As of now, a Heaven Burns Red English release date hasn’t been announced, but I imagine we will learn about it soon following today’s Anime Expo 2024 announcement. Hopefully Heaven Burns Red releases on iOS, Android, and Steam in the West with cross progression. I’ve heard a lot about the story and the music in Heaven Burns Red, so it will be good to experience it in-game directly when it hopefully comes to iOS and Steam. Check out the official English website for Heaven Burns Red here. The official English announcement post is also here. Have you played Heaven Burns Red through its current release and will you be trying the English version when it arrives in the future?

Zenless Zone Zero supports cross-progression and cross-play across all platforms. As usual, there are web and social media events on for the game with in-game rewards. If you’d like to play Zenless Zone Zero at launch, you can download it on the App Store for iOS here and on Google Play for Android here. Check out the links to the PS5 and PC versions here. I hope the Zenless Zone Zero iOS version gets a 120hz option in the future. It is currently 60fps on iPhone 15 Pro. Check out more about the game on the official website here. Will you be playing Zenless Zone Zero today?

TouchArcade (TA): What made you want to revisit The Thing out of all older games?

Larry Kuperman (LK): Many of us at Nightdive are not just fans of the original game by Computer Artworks but also of the 1982 movie and the horror genre overall. We knew that a remaster of this game would be deeply appreciated by IP and genre fans around the world.

TA: I hadn’t heard of this until you announced the remaster. A friend of mine is a big fan of it. I wanted to know what we should expect from the release aside from Nightdive’s usual amazing visual and control enhancements.

LK: We have been fortunate enough to work with two of the original members of the Computer Artworks team: Mark Atkinson and Ron Ashtiani. Expect that the remastered version will be very true to the original and look and play the way that your imagination remembered it. Improvements to character models, textures, and animations have been hand-crafted not just upscaled.

TA: How long have you been working on this project?

LK: Close to a year. During that time, our team was also working on several other projects, such as PO’ed and Killing Time, as well as some unannounced games.

TA: What learnings from past Nightdive remasters have helped with The Thing: Remastered?

LK: You can expect to see more content restored and, wherever possible, the original vision of the development team realized.

TA: Will we be able to play with original visuals and controls?

LK: Not planned at this time.

Nightdive Studios’ Steam store page for the game confirms features like anti-aliasing, per pixel lighting, 4K resolution, and up to 144 fps gameplay support.

I’d like to thank Larry Kuperman, CJ Melendez, and Sean Walsh for their time and help here.

Stay tuned for our second interview covering more of Nightdive’s projects including System Shock.

You can keep up with all our interviews here including our recent ones with Peter ‘Durante’ Thoman about PH3 and Falcom here, M2 discussing shmups and more here, Digital Extremes for Warframe mobile, Team NINJA, Sonic Dream Team, Hi-Fi Rush, Pentiment, and more. As usual, thanks for reading.

If you’d like to try Resident Evil 7 biohazard on iOS, iPadOS, and macOS, you can get it on the App Store for free here. If you do grab it, keep in mind that it will take up about 25GB by the end once all data is downloaded. The initial download is about 10GB from within the app after you download it from the App Store. Check out our forum thread for Resident Evil 7 biohazard here. I’m looking forward to playing more of Resident Evil 7 biohazard on my iPhone and MacBook Air later today and also Resident Evil 2 Remake when that arrives in the future. Have you tried Resident Evil 7 biohazard on iPhone 15 Pro or supported iPad and Mac hardware yet?

This week’s notable game updates are Disney Coloring World+ getting a Summer Coloring Fun event, Jetpack Joyride 2 celebrating Independence Day with fireworks, events, and a new Vision Pro feature, LEGO Duplo World+ with its summer music event, and Doodle God Universe celebrating America’s Independence Day as well. If you’d like to play the new games on Apple Arcade, you can grab Outlanders 2: Second Nature here, Punch Kick Duck+ here, and Zen Koi Pro+ here. What do you think of this month’s new Apple Arcade additions and updates from this past week?

Zenless Zone Zero will support cross-progression and cross-play across all platforms when it launches. I’ll be playing it on iPhone 15 Pro and seeing how it feels compared to the PS5 version when that goes up as well this week. As of now, the iPhone 15 Pro version is capped at 60fps. I’m curious to see if we get a 120hz option in the future. If you’d like to play Zenless Zone Zero at launch, you can download it on the App Store for iOS here and on Google Play for Android here. Check out the links to the PS5 and PC versions here on the official pre-registration announcement. A Zenless Zone Zero PS5 digital pre-order bundle is now available for $9.99 with in-game items. Check out more about the game on the official website here. What do you think of Zenless Zone Zero and will you be playing it this week?

If you’d like to try Resident Evil 7 biohazard on iOS, iPadOS, and macOS, you can get it on the App Store for free here. It is supposed to use MetalFX upscaling from Apple and ship with an auto fire option in addition to enhanced controls. Hopefully these are better than the touch controls in recent releases from Capcom. Thinking back to Resident Evil 7 biohazard’s launch on consoles and PC back in 2017 and how it was a turning point for the publisher leading into almost ever release since being excellent. I also hope we see Resident Evil 3 Remake hit iPhone 15 Pro at some point as it is worth playing despite its high asking price on PC and consoles at launch. Check out our forum thread for Resident Evil 7 biohazard here. As of now, it requires a 10GB or so download when you launch the game for the first time on iPhone 15 Pro. Will you be trying out Resident Evil 7 biohazard today for iPhone 15 Pro and M1 or later iPad and Mac hardware?

Update: Added launch trailer from Capcom Next showcase.

Coffee Stain previously also teased a Switch port. I hope the Goat Simulator 3 Multiverse of Nonsense DLC hits mobile in addition to Switch in the future. If you’d like to play the DLC, you can grab Goat Simulator 3 Multiverse of Nonsense on Steam here. If you’ve not gotten the base game yet on mobile, you can buy Goat Simulator 3 on the App Store for iOS here on Google Play for Android here. If you want to try other games in the series, they are all here on the developer page on the App Store. These include Goat Simulator PAYDAY, Goat Simulator Waste of Space, Goat Simulator MMO Simulator, Goat Simulator GoatZ, and Goat Simulator itself. If you’d rather get them on Steam, check out the full bundle here. Have you played Goat Simulator 3 on mobile yet, and what do you think of today’s update?

If you’d like to grab the Mega Man X DiVE Offline demo and try it for free, it is available on Google Play for Android here and on PC via Steam here. Check out the official Mega Man X DiVE Offline Demo website here. An iOS demo is yet to be announced as of this writing. Check out the official website for Mega Man X DiVE Offline here. You can buy Mega Man X DiVE Offline on Steam here, on the App Store for iOS here, and on Google Play for Android here. What do you think of Mega Man X DiVE Offline and did you play Mega Man X DiVE on iOS and Android?

If you’ve not played Monster Hunter Now recently or are planning to just start playing, I put together tips and tricks for the game, details on the weapons, special skills, the current monsters list, my wishlist for future update monsters, and more. You can grab Monster Hunter Now on the App Store for iOS here and on Google Play for Android here. The in app purchases include different sets of gems and upgrades. Check out the official website here. What do you think of Monster Hunter Now if you’ve been playing it and what do you think of this month’s events?

TouchArcade (TA): Tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do at PH3.

Peter Thoman (PT): My name is Peter Thoman, and some of the older people reading this interview – those who played Dark Souls 1 on PC way back when it was released – might know me as Durante. I actually have a background in high performance computing (think supercomputers), but as the CTO of PH3 I primarily work on our games-related projects. I am involved in all of them to some extent, but most of my actual development work over the past year has been in Trails through Daybreak.

TA: PH3’s newest launch is Trails through Daybreak’s PC version. Having played it, it would be a disservice to just say PC port given how much has been improved and added feature wise over the console release. How was it working with this modern Falcom engine’s first title compared to your prior projects from the developer?

PT: That’s a great question – to provide some background, since it might not be common knowledge: Falcom’s previous Trails (Cold Steel and Reverie) and Ys (VII to IX) games were actually on different engines, with a separate one per franchise. Daybreak is the first game on their new, custom engine. These days, it is quite rare for a medium-sized development studio like Falcom to develop and maintain their own engine, so these are quite unique circumstances.

