Steam Deck
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A place to discuss and support all things Steam Deck.
Replacement for r/steamdeck_linux.
As Lemmy doesn't have flairs yet, you can use these prefixes to indicate what type of post you have made, eg:
[Flair] My post title
The following is a list of suggested flairs:
[Discussion] - General discussion.
[Help] - A request for help or support.
[News] - News about the deck.
[PSA] - Sharing important information.
[Game] - News / info about a game on the deck.
[Update] - An update to a previous post.
[Meta] - Discussion about this community.
Some more Steam Deck specific flairs:
[Boot Screen] - Custom boot screens/videos.
[Selling] - If you are selling your deck.
These are not enforced, but they are encouraged.
Rules:
- Follow the rules of Sopuli
- Posts must be related to the Steam Deck in an obvious way.
- No piracy, there are other communities for that.
- Discussion of emulators are allowed, but no discussion on how to illegally acquire ROMs.
- This is a place of civil discussion, no trolling.
- Have fun.
founded 3 years ago
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Recently I've been looking for creating a portable gamedev station, because I refuse to buy a (another) laptop for game-jams and out-of-home development. I need something able to run Unity/Godot, Krita and sometimes Blender. I already own a Steam Deck, and I thought it could be the solution. Installing this Huion tablet was kinda problematic since drivers are not made for Arch Linux based distros, but OpenTabletDriver via Flatpak made the day. Also Krita works quite nice!
Deck also serves as second screen to hold a mandatory htop and evaluate the performance.
Disclaimer: draw made by my girlfriend, I'm not that good yet. You can find her at .
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This week’s interesting bits and pieces in Steam Deck / Linux and general gaming that I have found is a lighter version. Just a small handful of things I found and wanted to share here. So don't judge me too harshly!
As is now tradition (signed in blood) each time I swear this will become a weekly event, it is only a handful of days between it and the next!
So as always, this is just the bits and pieces of news I’ve spotted that made me smile, or made me interested, so I thought they’d fit in nicely here.
My aim is to phrase this in a more personal manner than most gaming sites do now. My ever-lasting inspo is the old, old video game sites, blogs and magazines that I never had the privilege of being alive for:
- image/gif/link heavy
- personal voice (no hard news here!)
- mostly news or articles or points you won’t find on the ‘big’ gaming sites, these are the smaller, lesser things that I’m drawn to
This is a warning though, Boost has trouble displaying so many images per post. I am told however that the dev has fixed this, or is fixing this. I can say that Jerboa and Thunder have no issue scrolling these (same with the website)
So grab a cup of coffee, settle in and poke holes in my mistakes and formatting (or, idk, just enjoy this)!
News / Games
Infinity Blade II:
Infinity Blade II now has a PC port! For a game which really shone as an example of both a mobile game done with high quality visuals (and production) and on how to make a touch-centric game play well...it’s hard to see this translating well to something like PC/Steam Deck. But, in the interests of my obsession of games preservation – it’s just a good thing to share the work some have done to ensure this has other ways of playing
The port targets 64-bit Windows, but the community has confirmed the following configurations to work:
Linux via Lutris, Proton, or Wine. macOS via Crossover or Parallels. Steamdeck via Proton.
Features:
- The original Infinity Blade II experience
- Keybinds for abilities such as dodging, blocking, stabbing, and more
- Standalone launcher to tweak graphical settings and controls
- Scroll menus naturally by dragging the mouse, or by scrolling the mouse wheel.
- Improved graphical fidelity over iOS
- Toggleable dynamic shadows and godrays
- Audio sliders to control music and SFX separately
- Easy save transfer between iOS and PC
I am neither affiliated with Epic Games nor with the creation of this port, which exists soley for the purpose of lost media preservation. This video analyzes of a publicly available website and file from the Internet Archive.
Epic Games app:
Just a small note here, recently Epic has not only launched their app for Android and Apple, but they’ve been consistently updating it (I’d argue more than their PC experience, which years later is still lacking many of the QoL features others have had for eons -__-).
Their most recent update now shows the ‘discounts’ (sale prices) on their mobile games.
Myst and Cyan
My father has a copy of Myst, in one of those ancient battered ‘big box’ style...boxes. It’s always been near his desk, alongside the others which are (forgive my ignorance, I just don’t know this series beyond the recent remaster ones) in the same universe? Sequels? Like Riven. He adores that game, like he adores the Portal games.
Being a senior programmer who has a reputation for COBOL, my father enjoyed the puzzle games, the ones which made him take his time and think.
Anyway, I only mention this because Myst, or rather the indie studio behind it called Cyan (which has remained a studio for 37 years now, and always remained independent) have announced that they laid off “...roughly half the team”.
As one user said though:
“You definitely hate to see it, but riding Myst at some point doesn’t pay the bills. When your iconic game’s release party would be closer in time to shaking President JFK’s hand than mine, it’s been too long…”
Time passes, but this is still some very sad news to see, especially for such a long-running studio. I hope happier and brighter times are ahead for them.
Croc on GOG
(No, not Steve Irwin)
Well, if you’ve been keeping up with this one, after almost 30 years the cult-classic Croc, as well as the remastered version, are now available on GOG. This one’s unique, in that it is only available on PC on GOG, whereas it is available everywhere on the consoles. Typical bitter weird comments are out there where people get angry (totally missing the irony that some games are available only on Steam), but overall things seem quite cheerful on this release!
