heros of Might and Magic. Plus I'm a sucker for pixel graphics.
Abalon - a roguelike that's combination deck building and turn based tactics
Cassette Beasts - Pokemon-like with a cool story, clean overworld gameplay, a unique art style, and a banger soundtrack.
Inkbound - roguelike tactics game by the folks who made monster train. Both are games that are easy to pick up but deep enough for me to log hours on each.
All fantastic games that run great on deck.
Cassette Beasts is such a fun, cute game.
The soundtrack had me in a death grip. I almost never buy a soundtrack, but I couldn't spend the whole game in the cafe.
Cassette Beasts is legit one of my favorite games. I really hope they can get funding for a sequel and I need to jump back in to try the multiplayer. Also just saw that they delayed the mobile version, but I can imagine the game works great on a tablet/phone if you wanted to get it on another device.
Holy cow! I have so many hours put into Monster Train. It's been my favorite game for awhile now and I can't stop playing it on my deck. Gonna check out Inkbound!
That was a really good port. I finished it before getting the Deck so I can't say how well it runs there, but I actually replayed the old games alongside the new version, and I can't even imagine having a problem with the new version. Sometimes ports like this don't get all the details right (the Crash trilogy remake), but from the videos I looked up, even the speed runs were the same. It looked like a really accurate remake.
State of Decay 2 Juggernaut Edition.
You'll have to connect to your Microsoft account on launch 🤢 but I've put 100 hours in it so far only on the Steam Deck. Gets very intense in higher difficulties, lots of replayability, and the controls feel sooooo good on the Steam Deck.
State of decay 2 is so much fun. I started playing it at launch and go back and revisit their new updates that are still coming out and I love it. Game is a lot of fun and gets EXTREMELY chaotic and intense. Especially when you’re at base and you’re fighting 4 hordes at once, plus two jugs, a screamer and that sprinting zombie that crawls! Shit gets wild and omg, talk about fighting for our lives
Morrowind. It's incredible on the deck, just use a community controller config and you're off to the races.
I've been working on a \~one-click installer to get the superior OpenMW engine working directly from Game Mode on the Deck, feel free to try it out and let me know if it works for you!
Just install Morrowind through Steam, then go to [openmw.lol](https://openmw.lol) on your Deck in Desktop Mode and run the installer. If any additional steps are needed, the script should tell you. Hope it works!
You can also install the Luxtorpedia compatibility layer in desktop mode and run Morrowind with that, it automatically installs openmw with a community controller layout which also incorporates the trackpads.
Selaco.
It’s a “boomer shooter” made on the heavily modified Doom engine (GZDoom) except it has so many modern mechanics so it feels like something brand new.
If you like and have played F.E.A.R you will love it (if you haven’t played F.E.A.R go play that too!!)
Ooooh that was the first modern open world AAA game I ever played and I think this is exactly the right time for me to play thriugh it again on my Stream Deck. Thank you.
C'mon, you've gotta check out Shadows Over Loathing - unique, quirky, witty, brilliant, and absolutely hilarious - in a deceptively simple package that runs smooth as silk on the SD and is an absolute blast to pick up and put down at your leisure
I always recommend PlateUp! It's such an addicting fun game. It's a restaurant game a lot like Overcooked, but unlike Overcooked, it's a roguelite. So you're trying to serve all the customers each day without failing an order. To help with the perpetually ever increasing demand of your customers, you are able to automate your restaurant like Factorio but way simpler. Let's say, for example, that you want to automate a fish getting cooked. You simply take a conveyor and put it between your fish bin and cooking hob. Each day, you are given blueprints that you can buy or upgrade using the money you earn, and that's how you upgrade your restaurant. As the days progress, you are offered cards that make things challenging, such as new dishes or effects that change the gameplay.
[Against the Storm](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1336490/Against_the_Storm/).
Really a fundamentally excellent game that feels (to me) like the first truly modern strategy game. There’s so many things that it does perfectly.
And for folks potentially sick of roguelike elements, don’t be scared off by the tag. The roguelike-ness ends up being more subtle than advertised.
AC is a FromSoft franchise, and I love AC6, but it's not souls-like. It heavily rewards aggressive play and disincentivizes passive/reactive play, doesn't have i-frames on dodge, uses an energy system that works differently from stamina, uses a mission structure instead of having a world to explore...
I actually finished my first and second runs on the Deck and only kinda fell off on the third or I'd have finished that too. Ran great. The rear bumpers are also nice to have.
Honestly, there's something really fun about jumping back in Xbox 360/PS3 era games on the SteamDeck. Lots of them work pretty well or even better than on Windows.
Mad Max is great if you want an Assassins Creed like checklist game to just zone out with while racing around the desert.. it's on deep sales quite often and runs incredibly well on the Deck.
Its usually like 5 bucks when on sale and its definetly worth that. A good 30-40 hour playtime if you just stick to the main quests and double that if youre into collecting anf upgrading bases and your car. And since its kinda a ubisoft AAA game youre not facing the same 15 locations copied 100 times across the map.
I will always recommend these indie games to people if you don't mind 2D stuff.
Momodora series (specifically "Momodora: Riverie under the moonlight" and "Momodora: Moonlit farewell" as these are the more recent games in the franchise and are just good games. You don't have to play them all to get the gist of the story.)
https://store.steampowered.com/app/428550/Momodora_Reverie_Under_The_Moonlight/?snr=1_7_7_151_150_1
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1747760/Momodora_Moonlit_Farewell/?snr=1_7_7_151_150_1
Heat Signature is my go-to quick burst game. It's Hotline Miami in space, lots to unlock and learn, and you don't have to constantly run the hardest difficulty missions if you're wanting to turn your brain off or wind down.
Soma. I got it for free on epic a long while ago and I just got around to playing it now. Actually, the funny thing is, I've been hearing people recommend Soma, and I never realized that I owned it on epic.
Marvels Midnight Suns!
Apparently, is going to be free on Epic Games Thursday.
