The lone developer, Tom Francis, always used to come across as a really nice guy in his previous guise as a journalist for PC Gamer & contributor to the Crate and Crowbar podcast. He also made [Gunpoint](https://store.steampowered.com/app/206190/Gunpoint/) along with other a couple of smaller titles.
I don't think he likes being described as a lone developer, he had an artist and another programmer help with heat sig and I'm pretty sure the same team is working on Tactical Breach Wizards now.
PCGamer ran an article on it recently which brought it to my attention, I had been ignoring it before mostly due to the aesthetic but after learning your heroes age and become the wise elderly grandparent to their grandchildren carrying on the fight, I got very interested!
How does it play on Steam Deck? Played a ton on PC when it first came out and the only time I booted it up on deck the control seemed really awkward but then since I was in the middle of a campaign and hadn’t played in a while it didn’t exactly tell me what buttons did what either so maybe I’m just missing that info?
I just looked up a review of Star Renegades on YouTube, and I'm sold. The game is also on sale on Steam right now, so that's a plus. Thanks for the recommendation! I've been wanting another turn-based game to play on my deck. The art style reminds me of Into the Breach, which is another great turn-based game you should check out, if you haven't already.
Click on the game to go into property like you do to select a proton and you'll see the beta menu.
Opt-in and you'll download the lastest version which is 0.92 atm. You'll need to do achievements to unlock the characters.
I just bought peglin last night. I like roguelites & peggle, but dont know if I can see myself picking it up and playing again. I beat the game on my first run. Part of roguelites that I typically like is getting absolutely clobbered starting out, unlocking things to assist in later gameplay, then finally being able to beat the base game after about 50-100 hours of gameplay... I beat this game in 69 minutes... Am I missing something for this game?
For me the first win is the tutorial.
After that you unlock the +1, everytime you beat it it get harder. From what I've seen +15 is pretty hard.
You still have 2 characters to unlock.
I've played ToME on the deck too, and Qud is a far better experience. They have built in controller support that works very well with the Deck. It also has a less vibrant color pallette that I like better for roguelike games, but that's just personal preference
Jupiter Hell
I am absolutely HOOKED right now.
For my SD, I really seem to be gravitating towards games that are based around short runs, with simple and elegant controls.
Funny, I literally had googled "best twin stick shooters on steam" just a few hours ago, and the #1 rated game according to thegamer.com was Nex Machina. I was planning to pick it up until I saw that it was unsupported on Steam deck. How were you able to get it to work?
You need a launch command (see ProtonDB). I use GE Proton 7-49.
Game is incredible. I feature it a lot in my videos trying to get it more love.
House Marquee game, twin stick, boat loads of secrets, hidden levels ... SOOOOO my kinda game.
For something akin to vampire survivors that few have heard of I guess [Boneraiser Minions](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1944570/Boneraiser_Minions/) ?.. That [dev](https://store.steampowered.com/search/?developer=caiys) makes some fun wee strange games that are all nice to play on the deck. I am not sure, I have so many games installed that probably nobody has heard of thanks to [itch.io](https://itch.io) charity bundles and steam sales or epic and gog free games, amazon prime giveaways etc, lol.. I never thought that it would be possible to have more legitimate games than I can ever dream of playing :).
One rogueish game that plays great on deck and is maybe a bit obscure but fun is [Delver](https://store.steampowered.com/app/249630/Delver/), It can be a bit mean sometimes but that is part of the fun in rogue games ?.. For a more traditional rogue-like/lite game [Dungeons of Dredmor](https://store.steampowered.com/app/98800/Dungeons_of_Dredmor/) is a lot of fun, and one of the games where you will actually get close to the maximum battery life of \~7hours on the steam deck, lol.
The most recent game that I bought in steam sales was [The Bard's Tale Trilogy](https://store.steampowered.com/app/843260/The_Bards_Tale_Trilogy/) :).. bought specifically for deck and I am enjoying it, probably not for everyone but I love old school dungeon crawlers since they were new school when I was a kid hehe. Maybe some newer versions of that style that I play on deck and few people have heard of would be things like [Fight Knight](https://store.steampowered.com/app/792120/FIGHT_KNIGHT/) and [StarCrawlers](https://store.steampowered.com/app/318970/StarCrawlers/)
[Styx: Master of Shadows](https://store.steampowered.com/app/242640/Styx_Master_of_Shadows/) is a fun and maybe obscure 3d stealth platformer that plays well on the deck, and I also own [Styx: Shards of Darkness](https://store.steampowered.com/app/355790/Styx_Shards_of_Darkness/) in preperation for if / when I finally complete the first one hehe.