- A link to the GOG page is here
- The YouTube trailer from 5 months ago is here with this link
- The forum post for the launch on GOG is here, if you want to read what people said
One issue though was reported by GOG themselves at launch, with their announcement of the game’s availability:
Hey all! Please note that for the smoothest experience, right now we recommend launching Croc (remastered version) while logged into your GOG GALAXY client—whether you're online or offline. Using only the Offline Installers without GOG GALAXY may lead to some issues when trying to launch the game. We're aware of this and are working on a fix ASAP. This affects only the remastered version. We apologize for the inconvenience—this shouldn’t take long to resolve. We hope you’ll have a blast playing nonetheless!
...though this has obviously been fixed long since!
Fun fact: This was originally going to be a Yoshi game but Nintendo turned it down so they made an original game. This was by Argonaut Games who also worked with Nintendo to do Star Fox
Live Stranding
If you’ve been following my Mastodon for any time, you’ll have seen my countless obsessive love letter’s to Kojima’s delivery game – Death Stranding. A absolutely adore it.
It took me a couple times of trying it before it really suck with me, but ever since it climbed (pun?) high into my list of Perfect Dark’s Fav Games list. Being made available for free via Epic Games’ weekly free games a few times, chances are you’ve got it in your library too.
What I have noticed is a trend of users replying to my posts saying that the combat takes their enjoyment away. The BT battles, the timefall, the ‘stress’. And hey, that’s fine! We all get to enjoy games our own way, if you’ve been avoiding playing it because of these reasons, and you want that pure, pure dopamine hit of delivering packages, re-building roads and finding the perfect route through a broken land, then I have the suggestion for you!
This mod removes most of the timefall areas and prevents BTs from spawning. Some areas are left to allow Chiralium farming
I heavily discourage people who want to use this mod to play the campaign. BTs and timefall are a very important part of this game and without them a lot of mechanics in the game disappear or become useless. The mod was made with endgame in mind, for people who want to chill and farm deliveries in peace. I will not stop anyone from playing however they want though.
Miyoo Game Diary:
This one is just plain sweet. I found a user (Acrobatic_Age) whose efforts to detail their experiences playing Final Fantasy 1 were done by hand with watercolor and ink in a game diary. All while they travelled and played.
While riding the train from Łódź to Warszawa, I had some time to snap pics of all the pages from my Final Fantasy 1 game journal so far. If you're planning to play it, feel free to check out the maps and drawings, but skip the text—there are plenty of spoilers in those dialogues and rumors.
Anyway, here’s some images of theirs, so you can see just how beautiful it is:
A journal:
The above one reminds me of a RDR2 journal / diary I saw someone made when Red Dead released all those years ago. That user was candority, and here’s a few images of it just because it’s rather lovely:
PC Ports / Decompilations, and more:
A frequently updated list of PC ports, decompilations, remakes, and fan games—all verified as playable on the Steam Deck (and PC)—has transitioned from Reddit to a standalone website. Originally maintained through community contributions on Reddit, the list has now outgrown its format, prompting the shift to a dedicated site by the maintainer: OldMcGroin.
The new site adopts a minimalist design, prioritizing readability and ease of navigation. Whilst OldMcGroin (what a username) acknowledges its a bit janky to start with (citing this as their first web project), the focus remains on accessibility for us users searching for compatible fan-made projects. The list continues to expand thanks to community suggestions, and feedback on both content and site improvements is encouraged. Those interested can explore the project here: with this link to ‘the gaming emporium’
This is definitely one I recommend you bookmark!
Lovecraftian Sale:
Every year there’s something called The Lovecraftian Days, which also tends to have a themed sale on Steam. They also have shown the art for this year’s event:
Fulqrum Publishing is delighted to partner with the great and terrible Cthulhu, to celebrate the third iteration of Lovecraftian Days - hosted and curated by Fulqrum Publishing, and joined by dozens of other developers and publishers. The event will celebrate the influences of the classic works of H.P. Lovecraft, and the cosmic horror genre in gaming. The celebrations will include new game releases, new announcements, game demos and discounts!
The site for this is here, with this link if you’d like to visit it!
Further, here’s a couple images of the previous two years art:
(above is 2023)
(above is 2024)
And finally? A couple Lovecraftian games I’d recommend for the Steam Deck:
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Call of Cthulhu
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Darkest Dungeon
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DREDGE (my fav!)
Gameboy Camera
This one’s quick, but twofold because its fun:
User Marurun shared an image of their Gameboy Camera pictures they’ve been taking, and those he took a step further to colorize:
I recently got back into taking photos with my Game Boy Camera since I can now save my photos. I don't use a Game Boy Printer emulator to get my pictures from it since I don't own one yet, but I found a different way using my GameCube and GameBoy Interface. I wrote about how I figured out how all of this works and how I colorize my photos on my blog:
https://marupanda.art/blog/posts/tech/gameboy-camera/
& I also recommend you check out this video on YouTube by Becca Farsace, showing them taking the modern ‘remake’ of the classic Nintendo Gameboy Camera, the 2BitToy which you can look at in more detail on their site, here! around.
It’s a wonderful and fun video, I really recommend this one here’s the link to YouTube if you wanna check it out!
And here’s an image of that camera set-up:
Quick Links:
These are just bits and pieces I have absolutely no doubt most of you have seen, but maybe going forward this will be a handy thing (at least to look back in retrospect as time goes on) – having them in one place? IDK, let me know if you like this lil section:
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Nintendo Direct: Nintendo Switch 2 – 4.2.2025 – my takeaway above all else was the sad departure of an entire game being stored on a game cart, now seeing them instead be a typica; ‘digital license’. It’s a sad thing to see for me. Also, up to $90 USD for Mario Kart? WTF is that?