As a port developer, working with a new engine of course requires a lot of additional effort, but also might bring some new opportunities. Especially given the large volume of PC-specific features we pride ourselves on shipping, I was a bit afraid that it might not be feasible to get everything into the first game on a new engine. However, luckily, because of our working relationship with NISA, we could be quite confident that we will also have the opportunity to work on more games on the same engine, which made it more financially viable to put a lot of work into the first entry already.

We also used this switch to a new engine as an opportunity to introduce some new underlying technology which we built for our PC ports, which unifies things such as efficiently dealing with compressed data archives, input, and game settings.

TA: As far as I’m aware, Trails through Daybreak’s PC version is the first Falcom game to have official HDR support. How was it working on implementing HDR here?

PT: Like many of the new features we implement, this happened in no small part because someone on the team really wanted to do it. I got an OLED monitor recently, and while options such as Auto-HDR work, they usually e.g. blow out the UI brightness. Since the game already internally computes everything as 16-bit floating point color, I thought implementing basic HDR support – including configurable UI brightness – should not be too difficult. Of course, the content is not authored for HDR, so outside of some particle effects there won’t be a fundamental difference compared to using some automatic HDR post-processing, but at least you can configure your UI brightness!

One interesting anecdote during HDR development was that the initial version was broken on the OLED Steam Deck. We actually try to consistently test the Steam Deck during PC port development, and when I noticed this we could eventually track it down to an oversight in the DXVK layer in Proton, which was promptly fixed.

TA: You’ve touched on the PC port features on Steam, but I wanted to check in what has been done since the game’s Japanese language release on PC from PH3 and NIS America?

PT: Well, from NISA, obviously the localization – which is always a monumental task for Trails games. From us, we weren’t originally planning to do all that much extra for the English release, as the Japanese release was already quite complete, certainly up to the standards of any other JRPG PC port. However, it turns out that there were actually a ton of things we ended up doing.

Some of the highlights are the aforementioned HDR support, lots of new anti-aliasing modes like MSAA and even SGSSAA, greatly improved UI rendering quality at low resolution (like on Steam Deck), improved shadow quality at no performance cost, and a lot more graphical improvements. We also fixed some animations at high frame rate, and resolved lots of minor visual issues at non-16:9 aspect ratios. Beyond graphics, we added a new BGM info feature, improved mouse UI support in some menus, improved the IO behavior of the game during loading, and implemented dozens of smaller fixes and quality of life improvements.

TA: How do you decide what features to add to a PC port when you initially work on the project’s scope? Do you need to get approval from the Japanese side for things like HDR in Trails through Daybreak?

PT: That’s an interesting question! In general, we have a minimum set of features that we want to include in every PC version we release. This includes things like arbitrary resolution and aspect ratio support, good mouse/KB controls which are fully rebindable, high framerate support, quality settings for basic graphics aspects and of course a FoV slider.

Beyond that, it depends on the specific game, how much time we have to improve it further, and also individual interest. As I said above, HDR support is in primarily because I really wanted to make it work. Also, the new BGM info feature exists in the game because Alex from our team was interested in implementing it.

One of my biggest issues with lots of PC ports, particularly of JRPGs, and even generally well-regarded ones, is when they do not include any draw distance or level-of-detail scaling settings. Pop-in is very distracting for me, so in all the 3D games we work on you’ll notice that there are always settings related to this, and that their top-end goes quite high.

TA: Trails through Daybreak, like Nayuta, was a Japanese language Steam release before getting patched with English support. How was it working on your second Japanese PC release?

PT: Working on a game which has not yet been translated is always a bit more challenging for us, particularly in terms of testing and QA. We can of course get anything we need translated, but there’s always a bit of a delay with that. That said, when you are just talking about basic understanding for development, machine translation is generally good enough, and the code itself is international.

TA: Are you involved in any of the decision making for releasing like this versus launching in Steam Early Access with English coming at 1.0 launch. I’ve wondered about how this affects visibility on launch day.

PT: These are really questions for the publisher – we don’t actually know the sales data, or the reasoning behind these types of decision making processes.

TA: Has there been any consideration for bringing in DLSS, FSR, or XeSS into Falcom games on PC?

PT: Of course. I’d love to do that. However, all of these (at least in the versions worth using) require solid per-pixel motion vector data. In engines where this is already available, integrating these technologies is very much in scope for a PC port. But if you would have to integrate the whole concept of generating such motion vector data from scratch throughout an engine and all its rendering processes, that’s a very different scale of engineering and QA required.

TA: When I played the Crossbell games you worked on for PC and Switch, I was beyond impressed with how much they improved over the PS4 release. Were you able to implement everything you wanted to in Trails through Daybreak’s PC release for launch?

PT: We were already pretty happy with the state of the PC version at the time of the Japanese release, but with all the improvements made since then for the English version I can say that this is, in my opinion, our best PC release ever. Of course there’s always more that could be done – e.g. if you give us a few dedicated man-months I’d love to do the DLSS/FSR/XeSS thing – but if every PC port had the level of quality we’ve achieved with Daybreak I’d be thrilled as a PC enthusiast.

TA: You’ve now worked on a majority of Falcom’s PC releases. Which has been your favorite project to work on so far, and the most challenging one?

PT: For me personally, my favorite was probably Ys IX. It was the last game on that particular engine, and we really boosted its performance throughout the PC development. And I’m particularly proud of the local co-op mode in that game.

The most challenging, at least in some aspects, was actually Trails into Reverie. We underestimated this project, since we considered it “just” another game on the Cold Steel engine, which we worked with a lot already – and we planned and priced the undertaking accordingly. But the sheer amount of new features, minigames, and the volume of optional content Falcom put into this game is staggering, and we didn’t want to compromise the port quality of any of it. Depending on how creative you are with accounting, we either just barely broke even or actually lost money on this project. That said, I’m actually currently playing through it and am very happy that we did not compromise on the features of the port in any way.

On a more technical level, the one challenge so far that we actually had to give up on after investing quite some time into it is implementing true variable FPS support in Nayuta. It is of course possible in principle, but it’s an old game and the number of potentially gameplay-relevant (and breaking) locations in the code where individual frames are counted is very high.

TA: After Trails through Daybreak, PH3’s next announced Falcom and NIS America release is Ys X: Nordics. While we don’t know much of the PC port, can you give us a tease of what PC players should expect with it?

PT: I can’t really say much about it yet, but expect us to provide the level of quality that we are – hopefully – known for!

TA: How has it been working on the Steam Deck and Steam Deck OLED with your recent projects? Do you also try and test on other handhelds like the ASUS Rog Ally?

PT: I’m actually a very old-school fan of PC handhelds – I got a first-generation GPD Win when it was launched. That said, after getting a Steam Deck OLED, I haven’t really felt any inclination to switch to another device. It’s such a great, balanced and polished handheld, at both the hardware and software level, and as I personally don’t really play any competitive multiplayer games it’s perfect for me.

In terms of making sure our ports run well on it, most things “just work”, and for the few cases where we uncovered some issue the feedback and support from the DXVK project was excellent. Other than that, there were just a few things to specifically optimize, like making sure the UI renders as decently as possible at the relatively small screen resolution.

TA: Did you end up trying out Trails through Daybreak’s Switch or PS5 versions to see how Falcom handled those platforms compared to the launch PS4 release?

PT: We received the source code for these, but for our purposes on PC only the PS5 version was really relevant. From that, we got a few improved assets which we of course incorporated into our PC release.

TA: Last year was kind of a mess for many AAA PC ports. Did you end up trying any of the bad PC ports like Jedi Survivor, Wild Hearts, or The Last of Us Part 1?

PT: Regarding this issue, I’m in the lucky position that, despite playing a lot of games, I’m actually only very rarely interested in AAA releases. The one game I played last year which I think was somewhat lambasted for its technical quality was Lords of the Fallen, and I didn’t actually run into many issues with that. I assume that it also helps that I play high-end games on my development workstation, which is pretty fast.