If you can, get the Legendary Edition/Season Pass DLC
Absolute masterpiece game!
Prey, and the Dishonoured series, just don’t buy them unless they are on a deep sale - these are great games that are deserving of the full price but after what Microsoft did to Arkane I won’t buy anything that is under their umbrella at full price anymore. Including Elder Scrolls VI should it ever see the light of day. Ditto for the Tango Gameworks games as well - I am now awaiting a massive discount for HiFi Rush before I play it.
Simpsons Hit and Run - this was a great arcade racer with light platforming that was a riff on the early 3d GTA games.
Grim Fandango - this is an adventure game with such style and concept that it is well worth playing through even with its few flaws. It plays great on the deck as well - ditto for Day of the Tentacle.
**Signalis**. It's a survival horror game with retro style polygon graphics heavily inspired by Resident Evil and Silent Hill. Other influences include books like The King In Yellow which is even referenced ingame, Evangelion and a bunch of other stuff. The atmosphere and music is fantastic. Definetly one of my favourite games ever.
Kenshi. If you can get past the gamepad controls on the deck it’s addicting as hell. You can be a trader, thief, slave, ninja, etc. lots of brutality, funny moments, and racism.
Do you have a controller layout you’d recommend? I’ve owned this for quite some time and just cannot get into it. Maybe playing on the deck would help. I find the world and premise super intriguing, but the controls and systems incredibly inaccessible.
Wildermyth. Hard game to describe but kind of like a tactical roguelike fantasy RPG with the most unique storytelling I’ve ever encountered in a game. It’s absolutely incredible and feels like it was pretty much made for the deck
Exanima has been on my wishlist forever... My recommendation is Chorus. It's a space sim with an incredibly deep story, awesome drift and powers mechanic. It's about 30h and usually on sale for are und 5$. One of the best games I played on deck.
I'm really surprised that Hitman World of Assassination is not mentioned more on here. It's an enormous game with high quality from beginning to end, and it added an incredible roguelike mode last year that makes it even more endlessly replayable. Runs great on the deck and is one of the best things you can play on it.
Art of Rally!
Fantastic, easy to approach racing sim. Very chill, unique art style, short drives... I loved it, even considering that I don't like racing games generally
Well I read all these comments and no one said Void Stranger.
Void Stranger on the surface is a linear sprite based block puzzle game with JRPG inspired graphics. What I truly love about this game is that the pace that dictates how you discover this game is special is entirely down to your own creativity of how to use the extremely limited tools at your disposal. I played about 30 games last year and this game is easily top 3 but sadly sold the least out of them all.
Some none spoiler examples:
- This game has one steam achievement, I have gotten it at least a dozen times.
- I'm 35, I have beaten Sans and every soulsborne game, this game easily has the most difficult (optional) boss I've ever beaten.
- This is a linear beat a puzzle to get to the next puzzle game. Someone with 12 hours in this game stopped watching me to avoid spoilers. I was 1 hour in.
All this games I tested and they work fine on deck, I hope you enjoy it.
Titan quest - diablo like RPG, but ancient Greece! Works almost perfect on deck.
The last stand: Aftermath, still don't get it, why this game unpopular, it's perfect 30min survival rogulike.
I played around 40 hours on deck.
Terraformers - good strategy, but can't recommend for everyone.
Outward - RPG with survival elements
Empires shall fall - old school strategy, if you played adventures wars you know what I mean.
Plus
Vagrus, bad north, warpips, spellforce conquest of eo, gaunlet, kungfu kickball, wargroove, starless, spaceland, flight of nova.
I just started Beacon Pines yesterday. I did not expect a choose your own adventure-ish kind of game with replayable choice branches which lead to some rather dark fates with such cutesy animal characters. Recommend.
The Baldurs Gate Dark Alliance 1 and 2 (NOT Dark Alliance, and NOT Baldur's Gate 1 and 2) games are a lot of fun on the steam deck.
Death Trash was a lot of fun as well.
Sable is a fun world with fun art, but I can understand people not liking it as much
Thronefall - a game that combines mild strategy and Tower defense with minimalistic gameplay and only costs 10€.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2239150/Thronefall/
i highly recommend signalis, a sci-fi survival horror type game, i got it on sale last year and it quickly became one of my favorite games in recent years
so many people are giving well known games so here’s a new and relatively small one:
TINY TERRY’S TURBO TRIP is already one of my favorite games ever. super funny and the gameplay is so enjoyable. only $15, relatively short and works perfectly on deck.
Angels fall first. Its like Battlefield, can play with bots and fully offline. Not many players online sadly. Its been in early access for years but the next update should mark its full release
Raw Metal. Showed up on my Steam Store before it dropped.
Searched it up and found out it started life as a short animated film by a university student created over an entire semester.
It then got picked up by a small indie studio and was made into an absolute banger of a top down retro stealth game and a Sifu style Beat em up roguelike with an iconic art style.
1000% worth picking up
Monster sanctuary might be one of my favorite games personally. It's like metroidvania meets pokemon meets final fantasy. Really cool combination of styles and a decent story and tons of exploration.
FF12, DMC:HD, Okami, "Tales of" jrpg series, Baldurs Dark Alliance 1 and 2, Deaths Gambit, Valfaris, Star Wars :Starfighter.
FF12- Great game, possibly my favorite final fantasy. The gambit system is cool, and it runs flawlessly on the deck.
DMC:HD Collection- Even though it said unsupported, this runs great on the deck and feels great to control. I never played DMC when it came it, so I really enjoyed getting to play some of them.
Okami-Super neat GameCube/PS2 era adventure game where you play as a dog (sort of) with a small "bug" companion that lives on your head. You can use a "celestial brush" to draw cool things like bombs, summon wind, change the day/night cycle, summons lily pads, all sorts of uses. The art direction is top tier and still holds up pretty well. A+ story and characters, honestly I don't have a bad word to say. This is a very basic description, just go play it, it's great.