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Loci is now a part of Epic Games. Loci being a algorithm which generates metadata for 3D assets (maybe so FAB will be less shit?)A link to the announcement article is here, if you’re interested in the details
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Enter The Gungeon 2 now has a page on Steam, and you can find the page here with this link if you want! Enter the Gungeon 2 is a reloaded, high-caliber sequel to the iconic bullet hell dungeon crawler, reinforced with a new 3D art style, new weapons and enemies, and new gameplay tricks.
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If you’d like a little more info on why Warner Bros. cancelled the planned DLC expansion to Hogwarts Legacy, then you can read a bit more about it here on Bloomberg with this link to the article. TBH I’m just jaded and figure whatever it is or was will be recycled as a sequel.
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The GitHub for Citra, the most well known of the 3DS emulators has been closed down. If you’ve been running it via EmuDeck or RetroDECK, then you’ll see it’s disappeared completely. Azahar is now the default 3DS emulator for all.
Prime Gaming List for April:
The full list of games you can redeem, when and from where – for your Prime Gaming subscription for the month of April is as follows:
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Now Available: Mafia III: Definitive Edition [GOG Code]
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Now Available: Minecraft Legends [Xbox and PC via Microsoft Store Code]
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Now Available: Gravity Circuit [Amazon Games App]
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Now Available: Paleo Pines [Amazon Games App]
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Now Available: Clouds & Sheep 2 [Amazon Games App]
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April 10: DreadOut 2 [Amazon Games App]
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April 10: ENDLESS™ Space — Definitive Edition [Amazon Games App]
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April 10: God’s Trigger [GOG Code]
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April 10: New York Mysteries: Power of Art Collector’s Edition [Legacy Games Code]
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April 10: Projection: First Light [Amazon Games App]
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April 10: Faraway: Director’s Cut [Amazon Games App]
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April 17: Gloomhaven [Epic Games Store]
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April 17: The Last Spell [GOG Code]
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April 17: Fashion Police Squad [Epic Games Store]
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April 17: Genesis Noir [Amazon Games App]
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April 17: Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain [GOG Code]
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April 17: Berserk Boy [GOG Code]
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April 17: The Last Show of Mr. Chardish [Epic Games Store]
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April 17: Wild Country [GOG Code]
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April 24: Thief™ Gold [GOG Code]
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April 24: Troublemaker [Epic Games Store]
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April 24: Kraken Academy!! [Amazon Games App]
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April 24: Priest Simulator: Vampire Show [Epic Games Store]
I’m gonna harp on about it again here, I just love the deal which Amazon’s Prime Gaming gives. For most who subscribe (at least this is my own personal experience), this whole add-on of free games titles you get to keep forever, regardless of the subscription status is a Godsend. To me this is the single best deal in gaming right now.
I get to build my GOG library (my fav of all!), as well as the others. I typically find at least one title per week which I’d never buy for myself, but am looking forward to trying! Gloomhaven especially is one of my fav board games ever made. And I am so very excited to try the video game! Enjoy!
Epic’s Upcoming Freebie – April 10th:
Next week’s (or one of since there is three in total – though one of them is just in-game currency for a free title) standout game to me is River City Girls.
Free from April 10th to 17th and not available to claim in:
- Australia
- Brazil
- Russia
- South Korea
A beat-em-up, this one is rated highly on Steam, and looks like a great one to claim for free!
Nintendo Power
Again, something incredibly niche, but I had fun discovering a backup of every single Nintendo Power release which was hosted on archive.org, but now whose link is dead. So, there’s a magnet available for those who want it:
magnet:?xt=urn:btih:8a1a883270f3f094150ce258a26b4ca581839153
Every issue, from 1 to 285. Enjoy!
The Last of Us Pt. 2 on the Steam Deck:
As it stands, while being better than the disaster of Pt 1 on PC, it’s still not ideal for Steam Deck. The video for the Digital Foundry review on performance is up and linked here, and here is a few things Alex points out:
- TLOU2 has it's own Steam Deck preset
- Has trouble locking to 30 fps on the SD
- Frametime issues makes the game feel jerky, even if the average FPS is about 30 fps
- Framecapping is recommended given the CPU performance issues (not just for SD, but for all PCs in general)
Discussion on the Steam Deck is from the 9:58 mark in the video, which is linked here
Having never played the second game, I’m really looking forward to it on PC, but for the moment perhaps I’ll wait until I am home with my powerful desktop, rather than now (travelling) with my Steam Deck.
A Recommendation:
I try recommend a game I figure not everyone has tried and might enjoy on their Steam Deck. I really loved a game called RKGK or Rakugaki. It’s a beautiful, bright and fun 3D platformer – think (to me anyway) a little bit Bomb Rush/Jet Set and a little bit Sunset Overdrive.
A link to the trailer is here, if you want to get a better idea of gameplay – the link is to YouTube
Extremely bright pops of color, a cyberpunkish setting, fast platforming movement, graffiti art, and beautifully fluid character handingly: I really enjoyed this one. It also plays amazingly well on the Steam Deck (link to the ProtonDB page), and is a fun pick-up-and-play game. From the store:
The city is your canvas. Join the rebellious Valah and her RKGK crew to free the neo-brutalist Cap City from evil B Corp’s control. Collect secret treasures, find hidden paths, and light up the cold and grey concrete with your graffiti.
How fast can you go? Chain together jumps, dashes, glides, and grinds. Reach the perfect flow state in Defacer mode – where Valah’s world becomes her animated wonderland. Master routes and speed through levels as you take down Mr. Buff’s cronies with style.