TA: When I interviewed you before, we discussed the Elden Ring PC port. How did you find the PC port for Armored Core VI?

PT: I haven’t actually played that yet, but I am very happy to have read that at least they finally decided to support more than 60 FPS!

TA: What have you enjoyed this year when it comes to game releases?

PT: This is a difficult question for me if it refers to games that were actually released in 2024, since I rarely play games at release. Instead, I’ll hijack it to talk about games that were somewhat recently released and which I personally completed in 2024. One of my recent favorites was The Talos Principle 2. It was an almost perfect sequel to one of the best first person puzzle games ever, and the only thing I wish they had done is include VR support.

A less well-known game which I somewhat recently played on the Steam Deck is Afterimage. This is a really excellent and content-rich Metroidvania that deserves to be more widely recognized. Finally, I recently completed Citizen Sleeper, and that was a great combination of a visual novel style with a bit of resource and time management akin to the “raising sim” genre.

TA: While not a question, I would love to see your Crossbell releases come to PS5 natively as a double pack. I enjoyed playing them a ton on Steam Deck and Switch, but it would be amazing to replay them at 120hz on PS5.

PT: Well, we’d be happy to work on that! We actually have been working on PS5 for an unannounced porting project for a while now, so on a technical level we are completely ready for doing something like this. If you want to make it happen, then you need to convince the publisher that it’s worthwhile.

TA: Speaking of the Crossbell Switch releases you did, is there any game that isn’t on Switch that you’d love to work on for the platform?

PT: While I’m very happy with what we accomplished with the Crossbell Switch versions, and while we of course always seek to optimally use whatever target platform we are working with, I don’t really have a personal interest in porting things to console platforms.

That said, I’ve noticed many people saying that they would love to have the Trails in the Sky trilogy available on consoles and particularly Switch with the same level of quality of our Crossbell releases, and as a huge fan of that series I’d be more than happy to work on that.

TA: Have you considered adding 90fps presets for the PC games you’ve worked on for Steam Deck OLED or do you want to let players find the best set of options for their hardware? I remember the “portable" option you added in the first Trails of Cold Steel PC release for the GPD back in the day.

PT: We do have a portable preset in Daybreak, but for the Steam Deck it doesn’t really make much sense to use an in-game frame limiter for this use case. Instead you can use the Deck per-game system-level FPS limiter, which also sets the refresh rate accordingly. For Daybreak, I like to use 45 FPS / 90 Hz as a good tradeoff between energy efficiency and responsiveness/smoothness.

TA: What are your thoughts on the current state of PC gaming across handhelds and in general?

PT: I think that PC gaming is in a better place than ever before. Sure, you have some worrying tendencies in the AAA space, like chasing some genre trend years after it was relevant, trying to increase base prices to silly levels, or restricting releases to platforms no one wants to use. And at the same time hardware costs have gone up (and so have the costs of everything else really), particularly on the high end.

However, I don’t think any of that does much to fundamentally harm PC gaming, or at least the parts of it I care about most. The truth is that you can open up Steam right now and find a tremendous amount of excellent indie to AA-level games fitting almost any preferences of genres or settings that you could ever imagine. And those are generally sold at reasonable prices, and the vast majority of them can be played perfectly well with very affordable hardware such as the entry-level Steam Deck.

So, to me, PC gaming right now is all about offering options for everyone. From affordable handhelds to the most powerful gaming hardware around. And from hundreds of high-quality, innovative indie games being released every year to also including ports of lots of AAA games which would have been console exclusives without question a decade ago.

TA: How do you like your coffee? (feel free to get the others at PH3 to also respond here and go into as much detail as you can).

PT: Not only do I personally almost never drink coffee, the same is also true for everyone else in the PH3 games team! We actually only bought a coffee machine for the office very recently when someone new joined us, but they are not working in the games part of the company currently.

I do enjoy a good cup of tea, and we actually have a (gaming-ready?) RGB-illuminated electric kettle for that purpose.

I’d like to thank Peter Thoman for his time and help here.

You can keep up with all our interviews here including our recent ones with M2 discussing shmups and more here, Digital Extremes for Warframe mobile, Team NINJA, Sonic Dream Team, Hi-Fi Rush, Pentiment, and more. As usual, thanks for reading.

Trails through Daybreak is just special when it comes to its story, characters, and world. I’m not going to pretend like I suddenly like the older games less or anything because I love most of them, but Trails through Daybreak just feels like such a step up doing everything right without any ifs and buts. Usually, a Trails game recommendation from yours truly includes caveats like playing many other games to get the best experience, or even needing to have played prior games to not miss out on important plot points. We’ve had a few good entry points over the years like with Trails in the Sky (PC or PSP), Trails of Cold Steel (PS Vita, PS4, PC, and PS3), or even my recommendation on Switch which is the Crossbell duology. Right now, I can say that newcomers who want to play Trails and are completely new to it, can play Trails through Daybreak directly. Sure, having played earlier games gives me a better experience with context, returning characters, and seeing the world from this side, but I don’t have any hesitation in telling newcomers to play Trails through Daybreak directly. It is that damn good.

So what makes Trails through Daybreak’s story so special? It begins with Van Arkride who is a Spriggan. As a Spriggan, you take on the kinds of jobs the police don’t and will not bother doing. Set in Calvard (yes, finally!), Trails through Daybreak’s story begins with Van being approached by Agnes who needs help finding her late grandfather’s memento. As Van, you take on all kinds of quests that progress the story, or side quests that actually were interesting to do despite some still being obvious fetch quests with not even an attempt to hide things. Van is basically my favorite Trails protagonist already, and I feel like I might regret saying this in a year or so. I don’t care about that right now, but Trails through Daybreak’s Van is everything I wanted from this game in how he makes decisions, approaches different quests, important character moments, and more. Even the banter between the main cast is excellent.

As the story progresses with Van, you are joined by more from one of my favorite Falcom game casts ever, and I’m not exaggerating. You’d think Falcom might fumble and have some characters join with not enough screen time, but they thought things through here. Not only do characters like Judith and Risette have great designs, but they just elevate the whole plot throughout. Trails through Daybreak still is a Trails game, but it feels darker and more mature throughout, including in dealing with specific topics you don’t usually see in many Falcom games. Van and company definitely meet some interesting characters across the factions in the game.

With Trails through Daybreak, Falcom wasn’t just willing to change things up when it comes to the narrative and setting, but also give us a dramatically different combat system. When I see people excited for Atlus’ upcoming RPG Metaphor ReFantazio because of its combat system, I just remember how Trails through Daybreak did it first in 2021. If you’ve watched gameplay footage of Trails through Daybreak, you might think that you can either go with action (Field Battle) or turn-based (Command Battle) combat here. While you can make your way through most encounters with the former, some force you into Command Battles. I found myself enjoying the mix of both, and the system even lets you start off with one and switch to Command Battle with buffs or other stat changes. The action combat is pretty simple, but it helps that normal enemies don’t seem bloated when it comes to their HP.

Command battles feel like a step above what we had in Trails into Reverie here. When you initiate Command Battle, you can move within a blue circle and do normal attacks, change targets, perform Arts (using EP) that take time to activate, perform Crafts using CP, Shard Skills, use S-Crafts (with excellent cut-scenes), and much more. I feel like the Trails through Daybreak combat system has tons of potential even after how well-realized it is in this game. Being able to melt popcorn enemies around a more powerful foe using the action combat and then swapping to turn-based to take on the harder ones in a mob never gets old. I know I can try Trails through Daybreak II’s Japanese release to see how things changed, but I’m going to be patient for the localization and also see what happens in Kai no Kiseki (out this year in Japan).

In terms of gameplay structure, Trails through Daybreak is very much like a normal modern Trails game, but every aspect of the systems has been improved with the addition of an alignment system, much better sidequests, and generally a snappier experience. Not only does the game itself feel like the best Trails has ever been, but even subtle UI changes help make it feel modern.