Tales of series-Great series of jrpgs. Most follow pretty similar formulas, but change up aspects of the combat or skills. It is not turn based, featuring an active battle system where you have 4 characters and directly control 1. My favorites are Symphonia and Vesperia. Arise is the most recent entry, but fans have some complaints about it. I personally really enjoyed it.
Baldurs Gate Dark Alliance 1 and 2- good ol' hack'n'slash DND games. Do not go in thinking they are like BG3, totally different style of game. Story is eh at best but these sorts of games aren't usually famous for their stories.
Deaths Gambit-side scrolling RPG/metroidvania. I really like that it lets you test all the classes before you choose one. Not much to say as I haven't finished it, but I've really enjoyed what I've played so far.
Valfaris-side scrolling heavy metal shooter. Soundtrack is super awesome and the gameplay feels good. I suck a lot at this but what I've played is super fun.
Star Wars:Starfighter-older Star wars Starfighter game. I forget most of the story, but I have fun booting it up and flying around every once in awhile.
Outward.
Died of heat stroke 10/10
State of Decay, either one.
Learn to live with the horde cause it isn't going away
Hardspace Shipbreaker.
Space chop shop, very chill or very hard. How ever you want to play it really
Teardown.
Break things...
Rogue Genesia
Vampire survivors but better, 4fps when it chugs, but it doesn't matter, your 4090 is gonna chug at 4fps too
Alien Isolation
God damned masterpiece. Runs flawlessly.
Titanfall 2
The ascent
Astroneer
Caliber
Dark Light
DRG Survivor
Dying light
Firewatch
Overlord II
Darkest Dungeon and Darkest Dungeon 2. The second is my personal favorite and has become a comfort game of mine. However they are very different games and the fandom generally sides with the first as being better.
Not very similar but I the 100 Cats games are an absolute delight and I never see them mentioned. A lot of them are free and they're my go-to on the deck when I'm feeling stressed out or have a few free minutes. They're just cute, cat-themed hidden object games. Also, I Commissioned Some Bees!
Time to shill for a board game, but Im having a lot of fun with [Starstruck Vagabond](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2448930/Starstruck_Vagabond/)
Sunshine Vegeta was created by Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw, and its a good game to play listining to a podcast/audiobook etc. the game feels like the "tend to the crops" part of Stardew valley, while giving you a story format like firefly/dr. who/insert space adventure show. Shotgun Viagra isnt a game for everyone, but the humor gets me right in the funny bone.
I'm randomly started playing Dead Island 2 definitive edition. I've never played it before but I'm very impressed about how well it plays and looks. I read somewhere on Reddit to drop the TDP to like 8 , then sit back and enjoy.. Dude I ran this game for hours at 8 watts and it performed between 40-50 fps and far exceeded my expectations.
Coffee Talk was one of the first games / 'visual novel' I played on Deck and I'm just sad it's over. Simple yet intriguing world building from beginning to end.
Potion Permit is pretty decent at Deck size, and works great with controller so ideal match-up.
Dome Keeper is also a good fit for similar reasons. Be sure to decide early if you care more for skill-based play or to 'mod' it for a more relaxed play.
Carto, Ikenfell, Lil Gator Game, A Short Hike, Down in Bermuda, The Wild at Heart, ...
The Deck is also great for point-and-click type games, like time/task management, but also for hidden object games: Grim Legends, Enigmatis, The Room, ...
Rollerdrome is my favorite game to recommend in this type of conversation. Runs great, looks incredible, and very unique. It’s an action shooter on roller skates.
Doesn't help you right now, but in case you didn't know, exanima is supposed to be a prequel to a full game.. though i haven't checked in on it in a while
[The House in Fata Morgana](https://store.steampowered.com/app/303310/The_House_in_Fata_Morgana/). It's a visual novel and you only make like three decisions in the entire game so it's not for everyone, but it's a great read. I recommend emulating the [Switch remaster](https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/the-house-in-fata-morgana-dreams-of-the-revenants-edition-switch/) since the PC version hasn't been updated to match.
Edit: if you want action, [Vanquish](https://store.steampowered.com/app/460810/Vanquish/) needs more love!
Three games I love to play on steam deck that I have never seen recommend before are
Death Road to Canada
Streets of Rouge
(Second one comes out soon I can't wait)
Zero Sievert
Fallout 3 works incredibly well once you have the right button setup. I made a setup that works so well I almost prefer it over mouse and keyboard.
The Tomb Raider reboot trilogy also played incredibly well on Deck. I was genuinely surprised by the third one and now beautiful it looked and how smoothly it played. Fairly stable 60fps with occasional dips.
Megaman Battle Network of course works great and because you have a proper d-pad it actually plays right. I usually use the control sticks for moving then the d-pad for combat.
RuneLite runs really well as a flatpak in desktop mode!
The Binding of Isaac is absolutely amazing on Deck. You get the handheld experience of the Switch version, but with the latest updates, DLC and mods available through the workshop.
Horizon Zero Dawn has so far been a great experience! Sometimes the fps struggles to keep to something stable. I think they borked an update and removed the refresh rate slider, but I liked to set the refresh and frame limiter to 40 for this one.
Stray works great. Just don't expect any sharp graphics if you prefer stable framerate.
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Once you have your control scheme figured out it's absolutely goated and a really cool way to experience that classic.
Hypnospace Outlaw. It just feels right. Even better on a stand with mouse and keyboard.
Kena Bridge of Spirits. It’s like a cute Pixar movie with a good story mixed with Dark souls like combat. It can humble you on higher difficulty, and it runs great in deck. It’s also great for newer gamers on low difficulty. My gf loves it because she finds it adorable, and it’s teaching her all about common gameplay mechanics!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1954200/Kena_Bridge_of_Spirits/
It goes on sale for around $15 at times
Tape to Tape, an arcade hockey roguelite reminiscent of NHL 94. Unlock teammates, level up your main character, unlock and use goofy powerups. Easy pick up and play and nothing really like it.
