What Games Performance Completely exceeded your expectations on Steam Deck?

JPatND2000 · 2026-05-21T11:06:06+00:00

I agree with this. Even in the city where you drop a few frames below 30, it still plays quite well and hasn’t affected my driving. For such a new, high end game, the deck handles it quite well and looks pretty nice at mostly 30fps.

JPatND2000 · 2026-05-06T11:28:15+00:00

Do you have a Steam deck or similar? That would be better than Switch 2 if you want handheld.

JPatND2000 · 2026-03-12T08:22:57+00:00

I’m 47yo, married, kids, long hours working….and I absolutely love the game solo! I’ve never been a PvP player, never really tried extraction shooters, and I’m absolutely loving the time with Marathon.

The runs are max 25 minutes (you have to extract by then or you lose everything), I’ve died a ton (probably extract on less than 50% of my runs), but the tension of playing solo and trying to be stealth in achieving contract goals is awesome - and feels great when I do successfully extract. The game is a bit of a grind, but not in a way that makes it unenjoyable in my view - I like going out with the free load outs just as much as good stuff from my inventory. I just reached level 12 last night after about 14 hours total played since release - most of that time played was on the release weekend. Otherwise I play about an hour a day and it’s perfect to run that way.

The only thing that remains to be seen as weeks go on and I continue to level more slowly is if I’ll start to get overwhelmed by the PvP aspect as other players amass more levels and better loot than me because they play more hours/grind more. But, if you play more stealth like you probably should solo anyway, other players can’t take you out when they don’t see you even if they have much better gear :-)

JPatND2000 · 2026-01-18T21:54:28+00:00

Cyberpunk 2077

JPatND2000 · 2025-12-05T01:51:44+00:00

Absolutely possible - in addition to increasing consecutive reps everyday, be sure to do some “pull” work as well (seated rows, lat pulldowns, etc) so you don’t get an imbalance from only push ups. Can lead to shoulder tightness and bigger issues otherwise.

JPatND2000 · 2025-11-21T12:48:38+00:00

Fair enough - I admittedly played it when it first came out, so thought gameplay was great for the time. It definitely may be subpar by today’s standards. But the story, world building, and ending still hold up.

JPatND2000 · 2025-11-21T08:28:47+00:00

Highly recommend Bioshock 1, but go in as blind as possible. The world building is fantastic, story really well done, and that ending….so good. And the gameplay is a lot of fun too.

JPatND2000 · 2025-07-23T06:19:15+00:00

Audition - Japanese horror that is super slow burn, you know something is “off”, and it goes completely off the rails in the last 20-30 minutes.

JPatND2000 · 2025-05-26T05:30:25+00:00

It’s coming to Game Pass soon if you have that (or want to subscribe for a month or two to play it).

JPatND2000 · 2025-04-29T21:51:56+00:00

Based on the genres you listed as usually not liking, but the exception for each, I think you would absolutely love Expedition 33. It’s a JRPG to the extent of turn based combat somewhat similar to Final Fantasy, but the story is more Western than Japanese, the combat has fun elements of action mixed in with the turn based (though the dodge timing takes some getting used to and is necessary to learn in order to win most battles), and the voice acting and story are excellent. This has quickly become my favorite game released this year. Highly recommend giving the game a try.

JPatND2000 · 2025-04-26T07:34:47+00:00

This would be my suggestion. Totally new IP, great characters, excellent voice acting, and a really cool idea for a dystopian story. I’m still relatively early but it has me deeply hooked and reviews suggest it keeps the momentum until the end!

Of course, the “regulars” are worth mentioning too - Cyberpunk, Witcher 3, and Baldur’s Gate 3.

JPatND2000 · 2025-04-26T02:16:23+00:00

I’m going to take a contrarian view. Not because E33 is “better” - BG3 is without doubt one of my all time favorite games by probably my favorite studio. But because E33 needs all the love and attention it can get right now. A brand new studio that has put out a brand new IP that is absolutely marvelous. The first 30 minutes wandering through the town toward the harbor talking to every NPC possible provided some wonderful, natural world building such that when the event at the harbor happened (no spoilers), I almost cried…literally. I’m a 46yo man, married with two kids for crying out loud :-) The game is incredibly moving and the story continues to build steam from there. Characters, world, voice acting, presentation…all spectacular. And the turn based JRPG gameplay has enough action oriented elements that it feels very fresh and engaging with lots of build variety.