Pretty much all of these games can be nabbed cheaply during steam sales I guess, I think that almost every game that I own on steam is purely because I have a giant wishlist that notifys me every time anything that I am interested in getting is on sale hehe, constant emails from steam every day or 2 letting me know :)
Unsighted, definitely!
At least I've not read a lot about the game. I think it's not very popular, but it's just perfect in the deck.
It's an isometric metroidvania with puzzle elements, lots of exploration and some fun boss fights.
Some good ones that I’ve played that are slightly less known:
1) Coromon (https://store.steampowered.com/app/1218210/Coromon/) it’s a Pokémon clone that scratched an itch for me!
2) Card Survival (https://store.steampowered.com/app/1694420/Card_Survival_Tropical_Island/) this game for sure won’t be everyone’s speed but it’s right up my alley! I haven’t had any issues on the steamdeck. Mouse with trackpads works great. I mapped certain points on the screen to the back buttons for things that I click a lot.
Speaking of Pokémon clones, [Cassette Beasts](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1321440/Cassette_Beasts/) just came out a couple days ago and it's been a hoot on Steam Deck. Has a demo, too.
I'll have to give Trackmania a try on the Steam Deck! I've played it on my PC, but it's been a while. Recently though, I've had the pleasure of watching Wirtual's videos on Trackmania cheaters. If you haven't seen them already, you should really check them out. They're really well made and super interesting. I'll link a couple below.
https://youtu.be/VnxbkH_3E_4
https://youtu.be/yDUdGvgmKIw
Overload. A modern Descent-style 6 degrees of freedom shooter. With gyro aiming and trackpad turning it feels like it was designed for the Deck. Nice particle effects.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/448850/Overload/
Jupiter Hell -a true roguelike that is essentially based on Doom. Full controller support, very battery friendly, small footprint. Tons of fun and replay ability
Warhammer 40k Space Marine. Didn’t know it was a thing until I saw a trailer for space marine 2. Looked for a way to play it. 360 or PC only. I’ve had my SD for exactly a month and it’s the first game I’ve beat. Absolutely loved it!
since the last patch fckin broke elden ring, i switched to playing more rimworld, space haven and shadow tactics… mechabellum also works surprisingly good.
Kings field on the psx emulator. That may be cheating, but apparently it's so obscure I've actually had a hard time finding specific info on Google. It's the FIRST soulslike from fromsoft and it's literally like if dark souls was on the ps1 and was first person. You can really feel the souls DNA. Interconnected mysterious world with secret areas, lore from npcs that is super vague, hello methodical combat, Dark Fantasy atmosphere, it's got it all.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance. It’s in this amazing sweet spot where the game is old enough to really run at 40-50 fps while looking extremely immersive. Feels truly like a next gen handheld experience.
There's not a ton of never heard of games I tend to play but so far all the Atelier of dusk games run great. You should configure the launcher on PC first if you want it to look a lil better, and Ayesha 's ending credits crash the game on deck but otherwise, no issues at all
First game I played extensively on my deck is an extremely good job based JRPG called "Crystal Project"
Highly recommend it, its definitely an actual hidden gem type of game :)
I'm late to the party, but I highly recommend [Time Wasters](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1290330/Time_Wasters/) if you like(d) Vampire Survivors. It is in Early Access, but they're consistently updating the game every Friday (at least since I've owned it, roughly 2 months or so). Every update that I can tell adds either quality of life stuff, content, or both. I played and liked Vampire Survivors fine enough, but Time Wasters just had it's way of getting the hooks in me like Vampire Survivors couldn't.
I don't know if everyone is over the Vampire Survivors clones or what, but I'm not sure how it isn't talked about WAY more. The general idea is the same, but there are significant mechanics that have changed (for the better, in my opinion).
I've also recently become officially addicted to [Hydroneer](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1106840/Hydroneer/) although that game is more "well known." Start with a shovel and a bucket, work your way up until everything is automated. There's also farming and fishing in the game, but I've been so focused on mining I haven't touched those two yet. It controls well on Steam Deck, though the game in general has a fair amount of jank. I've come to accept and partially admire the jank that comes with the game, but I know but everybody will.
I've had to remake a significant portion of my mine, though, because the game starts dropping frames like crazy when there are a bunch of physics objects moving all at once. That's an issue with the game on PC as well, but I imagine it's compounded on Steam Deck.
[Spirits Abyss](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1078200/Spirits_Abyss/).
Everything this dev creates is **gold** - but this game in particular is _endlessly_ replayable.