Break through enemies, overload your senses, and take back control. Use Valah’s paint abilities for stylish traversal, chaotic mayhem, and leaving your vibrant mark on every corner of Cap City.
...don’t overthink it, this game is just fun!
Krysten / Sonic:
Just a cute photo of Krysten Ritter from when she was doing a fan signing even for her new novel. Someone brought along a copy of Shadow the Hedgehog for her to sign (she played Director Rockwell in Sonic 3).
...annnnnd that's it!
I've always got to emphasize that if there's any errors, be they formatting, spelling or phrasing - they're all my errors (and sorry!). I hope you might find some fun in this, even if it's a 'lighter' version of what I typically share.
Thanks as ever for letting me get away with these rambling posts <3
And don't forget, if you want more of my inane posting, then I'm on Mastodon here:
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Steam Desktop and Steam Deck stable update released with various fixes, plus tweaks to the download UI
(www.gamingonlinux.com)
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A list of PC ports, recompiles, fan games, and more that all work on Steam Deck
(www.thegamingemporium.com)
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My week’s news!
Though, the roundup this time didn’t quite make it to 7 days after the last I shared, as I promised it would. Sorry!
As ever, this is the bits and pieces of news I’ve spotted that made me smile, or made me interested, so I thought they’d fit in nicely here.
My aim is to phrase this in a more personal manner than most gaming sites do now. My ever-lasting inspo is the old, old video game sites, blogs and magazines that I never had the privilege of being alive for:
- image/gif/link heavy
- personal voice (no hard news here!)
- mostly news or articles or points you won’t find on the ‘big’ gaming sites, these are the smaller, lesser things that I’m drawn to
A warning, some users who use some apps have told me there is slowdown in scrolling these. I'd recommend Thunder, or Jerboa apps - neither of which have any issues scrolling through these posts I make!
Grab a cup of coffee, settle in and poke holes in my mistakes and formatting (or, idk, just enjoy this)!
GOG News / Games
Surveyed / ‘how to better GOG’:
Interestingly, those of us who allow emails from GOG (you can deny these ‘promotion’ kind in your settings) saw a survey in the last day or so. The crux of this one is GOG seemingly floating the idea that they may introduce some kind of subscription service.
It does seem to be early days on what exactly that will entail (though that hasn’t stopped users everywhere getting very vocal about how they despise the prospect) – but for a platform build on being DRM-free, it’s hard to see how this will work exactly.
I adore GOG. As maybe you’ve seen from these posts so far, I own entirely too many games on there, it’s been my spot to buy games from the start (I actually checked how many I own on Steam – 41!), and I love their service:
- DRM-free
- Games’ preservation
So while I’m not seeing this in the most positive light just now (esp considering the recent numbers showing an 89% decrease in profits), I’m not going to be negative before we see the whole picture.
Games Updates:
I’ve just noticed some updates to games recently, and wanted to share them in a lil list. This isn’t the most thrilling of endeavors, since maybe you’re already aware that a new version of your GOG game is up and running. Though if not, here’s a few I noticed in my library which are new:
- Drova: Forsaken Kin
- Endzone 2
- Heart of the Machine
- Foundation
- Pillars of Eternity (is this the Poe game everyone keeps using the letters P, O and E for?
- The Thing Remastered
- Tunguska: The Visitation
- Wildermyth
- Rain World
- Ultima IV
- Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes
- Kingdom Come Deliverance II
- No Man’s Sky
GOG Cover Template
Last few times I’ve mentioned or shared the physical GOG DVD covers people design, print and display – people have loved them. And no wonder, the lack of phsyical side of PC gaming makes something as small as a custom display of games you love such a beautiful idea.
I’ve come across this one by ‘Nejnop’ – this is a games cover template, for you to use if you want! Though as ever, if you’d prefer to scroll through the GIANT forum thread on GOG and see game covers others have made for you, you can use this link here!
If you’re curious, then:
Link to the template (and required fonts) here. Print your covers at 99% scale for the best fit: https://www.mediafire.com/file/k8m9vx3b5w6y9p7/GOG_Slim_Cover.zip/file
Void Bastards delisted:
As on the 31st of last month, we’ve seen Void Bastards delisted from GOG. Sad news, but there is slight hope as is stated:
No last-minute discount, but we'll try to re-sign the game ASAP.
Sad :(
The Crew
This is an interesting video I found on The Crew (the first game), and how a team are trying to save the game with https://www.stopkillinggames.com/
If you want to know more about The Crew and the Stop Killing Games efforts, check these links:
Kotaku’s article from last year
Rock, Paper, Shotgun’s article
And IGN’s, if you’d prefer their article
]ANYWAY, to the point, I really enjoyed this video from Fastminer07 on YouTube, it was clear and reiterates how important this is. Worth a look if you’re searching for interseting videos for your down-time](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2Ih__mE05c)
What GOG game did you play last?
Just...generally curious, if you did at all of course! I’ve been playing Bioshock 2 Remastered and it really is glorious. I love how the pinks look on the OLED screen, and how effective they are at making an underwater world look truly ocean-y.
In fact it inspired me so much with its deep ocean setting that I’ve been watching old-old movies set underwater, like The Abyss, Deep Star Six and most recently Leviathan
Dog day
Sadly the appeal of the word Doge has plummeted to now being synonymous with a fucking Nazi, but back four years ago when the stocks were checked, you got a cute little coincidence. Here’s the image telling all the stories I need to:
KCD II
And finally, you’ll have no doubt seen that Kingdom Come Deliverance II (what happened in the first 10 games?) has released on GOG.
