Welcome to this week’s edition of the Steam Deck Weekly and the final one for the month. Ahead of the many gaming events and showcases in June, May isn’t showing any signs of slowing down with game releases. I’ve been slowly still catching up to older games on Steam Deck and the many new releases. This week’s article has many reviews and Steam Deck impressions. In addition to the games I’ve reviewed, there are game updates, trailers, news, and more as usual. Let’s get into the reviews and impressions first.
Steam Deck Game Reviews & Impressions
This week’s edition has many reviews and Steam Deck impressions covering new and old games. There are a few I’ve been playing for over a month now, that got major patches specifically for Steam Deck as well.
MEGATON MUSASHI W: WIRED Steam Deck Review
Level-5’s first major release in the West after Yo-Kai Watch 3 is here many years later, and it is equal parts impressive and surprising. I’m working on a full review for MEGATON MUSASHI W: WIRED on Switch, but I’ve also been playing it on Steam Deck. Ahead of my review of the console version, I wanted to cover how it feels on Steam Deck, and why I’m very impressed with Level-5’s newest release.
My early thoughts on the game itself are very positive across its story, music, and gameplay. MEGATON MUSASHI W: WIRED feels like a blend of what I love from Level-5’s games with its charm and aesthetic accompanied by the bits I love from the Gundam Breaker series. I’ve been very impressed with just how much voice acting the story has, and how much fun the game is even in the main story. I’m nearly done with the story, but even if there was nothing beyond the story, I’d be satisfied with this. There is a lot more though thankfully.
When you first launch MEGATON MUSASHI W: WIRED on Steam Deck, it installs Epic Online Services for cross platform online. What I didn’t know until recently is that MEGATON MUSASHI W: WIRED also supports full cross progression. I got my Nintendo Switch save to Steam Deck after linking my accounts and synced back without issues. I can’t wait to also do this for the PS5 version when I get it there.
MEGATON MUSASHI W: WIRED on Steam Deck has no issues right now. I played on my LCD and OLED models online and offline. Everything works fine including video playback in cut-scenes and it controls like a dream. The game has Steam Cloud support but doesn’t support the 16:10 display. It is 16:9. You can play at well above 60fps on the OLED Steam Deck as well.
On Steam Deck and in the PC port, MEGATON MUSASHI W: WIRED lets you adjust resolution, toggle v-sync, toggle HDR (this is currently broken on Steam Deck), change graphics presets, add a frame rate limit (unlimited support), shadow quality, toggle visual depth, toggle bloom, use anti-aliasing, and adjust texture quality. I only adjusted the shadow quality and left everything on default to play on Steam Deck in handheld mode. It plays a lot better than the Switch version, but the latter is quite impressive given the visuals.
I would recommend locking to 60fps for the most stable experience as 90fps isn’t feasible unless you’re ok with some drops to the high 70s. Outside that, you can safely get the game on Steam Deck. I’m surprised it isn’t Steam Deck Verified already. I’m also glad I decided to play the game on Steam Deck when a friend of mine and site reader told me about it running well.
As of now, MEGATON MUSASHI W: WIRED has been one of the biggest surprises of 2024 alongside Granblue Fantasy: Relink. I can’t wait to finish it for my Switch review and also start playing it online with friends on PS5 through cross save and cross play. Hopefully Level-5’s next releases are this good when they launch in the near future.
The Rogue Prince of Persia Steam Deck Review
The Rogue Prince of Persia was definitely one of the biggest surprise announcements of 2024. Evil Empire, most known for its work on Dead Cells content, has developed an action roguelite in the beloved Prince of Persia series published by Ubisoft, and it is currently available in early access on Steam. I’ve been playing The Rogue Prince of Persia for about a week now on Steam Deck, and it is already a super solid base for the future.
Given Evil Empire handled a lot of post launch and content for Dead Cells, I thought The Rogue Prince of Persia might play like it, but it has enough going on to feel like its own thing. I love the aesthetic and animations, but the real star is the gameplay and variety across the board. Even in its current state, The Rogue Prince of Persia feels a lot better than most early access games, but it is held back by some technical issues. Note that I’ve only played The Rogue Prince of Persia on Steam Deck LCD and OLED, so I can’t confirm if any of the issues also apply to the game on Windows.
Since the early access roadmap mentions a lot coming, I’m not going to do a full scored review for The Rogue Prince of Persia. I will be covering what is available right now, including the slick gameplay and sublime music. After a brief tutorial explaining the basics of combat and movement, you get to play the real game. Ubisoft and Evil Empire have shipped quite a bit here with bosses, biomes, weapons, modifiers, and more, but don’t come into this expecting it to give you as much freedom as Dead Cells.