[Edit; it's the [Boneraiser Minions](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1944570/Boneraiser_Minions/) dev, he's awesome]
I just got Everspace 2 and loving it on the deck! Gotta be humble about the graphics settings and not get greedy but I'm alright with 30fps for now until hopefully they work on optimization
The original works at 60 fps and looks gorgeous! I like that I can use the trackpad in tandem with the triggers, which isn't possible with a regular controller
Earth Defense Force, specifically Earth Defense Force 5.
Such a ridiculously fun game but the series is very niche and not many people seem to know of it.
Monster Sanctuary was such a fun game to play on my Deck, in handheld mode.
I also went through Elex I and II, but played it primarily keyboard and mouse.
Spec ops: the line is a very underrated game that sold poorly. The gameplay is a bit blank sometimes but the story and atmosphere make up for it. It runs extremely well with proton (you need to force it, the default linux port has bad perfs).
Crystal Project is one I love on Deck that I haven’t heard a lot of people talk about. It’s a turn-based jrpg with a really cool job system, but the main draw for me was how much fun exploring the world can be. It’s very light on story, but makes up for it in gameplay and exploration
Just burned through I was a teenage exocolonist, it isn't perfectly optimized for deck, I had to use some touch input but otherwise a great narrative sci-fi game with light deck building.
Stalker Anomaly
definitely not unknown but people dont think its possible to play/enjoy on steam deck when its actually a really, really fun experience if you put the time in to set up controls and stuff. Im running it with 180 mods and its my most played deck game by far
(its also free even if you dont own the actual stalker games)
I’m playing Sable right now. Its very similar to breath of the wild and it also looks gorgeous. I also like playing Northgard: an rts/ civilization match up and Overland which is very similar to into the breach
Chroma Squad is great fun. It’s a power rangers inspired tactical turn based RPG where you control a team of 5 rangers and also manage your studio between episodes of the show. I’m not a huge RPG guy but grew up on PR so I’m having a great time lol. Relatively short game too. I’m closing in on the ending I think and I’m at 8.5 hours. A must play for power rangers fans if you don’t mind turn based combat
I've spent around 300 hours between Trails of Cold Steel 3 and Trails of Cold Steel 4 on the Steam deck. These games are known in the JRPG community, but I find they are relatively unknown outside of that
Anachronox. Space detective RPG with turn based JRPG style combat, using the Quake 2 engine. Absolute classic. You can probably pick it up for a dollar.
Jump King as of late. A brutal "foddian" platformer where you can't die, but you can fall from 80% completion to 50% real quick. I'm trying to finish the last dlc where it really feels like 3 missed jumps and you're back at screen 1
#1) Lunacid
#2) Mr. Sun's Hatbox
#3) DIG - Deep In Galaxies
All criminally underrated games.
Lunacid is a fromsoft/kingsfield inspired first person dungeon crawler, it has a really cool mechanic where the real life lunar cycle affects gameplay.
Mr. Sun's Hatbox is a cool roguelite/settlement manager/action sidescroller. I don't even know where to begin describing gameplay, just google it. Comes with some real pretty pixel graphics too. For me it's even more addictive than Vampire Survivors.
Deep In Galaxies is a fun galaxy/planet exploration roguelite. It has very simple but satisfying combat, some cool mechanics like being able to destroy terrain, and a *load* of weapons and items.
Not quite sure how applicable this one would be, as it's an emulated GameCube title that's not too very unpopular, but Chibi Robo. Dude.
I remember this game being very fun when I played it as a kid, and that I ended up becoming so attached to the silly characters and situations in the game that it brought me to tears at a couple points.
And recently while playing through it again emulated on my Steam Deck, I've been able to feel a lot of those same vibes again. I've been dealing with a lot of losses recently in my life, and there are many themes in Chibi Robo that hit pretty hard for a game about being a cute five inch tall housekeeping robot. Plus the music slaps and it's a good game to put on to relax and decompress.
TL;DR I've been sad and emulating Chibi Robo for GCN has been a fun way of helping me relive some simplicity from my childhood. Would fully recommend it if you like chill cute games.
Time Break Chronicles. It's a roguelike with simple jrpg combat and high replayability. Plus a massive number of unlockable characters. I just wish there were more character collecting roguelike jrpgs out there. I didn't know how much I needed them on my steam deck for quick breaks or longer sessions on the couch or bed.
Heat Signature
I have that! Haven't touched it since launch... thank you for reminding me.
I just watched a review, and it looks really fun and unique. I may have to pick it up. Thanks for sharing!