This one was far more swift in coming to the platform than the first one was, and for a short time there it was feared that it was actually going to have Denuvo baked in (it was not)
Article via IGN on that Denuvo fear here, if you want to read more on it!
Anyway, now its on GOG and has had an update, and is looking and performing perfectly. It really does play so well on the Steam Deck. This is one of the very few games I bought on Steam, and have already played some of. I will however be buying again on GOG, because like you can see by my endless comments on it – GOG wins for me!
Anyway, as I’ve played, I wanted less of a hardcore ‘sim’ experience, than others. Of course there’s nothing wrong with that, but I just wanted it to be an easier experience for me to soak up the medieval setting. Mods I used via Nexus are:
- Ascetic Hunger Be Gone
- Easier or Harder Reputation
- KCD2 Easy Lockpicking
- Convenient Items
- Rich Merchants
- More Carry Weight
- Stay Clean for Longer
- Unlimited Saving II
- Instant Herb Picking II
I know, I know: ’You’re not playing how the game was designed to be played! You’re cheating!’ - yes, but to me this is how I enjoy the game, so...it made it a little easier to play for me!
GOG’s Top Wishlisted Games (30 days):
- KCD 2
- Silent Hill 4: The Room
- System Shock (25th Anniv. Remaster)
- Croc: Legend of the Gobbos
- Dino Crisis Bundle
- Baldur’s Gate 3
- Sudeki
- Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty
- KCD: Royal Edition
Rain World: The Watcher
...is now available on GOG!
Journey beyond to something, somewhere only ever glimpsed. When the world beneath your feet cracks and crumbles, will you hold on to all you once knew? Or dive into the unknown?
Link to the YouTube video on The Watcher is here!
Emulation / Retro Gaming
If you’re not emulating games on the Steam Deck, then I think you’re kinda crazy and you really, really should do so!. My fav option by far for doing so is to use RetroDECK, which had a great release recently and also a video made by emulation royalty Russ (of Retro Game Corps)
I’m also kinda obsessed with RetroDECK, so if you need any help, or questions, then you can always reach out to me. I love the damn thing.
Anyway, my point is, I effing love emulating and retro games, and here’s some stories and news I’ve found recently on the subject:
Halo 2 pre-release build pack has been released!
Hey everyone! We are excited to announce the release of the Halo 2 Pre-Release Pack! I would like to thank The Vengeful Vadam, Harcroft, Cheato, Revurt & Xbox7887 for making this possible. Extra special thanks to Carnivol for preserving the E3 2004 Demo. Pack is available for both Xbox & Xemu. We will be using this pack for our Tuesday, March 18th Halo 2 Pre-release Game Night on Xlink Kai. Join our discord for game night details; https://discord.gg/haloclassichub
This pack includes:
- Multiplayer Alpha Build - January 2004 (New Gametypes ADDED)
- E3 2004 Build - May 2004
- Includes 2 New Campaign Test maps prepared by the Vengeful Vadam; Zanzibar SP & Shared SP. See features like sprint, nightvision, and corner peeking along with the entire sandbox. Can you find all 40 bipeds?
- 4 Multiplayer Maps!
- Multiplayer Beta Build - June 2004 (Lockout install included)
- Halo 2 Alpha Campaign Test - Experience sprinting, nightvision & corner peeking on Waterworks. Includes all weapons and vehicles. Can you find all 11 bipeds? (Vengeful Vadam)
- Halo 2 E3 2004 Presentation Video
The download links are:
Xbox: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1TCKVMuM0A-uR3heyhqKAwx7taSWHm3LM?usp=sharing
XISO: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1wn6pGcOwXKb09yDmOZEKKJ0en5HtSpdc?usp=sharing
Dolphin Emulator:
Dolphin is the way in which we emulate GameCube and Wii games on PC ”...in full HD with various enhancements.” ...but it also runs on Android, Windows, Linux, MacOS, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. Starting in 2003 as freeware, it has come a long way!
As of 21 days ago, they released their progress report on Dolphin (2503), and it remiss of me to not share this in an earlier news post!
The link to their detailed post is here, which is on their own site!
And here’s two rather beautifully designed capsule covers for Dolphin I found that I just have to share with you!
Xbox Retail Homebrew:
Perhaps you’re unaware, but for a few wonderful months there was an option to emulate so many systems on your Xbox Series consoles with zero repercussions. PS2, GameCube, Wii...all worked beautifully (the first time I played through MGS 3 was through my Series X!), but as with all good things, they end, in 2023.
Here’s a link to the article detailing the end of it being possible without further efforts - it is a article on The Verge Now, emulation is still possible via dev mode on your Series X/S consoles, but it is very much not as easy as it once was.
Now the point of my damn rant here, for those still running emulation on their Xbox, the new build is available, including full support with Retro Achievements!
XBSX2 Version 2.0.8.3:
Synced with the latest upstream commits as of 3/7/2024.
- Thanks to the new commits from the PCSX2 team we have themes now!
- Updated to SDL3 3.3.0 (Thank you to @3UR for swiftly working on this for me).
- Removed the Enable CDVD Precaching option from Settings due to excessive issues with the RAM limit.
- Updated assets to remove the .0 from XBSX2.
- Update the User Agent to include the user's console model.
- Remember Texture Packs do work but they have to be in the .dds format .png no longer works.
Interesting that via dev mode (not retail), things are still progressing and more than possible on the systems!
