With the Winter Sale Concluding - what did you buy and how would you rate them?
Living in Australia, I recently picked up the Steam Deck. With the Winter Sale around the corner, I had a few games I was waiting to go on sale before picking up. These are the eleven (11) games I picked up during the sale and how I would rate each of them. I'm excluding Stellaris from this review as I picked that up exclusively for my PC as I assume it won't run well on Deck.
Proof:
https://imgur.com/a/m16Jw9x
Euro Truck Simulator 2
Surprisingly, my most played game since purchasing and runs very well on the Deck. I'd heard a lot of great things about ETS2 but I couldn't really understand why a driving sim would be interesting. I get it now. The game is quite immersive -- you basically run a trucking/freight company and travel all around Europe making your company grow via earning income from delivery of said freight. The scenery is great and, apparently, the DLC is excellent too. In addition, adding mod support was so simple directly from the Workshop to the Steam Deck and I picked up one mod - a more realistic traffic mod and it has made the game even more immersive. For me, though, it's the fact that I can just turn my brain off and drive a truck 60 in a 30 all over Europe that makes it the most enjoyable.
Verdict: Recommended
Terraria
The only game on my list I have yet to play over the last two weeks. I'm worried about the controls, I've heard the game be quite complex but we shall see. I will update this post at a point in the near future I suspect!
Stellaris
Omitted from this review as I bought this primarily for my PC. If anyone has played it on Deck and has an opinion please let me know. I've never played it before so I'm very conscious the text would probably be difficult to see, hindering my ability to learn the game.
Slay the Spire
Absolute banger. Never played a deck building game before and this has set the standard. I've only done a couple runs so far - unlocking the second character - but in my second run I basically got a card that meant that every time I blocked I did damage to the opposing forces. Given the first character focuses exclusively on block that was so much fun and playing around that was a blast. Looking forward to spending more time in this one and getting further into it.
Verdict: Highly Recommended
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth
I know absolutely nothing about this series, I believe Rebirth is considered the best one so I picked it up. I'm not going to lie, I can't get into this one. At all. There's no tutorial and you're just thrown in. I've made it to the "second" floor like twice in over 2 hours of playtime. A majority of the time I'm dead long before I even get to the first boss. I'm very aware this is most likely a skill issue but every time I go back and want to give this one a go I get more and more frustrated.
Verdict: Not for me
Hades
The best game I've ever played. Wow. The comedy is great, the progression is great, the dialogue is hilarious, the enemies and biomes are diverse. I've never had so much fun attempting to escape hell before. I've gotten to Styx once but didn't make it to the end in 10 hours so far. I've also heard rumours "escaping" is just the start. I should probably learn a bit more about the systems and how the boons interact soon.... Incredible game.
Verdict: Highly Recommended - "Perfection" - Zeg, probably
Halls of Torment
This game caught me REALLY off guard. I've played a lot of DRG Survivors and Vampire Survivors (on my PC prior to the Deck) and so it appeared on my suggested games during the Winter Sale. It's SO GOOD. The art style, the game play and the way the progression works is so unique. Is it the best take on the genre? Probably not but it sure is different. My ONLY complaint is that the runs are probably a bit too long for someone who does a lot of short bursts of gaming between work, cooking, gym, etc. but with the sleep mode it doesn't really matter. Honestly, if you've never played this game it's really worthwhile!! In my 10 hours of gameplay I've unlocked 180/500 achievements so there really is a huge amount of content to ingest and discover. Hidden gem for absolutely certain.
Verdict: Highly Recommended - "Hidden Gem"
Ballionaire
Very different game. Another one with no tutorial. I've done a couple runs on this in different formats. My first run was a complete shambles, had no idea what to do. My second run was insane and I got the dam multipliers and absolutely ran away with the game. It gives an unreal endorphin hit when that goes off. I've only played 2 hours so far and my major complaint is that there doesn't appear to be any form of progression system. Admittedly, I haven't looked into it enough but that's a downfall for me. While I only play games in short stints these days, I always want to work towards something personally and I'm not sure this game has it. That said, it's a very unique game and is probably worth the cash on sale. It's hard to describe what it is - there's a TV show where they drop coins into some sort of (gambling) machine and the idea is to push coins off into your "purse". This game is similar except you drop a pinball and the board is empty and you slowly build it up throughout the run and hope you hit the $$$ targets before it runs out, scaling of course.
Verdict: Recommended on sale
Balatro
I've seen a lot of differing opinions on this game so here's mine. This game has an unbelievably steep learning curve - probably even more if you don't know basic Texas Hold 'Em style poker - but when you understand how it works you will not turn back. Building your "multipliers" and your "scalers" with your Jokers has got to be the most frustrating and rewarding experience you will ever have in gaming simultaneously. One card can basically make you change your whole strategy. For context, I'm 8 hours in and I've beaten the starting red deck ONCE (https://imgur.com/a/YWmYL9u) and I just about made it. The scale and potential of this game is genuinely enormous but it's going to take a lot of people a lot of time to get there, I would suggest. Give it a chance and you'll be rewarded. The biggest positive of this game is that it's pick up and play. In the middle of cooking dinner? Play a couple hands. Kid is napping? Try and get to the next blind, etc. The gameplay loop and playtime requirement is the biggest positive for me and I genuinely think the game is excellent.
Verdict: Highly Recommended, give it a chance
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Todd continues to laugh all the way to the bank. Plays and performs extremely well on deck. No negatives from me. Beautiful game, excellent gameplay and great soundtrack.
Verdict: Recommended
Brotato
Crack cocaine. If you have addiction issues - no, seriously - do not touch this game. It's a unique take on the DRG/Vampire Survivors genre where you're basically a potato trying to survive for 20 waves of differing enemies with different difficulty scales (that need to be unlocked). There must be close to 40 characters in the base game and every single one has a different play style. I literally do every single run as Random these days and try to learn something new. My first Danger 0 win was with the Pacifist character! I kid you not, after hours of runs with all kinds of damage dealing potatoes, my first clear came on a character who can literally do zero damage. What a world we live in. It may also be my imagination but the rounds in this game feel much shorter than Halls of Torment (above), DRG: Survivors (Game of the Year, in my opinion) and Vampire Survivors. My latest run was a tripe legendary rocket launcher-yielding Danger 3 King Run! Chaos.
Verdict: Highly Recommended, perfect for on the go or busy gamers
Hopefully this was enjoyable! Looking forward to hearing about your experience or game recommendations!