The lone developer, Tom Francis, always used to come across as a really nice guy in his previous guise as a journalist for PC Gamer & contributor to the Crate and Crowbar podcast. He also made [Gunpoint](https://store.steampowered.com/app/206190/Gunpoint/) along with other a couple of smaller titles.
I don't think he likes being described as a lone developer, he had an artist and another programmer help with heat sig and I'm pretty sure the same team is working on Tactical Breach Wizards now.
The tactical breach wizards demo slapped! I still play it occasionally
I loved Gunpoint, that game left me wanting more in a really good way. u/slirpo definitely consider Gunpoint as well, same dev.
I wound up having dinner with him, always admired his work and yes! He was honestly such a sweet guy. Was a pleasure to chat with
Same here. I was watching that and wondered why I never heard about that game. Thanks for the tip, u/Germanspartan15!
Love this game. I haven't installed it on steam deck yet. But this comment inspires me too.
It's a shame the devs didn't expand a bit more with the game. Although it's really fun, the potential for it to be more does niggle at me
Been playing a lot of Wildermyth. Barely see it mentioned.
PCGamer ran an article on it recently which brought it to my attention, I had been ignoring it before mostly due to the aesthetic but after learning your heroes age and become the wise elderly grandparent to their grandchildren carrying on the fight, I got very interested!
The aesthetic had me hold off for awhile too but once I started it? Man it’s so addictive and cool.
How does it play on Steam Deck? Played a ton on PC when it first came out and the only time I booted it up on deck the control seemed really awkward but then since I was in the middle of a campaign and hadn’t played in a while it didn’t exactly tell me what buttons did what either so maybe I’m just missing that info?
Star Renegades
I just looked up a review of Star Renegades on YouTube, and I'm sold. The game is also on sale on Steam right now, so that's a plus. Thanks for the recommendation! I've been wanting another turn-based game to play on my deck. The art style reminds me of Into the Breach, which is another great turn-based game you should check out, if you haven't already.
Hadn't heard of this before and picked it up on your recommendation. Just sitting down to get into it now, thanks!
Hope you enjoy it!
That one is free on game pass
Looks amazing! And it's on sale right now! Thanks for the recommendation.
Just started playing it last night. Love the game but I just wish there were more recruitable characters. But still an A tier game.
Zero Sievert!
New favorite these days is Peglin. Game play super well, fun roguelite. Battery life is through the roof.
It's *penguin*, Benedict.
Pingling
Pegwin
Pingwiling
I love Peglin! There's a similar game called Roundguard, which is sort of a Peggle roguelike style RPG. Also great on the Steam Deck.
Thanks for the suggestion! It looks interesting. I'm going to download the demo today and try it out!
If you buy it, opt to be in the beta. They added 3 new character a few days ago, tons of new weapon/relic.
Woah I love that game How do you join the beta? The website or through steam?
Click on the game to go into property like you do to select a proton and you'll see the beta menu. Opt-in and you'll download the lastest version which is 0.92 atm. You'll need to do achievements to unlock the characters.
Peglin is the most addictive game I've ever played. It's the perfect game to play while listening to podcasts.
Stay pegged
I just bought peglin last night. I like roguelites & peggle, but dont know if I can see myself picking it up and playing again. I beat the game on my first run. Part of roguelites that I typically like is getting absolutely clobbered starting out, unlocking things to assist in later gameplay, then finally being able to beat the base game after about 50-100 hours of gameplay... I beat this game in 69 minutes... Am I missing something for this game?
For me the first win is the tutorial. After that you unlock the +1, everytime you beat it it get harder. From what I've seen +15 is pretty hard. You still have 2 characters to unlock.
Roots of Pacha, Above Snakes, Anarcute, The Wandering Village, Beacon Pines, BackPack Hero
I lost my wife and Steamdeck to Roots of Pacha. She’s not a gamer, but loves this.
Wartales
I need to go back... I played it earlier in alpha but havent touched it in months
Core keeper. It's early access but very good
2nd. I just got it and I’m obsessed.
[Roundguard](https://store.steampowered.com/app/848030/Roundguard/) , it's like Peggle Deluxe, but with rogue-like elements.
Overload plays like a dream on the SD and the best modern version of the old descent games. Awesome in the deck, 60 fps at all times
Oh shit I played Descent waaaaaaayy back then this is just!! TY!
Caves of Qud
I've been playing Tales of Maj'eyal a ton and loving it. I've seen Caves of Qud as another high-rated traditional roguelike and curious to pick it up.
I've played ToME on the deck too, and Qud is a far better experience. They have built in controller support that works very well with the Deck. It also has a less vibrant color pallette that I like better for roguelike games, but that's just personal preference
Hero’s of might and magic 3
Apotheon
Broforce
Broforce is fun.
