Pokemon USUM. If there was a looped version of the tracks, I‘d probably listen to it every day lol, it just boosts my mood. Sadly, the soundtrack (that I have) has them at 1-2 minutes.

I wanted to get away from the longsword in Rise but somehow I always gravitate towards it… Wilds is a blast, I hope they get their shit together in the next four months.

Good hunting!

Monster Hunter Rise to have a MH fix until Wilds runs at more than 30 fps

Unlock The King: Cheap, simple puzzler that uses chess pieces and how they‘re allowed to move, but otherwise has nothing in common with actuall chess. Recommended.

Orcs Must Die! 3: Comic-y 3rd person tower defense game (here: traps) that doesn’t take itself too seriously. I was a big fan of OMD2 and thought 3 was their weird pvp game called Unchained or whatever, so this one went completely past me and now I get to play a complete and new (to me) OMD for cheap! Recommended.

Potion Permit: Harvest Moon but you’re making potions instead. The pixel art is absolutely amazing. The game feels a bit too small and has weird technical issues (stutter, sudden increase in CPU load or controller input crapping itself until you restart), but it‘s still fun af. Recommended.

Fields of Mistria: Early Access Harvest Moon clone in Gameboy Color style. It may be Early Access, but it runs smooth, I‘ve experienced zero bugs and after ten hours I‘m not even in my first fall. It‘s already well worth a buy. Recommended.

It‘s been a while but I remember when I played it way after its release I found it clunky and meh. I guess that‘s to be expected for an (when I played it already) old game. I want more martial arts games though. Especially kung fu games. I also want a new Sleeping Dogs…

Stardew, trying to get that 100% thingy

I got into farming sims after the recent Stardew Valley update and am playing Fields of Mistria (already great!) as well as Rune Factory 4 (it‘s fine, I guess… didn‘t hold up too well IMO, mainly because of its scuffed 3D graphics instead of pixel art).

I‘ve also completed the Frog Detective trilogy - a series of very easy, short, and quirky mystery games - and I can absolutely recommend it.

Sadly, I‘ve been sick, so I couldn’t play for more than a couple minutes at a time AND my Steam Deck decided to go into a boot loop for no reason, black screen, fans spinning, no BIOS access; had to let it run itself dry in the boot loop for 6 hours and when I connected the AC adapter it booted normally as if nothing happened, crazy!

Anyway, I played a little of Frog Detective 2, it‘s a silly, very short, and simple game series that was perfectly suited for my current state of mind.

It‘s a videogame, mate. People who flame others for not making a videogame as hard as possible on themselves should get their priorities checked. If it‘s fun for someone to beat the game hardmode: good for them; but if they expect everyone else to do the same to themselves: touch grass.

Use summons if you think the game‘s more fun for you that way. I do the same and I also enjoy getting summoned and helping lots of players in return.

En Garde is pretty great, it doesn‘t take itself seriously either and has a ton of slapstick

If you like platformers, try Marsupilami. It has a slow start but the later levels and free DLC levels are a bit more challenging without ever getting frustrating. Only bad thing I have to say about the game is that cloudsaves seem broken and the targetselection on the grappling points is janky. Just give it a shot, it‘s dirt cheap anyway.

Aragami 2 with a friend if we can align schedules. It‘s not as good as the first game, feels pretty uninspired and passionless. It‘s still a servicable stealth game, but you can probably find better games for that itch if you look around.

On my own, I‘d like to finish Marsupilami. It‘s a neat little colorful platformer that I‘d say is perfect for children. It‘s pretty easy and short but the last couple levels are more challenging. Since the Steam sale is on right now and the game‘s dirt cheap discounted, I‘d say give it a try if you guys like platformers and need a chill one. Runs at a locked 90 on Steam Deck at 7-8W (IIRC, maybe even less, you‘ll figure it out).

I‘d also like to play more Monument Valley 2. The first and second game (so far) are splendid. They‘re very creative (but not hard) puzzle games in the look of an optical illusion (the exact term for these kinda optical illusions escapes me right now, but if you have a look at the store page‘s trailer, you‘ll instantly know what I mean). Both games are dirt cheap on sale too and you just can‘t go wrong with them, IMO. Even if you don‘t like puzzle games, the games are a unique experience and short anyway.

Edit: Also forgot Wuthering Waves got its update today, definitely gonna check that one out, I liked it a lot so far.