Speaking of feeling modern, Trails through Daybreak is the first game on Falcom’s new (at the time) engine, and it shows. Obviously this isn’t cutting-edge, but Trails through Daybreak is a huge step up from the Cold Steel games and Reverie when it comes to visuals and even character models. Katsumi Enami’s character designs translate brilliantly to 3D models, and it was great seeing them return to the series after the excellent work in the Crossbell games. Outside character models and UI improvements, Trails through Daybreak looks gorgeous compared to earlier games. I already thought Trails of Cold Steel III was a step up from the first two games but Trails through Daybreak feels like we are finally a generation ahead. It also helps that the game scales really well making it retain its aesthetic even on the Switch.

If I had to pick one thing that didn’t hit as hard for me in Trails through Daybreak, it would be the music. As a huge fan of basically every Falcom game soundtrack, I felt like Trails through Daybreak was lacking as many great songs I wanted to listen to outside the game. While in-game, it was all good, but Falcom game soundtrack to me are always experiences outside the game as well. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve heard the Crossbell, Trails of Cold Steel series, or Ys soundtracks. This isn’t a dealbreaker, but I was hoping for more songs I’d want to listen to outside the game beyond just seven or eight right now. Voice acting has been consistently great, and I’m glad the volume level issue I ran into with a few prior English dubs in the series isn’t present here.

Trails through Daybreak PC port features

So far I’ve had nothing but good things to say about Trails through Daybreak, and the PC port is only going to get more praise because it is one of the best PC ports I’ve ever played. PH3 went above and beyond here. Not only are all the features I’ve come to enjoy in the developer’s PC releases included, but there are a few I never thought I’d see in a modern Falcom game, including a PC-exclusive one. Before that, let’s cover what makes Trails through Daybreak’s PC port so good. Aside from graphics options, Trails through Daybreak on PC gives you more control over the high speed mode (turbo mode) letting you set different speedup factors for field exploration, field battles, and command battles. I used this mode almost all the time and still have ended up with more than 70 hours on Steam Deck as of my current save which is in new game plus. The PC version also lets you skip startup logos to save time when you want to resume your save. Speaking of saving time, as with PH3’s other ports, you can also directly resume from latest save when launching the game through Steam to save even more time.

When it comes to display and graphics options, strap in because there is a lot to cover here. Trails through Daybreak lets you adjust display mode (windowed, borderless, fullscreen), select monitor, resolution (320×200 up to 4K on my monitor), select refresh rate, toggle v-sync, adjust frame rate limit (30 to 360fps), adjust FOV (25 to 65), change screen brightness, and enable HDR on supported displays. The HDR setting in Trails through Daybreak is the first time any Falcom game has official HDR support as far as I’m aware. You can adjust HDR peak brightness and HDR UI brightness here. It looks amazing on my Steam Deck OLED.

On the graphics side, Trails through Daybreak lets you select from one of many presets (performance (aimed at low end laptops or handhelds), console (matching the PS5 experience outside resolution and frame rate), default, high (aimed at gaming PCs), and ultra (high end gaming PCs)). You can toggle motion blur, depth of field, adjust three different draw distance settings (character, level of detail, and light draw distance), shadow resolution, shadow filtering, shadow caching, and local shadowing. On the rendering quality side, you can adjust resolution scale (50% to 200%),

One more thing to note is you can preview the game image behind you as you change specific settings. This is also something I want to highlight as most games don’t let you see realtime differences when you are tweaking graphics options. For anti-aliasing, Trails through Daybreak lets you use basic screen-space AA, FXAA with a high quality profile, 2x MSAA, 4x MSAA, and 8x MSAA. You can also use sparse grid supersampling and transparency supersampling here. Aside from that, more quality options include portrait supersampling and minimap anti-aliasiing which dramatically improve the UI specifically. You might think these are small things, but having played Trails through Daybreak across basically all platforms in the last few weeks, these two specific settings generally make the PC version look like a lot more care went into it when you look at dialog with portraits and the minimap. The latter specifically looks poor on consoles.

The final graphics settings let you adjust screen space reflection quality, volumetric lighting quality, a high-resolution cubemap setting, and use a new water shader option from PH3. This specific setting requires reloading the current map. It is quite a nice option to have here. The screenshot above is zoomed in from my Steam Deck with the modern shader at the bottom and the original option on top.

When it comes to PC-exclusive features, aside from the big boost to frame rate target and resolutions that are obvious upgrades, Trails through Daybreak has a show BGM option that you can have display the current track name and soundtrack position. You can set this to only have it display when a new song is encountered or display it at all times. This feature was in the Crossbell games and it is amazing to see it brought to Trails through Daybreak since the console versions don’t have it. Trails through Daybreak on PC also has full keyboard and mouse support as expected from PH3. I didn’t test this though as I played the PC version exclusively on Steam Deck. On the controller side, you can choose button prompts or have it auto detect. The button prompt options are mouse/keyboard, Xbox, DualShock, Steam Deck, Stadia (yes, I’m serious), and Nintendo Switch. I ended up sticking to DualShock button prompts here. The Trails through Daybreak controller options also let you tweak camera sensitivity, targeting cursor sensitivity, vibration intensity, and stick deadzone options.

As you can see, Trails through Daybreak is a fantastic PC conversion that I consider the gold standard. But how does all this work in practice when playing on Steam Deck? Well it is possible to play at a locked 60fps or even aim for 90fps thanks to how scalable the port is, but I settled on 45fps at 90hz for the best combination of graphics that exceed console while looking great on the Deck’s own screen and running well. I started off with the the default and console presets before tweaking some things like shadows to lower options. Most of the settings are on medium, but I opted to increase some things like minimap MSAA and specific draw distance options from the lower settings. Trails through Daybreak on Steam Deck is my favorite way to experience Falcom’s newest masterpiece by far. It also seems to offer over 4 hours of battery life with HDR using these settings.

Before getting into the platform differences and comparisons, I want to note that Trails through Daybreak has no save data bonus that I can see from prior games. I have every single Trails game available on all platforms installed with save data store locally, and there was no in-game bonus or detection of any of that. You can however transfer the PS4 and Switch demo data to the final game.

Trails through Daybreak PS4 version and improvements from launch

Trails through Daybreak’s launch version on PS4 in Japan was capped at 30fps and lacked some of the quality of life features we are used to with the series in the West. It was then patched to offer an uncapped frame rate (which was basically 60fps on PS5 through backward compatibility) and also the ability to skip S-Crafts. Right now, the PS4 version on PS5 runs at 60fps, but the visuals and load times are not as good as the native PS5 version. You can toggle the frame rate cap from the settings in the PS4 version.

Trails through Daybreak PS5 improvements and features

The PS5 version of Trails through Daybreak has no graphics options, but looks crips and runs at 60fps. It also supports PS5 Activity Cards to track progress of certain things and quickly get back into your save file from the dashboard by saving time that would be wasted watching company logos and splash screens. Basically Trails through Daybreak on PS5 is a very polished experience and I have no major complaints with it.

Note that the comparison image above has been zoomed in and cropped to show the differences even when this article is read on smaller displays.

Trails through Daybreak PS5 vs Switch

Trails through Daybreak on Switch is a native port from Falcom itself just like Nayuta was before. Barring those, all Trails games have been ported by external studios with the quality being very inconsistent outside the Crossbell games which are immaculate on Nintendo’s hybrid system. If you played recent modern Trails games on Switch like Cold Steel IV or Reverie, Daybreak’s port is much better, but it still falls short of even the PS4 version when comparing them on the same display. The load times are longer, resolution lower, frame rate target lower, and it just feels like it is only worth it to play exclusively in handheld.

Even early areas of the game suffer from some issues and can’t hit the 30fps target consistently. Despite that, I put in dozens of hours on Switch just to see how Falcom’s new engine feels on Nintendo’s hybrid system. With the compromises to make Trails through Daybreak run on Switch taken into account, it is still worth your time if you only play on Switch and will stick to it handheld. Just avoid playing it docked if you can since the visual cutbacks are a lot more prominent when playing docked.