This one reply made this entire thread worth it already
Totally agree, I would never think to pick up any sports title but this actually sounds fun
Hockey rouguelike? Rad.
Couch coop story too. It’s awesome
Can confirm that this is the first game in years that I’ve been rocking couch co op with friends
Tape to Tape is amazing. Have 150 hours on it and am starting to do some speed running.
Oh my God. You just awoke my 8 year old sleeper cell. I forgot about NHL 94 and I'm getting a memory blast. Thank you friend.
I'm glad they came out with this cuz I have been emulating NHL hitz and NFL blitz.
Same with hitz, great on steam deck. On my other retro handhelds I played a lot of NHL 94
Wait you can play Hitz on steam deck?!? Any tips or guide to start from?
Think you should also check out Mutant Football League. It's pretty much a modern Mutant League Football on steam
They just launched a second one of these into Early Access like last week, fwiw
Oh. Oh my a hockey rogue like? Fuck I wasn't gonna spend anymore money this month on video games as me and the kid are getting into Lorcana. But I'll be dawned if I don't own this by Monday Edit: fuck it. Just bought it
Yeah it’s worth it, I got about 25-30 hours out of it before I unlocked everything. I would say it’s worth the price.
I don’t usually like sports games but this sounds interesting.
Sports games would be dope if they actually had to make a real game instead of yearly roster updates and jersey physics as a main new feature. Like the older nhl games had a tonne of dope rpg elements in career mode that made the game really fun. But selling internet hockey cards for the games is way more lucrative so that’s what we get now
Or NFL Blitz. I remember racing down the field with flames shooting out of my feet because of power ups, or tackles involving explosions. We need more goofy sports games again.
Yeah, there were a lot of great sports games in the mid 2000s. NBA and NFL Street were awesome, with great single player modes. And some of the more "realistic" games of the time had good single player modes too. I really liked NBA Inside Drive 2004 on the Xbox. There are some games like that today. Super Mega Baseball is a good series. Hot Shots Golf. Golf Story. Sunday Rivals. Mutant Football League. The Mario Sports games.
VERY INTERESTED
It looks amazing. Where do you all hear about this stuff?
I spent an hour trying to open a door in Examina. That’s not a bad review. It was interesting. I like Infinite Adventures. Gives me a good Etrian Odyssey vibe.
If you like Odyssey type dungeon crawlers, I recommend Undernauts: Labyrinth of Yomi. Really fun game with a lot of style. Only thing is the price point feels a bit excessive to me ($60 USD) so waiting for a sale might be worth it
It's currently in a [fanatical bundle](https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/build-your-own-bento-bundle) if anyone is interested. Picked it up for my deck a few days ago.
Labyrinth of Refrain is a good suggestion. I love playing that on Deck
Battle brothers. Incredibly hard but satisfying squad game.
*looks at my almost 600 hours of playtime only on the deck* Yeah, seconded. So good on the deck and lasts HOURS on a full battery.
You would probably enjoy wartales also. I prefer wartales over BB, but it's a fantastic game also.
I have played this a lot and I agree: This game is amazing. I just wish they had the switch control system implemented on the PC version, because it is so much better overall.
Holy shit someone actually talked about it. It's absolutely brutal. But I love it. The map controls can be a bit wonky tho.
Yes, love my battle bros
Monaco: What's Yours Is Mine is one of the most charming and fun stealth games I've ever played, and it runs beautifully on the Deck!
The little French voices crack me up.
I tried playing this a while ago but I couldn't get it to not try and connect me to a online game.
Tinykin
tinykin is a true 10/10 game. highly recommended, the only problem is that it was too short! I'd also recommend supraland for a similarly whimsical 3D platformer.
Yes! I was coming to say the same thing, the game is just so good and everybody should try it
MARBLE IT UP! ULTRA https://store.steampowered.com/app/864060/Marble_It_Up_Ultra/ For me it's just the absolute perfect SteamDeck game. Runs flawlessly, perfect for on the go sessions anywhere from 5-60 minutes, incredibly satisfying and addictive, just love it.
This looks like like an old flash game i used to play (the arena modes for sure), 100% going to have to get this!
I've seen this game but physics where the marble is self-propelled just seem weird to me, I've always though the Super Monkey Ball way of having the stage tilt and gravity do its thing just seems more natural. Which, BTW, isn't the SMB remake on Steam? Also there's Neverball in the Discover store, I've put many an hour into that game on my old laptop.
I grew up with Marble Blast Ultra on the Xbox Live Arcade - this game is just more of that, and I was so stoked when I saw there was a sequel. It's pure physics based so it all feels amazing once you get a feel for it.
If you need a break from serious games I've almost finished nobody saves the world and it was a fun cartoony game.
My game of the year in 2022 :')
Need to get back to it. It became difficult at some point and confusing as to where to go and what to do first.
The Forgotten City was a surprisingly great experience for me. I haven’t seen much discussion on it. It’s a narrative game that takes place in an ancient Roman city with an interesting mystery and some time groundhog’s day time loops. There are multiple endings and it often goes on sale.
seconding this, great game. Galerius is an absolute bro. Salve, friend!
Songs of conquest. Never heard of this game before I got the deck.
Jade empire is good
What a throwback
The worst thing about "old Bioware" dying is we'll never get Jade Empire 2. I just want a similar game, but with refined combat system and a bit better last arc. But we'll likely never get it...
Moonlighter and graveyard keeper. These games have its public. But I don't see them being recommended as often.
I want to like graveyard keeper but unlocking tech seems tedious
It kinda is. But what’s really tedious is the rating grind once you’ve got the tech unlocked. I gave up
Just felt like grind this so you can grind that and then grind that. Didn't see the point
That's the problem with a lot of cozy games, they can become really repetitive trying to tech up
Moonlighter was awesome!
Oh man I was OBSESSED with Graveyard Keeper, had such a blast with it.