Since launch a few days ago, the developers have commented on optimization for Steam Deck, and also mentioned that they are waiting on Steam Deck Verification right now. The big issue right now on Steam Deck is micro stuttering that happens even when playing at 30fps. I mitigated this somewhat by playing at 45hz or 50hz on my Steam Deck OLED, but it isn’t ideal. The game is 16:9 and not 16:10, but it does support Steam Cloud and thankfully doesn’t have its own game launcher to worry about.
While this year’s prior Prince of Persia release was released on basically everything but Steam, The Rogue Prince of Persia is only on Steam for now. Given the early access release, that makes sense, but it is still quite funny.
I’ll be checking out all the major updates The Rogue Prince of Persia gets, but I have very few complaints with the game right now. Outside some performance issues, it plays great on Steam Deck, and I can’t wait to see how it evolves over time. If you enjoy roguelites and like platforming, The Rogue Prince of Persia is worth your time right now. Hopefully the few issues can be ironed out soon so the developers can focus on bringing in more content to the release.
The Rogue Prince of Persia Steam Deck Review Score: Early Access/TBA
Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord 1.0 Steam Deck (and Switch) Impressions
Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord finally hit 1.0 last week following its early access launch before on Steam. With its 1.0 release, Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord is now available on PC, PS5, Xbox, PS4, and Nintendo Switch. I had already played the early access release, but I’ve been playing the 1.0 version on both Steam Deck and Switch thanks to early codes from Digital Eclipse. Shaun will be doing a full review of the remake on Switch next week, but I wanted to cover how it feels on both Steam Deck and Switch right now.
If you’ve not kept up with Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord, it is a full 3D remake built upon the original game, which is one of the most important games in RPG history. While not a Gold Master series release from Digital Eclipse, Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord does a lot to make the original game experience not only available on modern systems with its old school options, but also provide some accessibility or quality of life features for newcomers.
When you start the game, you can either use preset old school options for modern, original, console, or custom builds. It defaults to modern, but you can tweak things manually and individually here. Aside from that, I still love how the original game is presented on the bottom right of the screen while you’re playing with 3D visuals. I didn’t play much of the recent updates, but Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord 1.0 feels quite a bit more polished and stable than the early access build I played.
On Steam Deck, Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord runs without issues out of the box, but I recommend manually setting it to 800p. It is capped at 60fps as far as I can tell on Steam Deck regardless of your display refresh rate. It has no trouble running at 60fps, but you can play it at 30fps if you’d like to save some battery. I stuck to 60fps on Steam Deck. The Switch version also looks nice, but it has more input lag and is capped at 30fps. It isn’t a bad experience, and I’ll be getting the Japanese physical release when it goes up for pre-order for sure.
Ahead of Shaun’s full review, I recommend reading his extended interview about Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord with Robert Woodhead and Digital Eclipse here.
Ouros Steam Deck Review
In this busy month of massive RPGs or tons of quality indie releases, it is always good to find something to play as a way to relax. Ouros from developer Michael Kamm has been that game for me over the last few days. It is a spline-based puzzle game shipping with over 120 puzzles, elegant visuals, and relaxing music.
The early puzzles introduce you to the basic mechanics of pulling orbs apart to form curves. Your aim is to form a curve for a moving orb to glide on a specific path. With each new level or area, more modifiers are added requiring different approaches to what looks simple. If you aren’t a fan of puzzle games like this, Ouros won’t change your mind, but I can’t imagine it won’t be worth the low asking price for the few hours you get out of it.
On Steam Deck, Ouros boots up at 16:9, but it actually has full 16:10 800p support. It runs perfectly in handheld mode at 90fps and plays fully with touch or virtual mouse controls. I don’t recommend using a controller for this, and it feels suited to handheld play with touch support. I hope it does get a mobile port because I prefer playing games like this on my iPad. Until then, it is great on Steam Deck in handheld mode.
Ouros is a relaxing and great puzzle game that feels like something we’d see hit iPad a decade ago in a good way. It plays perfectly on Steam Deck with full touchscreen support, and has enough accessibility in its progression and hint system to be a great introduction to puzzle games as well.
Ouros Steam Deck Review Score: 4.5/5
Witch and Lilies Steam Deck Review
Witch and Lilies is a game I first learned about when my friend wrote about it. I adore the Etrian Odyssey series, and Witch and Lilies felt like a good blend of relationship building with a dungeon RPG. It finally launched on Steam Early Access last week, and I’ve been playing it on Steam Deck to see how it plays and feels in its current state.