It blew my fucking mind. They put out Ghostwire too, right? Two great new IPs for XBOX and theoretically more to come but nah, they didn‘t make CoD 420 so good riddance. Closing a performing, innovative studio. Mindboggling. I just wish and hope they all just go straight founding a new studio and stay as independent as possible.

In case you‘re unaware, you can check out how almost anything runs on Steam Deck at protondb.com!

Not sure what you disliked about 4, but we had tons of fun with 5. The combat‘s meh but IMO it‘s always been.

I’m not saying it’s a bad game, it’s easily in the top 10 favorite games of mine (I meant to refer to liveservice as a concept as crappy, not the game). I was just trying to say it was a better franchise when they actually made new games with new maps. Now they‘re done with HITMAN as far as I understand so no HITMAN 4 for the foreseeable future. They even went ahead and rebranded HITMAN 3 to HITMAN WORLD OF ASSASSINATION to further emphasize that this is gonna be an everturning wheel now in their minds. I‘d much prefer a HITMAN 4 with fresh maps, fresh ideas, and a fresh spy thriller story. This HITMAN‘s still the best game in the series IMO and getting the map packs gives new players insane amounts of content. However, HITMAN 4 should be in the making by now, not this liveservice stuff.

IIRC they are making a James Bond game, so here‘s hoping that that‘ll give me more of this kinda gameplay.

Anyone who hasn‘t experienced HITMAN, however, should definitely get the game with the map packs on top and play the whole thing, they‘re in for a treat.

Trine 5 was probably the best Trine to date. It‘s almost a year old, but already discounted to 15ish bucks in sales. Took a friend and I 20 hours to platinum and we had so much fun cheesing the puzzles and doing stupid stuff. I wish there just was no combat in the game tbh, it‘s just there to gatekeep you from having fun with the puzzles lol. I also wish there had been more achievements related to playing a level in a specific way that you gotta figure out. There‘s one for crossing all rivers in a specific map without touching water, and one where you gotta beat any map without destroying boxes. These two were a lotta fun to do.

I was also obsessed with HITMAN (Jan 2022 according to Steam, was a year exclusive to EGS IIRC). Now it‘s just some crappy liveservice-esque thing, but when they actually did new maps and stuff I had tons of fun walking around the crazy detailed levels and looking for small npc skits the devs put in there, doing looney toons banana peel assassinations etc. Agent 47 being that unfeeling killing robot trying to destroy the world controlling illuminati makes all the slapstick so much funnier.

Yeah, I miss those threads cause I don‘t have enough to say about the games I play to fill out a whole post. And I don‘t want to follow stabdards or make a draft or spend more than 5 minutes really to casually talk about games, and if I make a whole ass post I feel pressured to deliver.

Having someone active be moderating would obviously be good.

As for what I‘ve been playing… Wuthering Waves and Genshin Impact for a couple minutes a day, then Marsupilami and Balatro on my own, and Trine 5 with a friend. I also started and had a look into a lot of other games, but nothing stuck with me as much.

I finished Mario 3D World on Switch and went on to have a look at Bowser‘s Fury and oh my sweet Jesus, it‘s so good. The music! Sadly it‘s just 30 fps, which is the only bad thing I have to say about it. 3D World was fine but the 2D/3D mix didn‘t feel right.

Probably Bowser‘s Fury (Switch), Balatro or Trine 5 (PC), and Marsupilami (Deck) for me!

DISCLAIMER: The following is a subjective opinion, your mileage may vary

Wuthering Waves hit me blindsided. I went in with low expectations since Tower of Fantasy was so incompetently made (just IMO, no offense), but this game is easily a top 5 anime action RPG from what I‘ve played among the likes of Ni no Kuni II, Code Vein, and Genshin.

The combat has more skill expression (perfect dodges, counterattacks to break the enemy) than Genshin, and the story is more mature (human sacrifices for example), both of which I welcome. It has barely launched, has technical issues (stutters a plenty, no inverted camera option, etc.), and other things I could nag about (dudes too edgy, girls too uninspired), but the animations, graphics, and story presentation are surprisingly good and top notch as far as gachas go. I enjoy the story more than Genshin‘s too.

I recommend to give it a shot. In its current state it‘s already super fun even with its shortcomings. If this was a singleplayer game on Steam, I‘d buy it for 40 bucks, it‘s that good lol