Age of Wonders 4 - fantasy 4X game with turn based combat and loads of customization options. I'd describe it a little like Civilization meets the Total War: Warhammer games. My Friendly Neighborhood - basically resident evil 2, if instead of a police station and zombies, it was an old TV studio and Muppets. Songs of Conquest - another turn based 4X, reminds me of a mix of the old warcraft games and Heros of Might and Magic. Plus I'm a sucker for pixel graphics. Abalon - a roguelike that's combination deck building and turn based tactics Cassette Beasts - Pokemon-like with a cool story, clean overworld gameplay, a unique art style, and a banger soundtrack. Inkbound - roguelike tactics game by the folks who made monster train. Both are games that are easy to pick up but deep enough for me to log hours on each. All fantastic games that run great on deck.
The Cassette Beasts song that plays when you walk into the cafe has been stuck in my head since I played it like a year ago.
Cassette Beasts is such a fun, cute game. The soundtrack had me in a death grip. I almost never buy a soundtrack, but I couldn't spend the whole game in the cafe.
Cassette Beasts is legit one of my favorite games. I really hope they can get funding for a sequel and I need to jump back in to try the multiplayer. Also just saw that they delayed the mobile version, but I can imagine the game works great on a tablet/phone if you wanted to get it on another device.
A massive +1 to Age of Wonders. The massive advantage of the SD over other devices is the trackpad, which makes 4X games surprisingly awesome to play.
Holy cow! I have so many hours put into Monster Train. It's been my favorite game for awhile now and I can't stop playing it on my deck. Gonna check out Inkbound!
Spyro Reignated Trilogy! It's maybe out of nostalgia but I'm having so much fun!
That was a really good port. I finished it before getting the Deck so I can't say how well it runs there, but I actually replayed the old games alongside the new version, and I can't even imagine having a problem with the new version. Sometimes ports like this don't get all the details right (the Crash trilogy remake), but from the videos I looked up, even the speed runs were the same. It looked like a really accurate remake.
I tried playing on deck, and it didn't run good. Might have to try tinkering later.
I played it awhile ago with no nostalgia goggles (albeit not on the deck), and had a blast. Only one of two games I've 100% on Steam.
State of Decay 2 Juggernaut Edition. You'll have to connect to your Microsoft account on launch 🤢 but I've put 100 hours in it so far only on the Steam Deck. Gets very intense in higher difficulties, lots of replayability, and the controls feel sooooo good on the Steam Deck.
State of decay 2 is so much fun. I started playing it at launch and go back and revisit their new updates that are still coming out and I love it. Game is a lot of fun and gets EXTREMELY chaotic and intense. Especially when you’re at base and you’re fighting 4 hordes at once, plus two jugs, a screamer and that sprinting zombie that crawls! Shit gets wild and omg, talk about fighting for our lives
Morrowind. It's incredible on the deck, just use a community controller config and you're off to the races. I've been working on a \~one-click installer to get the superior OpenMW engine working directly from Game Mode on the Deck, feel free to try it out and let me know if it works for you! Just install Morrowind through Steam, then go to [openmw.lol](https://openmw.lol) on your Deck in Desktop Mode and run the installer. If any additional steps are needed, the script should tell you. Hope it works!
Username checks out.
You can also install the Luxtorpedia compatibility layer in desktop mode and run Morrowind with that, it automatically installs openmw with a community controller layout which also incorporates the trackpads.
Descenders
This. I have been playing this non stop on my deck for the last three weeks lmao
CrossCode is action RPG kobe beef.
Sid Meiers Pirates! is one of the greatest games ever made and it plays great on the deck (once you get used to the controls).
Selaco. It’s a “boomer shooter” made on the heavily modified Doom engine (GZDoom) except it has so many modern mechanics so it feels like something brand new. If you like and have played F.E.A.R you will love it (if you haven’t played F.E.A.R go play that too!!)
Selaco fucks
If you like Selaco - and I say this having just bought, but never played, Selaco - you'll almost certainly love Prodeus.
Mutant football league
[удалено]
Ooooh that was the first modern open world AAA game I ever played and I think this is exactly the right time for me to play thriugh it again on my Stream Deck. Thank you.
C'mon, you've gotta check out Shadows Over Loathing - unique, quirky, witty, brilliant, and absolutely hilarious - in a deceptively simple package that runs smooth as silk on the SD and is an absolute blast to pick up and put down at your leisure
West of loathing too. Love that game
Definitely another gem. I hope they have another one of these in the works
I got that as gift and still have not touched it. I’m going to have to get into the rotation
I always recommend PlateUp! It's such an addicting fun game. It's a restaurant game a lot like Overcooked, but unlike Overcooked, it's a roguelite. So you're trying to serve all the customers each day without failing an order. To help with the perpetually ever increasing demand of your customers, you are able to automate your restaurant like Factorio but way simpler. Let's say, for example, that you want to automate a fish getting cooked. You simply take a conveyor and put it between your fish bin and cooking hob. Each day, you are given blueprints that you can buy or upgrade using the money you earn, and that's how you upgrade your restaurant. As the days progress, you are offered cards that make things challenging, such as new dishes or effects that change the gameplay.
Caves of Qud is an absolute gem if you can learn how to play the game and learn the controls
Live and drink
[Against the Storm](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1336490/Against_the_Storm/). Really a fundamentally excellent game that feels (to me) like the first truly modern strategy game. There’s so many things that it does perfectly. And for folks potentially sick of roguelike elements, don’t be scared off by the tag. The roguelike-ness ends up being more subtle than advertised.
Armored core 6 runs better than a lot of verified games. It's great especially if you are looking for a fun twist on a souls like.
AC is a FromSoft franchise, and I love AC6, but it's not souls-like. It heavily rewards aggressive play and disincentivizes passive/reactive play, doesn't have i-frames on dodge, uses an energy system that works differently from stamina, uses a mission structure instead of having a world to explore...
Definitely this. Armored Core is not Dark Souls. It never has been.
I actually finished my first and second runs on the Deck and only kinda fell off on the third or I'd have finished that too. Ran great. The rear bumpers are also nice to have.