Witch and Lilies is clearly Etrian Odyssey inspired. In fact, it feels like a more accessible and relationship-focused take on the Etrian Odyssey series. The mapping is automatic here with no manual mapping option that I see. The early access version ships with the main story complete, but it has a lot of planned updates to address game balance (this needs addressing soon), and the updates that have been released since launch have already addressed two of my biggest issues. The first was text speed and skipping, and the second was the frame limiter.
The class variety, combat, and exploration are very good right now, but this is very much an early access release. If you’re ok with buying it knowing this, you will have a fun time if you like DRPGs and yuri relationships. I’ve already gifted it to a friend after getting review code to support this release, but it very much feels like a game that would be a lot better if you play it in a few months.
On Steam Deck, Witch and Lilies defaults to 1080p. It is actually capped at 1080p right now as well. I set it to 720p and it played basically at 90fps as of today’s update. The game zooms into the 16:9 gameplay instead of offering black bars so keep that in mind. Aside from that and the text input requiring manually invoking the keyboard, I have no complaints with how Witch and Lilies plays on Steam Deck. The lovely colorful aesthetic shines on the Steam Deck OLED as well.
Witch and Lilies is pretty excellent right now, but it looks like it will be worth buying in about a month or two based on its roadmap once more fixes and enhancements arrive. It plays well on Steam Deck already aside from some minor issues, and is shaping up to be a solid release for fans of yuri and dungeon RPGs. I can’t wait to see how it feels in a few months when I revisit it.
Witch and Lilies Steam Deck Review Score: Early Access/TBA
Little Kitty, Big City Steam Deck Review
Just like Ouros, Little Kitty, Big City has been a great game to play in breaks between other longer releases. Little Kitty, Big City has you exploring the city in an open world whimsical adventure where every corner has something hilarious waiting for you through NPCs, quests, or even light puzzles. It is the first game to fill in the same niche as Untitled Goose Game, and a damn fine experience after some fixes.
As a short adventure that you will likely see all the way through in under five hours, Little Kitty, Big City gets a lot right with its characters, collectibles, puzzles, and soundtrack. Games like this usually live and die by their exploration or puzzles, but the real stars of this show are the cast interactions and the music. In a lot of ways, I ended up liking this more than Stray which is a very good game.
Little Kitty, Big City debuted on PC, Switch, and Xbox platforms, and I’ve played it exclusively on my Steam Deck. It ships Steam Deck Verified, and is basically without any major issue on the system right now. I recommend turning it to medium settings if you want to play at 60fps or above consistently though. Even setting it to the low preset results in dips to the 70s often.
Aside from some bugs that I’ve not run into since launch, Little Kitty, Big City is an easy recommendation. Just keep in mind that it is a short game so you might want to wait on a sale if the asking price is too much right now.
Little Kitty, Big City is a game I didn’t think I’d enjoy much after a trailer, but I’m glad I got to play it on Steam Deck. It is a perfect game for portable play, and I have almost no major complaints about how it plays on Steam Deck. If you enjoy games like Untitled Goose Game or just want a fun and short interactive adventure, Little Kitty, Big City is for you.
Little Kitty, Big City Steam Deck Review Score: 4/5
Alone in the Dark Steam Deck Review
As someone who never played much of the original, I was curious to see how the re-imagining of Alone in the Dark would feel for a newcomer. When it was released, a few of my friends said I’d enjoy it. I ended up finally playing it on Steam Deck a few weeks ago, and thought it was a very good horror game, but one with some issues on Steam Deck. Fast forward to this week, a major new update not only enhanced the game in general, but also made it a lot nicer on Steam Deck.
Aside from Alone in the Dark being a horror game, I didn’t know what to expect when I first played it. I was surprised at how it felt like a modern survival horror game in parts, but still had a lot of puzzles and a great atmosphere. Alone in the Dark is a third person game where you choose one of two protagonists with varying viewpoints. These aren’t completely different playthroughs, but are worth doing since the game itself isn’t very long. Expect to get 11 or 12 hours out of it. None of it felt like padding though, making this an easier recommendation.
Alone in the Dark on Steam Deck has been interesting. The game scales down very well, and you can even get it looking good on the Deck’s own screen while aiming for 40hz. Alone in the Dark is officially marked as Steam Deck Playable, but I feel like it might be updated to be Verified soon following this week’s update. The new update adds a default video option for Steam Deck, controller icons, Steam Deck UI support, and hides the keybinding option when played on Steam Deck. While FSR can help you get to higher frame rates, it does not look good in Alone in the Dark. The HDR option currently doesn’t work on Steam Deck OLED either.