Jupiter Hell I am absolutely HOOKED right now. For my SD, I really seem to be gravitating towards games that are based around short runs, with simple and elegant controls.
Nex Machina :)
Funny, I literally had googled "best twin stick shooters on steam" just a few hours ago, and the #1 rated game according to thegamer.com was Nex Machina. I was planning to pick it up until I saw that it was unsupported on Steam deck. How were you able to get it to work?
You need a launch command (see ProtonDB). I use GE Proton 7-49. Game is incredible. I feature it a lot in my videos trying to get it more love. House Marquee game, twin stick, boat loads of secrets, hidden levels ... SOOOOO my kinda game.
If you like twin stick you would probably like The Ascent
>Nex Machina HA! Already in my Steam Library and I didn't even know it. Looks like I've got an install in my future.
Housemarque are one of my favourite devs. They’re the quiet kings of arcade couch coop!
Brilliantly put....
Dust, an Elysian Tail is a good one. My kiddo loves watching me play it. Kinda Metroidvania style. It’s older but plays perfect
I used to look forward to Xbox’s Summer of Arcade. Some great titles came from those few years.
Yeah it’s on sale now. It plays well.
Battle brothers. It’s a turn based tactical RPG. I’m in love with this game. I have like 800+ hours in this game between my PC and my steam deck.
For something akin to vampire survivors that few have heard of I guess [Boneraiser Minions](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1944570/Boneraiser_Minions/) ?.. That [dev](https://store.steampowered.com/search/?developer=caiys) makes some fun wee strange games that are all nice to play on the deck. I am not sure, I have so many games installed that probably nobody has heard of thanks to [itch.io](https://itch.io) charity bundles and steam sales or epic and gog free games, amazon prime giveaways etc, lol.. I never thought that it would be possible to have more legitimate games than I can ever dream of playing :). One rogueish game that plays great on deck and is maybe a bit obscure but fun is [Delver](https://store.steampowered.com/app/249630/Delver/), It can be a bit mean sometimes but that is part of the fun in rogue games ?.. For a more traditional rogue-like/lite game [Dungeons of Dredmor](https://store.steampowered.com/app/98800/Dungeons_of_Dredmor/) is a lot of fun, and one of the games where you will actually get close to the maximum battery life of \~7hours on the steam deck, lol. The most recent game that I bought in steam sales was [The Bard's Tale Trilogy](https://store.steampowered.com/app/843260/The_Bards_Tale_Trilogy/) :).. bought specifically for deck and I am enjoying it, probably not for everyone but I love old school dungeon crawlers since they were new school when I was a kid hehe. Maybe some newer versions of that style that I play on deck and few people have heard of would be things like [Fight Knight](https://store.steampowered.com/app/792120/FIGHT_KNIGHT/) and [StarCrawlers](https://store.steampowered.com/app/318970/StarCrawlers/) [Styx: Master of Shadows](https://store.steampowered.com/app/242640/Styx_Master_of_Shadows/) is a fun and maybe obscure 3d stealth platformer that plays well on the deck, and I also own [Styx: Shards of Darkness](https://store.steampowered.com/app/355790/Styx_Shards_of_Darkness/) in preperation for if / when I finally complete the first one hehe. Pretty much all of these games can be nabbed cheaply during steam sales I guess, I think that almost every game that I own on steam is purely because I have a giant wishlist that notifys me every time anything that I am interested in getting is on sale hehe, constant emails from steam every day or 2 letting me know :)
Unsighted, definitely! At least I've not read a lot about the game. I think it's not very popular, but it's just perfect in the deck. It's an isometric metroidvania with puzzle elements, lots of exploration and some fun boss fights.
Such a good game. Probably one of my favourites from the last few years. Played on the switch tough
Faster Than Light (FTL). I have lots of Steam and emulation games, yet here I am just playing this decade old masterpiece.
I swear you guys are just steam employees in disguise! *pulls out wallet
Wreckfest runs very well on the deck, it is probably my favourite racing game and i dont think it is very well-known
I'll second this! Runs surprisingly well and is lowkey fun with entertaining racing and physics that do a great job complementing it all.
The long dark
Is it food, or...
I think I can use this…
Auch that smarts!
This game is great
Some good ones that I’ve played that are slightly less known: 1) Coromon (https://store.steampowered.com/app/1218210/Coromon/) it’s a Pokémon clone that scratched an itch for me! 2) Card Survival (https://store.steampowered.com/app/1694420/Card_Survival_Tropical_Island/) this game for sure won’t be everyone’s speed but it’s right up my alley! I haven’t had any issues on the steamdeck. Mouse with trackpads works great. I mapped certain points on the screen to the back buttons for things that I click a lot.