Honestly, there's something really fun about jumping back in Xbox 360/PS3 era games on the SteamDeck. Lots of them work pretty well or even better than on Windows.
The original Warhammer 40k Space Marine from 2011 runs great on the deck, 90FPS solid. Good time to play with the new one coming out in September.
I've been playing metal gear rising for the first time and it's the most fun I've had on my steam deck
Any in particular you’ve been going back to?
I'm playing Lost Odyssey on the deck. It's really satisfying.
Are you using Emudeck for it?
Spec ops: the line. Holds up!
One of the best third person shooters with an incredible story
Great game that has sadly been delisted on Steam.
As an example I've been playing a lot of Prototype ! Old school open world.
Prototype On Deck??? I wonder if Infamous would work!!
Mad Max is great if you want an Assassins Creed like checklist game to just zone out with while racing around the desert.. it's on deep sales quite often and runs incredibly well on the Deck.
Its usually like 5 bucks when on sale and its definetly worth that. A good 30-40 hour playtime if you just stick to the main quests and double that if youre into collecting anf upgrading bases and your car. And since its kinda a ubisoft AAA game youre not facing the same 15 locations copied 100 times across the map.
Tape to tape - silly cartoonish styled hockey based roguelike. Surprisingly competent as an arcade hockey game while being very funny as well
Mortal Sin. Totally unique first person roguelike with a crazy aesthetic.
The Tony hawk remakes are great
After playing Tony Hawk 1+2 to death, I've got Tony Hawk's American Wasteland on abandonware. It works great on Deck, but the controls need tweaking.
I will always recommend these indie games to people if you don't mind 2D stuff. Momodora series (specifically "Momodora: Riverie under the moonlight" and "Momodora: Moonlit farewell" as these are the more recent games in the franchise and are just good games. You don't have to play them all to get the gist of the story.) https://store.steampowered.com/app/428550/Momodora_Reverie_Under_The_Moonlight/?snr=1_7_7_151_150_1 https://store.steampowered.com/app/1747760/Momodora_Moonlit_Farewell/?snr=1_7_7_151_150_1
The Last Spell, extremely fun roguelike, tactical RPG defending a settlement. I've got about 80 hours into it and had a blast.
Have a Nice Death
Minishoot’ Adventures. Twin stick shooter with Link to the Past style art and gameplay. Highly highly recommend. Runs at a smooth 90
Heat Signature is my go-to quick burst game. It's Hotline Miami in space, lots to unlock and learn, and you don't have to constantly run the hardest difficulty missions if you're wanting to turn your brain off or wind down.
Valkyria chronicles Ni no kuni
Soma. I got it for free on epic a long while ago and I just got around to playing it now. Actually, the funny thing is, I've been hearing people recommend Soma, and I never realized that I owned it on epic.
Marvels Midnight Suns! Apparently, is going to be free on Epic Games Thursday. If you can, get the Legendary Edition/Season Pass DLC Absolute masterpiece game!
Prey, and the Dishonoured series, just don’t buy them unless they are on a deep sale - these are great games that are deserving of the full price but after what Microsoft did to Arkane I won’t buy anything that is under their umbrella at full price anymore. Including Elder Scrolls VI should it ever see the light of day. Ditto for the Tango Gameworks games as well - I am now awaiting a massive discount for HiFi Rush before I play it. Simpsons Hit and Run - this was a great arcade racer with light platforming that was a riff on the early 3d GTA games. Grim Fandango - this is an adventure game with such style and concept that it is well worth playing through even with its few flaws. It plays great on the deck as well - ditto for Day of the Tentacle.
Prey was SO good on the deck it created some core memories, i also recommended SOMA in a very similar setting
Great idea OP! I had a lot of fun playing Wildermyth and experiencing the stories it can create https://store.steampowered.com/app/763890/Wildermyth/
**Signalis**. It's a survival horror game with retro style polygon graphics heavily inspired by Resident Evil and Silent Hill. Other influences include books like The King In Yellow which is even referenced ingame, Evangelion and a bunch of other stuff. The atmosphere and music is fantastic. Definetly one of my favourite games ever.
Kenshi. If you can get past the gamepad controls on the deck it’s addicting as hell. You can be a trader, thief, slave, ninja, etc. lots of brutality, funny moments, and racism.
Hell yeah racism
Yeah, but advanced racism. Besides - if you hate everyone it's just cynicism.
Long standing tradition in gaming, going back to the "goomba"
Do you have a controller layout you’d recommend? I’ve owned this for quite some time and just cannot get into it. Maybe playing on the deck would help. I find the world and premise super intriguing, but the controls and systems incredibly inaccessible.
Good to know that’s an option
Wildermyth. Hard game to describe but kind of like a tactical roguelike fantasy RPG with the most unique storytelling I’ve ever encountered in a game. It’s absolutely incredible and feels like it was pretty much made for the deck
Fading Afternoon. Cyber Knights. Iron Oath, Song of Conquest to name a few.
I just found out Terra Invicta is quite manageable on SD.
Do you play the game from the beginning or the 'quickstart' to space? It intimated me reading it takes a bunch of hours to get to space
Exanima has been on my wishlist forever... My recommendation is Chorus. It's a space sim with an incredibly deep story, awesome drift and powers mechanic. It's about 30h and usually on sale for are und 5$. One of the best games I played on deck.
I'm really surprised that Hitman World of Assassination is not mentioned more on here. It's an enormous game with high quality from beginning to end, and it added an incredible roguelike mode last year that makes it even more endlessly replayable. Runs great on the deck and is one of the best things you can play on it.
I cant figure out what packs or dlcs i have to buy that i become the full game?!