When it comes to the controls, Alone in the Dark plays well, but I recommend enabling gyro for the best experience on Valve’s handheld if you are ok with it. Alone in the Dark doesn’t have tons of combat, but gyro aiming always helps on a handheld. You could also use the trackpad for precision aiming if you prefer that.
When I first played this year’s Alone in the Dark re-imagining, I thought it was a very good but flawed experience. After this week’s massive update, I’m glad I waited a bit longer to do my review because it is now in a much better state, and is worth your time even if you never played the original. Just be aware of the visual cutbacks needed to get this running on Steam Deck. I liked it enough to get it on PS5 for a replay.
Alone in the Dark Steam Deck Review Score: 3.5/5
SKALD: Against the Black Priory Steam Deck Review
When a friend of mine sent me a screenshot of SKALD: Against the Black Priory, I knew I had to play it, but was concerned about how it would feel on Steam Deck. Games built for keyboard and mouse controls can sometimes have issues even with community layouts on Valve’s handheld, but I was hopeful. Raw fury and High North Studios’ retro-style party-based RPG looks like a game from years ago resurrected with gorgeous and crisp pixel art accompanied by modern visual effects. It reminds me a little of how Octopath Traveler handled its visuals, but more in line with older PC RPGs.
SKALD: Against the Black Priory being an retro-style game also has the same challenge, but it ships with quite a few customizable difficulty options with its presets. When it comes to accessibility, it also has font and color options to tweak the experience to your liking. When I started playing SKALD: Against the Black Priory, I expected a competent game, but I was surprised at how much depth it had. This really feels like a steal at its current asking price, but I wish it had a demo so that newcomers to the genre can sample the controls.
On Steam Deck, SKALD: Against the Black Priory isn’t ideal out of the box. The game displays in a small window, isn’t fullscreen, doesn’t control well. There are a few community layouts that are worth trying, but I settled on SpeeDy_G’s “SKALD Steam Deck Intuitive Controls” community layout. I used that and the touchscreen for the best experience. You will need to manually bring up the onscreen keyboard for text entry though. When it comes to the visuals, set the game to windowed and mode scale to 2 so it runs at fullscreen. I disabled the CRT filter, but you can enable it if you want that.
SKALD: Against the Black Priory is a lovely surprise of an RPG. After a bit of getting used to it and some visual tweaks, I enjoyed my time with the game on Steam Deck using touch controls. If you’ve wanted an old-school RPG experience that’s built for today without compromising on the vision but one with some accessibility options, SKALD: Against the Black Priory is for you.
SKALD: Against the Black Priory Steam Deck Review Score: 4/5
The Quintessential Quintuplets Double Pack Steam Deck Impressions
While Shaun is doing reviews of both games in this double pack on Switch, I wanted to cover how they play on Steam Deck right now. Sadly, both games have issues right now on Valve’s handheld.
The Quintessential Quintuplets – Memories of a Quintessential Summer has control issues where even mouse controls don’t work correctly. Using a bluetooth controller is also not reliable in-game. Some menus work, but the actual game has issues right now. Aside from controls, the audio works and the game looks good on Deck.
The Quintessential Quintuplets – Five Memories Spent With You controls fine and looks great, but the audio for voices does not work. I tested multiple Proton versions including two different GE Proton versions with no luck.
If you want to play both games in the The Quintessential Quintuplets Double Pack right now on a portable, I recommend getting them on Switch. Hopefully Spike Chunsoft, Mages, or Valve can fix these issues in the near future. In recent years, I’ve been trying to experience specific anime or manga stories through games first to see how they feel for newcomers. I was planning on doing the same with The Quintessential Quintuplets games from Spike Chunsoft, but I will be waiting for patches or grabbing them on Switch
News and Trailers
Lots of news this week with Sony’s State of Play showcase revealing Monster Hunter Wilds’ first trailer, Marvelous’ showcase with 4 notable trailers (sadly without any release dates or platforms), and two Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance trailers.
Sony’s State of Play that I didn’t bother watching live had some great announcements. The highlight is Monster Hunter Wilds’ first trailer. This was a much better showing than the teaser that had me worried. Wilds looks like a proper follow-up to Monster Hunter World, and it looks to be bringing some elements from Rise as well. Alongside the first trailer, capcom also released a message from the developers ahead of the game’s next trailer being showcased at Summer Games Fest 2024. Watch both videos below:
Atlus had two reveals for Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance. The first is a new trailer showcasing story moments from the new route (avoid it if you want to go in blind) and a collaboration with Slipknot for demon masks. The game is out in just under two weeks now, and continues to look incredible.