AzaharPlus:
AzaharPlus has been made and released. As was inevitable, the fork has arrived to skip around the ‘safety’ protocol Azahar implemented to make using pirated 3DS games harder. So the ‘Plus’ was build.
2120.2-A is the same as Azahar 2120.2 except for these features:
*Support of 3DS files. If a file works with earlier Citra forks, it works with AzaharPlus.
- Ability to download system files from official servers. No need for an actual 3DS.
It is available in 2 flavors. One that has the same application I.D. as Azahar, so it will replace it on the device. Its display name is "AzaharPlus".
Use this one if you have other apps that target Azahar, like a frontend for example. The other has a new application id so it can coexist with Azahar without issues. Its display name is "+AzaharPlus+".
Duckstation:
Duckstation (for android) just updated 3 days ago, which features:
- Performance improvements
- Multi-threading rendering
- Merging of multi-disc games in list
- Game compatibility improvements
- Additional controller types
- Texture cache and replacement support
- New patch code system
- CD image verification
This is a rather extensive lot of changes, and they’re all nice improvements! So if you’re emulating on your phone (or using some kind of SBC device which runs Android alongside Linux!) then you’re in for an improvement :)
Gameboy Advance SP Slate:
You might have spotted this on my Mastodon the other day, but these are a typical mod where you take the PCB and screen and install it in a metal shell - changing how the typical SP is a folding device and instead making it a typical old portrait look for the Gameboy.
Here’s a YouTube video if you’d like a closer look at the process!
I found this one made as a dedication to MegaMan and its a 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 design using UV printing. I think I'm in love!
MAME:
“MAME 0.276 has arrived just in time for the end of March, and it’s full of emulation goodness! Remember that 64-bit ARMv8 recompiler we added a few months ago? Well now it’s even faster! This release fixes graphical issues in Konami GX arcade games and Philips CD-i software. We’ve added several IGS gambling games, as well as Chinese versions of some Dynax mahjong games. The LinnDrum percussion synthesiser is now working with interactive controls and sound output. And speaking of sound, audio emulation issues in several arcade games have been fixed.
PC-88VA emulation is progressing, with fixes for multiple graphics modes. A few more peripherals for the TI-99 computer family are now supported. There have been a few CPU/DSP fixes that should improve Sega 3D arcade game emulation. Psion hand-helds now correctly detect more memory configurations and give better-looking video output. We’ve also fixed some issues with CHD creation, floppy disk image handling, and XML system information output. Windows users now get an option to have debugger windows appear in the taskbar and window switcher.
As always, you can marvel at all the exciting development this month when you read the whatsnewtxtfile The source code and 64-bit Windows binary packages can be found on the download page
...if you’re interested, you can read their full post here via this link to the MAME site!
The Fall of Citron (the emulator):
Citron, a Nintendo Switch emulator, has collapsed due to drama involving its lead developer, Zephyron (formerly known as Phoenix). Key issues include:
- Unjustified bans: Thousands of users were purged from Citron’s Discord without warning.
- Security concerns: Users were pressured to verify their modded Switches via a risky external app, raising fears of data misuse. Leaks revealed plans for a DRM system that could blacklist users.
- Zephyron’s misconduct: Credited with stolen code, harassed other developers (like Sudachi’s Jarrod), and allegedly hid a past scandal involving pedophilia accusations.
- Betrayal of Camille: The true main developer, Camille, did most of the work but was sidelined. Zephyron sent a baseless legal threat, removed Camille’s contributions, and sabotaged their donation page.
- Citron’s downfall: Updates broke functionality, and the GitHub was wiped. Zephyron allegedly declared the project dead. Moving forward, Camille and other devs (including those from Uzuy and Yuzu Mod) are creating a new emulator, Eden, promising a fresh start for Switch emulation.
If you want to read everything (it’s...way too detailed), including a ton of screenshots of who I can only assume are children in charge of moderating, you can check out the two posts I was directed to about it on Reddit:
The second of which, posted 30 mins ago at the time of writing this! Is here:
Other Gaming News:
Xbox & ASUS
You might have seen news recently that Xbox has been partnering with ASUS’ Ally range to work on an upcoming collab – a Xbox branded and focused Ally. From all reports, it’s a significant reworking on Windows 11 to be more handheld friendly (which it needs, desperately.
...Tom Warren clarifies a few things about Xbox’s thinking behind new hardware, stating “Sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans tell me the company’s Xbox platform plans for this year and beyond are centered on one big goal: the unification of Windows and Xbox.” He goes on to say that Xbox is planning a new handheld tentatively slated for later this year that will be made in partnership with Asus called Project Kennan and should show the first glimpses of Xbox’s work to unify Windows and Xbox.
There’s an article here showing a video teasing the handheld and controller, if you want to see what they look like - it’s a really odd ad though, kinda cringe tbh.
PlayStation Store:
This is just...nice, it’s only an image of the PlayStation Store at the Sony Metreon complex in San Francisco, 1999:
Death Stranding 20 Million:
This has gone from a game I tried twice, and it didn’t grab me, to maybe in my top 3 games I’ve played in the last couple of years. I just love how well it builds a world. The atmosphere and environments, the loneliness and the absurdly amazing music choices just make this game perfection to me. I played it entirely through on the Steam Deck, but I’ve since also played it on my main PC and when played a max? It’s a work of art.
Since recently releasing on Xbox alongside the original PS release (not to mention PC), Kojima Productions shared on Bsky that the game has surpassed 20 million players. This is an amazing feat with modern gaming, and well deserved.
I am so excited for what is next with DS2!