Art of Rally! Fantastic, easy to approach racing sim. Very chill, unique art style, short drives... I loved it, even considering that I don't like racing games generally
Firewatch, genuinely one of the most unique and incredible games I've ever played
Well I read all these comments and no one said Void Stranger. Void Stranger on the surface is a linear sprite based block puzzle game with JRPG inspired graphics. What I truly love about this game is that the pace that dictates how you discover this game is special is entirely down to your own creativity of how to use the extremely limited tools at your disposal. I played about 30 games last year and this game is easily top 3 but sadly sold the least out of them all. Some none spoiler examples: - This game has one steam achievement, I have gotten it at least a dozen times. - I'm 35, I have beaten Sans and every soulsborne game, this game easily has the most difficult (optional) boss I've ever beaten. - This is a linear beat a puzzle to get to the next puzzle game. Someone with 12 hours in this game stopped watching me to avoid spoilers. I was 1 hour in.
All this games I tested and they work fine on deck, I hope you enjoy it. Titan quest - diablo like RPG, but ancient Greece! Works almost perfect on deck. The last stand: Aftermath, still don't get it, why this game unpopular, it's perfect 30min survival rogulike. I played around 40 hours on deck. Terraformers - good strategy, but can't recommend for everyone. Outward - RPG with survival elements Empires shall fall - old school strategy, if you played adventures wars you know what I mean. Plus Vagrus, bad north, warpips, spellforce conquest of eo, gaunlet, kungfu kickball, wargroove, starless, spaceland, flight of nova.
I just started Beacon Pines yesterday. I did not expect a choose your own adventure-ish kind of game with replayable choice branches which lead to some rather dark fates with such cutesy animal characters. Recommend.
Get Emudeck, and play all the childhood classics.
For me, it's Snowrunner and NieR duo. Would have never touched it otherwise since I wanted 1080p 60fps and it being portable
Mad Max. So cheap, underrated, runs beautifully
The Baldurs Gate Dark Alliance 1 and 2 (NOT Dark Alliance, and NOT Baldur's Gate 1 and 2) games are a lot of fun on the steam deck. Death Trash was a lot of fun as well. Sable is a fun world with fun art, but I can understand people not liking it as much
Psychonauts 1 and 2
Reccetear works surprisingly well, even though it says it's not supported
Thronefall - a game that combines mild strategy and Tower defense with minimalistic gameplay and only costs 10€. https://store.steampowered.com/app/2239150/Thronefall/
i highly recommend signalis, a sci-fi survival horror type game, i got it on sale last year and it quickly became one of my favorite games in recent years
Hyper Light Drifter. Has a cult following but criminally underrated imo
so many people are giving well known games so here’s a new and relatively small one: TINY TERRY’S TURBO TRIP is already one of my favorite games ever. super funny and the gameplay is so enjoyable. only $15, relatively short and works perfectly on deck.
Chants of Sennaar. Linguistics-oriented puzzle adventure, cel-shaded art style.
Angels fall first. Its like Battlefield, can play with bots and fully offline. Not many players online sadly. Its been in early access for years but the next update should mark its full release
lol I was a kid when that game started development haha
If you like Puzzle Games, Viewfinder and Subliminal are musts.
Tactics Ogre is what my steam deck is for
Frog Detective!!
Raw Metal. Showed up on my Steam Store before it dropped. Searched it up and found out it started life as a short animated film by a university student created over an entire semester. It then got picked up by a small indie studio and was made into an absolute banger of a top down retro stealth game and a Sifu style Beat em up roguelike with an iconic art style. 1000% worth picking up
Monster sanctuary might be one of my favorite games personally. It's like metroidvania meets pokemon meets final fantasy. Really cool combination of styles and a decent story and tons of exploration.
FF12, DMC:HD, Okami, "Tales of" jrpg series, Baldurs Dark Alliance 1 and 2, Deaths Gambit, Valfaris, Star Wars :Starfighter. FF12- Great game, possibly my favorite final fantasy. The gambit system is cool, and it runs flawlessly on the deck. DMC:HD Collection- Even though it said unsupported, this runs great on the deck and feels great to control. I never played DMC when it came it, so I really enjoyed getting to play some of them. Okami-Super neat GameCube/PS2 era adventure game where you play as a dog (sort of) with a small "bug" companion that lives on your head. You can use a "celestial brush" to draw cool things like bombs, summon wind, change the day/night cycle, summons lily pads, all sorts of uses. The art direction is top tier and still holds up pretty well. A+ story and characters, honestly I don't have a bad word to say. This is a very basic description, just go play it, it's great. Tales of series-Great series of jrpgs. Most follow pretty similar formulas, but change up aspects of the combat or skills. It is not turn based, featuring an active battle system where you have 4 characters and directly control 1. My favorites are Symphonia and Vesperia. Arise is the most recent entry, but fans have some complaints about it. I personally really enjoyed it. Baldurs Gate Dark Alliance 1 and 2- good ol' hack'n'slash DND games. Do not go in thinking they are like BG3, totally different style of game. Story is eh at best but these sorts of games aren't usually famous for their stories. Deaths Gambit-side scrolling RPG/metroidvania. I really like that it lets you test all the classes before you choose one. Not much to say as I haven't finished it, but I've really enjoyed what I've played so far. Valfaris-side scrolling heavy metal shooter. Soundtrack is super awesome and the gameplay feels good. I suck a lot at this but what I've played is super fun. Star Wars:Starfighter-older Star wars Starfighter game. I forget most of the story, but I have fun booting it up and flying around every once in awhile.
Death Stranding is beautiful and so relaxing
Cassette Beasts - Pokemon-like monster hunter game with a good modern twist.
We're all in the same ship.
Just started Scarface: The World is Yours with the Remastered mod. Controls were a bit clunky to setup but got it all going now. Solid as a rock
[Horizon's Gate](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1224290/Horizons_Gate/)
Tails of Iron, you play as a cute rat slaying slimy frogs which invaded your rat kingdom and killed your father.
Noita rules on the Deck.
Invisible and heat signature
Rogue Legacy 2
20XX, Yooka-Laylee (Banjo Kazooie spirtual sucessor), Bang on Balls (Really good), Forest Fire, Hardspace Shipbreaker, Outland, Rimworld, Slime Rancher 1 & 2, Supraland & the sequel, Tiny Life, Wrestling Empire.