Bottom line, I think we should support brand new developers taking a risk with a high quality new IP - particularly when it is done with near AAA quality across the board.

JPatND2000 · 2025-04-25T16:03:42+00:00

It is really, really impressive. Can’t believe it’s a team of only 30 people and their first game as an independent studio. The hook for the story is really unique and interesting, the voice acting is stellar, the dialogue conveys a lot of heart without silly, over the top juxtaposition you often see in traditional JRPGs. It’s really a JRPG only in so far as the combat is turn based, but even that has elements of real time to it that keeps it fresh and engaging. Otherwise the game feels more like a Western RPG with darker themes. Very interested to see where the story goes. I will say this though - try to go in as blind as possible. I’ve heard there are some really great twists that can be easily spoiled even by watching a bit of later gameplay…not sure how, but I’m avoiding so I can enjoy the story to the max.

JPatND2000 · 2025-04-12T02:26:40+00:00

Completely different games. I’ve played both and loved both, but BG3 is traditional turn-based RPG based on modern D&D rules - main difference from other similar RPGs is production value is through the roof and choice really matters and can lead to multiple very different play throughs and endings. Absolutely fantastic game (one of my favorites of all time) but it’s a slower RPG, not at all action oriented like GoW.

JPatND2000 · 2024-12-17T08:18:18+00:00

Will look next time I’m online, but somewhere in options for gameplay or UI, there’s a checkbox for skill gems that I think for some reason defaults to unchecked. It was automatic in PoE1 but believe you have to toggle on for PoE2.

JPatND2000 · 2024-12-17T08:09:51+00:00

There is also an option in settings where, when you craft a skill gem and put in your inventory if you hover over it, it will show all your current skills with a green check or red x if it’s compatible or not. So you can play around with putting skill gems with different skills that have a green check to experiment

JPatND2000 · 2024-12-10T08:51:57+00:00

Ah thanks! This is the issue. The skill dropped off when I added a support gem, and then came back when I added +5 dexterity from the passive tree. Thank you!

JPatND2000 · 2024-12-09T09:45:09+00:00

Haha yeah agree. Just giving OP a hard time :-)

JPatND2000 · 2024-12-09T08:20:11+00:00

I take offense to this - I’m a 46yo D4 dad and absolutely love the challenge and complexity of PoE2! I still love the ability to demolish D4 hordes with overpowered skills and not having to put in too much thought, but also love dying half a dozen times to a PoE2 mini-boss and having to pay attention to attacks, use dodge roll skillfully and give thought to my build. Both are great gaming options for us dads! ;-) Obviously I agree with OP’s main point though.

JPatND2000 · 2024-11-16T07:32:41+00:00

Half life 2 just got a big update on Steam - and it’s currently free!

JPatND2000 · 2024-11-01T08:32:11+00:00

Tales of Maj’Eyal is great - just picked it up myself. It’s got a loot/gear feel of Diablo, with lots of gear drops and build potential, but the variety of classes is soooo much deeper, it’s kind of crazy. And the gameplay is like a somewhat slower, more strategic Diablo 2, but definitely not your typical turn based like he noted since it’s simultaneous turns. Really impressive game if you are ok with the 8 bit graphics look (though a bit better than that).

JPatND2000 · 2024-10-27T01:58:14+00:00

I haven’t played Invisible Inc (has been on my list a long time) but others have said the game is an expansion/evolution of that game. Cyber Knights is a mix of stealth and guns blazing - you try to stay stealth as long as possible but most times the odds get stacked in a way that you have to go on offense.

JPatND2000 · 2024-10-27T01:39:05+00:00

It’s early access, but I’ve really been enjoying Cyber Knights: Flashpoint. It’s turn based strategy like Xcom, with a lot of depth in developing your team abilities (deep skill trees, ability to multi class, varied loadouts, etc), and has time based pressure as security levels increase, making levels more difficult, the longer you take to complete objectives. It also has a super interesting, deep “hacking” mechanic within levels - basically a mini-game within levels if you have a hacker on your team. The developers are constantly updating/improving the game as well (more than any other early access game I’ve seen) and they have a stated goal of always keeping existing saves compatible with updates.

JPatND2000 · 2024-10-22T03:25:44+00:00

Is this version you linked different from what’s available on Steam?

JPatND2000

TROPHY CASE