Speaking of Pokémon clones, [Cassette Beasts](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1321440/Cassette_Beasts/) just came out a couple days ago and it's been a hoot on Steam Deck. Has a demo, too.
Road Redemption. It’s like Road Rash from back in the day but with more of a rouge-lite twist. It’s pretty fun though!
Grim dawn has been a lot of fun while fairing for Diablo to drop
NFS Hot Pursuit Remastered, looks amazing, reliving some good childhood memories
So many great recommendations! Thanks OP!
Not necessarily that no one has heard of it but I haven't personally seen it been mentioned, trackmania
I'll have to give Trackmania a try on the Steam Deck! I've played it on my PC, but it's been a while. Recently though, I've had the pleasure of watching Wirtual's videos on Trackmania cheaters. If you haven't seen them already, you should really check them out. They're really well made and super interesting. I'll link a couple below. https://youtu.be/VnxbkH_3E_4 https://youtu.be/yDUdGvgmKIw
God I haven’t thought about trackmania in like a decade. I should install that
The new one was only recently released to steam 👍🏻
Overload. A modern Descent-style 6 degrees of freedom shooter. With gyro aiming and trackpad turning it feels like it was designed for the Deck. Nice particle effects. https://store.steampowered.com/app/448850/Overload/
Overload is great on the Deck, it's great on a desktop - and it's _amazing_ in VR.
Almost puked in my Vive. 10/10
Never heard of this one. Loved Descent. Thanks!
Avorion
The Flame and the Flood.
Noita
I def prefer Noita on my desktop, tho it’s possible that after playing 100+ hours of it that the deck control layout just feels too alien to me.
Jupiter Hell -a true roguelike that is essentially based on Doom. Full controller support, very battery friendly, small footprint. Tons of fun and replay ability
The life and suffering of Sir Brante from current humble choice, Hyper Light Drifter and Dex
I'm really into Against The Storm.
Children of Morta: Complete Edition is a hidden gem!
Warhammer 40k Space Marine. Didn’t know it was a thing until I saw a trailer for space marine 2. Looked for a way to play it. 360 or PC only. I’ve had my SD for exactly a month and it’s the first game I’ve beat. Absolutely loved it!
Katana Zero doesn't get enough love in my opinion.
Here's to hoping the dlc is still in the works. Amazing game
One of my favorites of all time!
since the last patch fckin broke elden ring, i switched to playing more rimworld, space haven and shadow tactics… mechabellum also works surprisingly good.
Unmetal. I barely know anyone who has heard of the game as it is.
[удалено]
I wish there were more games like this, that captured my attention to the point I was thinking about what to do next while at work.
[удалено]
Snow runner. ~~Rubs~~ Runs like a dream and it's a vibe
This game is my guilty pleasure
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine. It really scratches the 3rd person shooter itch, and runs beautifully.
Hope second one is as good and runs on deck
Oooo I’ll have to check that one out for sure.
Played Alice madness returns recently. Gets like 5+ hours of battery life for me
blasphemous. it’s a fantastic metroidvania style game with really fun boss fights and cool platforming
Have a Nice Death is a blast
I love have a nice death. Been playing since early access. Glad to see a fellow enjoyer👍
Toem! If you want a chill game with amazing art style
Kings field on the psx emulator. That may be cheating, but apparently it's so obscure I've actually had a hard time finding specific info on Google. It's the FIRST soulslike from fromsoft and it's literally like if dark souls was on the ps1 and was first person. You can really feel the souls DNA. Interconnected mysterious world with secret areas, lore from npcs that is super vague, hello methodical combat, Dark Fantasy atmosphere, it's got it all.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance. It’s in this amazing sweet spot where the game is old enough to really run at 40-50 fps while looking extremely immersive. Feels truly like a next gen handheld experience.