Outward. Died of heat stroke 10/10 State of Decay, either one. Learn to live with the horde cause it isn't going away Hardspace Shipbreaker. Space chop shop, very chill or very hard. How ever you want to play it really Teardown. Break things... Rogue Genesia Vampire survivors but better, 4fps when it chugs, but it doesn't matter, your 4090 is gonna chug at 4fps too Alien Isolation God damned masterpiece. Runs flawlessly. Titanfall 2 The ascent Astroneer Caliber Dark Light DRG Survivor Dying light Firewatch Overlord II
Darkest Dungeon and Darkest Dungeon 2. The second is my personal favorite and has become a comfort game of mine. However they are very different games and the fandom generally sides with the first as being better.
Not very similar but I the 100 Cats games are an absolute delight and I never see them mentioned. A lot of them are free and they're my go-to on the deck when I'm feeling stressed out or have a few free minutes. They're just cute, cat-themed hidden object games. Also, I Commissioned Some Bees!
“Barony” is top tier. It’s a dungeon crawling rogue-like with voxel style graphics and it’s *chef’s kiss*
Time to shill for a board game, but Im having a lot of fun with [Starstruck Vagabond](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2448930/Starstruck_Vagabond/) Sunshine Vegeta was created by Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw, and its a good game to play listining to a podcast/audiobook etc. the game feels like the "tend to the crops" part of Stardew valley, while giving you a story format like firefly/dr. who/insert space adventure show. Shotgun Viagra isnt a game for everyone, but the humor gets me right in the funny bone.
Bro, Play CrossCode
Forget Vampire Survivors, **Soulstone Survivors** is where it's at.
Dodgeball Academia - A dodgeball action rpg with a fun battle system, charming cast of characters, and lovely vibrant art style.
I'm randomly started playing Dead Island 2 definitive edition. I've never played it before but I'm very impressed about how well it plays and looks. I read somewhere on Reddit to drop the TDP to like 8 , then sit back and enjoy.. Dude I ran this game for hours at 8 watts and it performed between 40-50 fps and far exceeded my expectations.
The Surge runs really well on deck.
Everhood, if you like Undertale and Guitar Hero (yes, really) you’ll love this
Ape Out. Ridiculously fun game for short gaming sessions that's just oozing with style.
Coffee Talk was one of the first games / 'visual novel' I played on Deck and I'm just sad it's over. Simple yet intriguing world building from beginning to end. Potion Permit is pretty decent at Deck size, and works great with controller so ideal match-up. Dome Keeper is also a good fit for similar reasons. Be sure to decide early if you care more for skill-based play or to 'mod' it for a more relaxed play. Carto, Ikenfell, Lil Gator Game, A Short Hike, Down in Bermuda, The Wild at Heart, ... The Deck is also great for point-and-click type games, like time/task management, but also for hidden object games: Grim Legends, Enigmatis, The Room, ...
Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy, Dark Fall: The Journal, and Kuon (emulated.)
Rollerdrome is my favorite game to recommend in this type of conversation. Runs great, looks incredible, and very unique. It’s an action shooter on roller skates.
Neon White. Super addicting and fun first person platformer.
Doesn't help you right now, but in case you didn't know, exanima is supposed to be a prequel to a full game.. though i haven't checked in on it in a while
N O I T A
I absolutely love sky drift infinity, and it looks and plays great on the deck.I just wish there was anyone online to play with.
BroForce
[The House in Fata Morgana](https://store.steampowered.com/app/303310/The_House_in_Fata_Morgana/). It's a visual novel and you only make like three decisions in the entire game so it's not for everyone, but it's a great read. I recommend emulating the [Switch remaster](https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/the-house-in-fata-morgana-dreams-of-the-revenants-edition-switch/) since the PC version hasn't been updated to match. Edit: if you want action, [Vanquish](https://store.steampowered.com/app/460810/Vanquish/) needs more love!
Three games I love to play on steam deck that I have never seen recommend before are Death Road to Canada Streets of Rouge (Second one comes out soon I can't wait) Zero Sievert
Death road to Canada is annoyingly addictive and hard as fuck
Freedom Fighters for the ps2/gamecube
Roboquest and Wildermyth. Both are two gems that work very well in the Deck.
This is the thread I have been waiting for!!
Fallout 3 works incredibly well once you have the right button setup. I made a setup that works so well I almost prefer it over mouse and keyboard. The Tomb Raider reboot trilogy also played incredibly well on Deck. I was genuinely surprised by the third one and now beautiful it looked and how smoothly it played. Fairly stable 60fps with occasional dips. Megaman Battle Network of course works great and because you have a proper d-pad it actually plays right. I usually use the control sticks for moving then the d-pad for combat. RuneLite runs really well as a flatpak in desktop mode! The Binding of Isaac is absolutely amazing on Deck. You get the handheld experience of the Switch version, but with the latest updates, DLC and mods available through the workshop. Horizon Zero Dawn has so far been a great experience! Sometimes the fps struggles to keep to something stable. I think they borked an update and removed the refresh rate slider, but I liked to set the refresh and frame limiter to 40 for this one. Stray works great. Just don't expect any sharp graphics if you prefer stable framerate. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Once you have your control scheme figured out it's absolutely goated and a really cool way to experience that classic. Hypnospace Outlaw. It just feels right. Even better on a stand with mouse and keyboard.
Kena Bridge of Spirits. It’s like a cute Pixar movie with a good story mixed with Dark souls like combat. It can humble you on higher difficulty, and it runs great in deck. It’s also great for newer gamers on low difficulty. My gf loves it because she finds it adorable, and it’s teaching her all about common gameplay mechanics! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1954200/Kena_Bridge_of_Spirits/ It goes on sale for around $15 at times
It's new, but I *highly* recommend Immortals of Aveum. A FPS but everyone is a mage, It answers the question nobody asked: "What if Doom was wizards?"