And here’s an image of Léa Hélène Seydoux-Fornier de Clausonne who plays Fragile, in a rather nice Death Stranding top I am dying to own:
Game & Watch:
Just a fun image I stumbled across:
Gunpei Yokoi takes his Game & Watch prototype on the shinkansen circa 1980
The Miyoo Mini
The one SBC handheld I keep going back to is the original Miyoo Mini (or my version was a V2, which I adore). These little fellows are adored by the retro handheld community because they are so inexpensive, so small, and rather packed with features for that price-tag. The options for custom firmware are many, as with the aftermarket options for cases, buttons, stickers, skins...it really is a dedicated community surrounding these!
If you’d like to know more about these little fellows, then the age-old recommendation for any product which emulates is to look at Russ’ (of Retro Game Corps fame) videos on YouTube:
Anyway, one thing of interest in the Miyoo scene: a few people have been offering wildly expensive (though for custom machined metal, this price is reasonable) metal replacement cases for them. Material, CNC milling, anodization, printing etc.
MechDIY has made some rather pretty ones, which I’m just gonna cherrypick the cute 1990s ones from:
Respawn & Bit Reactor’s Star Wars game:
Some images of the upcoming turn-based, tactical Star Wars game made by Respawn and Bit Reactor (who have a 𝘭𝘰𝘵 of industry folk from XCOM working there) have ‘leaked’ early.
And the XCOM influences really are clear on this one, but in the best way. The game's official showing will be in April, at the Star Wars Celebration. But for now, we get these nice little leaked images as follows! :)
edit, one other photo refuses to upload, perhaps the res is too high? just so you know, one more image exists!
I recommend:
This is neither here nor there, but I wanted to recommend a game which I’ve enjoyed a lot from GOG, playing on my Steam Deck.
Transistor is -80% off right now on GOG, and ticks all the boxes for me.
It’s kind of like a hybrid game to me; an action RPG which makes me think of Hades that is just such a great expression of my fav art and architecture style – Art Deco. It’s made by Supergiant Games (known for Bastion). Set in the futuristic, cyberpunk city of Cloudbank, where a mysterious force called the ‘Process’ is erasing everything.
You play as Red, a famous singer who loses her voice and wields the Transistor, a powerful talking sword containing a man’s consciousness. The gameplay blends real-time combat with a strategic turn-based system, letting you ‘freeze’ time to plan attacks, while absorbed enemy abilities allow customization.
The art-style is just achingly gorgeous. Beautiful Art Deco designs are everywhere. Isometric gameplay, melancholic narrative, and such a nice soundtrack (including Red’s haunting hummed vocals), this is such a great game. And I can’t recommend it enough with such a steep discount at the moment.
Witchery GIF:
More pretty pixel art this time on The Witcher. This little GIF is by digital artist whose work I’ve shared before – 'KillerRabbitMedia'
This also just acted as a reminder to me that I need to go back to playing The Witcher 3 because it is one of those games I will never tire of playing! The Witcher 3 is also -80% off on GOG right now, just in case you've never played and want to pick it up for your Steam Deck :)
PS3 – customized:
In my ever-lasting quest to find fun consoles, this custom PS3 up. User 'cribsnib' customizes these to look as similar to their classic original PlayStation look as possible, and it's incredible how well they did!
Separating, sanding, priming, painting and clear-coating.
"𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘚𝘰𝘯𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 '𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘺' 𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘺𝘭 𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘶𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘦"
From a hardware design perspective, this is pure art to me. Am I tempted? Yes. I’ve been looking recently at custom Xbox 360 consoles, being the generation of gaming I grew up with as a little-little child. It’s nice to know that 99% of the games you buy physically will just...play, without patches or updates that games now require to be even playable after launch.
Linux News:
This one is short and sweet, my friend Gardiner Bryant released a rather nice video giving a roundup of Linux news lately.
The link to his YouTube video is here, and def comes with my recommendation for this one!
This might be it?
I guess this might be the end of this one. I’m actually just landed in Rome, having impulsively booked a little while here, just after a week off from work and real life by the sea. Lucky me, right? So while I actually thought I might write more for this (I have a lot more to write, but maybe I’ll save them for the following week?), this girl’s gotta go find some coffee.
I’d also love to hear what you’ve been playing lately. Be it Steam Deck, or PC, or console, Switch...whatever. What games have you been playing and enjoying lately? My fav bit of pop-psych (for a Social Engineer – that’s my job!) my fav thing to try get a glimpse of who the person behind the user-name is via the games they’ve been enjoying!
So share!
Anyway, all my love to you as ever Lemmy <3
P.P.S: if you wanna follow me on Mastodon – do so here:
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I just figured it might be a nice change of pace to see what everyone's Steam Deck's screen is showing!
For me, I get way too much fun out of using Decky Loader to install CSS Loader and tinker with the UI of my Steam Deck. If you've not heard of this, and want some quick links on how to, I'll share them at the end of this post!
While I have nothing against the stock look of things, it's just so fun for me to be able to change every little facet so that I know it looks like it's mine.
I figured sharing a photo of either your Steam Deck's home screen with it all being customized, or just showing it off as it is (stock) so we can see the games you're playing!
No better way to show off the last few games you've been playing that by seeing them in person :)
What I've been playing:
Most recently I've started another play-through of Half-Life 2. I only just played the game for the very first time last year, and I'm shocked at how good the game is. Rarely does something hold up when you hear the hype for so long...but not only does it hold up for its age (I know, decades of patches), but it outshines so many modern games. I love this game, and it's fun playing again so I can take my time!