Trails through Daybreak PC vs PS5

While the PS5 version looks crisp on my monitor, it has some minor shimmering and aliasing issues when moving around, especially in open areas. The PC version scales well above this if you have the necessary hardware. The PC version also supports much higher frame rates in addition to all the PC-exclusive features I covered above. Trails through Daybreak on PC is the definitive version of the game by far. On the console side though, the PS5 version is the way to go for its improved visuals and much faster load times compared to the PS4 version, let alone the Switch version that is only worth getting if you exclusively play on Switch in handheld mode.

Trails through Daybreak Switch vs Steam Deck

Trails through Daybreak on Steam Deck is a version I’d choose even over PS5 right now, so it is a big step above the Switch version in just about every way, especially if you have a Steam Deck OLED where you can experience HDR, better battery life, more responsive inputs, and more. If you have both platforms, I recommend getting Trails through Daybreak on Steam Deck right now.

When I played Trails from Zero to Azure, I considered the duology as Falcom’s best Trails experience. Then I played Trails into Reverie and loved it so much, but I think Trails through Daybreak is the best Trails game. While I have no hesitation in saying Ys VIII is my favorite game in that series alongside Ys Oath in Felghana, I’m glad to now have Trails through Daybreak alongside the Crossbell duology as the best Trails experiences available today on modern platforms. Trails through Daybreak on Steam Deck is also my favorite way to experience Falcom’s newest masterpiece by far. Not only is it a fantastic Falcom game, but one of the best RPGs you can play in 2024, and knowing what released, you know I wouldn’t say that lightly. It joins Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance, and Balatro at the top of my Game of the Year list right now.

Steam Deck Game Reviews & Impressions

Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster Steam Deck Review

Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster debuted on Switch last year, and was a very good package as a newcomer to both games. I was disappointed by the performance issues and some of the other quirks present. I was hoping we’d see some of the issues resolved in updates, but they are still present on Switch today. Read my review of the collection on Switch here. Last week, Bandai Namco shadow dropped Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster on PC via Steam, and it would’ve been a huge shock of a release had it not been rated in some regions months before. Either way, with Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster on PC via Steam, not only do we have the definitive version of these two games for current platforms, but a fantastic Steam Deck release as well.

In terms of content, Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster is the same as the Switch version that was released last year. This includes both Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean and Baten Kaitos Origins with improved graphics, cheats, quality of life improvements, and more. Read about the Switch port here. What makes this release on PC more interesting, is the fact that the original games were developed by Monolith Soft who are most known now for the Xenoblade Chronicles games under Nintendo. In fact, Nintendo is mentioned in the copyright of both games even on Steam. Something we didn’t see with the Fatal Frame / Project Zero releases that retain Nintendo’s copyright on Switch.

Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster on PC lets you adjust window mode (fullscreen, windowed, and borderless), resolution (320×200 to 4K), toggle v-sync, adjust anti-aliasing quality (low, medium, high, off), and gamma correction. This is pretty bare-bones for a PC port, but not unexpected given this is a port of older games for Switch that has been ported to PC.

Playing at 720 docked sees frame rates well above 100fps and even at 144hz. If you aren’t seeing higher frame rates when you play, make sure you check the v-sync settings in-game and the frame limited from the quick access menu. I opted to play at 90fps on my Steam Deck OLED for the most part and only noticed some drops to the 80s when setting the anti-aliasing option to high. This applies to both Baten Kaitos and Origins. When playing at native 4K though, the game runs at around 30fps and it drops to the mid 20s or lower during combat. I don’t recommend this on Steam Deck even if you play docked. If you play at 1080p, it is always above 70fps thankfully.

On Steam Deck, Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster runs out of the box with one small issue. When you first start a new game, your character has a minor dithering issue. This got resolved after a few minutes of playing after moving to another area, and didn’t happen after that. Aside from that, the gameplay runs at 16:10 correctly, it has Steam Cloud, full controller support, and invokes the on-screen keyboard for text input correctly. Having B for confirm and A to go back is annoying though when playing on Steam Deck. The developers seem to have just left the same positions for face buttons as the Switch version here. The digital artbook included in the Month 1 edition does not work on Steam Deck though.

In its current state, despite some quirks, Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster on Steam Deck is a much better experience than the same release on Nintendo Switch. Not only does it run nearly perfectly even at 90fps, but it also can go above when playing docked. If you skipped the Switch release in the hope of a version with better performance, your wait has been worth it. The quality of life improvements in the Switch version already made that worth grabbing, but Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster on Steam is the one to get right now.

Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster Steam Deck Review Score: 4/5

News and Trailers

Street Fighter 6 begins Year 2 with the arrival of M. Bison on PS5, Steam, Xbox Series X, and PS4. M. Bison is the first of four characters coming this year with Elena, Mai, and Terry following. I’ve played a bit with M. Bison and he seems amazing so far. Check out his launch trailer below:

Square Enix also released the full Final Fantasy XIV 7.0 patch notes with maintenance on for a few hours more. Early access to Dawntrail begins today with the full release set for July 2nd. I’ll be covering it so stay tuned for that. (Edit: Early access is now live for Dawntrail and I will be playing it on Steam Deck)

Warhammer 40k: Rogue Trader got its major 1.2 update, which is the biggest update yet for the game with more than 2500 changes. This update also arrives with new animations, cut-scene updates, QOL improvements, and more. Watch the trailer for it below:

This week, Humble Games and Summerfall Studios launched the Stray Gods: Orpheus DLC for Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical. The DLC is out now on Steam and all consoles for $9.99. I’ll have a review of this in the near future. Watch the trailer for it below:

Bandai Namco Entertainment revealed more of the character roster in DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO. The new trailer showcases 10 new additions to the playable roster with the total at 100 with many more to come. This trailer showcased Yajirobe, Super Vegito, Goku Black, Super Saiyan Rosé, Anilaza, Goku (Super), Ultra Instinct -Sign-, Future Trunks, and more. Watch it below:

Capcom teased Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster (DRDR) with a full reveal planned for July 1st during CAPCOM NEXT Summer 2024 showcase. The showcase will also have more news on Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess and a look at Resident Evil 7 Biohazard for iOS and macOS.

Raw Fury announced that it has partnered with Gameclaw Studio to publish the Regions of Ruin games worldwide. The first game is out now while the second one can be wishlisted here. Watch the trailer below:

This week, Velan Studios announced Midnight Murder Club, a new FPS party game featuring hide and seek and shoot in the dark. It is set to launch on Steam this fall. Watch the trailer below:

We are close to EVO 2024 now, and the first set of news is Cygames will have a booth from July 19th to 21st. It will feature a playable build of the 1.50 update for Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising and exclusive rewards.

At Anime Expo 2024, ATLUS and SEGA have a few notable streams. On July 5th, Atlus has The World of Metaphor: ReFantazio featuring Katsura Hashino and Shigenori Soejima. On July 6th, SEGA has A New Era of Shadow featuring Takashi Iizuka (Sonic Team Creative Officer), Kirk Thornton and Stephanie Sheh (English voices of Shadow and Maria), and more. The final event on July 6th as well is the Essence of Fandom Party – Like A Dragon & Yakuza Experience featuring Chief Producer Hiroyuki Sakamoto and Kazuhiro Nakaya (Ichiban Kasuga and Akira Nishikiyama’s voice actor) celebrating the series with activities, guests, and more.

Cygames is bringing Umamusume: Pretty Derby, Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond, Umamusume: Pretty Derby – Party Dash, Granblue Fantasy: Relink, and Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising to Anime Expo with hands-on sessions and more. I’m excited to finally see Umamusume: Pretty Derby in English.

The last bit of games news is a demo for the auto chess style PvP battler Claws & Chaos now available on Steam.

Aside from games news, Valve finally added a game recording feature to Steam including Steam Deck via the beta branch. I tested it on my Steam Deck LCD that’s on the beta, and it works great so far. I hope to make use of this a lot for future game coverage and reviews to show off specific performance-related things.