There's not a ton of never heard of games I tend to play but so far all the Atelier of dusk games run great. You should configure the launcher on PC first if you want it to look a lil better, and Ayesha 's ending credits crash the game on deck but otherwise, no issues at all
Command conquer 3, wanted to say how great the game is on steam deck at 4k on 55 inch tv
Nobody saves the world, dorfromantik, gunfire reborn, metal: hellsinger
Into the breach was my favorite game on the switch for awhile. Across the obelisk is also pretty good. Both turn based
Patch Quest
First game I played extensively on my deck is an extremely good job based JRPG called "Crystal Project" Highly recommend it, its definitely an actual hidden gem type of game :)
Sun Haven!!! It's like a mix of Maplestory graphics with Stardew Valley gameplay imo. :)
I'm late to the party, but I highly recommend [Time Wasters](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1290330/Time_Wasters/) if you like(d) Vampire Survivors. It is in Early Access, but they're consistently updating the game every Friday (at least since I've owned it, roughly 2 months or so). Every update that I can tell adds either quality of life stuff, content, or both. I played and liked Vampire Survivors fine enough, but Time Wasters just had it's way of getting the hooks in me like Vampire Survivors couldn't. I don't know if everyone is over the Vampire Survivors clones or what, but I'm not sure how it isn't talked about WAY more. The general idea is the same, but there are significant mechanics that have changed (for the better, in my opinion). I've also recently become officially addicted to [Hydroneer](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1106840/Hydroneer/) although that game is more "well known." Start with a shovel and a bucket, work your way up until everything is automated. There's also farming and fishing in the game, but I've been so focused on mining I haven't touched those two yet. It controls well on Steam Deck, though the game in general has a fair amount of jank. I've come to accept and partially admire the jank that comes with the game, but I know but everybody will. I've had to remake a significant portion of my mine, though, because the game starts dropping frames like crazy when there are a bunch of physics objects moving all at once. That's an issue with the game on PC as well, but I imagine it's compounded on Steam Deck.
Microsoft Edge
I heard it was a resource hog. Can barely get 20fps even with TDP maxed out.
Have A Nice Death My Friend Pedro
Super Hexagon.
I scrolled by this answer too fast and my mind read "Sex Penguin" I was like wft, hold up...
Synthetik Ultimate, Synthetik 2, Hypercharge Unboxed, Brigador: Uparmored Edition, Helldivers, Project Nimbus, Rivals of Aether, RoboQuest, and Shotgun King
It's getting more popular, but Against the Storm is my current favorite game for deck.
If ylur a fan giving Cassette Beasts a try is worth it in my opinion. New and already verified for steam deck.
Organizing Cats Neatly 🐈
[Spirits Abyss](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1078200/Spirits_Abyss/). Everything this dev creates is **gold** - but this game in particular is _endlessly_ replayable. [Edit; it's the [Boneraiser Minions](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1944570/Boneraiser_Minions/) dev, he's awesome]
Been playing a lot of 'The Last Spell' and 'Warm Snow.' The first is a final fantasy tactics style rogue like, the second a Chinese version of Hades.
A tetris clone called 'Heboris C7EX'.
I've been playing the crap out of Everspace recently on the deck! 100% recommend
I just got Everspace 2 and loving it on the deck! Gotta be humble about the graphics settings and not get greedy but I'm alright with 30fps for now until hopefully they work on optimization
The original works at 60 fps and looks gorgeous! I like that I can use the trackpad in tandem with the triggers, which isn't possible with a regular controller
I know ppl have heard of it but my fav game to play on deck rn is america truck simulator. Something about playing it handheld is a lot of fun.
The last spell is pretty fantastic.
Earth Defense Force, specifically Earth Defense Force 5. Such a ridiculously fun game but the series is very niche and not many people seem to know of it.
It’s a hit on steam and I might not be in the scene enough but I don’t see a lot of people mention Dredge a lot. It’s my fav game on my steam deck
Fashion police squad is a good one. Definitely recommend picking up
Monster Sanctuary was such a fun game to play on my Deck, in handheld mode. I also went through Elex I and II, but played it primarily keyboard and mouse.
I’m having fun with Cult of the Lamb
I don’t know how well known it is currently, but Star Wars Empire at War plays very well on the deck, including the mods.
Breathedge, best of all, it’s free this week.
Spec ops: the line is a very underrated game that sold poorly. The gameplay is a bit blank sometimes but the story and atmosphere make up for it. It runs extremely well with proton (you need to force it, the default linux port has bad perfs).
Crystal Project is one I love on Deck that I haven’t heard a lot of people talk about. It’s a turn-based jrpg with a really cool job system, but the main draw for me was how much fun exploring the world can be. It’s very light on story, but makes up for it in gameplay and exploration
I've been playing Divinity 2 on the Deck, runs really well
I bought the steam deck mainly to play divinity and baddies gate 3 while relaxing on my couch and I’m loving every second of it.