Atlus also announced a panel for Metaphor: ReFnatazio, the developer’s major new RPG from the Persona team, for Anime Expo 2024 with Shigenori Soejima and Katsura Hashino as guests of honor. The panel will have new footage, characters, and more with details on world-building and character design.
Atlus’ final bit of news this week is the latest wave of Persona 3 Reload Expansion Pass content. This includes the Velvet Costume & BGM Set for Expansion Pass owners. It isn’t available standalone as of this writing. Watch the trailer for it below:
Granblue Fantasy: Relink version 1.3.0 is now live bringing in a photo mode, new quests, Sandalphon as a playable character, new challenges, and more. If you’ve not gotten the game yet, read my glowing review of it here. Details for the update are here.
The Age of Wonders 4: Eldritch Realms expansion launches on June 18th bringing in a new map layer, new ruler type, three new tomes, a new event system, two new forms, two new story realms, and much more. It will be available for $19.99 for Steam and consoles and is included with the expansion pass. A Mystic Update will also be available on the same day with new features like randomized realms with hidden traits, and more. Watch the expansion trailer below:
After Monster Hunter Wilds, my favorite trailer from Sony’s State of Play was Dynasty Warriors: Origins from Koei Tecmo and Omega Force. Dynasty Warriors 9 had potential, but it was poorly executed. This one hasn’t shown off much, but it already looks like a big step up visually. I can’t wait to see more when we likely get a proper gameplay trailer at TGS. This game will also have you playing as a nameless hero which makes it more interesting. I wonder why they didn’t call it Dynasty Warriors 10 though. Watch the first trailer below:
Bandai Namco Entertainment revealed a new trailer for Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO showing off fused warriors and more ahead of the game’s release on Steam, PS5, and Xbox Series X. This is the sequel to Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi after 15 years. Watch the new trailer below:
Marvelous USA and Xseed Games had a Marvelous Game Showcase event the same time Sony had its State of Play. Marvelous revealed short teasers for a few games and dated Farmagia (previously Project Magia) for 2024. Platforms are yet to be revealed, but you can watch the showcase with a finale that had Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion. I imagine most of these will be on Nintendo Switch (or the successor) and Steam if not on those and PlayStation 5. Watch the full showcase below:
Bandai Namco Entertainment revealed a new gameplay trailer for Tekken 8’s upcoming DLC character Lidia Sobieska at COMBO BREAKER 2024. The trailer has new gameplay and more for the Tekken 7 newcomer who joins Tekken 8 soon. Watch the Lidia gameplay trailer below:
Developer Gentle Troll have announced that the D&D inspired visual novel that has elements of Coffee Talk and more together, Tavern Talk, will launch worldwide for Steam on June 20th. It looks right up my alley, and I’ll be playing it as soon as I can. Watch the trailer for it below:
The final news for the week is Mortal Kombat 1’s gameplay trailer for The Boys’ Homelander who arrives as DLC on June 4th. Homelander will be available a week later as a standalone DLC for the game. The early access date is for Kombat Pack 1 or Premium Edition owners. Watch his gameplay trailer below:
New Steam Deck Verified & Playable games for the week
Monster Hunter Stories, which plays great on Deck and It Takes Two removing the useless launcher and getting Steam Deck Verified are the highlights of this week’s newly rated games from Valve. I’m glad to see RKGK also Steam Deck Verified.
- Abiotic Factor – Playable
- Ereban: Shadow Legacy – Verified
- Fugl – Verified
- It Takes Two – Verified
- Monster Hunter Stories – Verified (Via TouchArcade reader Mor)
- No Rest for the Wicked – Playable
- Paper Trail – Verified
- PuzzMiX – Playable
- RKGK / Rakugaki – Verified
- Terra Memoria – Verified
- The Bridge Curse 2: The Extrication – Verified
- Wayfinder – Verified
Steam Deck Game Sales & Discounts
Two notable sales this week with Guilty Gear Strive’s Daredevil Edition and a Monster Hunter franchise sale on Steam. If you’ve not gotten Guilty Gear Strive yet, this edition has everything released for the game until now, but it will not include Season Pass 4 which will be sold separately when Arc System Works announces the release date. For Monster Hunter, you can’t go wrong with any of the games on Steam, but I recommend Monster Hunter Stories 2 and Monster Hunter World: Iceborne Master Edition above the others. Check out the Monster Hunter franchise sale here.
That’s all for this week’s edition of the Steam Deck Weekly. There’s more Steam Deck coverage happening this week since I skipped last week. As usual, you can read all our past and future Steam Deck coverage here. If you have any feedback for this feature or what else you’d like to see us do around the Steam Deck, let us know in the comments below. I hope you all have a great day, and thanks for reading.