New Steam Deck Verified & Playable games for the week

• Anger Foot – Verified
• Death of a Wish – Playable
• Dragon Is Dead – Playable
• Riven – Playable
• Station to Station – Playable

Steam Deck Game Sales, Discounts, and Specials

The Steam Summer Sale 2024 is now live and I wanted to recommend 10 specific discounts today for Steam Deck owners. They are below:

• Granblue Fantasy Relink – 30% off
• Celeste – 90% off
• Forza Horizon 4 Ultimate Edition – 80% off (this is being delisted so buy it!)
• Street Fighter 6 – 50% off
• The Witcher 3 – 90% off
• VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action – 33% off
• Persona 5 Royal – 50% off
• The Yakuza Collection
• Monster Hunter World: Iceborne Master Edition – 67% off
• The Talos Principle 2 – 50% off

That’s all for this edition of the Steam Deck Weekly. 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.

Like I said before, if you’re wondering about Harvest Moon and Story of Seasons names and brands, I recommend watching this video to see what led to the brand splitting like that with Marvelous handling Story of Seasons while Natsume Inc handles Harvest Moon. Harvest Moon: Home Sweet Home is set to release on iOS and Android in August 2024. A definite release date and price point are yet to be revealed. The new gameplay screenshots show promise, but I’m going to hold judgment until I get to play it myself on iPhone. What do you think of Harvest Moon: Home Sweet Home from Natsume Inc. from its new screenshots and confirmation of no in app purchases?

Out now:

Battle Chasers: Nightwar (Airship Syndicate and HandyGames) – Languages supported: English, French, Russian, Spanish (Spain) Italian, German, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil), Polish, Simplified Chinese

Dawn of the Monsters (13AM Games, WayForward) – Mobile debut through the vault featuring support for English, French, Italian, German, Spanish (Spain), and Japanese.

Evan’s Remains (Maitan69) – Languages supported: English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Spanish, and Simplified Chinese.

Coming soon:

9 Years of Shadows (indie.io) – Mobile debut through the vault featuring support for English, French, German, Japanese, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Spanish, and Simplified Chinese.

Crypt of the NecroDancer (Brace Yourself Games, Vortex Buffer) – All DLC making debut on mobile through the vault with support for English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Spanish, and Simplified Chinese.

Corpse Party (MAGES) – Languages supported: English, Japanese, and Korean

Lunar Lux (indie.io) – Mobile debut through the vault with support for English, Spanish (Spain), Japanese, and Portuguese.

Magical Drop VI (Forever Entertainment) – Recently announced and making its mobile debut through the vault with support for English, French, German, Spanish (Spain), Japanese, and Polish.

MMC KENKEN (Mages) – Mobile debut through the vault with support for English and Japanese.

The Quintessential Quintuplets ~ Memories of a Quintessential Summer ~ (MAGES) – Mobile debut through the vault with support for English, Japanese, and Traditional Chinese.

PictoQuest (PID Games) – Languages supported: English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Spanish (Spain), and Simplified Chinese.

PSYCHO-PASS: MANDATORY HAPPINESS (MAGES) – English mobile debut.

RWBY: Arrowfell (WayForward) – Mobile debut through the vault with support for English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Spanish (Spain), Simplified and Traditional Chinese

Spidersaurs (WayForward) – Languages supported: English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian,
Spanish (Spain), Simplified Chinese, Arabic, Dutch, Turkish, and Korean.

STEINS;GATE (MAGES) – Languages supported English, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese.

It is interesting to see these Mages games arrive with multiple languages because the ones on the App Store right now are separate builds for each language. I hope this leads to Steins;Gate Elite and other titles like that seeing English mobile releases through Crunchyroll Games in the future as well. I also wonder if the older titles will be delisted so that the only mobile versions will be through Crunchyroll Games. If you have an active Crunchyroll Mega or Ultimate membership right now, you will be able to grab the three new games when they release at no additional cost. The others will be releasing soon, and I’ll be sure to post about them when we get a definite release date for each game. What do you think of today’s announcements and release Crunchyroll Game Vault releases so far?

Stitch. has added in even more new Hoops with this week’s update alongside Zookeeper World continuing to add in new puzzle stages with the next set coming July 7th. The final notable update is SongPop Party 3.0 adding in the June content drop with country-themed challenges for exclusive rewards. With the updates done, head over to our forum threads for Crayola Adventures here, Hello Kitty Island Adventure here, Puyo Puyo Puzzle Pop here, Stitch. here, SongPop Party here, and Zookeeper World here. Make sure to head over to our dedicated Apple Arcade forum for discussions on the new and older releases on the service. What do you think of the state of Apple Arcade right now?

If you’ve not gotten it yet, you can download Disney Dreamlight Valley Arcade Edition on Apple Arcade here. It is available as a paid game with the expansion pass sold separately or in a bundle on all other platforms including Switch and Steam. It also plays great on Steam Deck. If you’ve not played Disney Dreamlight Valley Arcade Edition or Disney Dreamlight Valley yet and are curious about the expansion pass, check out the official website here. Head over to our forum thread for Disney Dreamlight Valley Arcade Edition here. We also have a dedicated Apple Arcade forum for discussion on the service and every game included here. What do you think of Disney Dreamlight Valley if you’ve been playing it recently on any platform?

DUSK HD

Do I need another excuse to recommend DUSK? Well, DUSK was already incredible, but New Blood doing DUSK HD as a free DLC pack that is basically a full remaster of the original game, is incredible and they definitely hate money. Either way, if you have DUSK, claim DUSK HD and change compatibility on Steam Deck to Proton Experimental or something else because the native linux version doesn’t include DUSK HD. You need DUSK HD’s windows version on Steam Deck for it. Once you do that, you can experience one of the best shooters ever with even better visuals. Get on it. Also listen to DUSK’s soundtrack from Andrew Hulshult again.

Selaco

Selaco had a very promising demo last year, and I expected the early access release to be good. I didn’t think it would be this good though. Selaco runs on GZDoom but barely feels like a game built on that engine with its immersive experience full of superb gameplay and great visuals. Even in its early access state right now, Selaco is worth more than full price, and it has bespoke Steam Deck optimizations from the get go.

STAR WARS: Dark Forces Remaster

For many people, Nightdive’s remaster of STAR WARS: Dark Forces Remaster will be a remaster of a game they played before. For me, the Steam Deck version of STAR WARS: Dark Forces Remaster was basically my first experience with it ever, and that’s why I’ve included it in my main list here. I love being surprised by games I have never played before, and STAR WARS: Dark Forces Remaster was superb on Steam Deck from start to finish. Even though this is a remaster of an older game, I appreciate the gameplay and interactivity in addition to just everything Star Wars included here. It might be my favorite recent Star Wars release in any media.

POSTAL: Brain Damaged

I hadn’t played POSTAL: Brain Damaged when I wrote the first boomer shooter article, but I’m glad I finally got around to it. It is insane and reminds me of a more over the top Slayers X. I have no experience with the original Postal games, but I loved playing POSTAL: Brain Damaged with its excellent gameplay, movement, and visuals. I liked it enough on Steam Deck to buy it on PS5, and was surprised to see it has 120hz and DualSense features. This one is an easy recommendation, and it even has multiple bundles with other games to get an additional discount.

Ion Fury: Aftershock

The original Ion Fury was very good and it had a lot of potential even from day one. With Ion Fury: Aftershock, the developers basically did everything I wanted from a sequel, but delivered it as a shorter expansion pack. It has one annoying portion that brought the experience down a bit, but if you liked Ion Fury, Ion Fury: Aftershock is an essential. I hope it comes to Switch soon so I can replay it.

AMID EVIL – The Black Labyrinth

I briefly touched on AMID EVIL – The Black Labyrinth when I wrote about AMID EVIL last year, but it deserves its own recommendation here. AMID EVIL – The Black Labyrinth is a prequel to AMID EVIL sold as DLC for the latter. It features new weapons, levels, and much more delivering a stupidly good value proposition for AMID EVIL fans and newcomers who want to get the game and expansion together. This expansion also raised the bar for visuals in AMID EVIL quite a bit, or maybe it is my Steam Deck OLED making things look nicer across the board. Either way, AMID EVIL – The Black Labyrinth is essential and it has new music from Andrew Hulshult so go buy it.