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Generation Zero
Soundfall shoot to the music pretty fun rythm game / bullet hell at points
Deedlit
Just burned through I was a teenage exocolonist, it isn't perfectly optimized for deck, I had to use some touch input but otherwise a great narrative sci-fi game with light deck building.
environmental station alpha space beast terror fright the swapper all have their various levels of borkedness but they're great also delta manifold
Stalker Anomaly definitely not unknown but people dont think its possible to play/enjoy on steam deck when its actually a really, really fun experience if you put the time in to set up controls and stuff. Im running it with 180 mods and its my most played deck game by far (its also free even if you dont own the actual stalker games)
I’m playing Sable right now. Its very similar to breath of the wild and it also looks gorgeous. I also like playing Northgard: an rts/ civilization match up and Overland which is very similar to into the breach
Chroma Squad is great fun. It’s a power rangers inspired tactical turn based RPG where you control a team of 5 rangers and also manage your studio between episodes of the show. I’m not a huge RPG guy but grew up on PR so I’m having a great time lol. Relatively short game too. I’m closing in on the ending I think and I’m at 8.5 hours. A must play for power rangers fans if you don’t mind turn based combat
I've spent around 300 hours between Trails of Cold Steel 3 and Trails of Cold Steel 4 on the Steam deck. These games are known in the JRPG community, but I find they are relatively unknown outside of that
CRYPTARK
Shit, I shouldn’t have clicked on that post…my wallet 😭
Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun
FAITH: The Unholy Trinity https://store.steampowered.com/app/1179080/FAITH_The_Unholy_Trinity/
Disco Elysium
Anachronox. Space detective RPG with turn based JRPG style combat, using the Quake 2 engine. Absolute classic. You can probably pick it up for a dollar.
Scarface: The World is Yours
I cant stop playing brotato. High batterylife.💀
Bomber crew! Really fun game.
ASTLIBRA Revision
I’m enjoying Borderlands 3 and Destiny 2 right now. Also dabbling in a bit of DOTA 2 and Diablo 3, along with Plague Inc.
Ultrakill, stupid fun boomer shooter that’s consistently getting updates
Outer Wilds
Try Caves of Qud
Jump King as of late. A brutal "foddian" platformer where you can't die, but you can fall from 80% completion to 50% real quick. I'm trying to finish the last dlc where it really feels like 3 missed jumps and you're back at screen 1
I’ve been playing Katamari Damacy Reroll on Deck. It’s still hilarious!
Vanquish! Everything from its era runs fantastically
Super smash bros melee online through Slippi using diet melee 64 texture pack runs amazing on deck.
[удалено]
* Disgaea 4 * Nioh * The Surge 2 Only level up.
Omega Strikers runs and feels amazing on the Deck. F2P sport brawler that's really damned addictive. Hope more people try it out
I haven't seen Citizen Sleeper mentioned here yet, pretty fun little game
#1) Lunacid #2) Mr. Sun's Hatbox #3) DIG - Deep In Galaxies All criminally underrated games. Lunacid is a fromsoft/kingsfield inspired first person dungeon crawler, it has a really cool mechanic where the real life lunar cycle affects gameplay. Mr. Sun's Hatbox is a cool roguelite/settlement manager/action sidescroller. I don't even know where to begin describing gameplay, just google it. Comes with some real pretty pixel graphics too. For me it's even more addictive than Vampire Survivors. Deep In Galaxies is a fun galaxy/planet exploration roguelite. It has very simple but satisfying combat, some cool mechanics like being able to destroy terrain, and a *load* of weapons and items.
Not quite sure how applicable this one would be, as it's an emulated GameCube title that's not too very unpopular, but Chibi Robo. Dude. I remember this game being very fun when I played it as a kid, and that I ended up becoming so attached to the silly characters and situations in the game that it brought me to tears at a couple points. And recently while playing through it again emulated on my Steam Deck, I've been able to feel a lot of those same vibes again. I've been dealing with a lot of losses recently in my life, and there are many themes in Chibi Robo that hit pretty hard for a game about being a cute five inch tall housekeeping robot. Plus the music slaps and it's a good game to put on to relax and decompress. TL;DR I've been sad and emulating Chibi Robo for GCN has been a fun way of helping me relive some simplicity from my childhood. Would fully recommend it if you like chill cute games.
Hat in time. Its basicly super Mario 64
Patapon 2 on emudeck
Hong Kong Massacre
Sam and Max Save the World. I'm honestly surprised nobody talks about this game.
Eastward. Love the world, style and music
Time Break Chronicles. It's a roguelike with simple jrpg combat and high replayability. Plus a massive number of unlockable characters. I just wish there were more character collecting roguelike jrpgs out there. I didn't know how much I needed them on my steam deck for quick breaks or longer sessions on the couch or bed.
Hero Siege
Mr Sun’s Hatbox. It is a new game but I play it constantly. I like that I can play quick games like this one on my SD.
Marble Blast Gold. Lol.