I also set up Jak and Jak 2 with https://opengoal.dev/ - It was a breeze to set up, and I only just opened Jak 2, to confirm it does in fact work (it does!), so it's waiting for me next!
RetroDECK is my obsession (the link to their site is here!) - it is my preferred way to emulate on the Steam Deck, and in that I've been playing MGS2 (again) with a HD texture replacement pack to make it look as good as it possible can. Does it look better than their recent release on Steam? Yes. By far.
Finally BioShock 2: Remastered on GOG. Checking my stats on the GOG site, ive put in 10 hours playing it now. It's perfection. Art Deco + underwater, its like it was made for me (tho my fav of the three is still Infinite)
Some bonus pictures:
And finally my desktop, on desktop mode:
How to customize?
You need to install Decky Loader. It's a tiny tiny download, and it opens up the ability to add plugins made by the community
The website for it is here, so you can see a proper overview of the system
I recommend:
-
SteamGridDB (lets you customize the artwork chosen for your game, which you can see in my photos
-
CSS Loader - this lets you change the layout and UI and how it feels, even down the the fonts and colors and so on.
Anyway
Share a picture of your Steam Deck, I'd love to see what you've been playing!!!
<3
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This is a BIG announcement by Junk Store for Steam Deck. What was previously a plugin via Decky to play Epic Games and GOG titles on your Steam Deck is now...well, if you read it, it's a whole lot more.
I'm just going to do the bare minimum here and share the post by copying, formatting for Lemmy, and pasting here. Hopefully you'll forgive that, and maybe breathe a sigh of relief that for once a post by me hasn't got 10,000 words of rambling?
What it boils down to is a massive update on what is 'next' for Junk Store. What follows is their post, not my words:
The Next Generation:
We haven’t talked about the new version of Junk Store since Valve removed it from the Steam Store. While it was a setback, in many ways it pushed Junk Store further. You might be wondering what we have been up to.
Yes, this new iteration of Junk Store will be paid software and will be closed source. This is a complete rebuild from the ground up. It still looks and feels the same, but with greatly enhanced functionality. The amount of effort put into it so far and the remaining effort to complete the original vision is just too large to do it without financial resources. The current development effort amounts to around 5.5k man hours.
But what does this mean in terms of functionality and progress?
(image of 'the new main menu')
Junk Store can now run without Decky
This is a completely new loader that is developed completely independent from the Decky source code. New techniques and code has been created in order for this to work. As a bonus Junk Store will run side by side with Decky. So if you have Decky it will not interfere. Since this will not carry all the extra features that Decky requires, this will allow us to improve stability between Steam upgrades.
Junk Store extensions are now generated
(image is of 'new extensions')
This means that more than 95% of the code required to create custom extensions is created for users. New extensions can be as simple as 2 lines of code to specify an emulator command line call or it could be 200 lines of python for something like Amazon. The current set of extensions that will be available for download with the new version is Epic, Gog and Amazon. More will be added over time.
Pricing is still being finalised but it is dependent on infrastructure costs as we now have to run our own servers to host all of the new features. Given the nature of this new version we will have ongoing costs per user and it all has to be factored in.
What’s new?
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Global download queue
-
Language selection
-
DLC selection
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Installation of game dependencies, like C++ runtimes, without the need for proton tricks
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GOG has proper support for DosBox and ScummVM games
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GOG Dosbox support has a Dosbox config editor
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The option to enable experimental cloud saves for supported games (we still don’t trust it, but it’s there if you’re a risk taker).
-
There’s a LOT more options (too many in fact), to control all manner of things. If you like to tinker, this is for you.
-
The new version is faster and more optimised so you can now see 1000 games per tab compared to the 100 in the python version.
(*image is of 'custom scripting')
(*image is of 'game dependency installer')
(image is of 'Dosbox settings editor')
(image is of 'custom launcher scripts')
(*image is of custom launcher scripts)
(image is of 'Custom launchers per game')
(image is of 'extension generator')
What we need from the community:
We are currently looking for power users who would like to help with the alpha testing of this new version. During this phase you will get access to Junk Store and the extension Generator in its full glory, and it’s no exaggeration to say that there’s well over 1000 different settings and options in it. This is quite overwhelming and it will be stripped back to only the essentials for general release. So if you’re a power user and would like to see just what kind of horsepower is under the hood in Junk Store, this is your chance.
Given that we will have quite large overheads for a general release we would also like to take this opportunity to explore interest in an early access program. This would not be your typical pay to test deal. The software will be stable and as near to release state as possible, think of it more like a soft launch. This would allow us to build up reserves to shoulder the server costs for a launch.
We’re currently in Alpha, rapidly approaching Beta quality. If this is something that might be of interest to you please register your interest here:
This is the link to registration via docs.google
- Please note that testing spots will be strictly limited due to associated costs per user. Early access will also be limited due to the initial manual workload associated with onboarding for this, we are just two people and one of us needs to do the coding.
We hope that you are as excited about this as we are, we’re looking forward to your responses in the comments and registration of interest.
And that's that! Hopefully some here find this interesting!
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[Discussion] The Steam Spring sale is live, what games are you buying for your Deck?
(store.steampowered.com)
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Has anyone had success getting FreeTube to run full screen when in game mode? I've messed with settings to no success, and can't find anything online about it either. It always has black bars top and bottom that take up a good portion of the screen.
Edit: I've added a picture to show what I mean
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Razer announced the Razer Handheld Dock Chroma for your Steam Deck, ROG Ally, Legion Go and more
(www.gamingonlinux.com)
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