MULLET MADJACK

Mullet Madjack is plain fantastic. It looks gorgeous, feels amazing, and is a sublime boomer shooter with an aesthetic we don’t usually see in the genre. If you have even the smallest interest in the genre and like the 90s anime aesthetic, this one is worth getting right now. I recommend downloading the demo on Steam Deck and enabling gyro controls to see how you find the controls though as that’s the only aspect that might not work for everyone given the fast-paced nature.

Forgive Me Father 2

When I first played the early access launch version of Forgive Me Father 2, I was impressed at how it basically fixed all my issues in the original and delivered a lovely lovecraftian FPS experience unlike most things you see in the genre. Since launching, it has gotten loads of updates but is still in early access right now. It oozes atmosphere and is a lot of fun to play, but keep in mind this isn’t a full game yet. It still has a few teething issues that I hope are addressed before it leaves early access.

Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun – Forges of Corruption Expansion

Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun was a lovely surprise of a boomer shooter that I recommend to even those unfamiliar with Warhammer 40,000. I ended up getting it on Steam, PS5, and Switch to replay. It had lovely visuals, gunplay, and just generally was a lot of fun to replay on Steam Deck and PS5 since launch. I had no idea it even had DLC in the works, so Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun – Forges of Corruption Expansion was an even bigger surprise. It includes new environments, enemies, and two brand-new weapons that are awesome to use. If you enjoyed the base game, Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun – Forges of Corruption Expansion is essential.

Zortch

When I was looking for more boomer shooters, my friend said Zortch was the best $5 anyone could spend on Steam. I thought he was exaggerating as usual, but it really is an incredible boomer shooter with elements of both horror and comedy thrown in. You play as Zortch on holiday taking on aliens who want to eat human brains. I couldn’t believe this was on a custom engine. It really is crazy how good the levels and gameplay are for the low asking price.

Beyond Sunset

I can’t remember why I bought Beyond Sunset when it hit Steam, but I grabbed it day one, and do not regret it one minute. It isn’t some huge step forward for the genre, but does a lot of things right with its own charm and excellent aesthetic. It also has more of a story focus than you’d expect for a boomer shooter, but keep in mind that it is an early access release right now. This one has a free demo so give it a shot before buying it. It also has a few bundles with discounts available.

Wizordum

Back when I played the initial early access version of Wizordum, I thought it was well worth buying for its premise, gameplay, and aesthetic. It recently had its new episode arrive as a free update making Wizordum even better. I consider it a lovely blend of Wolf 3DS and DOOM with a colorful aesthetic that shines on the Steam Deck OLED. Give the demo a shot if you aren’t sold on it from the trailer. This is easily one of Apogee’s best releases in a while.

Bonus games

The games below are either not pure boomer shooters or have some caveats with my recommendation. In the case of the latter, I’d wait on a discount before buying them.

PO’ed: Definitive Edition

I hadn’t heard of PO’ed until Nightdive announced the remaster in the form of PO’ed: Definitive Edition. Having played it, I don’t know if it is something I recommend at full price, but the work put in is really good. I recommend getting it on a discount because it is pretty funny, but definitely not one of my favorites on the list.

Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion Remastered

Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion is the final game in the Turok trilogy, and the remaster from Nightdive is amazing. The issues here are I don’t think it is as good as the first two games, and it is more expensive than those. If you can get it on a discount, I recommend it once you play the first two games. Even as someone who only played Turok thanks to the Nightdive releases, Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion Remastered is excellent and worth your time.

Fallen Aces

Fallen Aces is fantastic, but it is unplayable on Steam Deck right now. I know there are some workarounds posted online, but none have reliably worked for me on both my Steam Decks. I want to feature Fallen Aces here so you keep an eye on it for when it does get fixed on Steam Deck. The demo was superlative already, but the full Episode 1 Early Access release is mindblowing on PC. I can’t believe it is so cheap right now. New Blood really does hate money. Either way, I hope it gets fixed soon so I can play it on my Steam Deck. Until then, I recommend buying it to play on your PC.

With that, you have the second yearly (hopefully) best boomer shooters to play on Steam Deck feature. I can’t wait to see what releases in the next few months and with the early access games getting more content and updates leading into 2025. 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.

I played a bit of it a few days ago, and it feels very good, but I wish the performance on iPhone 15 Pro was a bit better. If you have an active Netflix subscription, you can grab it now. The original Cozy Grove isn’t available on Apple Arcade anymore, but is currently on PC and console with no mobile version. Cozy Grove itself was great despite the few technical issues I ran into, but Cozy Grove: Camp Spirit looks like a nice follow-up. If you’d like to play Cozy Grove: Camp Spirit today, you can grab it on the App Store for iOS here and on Google Play for Android here. Check out the official game website here. Have you played Cozy Grove on Apple Arcade and will you be checking out Cozy Grove: Camp Spirit on Netflix for iOS and Android when it launches?

If you’d like to try Thirsty Suitors on other platforms before it hits mobile, it is available on Steam, Switch, Xbox, and PlayStation right now. I recommend it on Steam Deck over Switch if you have that option. I’m curious to see how it plays with touch on mobile, and whether the mobile version delivers the full experience without any technical cutbacks that we saw on Switch. Check out the official Thirsty Suitors website here. The soundtrack is also great, so consider getting the bundle with the game and soundtrack on Steam if you want to play it on PC here. Have you played Thirsty Suitors before or will you be trying it for the first time on mobile via Netflix?

Alongside Skullgirls Mobile, I’m glad to see the main game also keep getting updates on consoles and PC. I’ve been practicing playing on my Steam Deck with my new leverless controller recently, and I can’t wait to play with friends soon. If you’ve not gotten Skullgirls Mobile yet, you can grab it on iOS and Android right now for free. Skullgirls 2nd Encore is available on PC and all consoles including Xbox, PS4, and Nintendo Switch. I included Skullgirls 2nd Encore in my feature on the best fighting games to play on both Steam Deck and Nintendo Switch in 2024. What do you think of the Skullgirls Mobile 6.3 update?

TouchArcade (TA): Tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do at Ubisoft.

Krasimira Yakovlieva (KY): My name is Krasimira Yakovlieva and I’m the producer of Assassin’s Creed Mirage for iOS. I joined Ubisoft Sofia almost 8 years ago and, as part of the Project Management team, I’ve had the pleasure to contribute to more than six Ubisoft titles, four of which are from the Assassin’s Creed franchise.

TA: Before discussing Assassin’s Creed Mirage, I wanted to ask what led to this being the first big Ubisoft title to hit iPhone 15 Pro and iPad M1 when we’ve seen a few of the older Assassin’s Creed games come to Switch natively.

KY: We first had the opportunity to create a demo of the game for iPhone 15 Pro, which was a great success and gave us confidence when entering full production. Assassin’s Creed Mirage, the latest installment in the Assassin’s Creed Franchise, was the best fit for a project like this, with its condensed world and story-driven adventure. Bringing the game, initially designed for just consoles and PC, to iPhone and iPad was made possible due to the dedicated efforts and expertise of our talented team of developers and engineers, as well as the excellent performance of the A17 Pro chip combined with the advanced technology of our Anvil engine.

TA: Ubisoft has been a mobile supporter for ages now through standalone premium games, free to play ones, Apple Arcade, and even Netflix. How was it working with Apple for Assassin’s Creed Mirage?

KY: The collaboration with Apple has been a truly beneficial partnership, marked by a shared commitment to innovation and a strategic alignment of goals. Through this collaboration, we exchanged valuable knowledge and expertise leading to successful progress in releasing Assassin’s Creed Mirage for iOS and driving innovation. It was a challenging, yet very rewarding experience for our team to adapt a AAA game for a new mobile device. What helped immensely was that we knew and were very experienced with the Assassin’s Creed’s pipeline which includes our expertise in working with the Anvil engine. We had great collaboration with very talented professionals across Ubisoft and with various teams at Apple, which gave us an opportunity to deliver an authentic Assassin’s Creed experience on iPhone and iPad.

TA: A lot of my friends consider Assassin’s Creed Mirage a “return to form" for the franchise. I’ve enjoyed what I’ve played so far on PS5 and iPhone, but I think I like the Assassin’s Creed Origins and Odyssey formula more. Do you think we could see one of those hit iPhone 15 Pro in the future?

KY: I cannot speak for other games.

TA: Assassin’s Creed Mirage is capped at 30fps on Apple hardware including the M4 iPad. I was wondering if there was a possibility that we would see an uncapped frame rate option in the future?

KY: Right now, we are dedicated to prioritizing the stability and performance of the game on the various compatible Apple devices.

TA: Assassin’s Creed Mirage has very good touch controls compared to the other big AAA ports we’ve seen for iPhone 15 Pro. How much testing went into getting the touch interface right?

KY: A lot! This was a first for us, so the number of iterations we had in nailing the controls both on iPhone and iPad was beyond any reasonable count. We conducted various internal and external playtests in order to make sure that the controls work for a variety of audiences and gaming preferences. After taking the decision to release not only on iPhone but also on iPad, we opted out for the fully customizable controls, so we can ensure that we fit as many playstyles as possible.

TA: Having cross progression through Ubisoft Connect is great. I was glad to bring my PS5 save to my iPhone to check how it feels here. Is this something we should expect in other multiplatform Ubisoft titles on iPhone, iPad, and macOS as well?

KY: I cannot speak for other games.

TA: Ubisoft recently announced Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown for macOS while Assassin’s Creed Mirage is not on macOS but on iPhone and iPad. Are there plans to bring Assassin’s Creed Mirage to macOS and Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown to iOS in the future?

KY: Our focus right now is to ensure the stability of Assassin’s Creed Mirage on compatible devices. We are committed to delivering a seamless gaming experience for players on mobile, coupled with visuals that match the quality of consoles.

TA: What Apple technologies were leveraged for bringing the Assassin’s Creed Mirage game engine to iPhone 15 Pro and iPad models?

KY: The Metal API & MetalFX upscaling are core technologies that helped us realize our vision for the game on iOS. To bring Assassin’s Creed Mirage to iPhone and iPad, we took advantage of all available Apple technologies, ensuring an optimized, high-performance experience that leverages the advanced graphics capabilities and seamless integration with the iOS ecosystem.

TA: Are there plans for any post launch updates for the game aside from bug fixes?

KY: We do plan on implementing crash fixes and stability improvements based on feedback from players worldwide.

TA: Did the team working on this port also try out the Resident Evil or Death Stranding iPhone 15 Pro ports?

KY: The dev team of Assassin’s Creed Mirage for iOS are all savvy gamers and try a variety of games available on the market. We appreciate the hard work done by all gaming publishers and their dev teams.

TA: What are you hoping to see from Apple for the next iPhone and iPad models?

KY: With Apple being an innovative company, we are excited to see how they will push boundaries in the future.

TA: Are there plans to bring DualSense haptic feedback or adaptive trigger support to Assassin’s Creed Mirage on iPhone 15 Pro / iPad when using a DualSense controller?

KY: No, we’re not planning on introducing new features. We will remain focused on enhancing stability and improving quality of life features.

TA: Is there anything you’d like to say to our readers for Assassin’s Creed Mirage?

KY: We hope iOS users enjoy Assassin’s Creed Mirage as much as we enjoyed bringing it to them. Our team has worked tirelessly to ensure that the game delivers a memorable experience on iPhone and iPad, leveraging the latest Apple technologies to bring the game’s graphics and gameplay on par with the console version of the game. We encourage everyone to share their thoughts and experiences with us. Thank you for your support, and we look forward to seeing you in the game!

TA: How do you like your coffee?

KY: Strong.

I’d like to thank Krasimira Yakovlieva and Ellie Vengala from Ubisoft and Jennifer Tam and Peter Nguyen from Apple for their time and help here.

You can keep up with all our interviews here including our recent ones with M2 discussing shmups and more here, Digital Extremes for Warframe mobile, Team NINJA, Sonic Dream Team, Hi-Fi Rush, Pentiment, and more. As usual, thanks for reading.

Watch the first official English promotional video for the game below:

Uma Musume Pretty Derby features horse girl recreations of famous race horses, and the brand has even managed doing a collaboration with the newest Top Gun movie in Japan. While an Uma Musume Pretty Derby English release date hasn’t been announced, the tutorial parts will be playable at Anime Expo 2024 in English. You can currently get Uma Musume Pretty Derby for free on the App Store for iOS here and on Google Play for Android here in Japan. I know this might not sound like a big deal to many given how there are loads of popular games in Japan on mobile that don’t see a release internationally, but with Cygames expanding and doing global releases, this is great to see, and I hope the game does well for all involved leading to an Arc System Works developed Uma Musume Pretty Derby fighting game. I’ll be covering any new information we get about the English release for Uma Musume Pretty Derby. Stay tuned for more on that. Check out the official English website here. Have you played Uma Musume Pretty Derby or watched the anime?

Steam Deck Game Reviews & Impressions

ELDEN RING Shadow of the Erdtree Steam Deck impressions

Having played ELDEN RING on Xbox Series X, PC, Steam Deck, and PS5 the year it was released, I’ve since moved to focusing on the game on Steam Deck mainly. While it doesn’t run as well as it does on Xbox Series X with VRR or playing the PS4 version on PS5, I enjoyed how good it looked and played natively on Steam Deck. When ELDEN RING Shadow of the Erdtree was announced, I was most interested to see how the new areas felt on Valve’s handheld, and whether there were any improvements to the PC port that was quite lacking at launch. I now have a Steam Deck OLED, and playing ELDEN RING Shadow of the Erdtree’s opening hours with HDR on it have been pretty amazing.

The original ELDEN RING on Steam Deck was actually a more consistent experience than playing on a desktop PC with Valve having fixed the shader issue. I still hear friends who have top of the line PCs with 4090s complain about random stuttering even today. On Steam Deck, I wasn’t able to get ELDEN RING Shadow of the Erdtree to run at a locked 40fps at all without dropping the image quality or features too much. I opted to aim for a locked 30fps which I capped using the Steam Deck’s quick access menu. I also enabled HDR for playing on my Steam Deck OLED. Based on the few hours I’ve put into ELDEN RING Shadow of the Erdtree on Steam Deck today including on my Steam Deck LCD, aside from one part that caused performance to drop below 30 with too many effects for a few seconds, it is holding its 30fps target well, and looks excellent on the small screen. I left most settings at the auto-detect preset, but turned shadows and volumetric lighting down a bit.

Aside from what I’ve experienced of the new visuals and content of the expansion, I recommend turning on the new inventory features immediately. They help a lot. If you haven’t beaten the main game yet, the change to the final boss makes an unfun fight much better. I say unfun, but that only really is a problem for melee focused builds. I still think the change is good. I won’t say more to avoid spoilers.

If you’re new to ELDEN RING and haven’t bought it yet, but want to play it on Steam Deck, I recommend getting the ELDEN RING Shadow of the Erdtree Edition which includes the base game and the expansion. Buying it that way will work out cheaper than buying the expansion separately later on looking at how FromSoftware game prices have been under Bandai Namco with DLC. You also can’t access the DLC until quite a bit later as well.

I need more time to do a full review of ELDEN RING Shadow of the Erdtree on Steam Deck, but it is very promising so far when I play it offline, and I can’t wait to see how more of the expansion looks on Valve’s handheld. I haven’t tested it online yet, but I can safely say that ELDEN RING Shadow of the Erdtree is gorgeous on Steam Deck OLED so far, and I look forward to being equal parts shocked at how good it looks and frustrated by the inevitable boss walls I run into.

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes Steam Deck Port Review

A while ago I reviewed Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes on the Nintendo Switch and found a charming spiritual successor to the classic Suikoden series brought down by significant technical issues. Well, I’ve had the chance to play the game on Steam Deck now, and while I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s completely free of issues, it’s night and day. I dare say one can properly enjoy the game here. And that means I can speak to the game a bit more, so I’ll do that.

This game is of course the crowd-funded, long-awaited Suikoden follow-up put together by some of the people behind the original game, including the series creator Yoshitaka Murayama, who unfortunately passed away scant months before this game’s release. One can only imagine the pressure the team must have been under to deliver on the hopes and dreams of a dedicated fanbase on such a limited budget, and in a lot of ways you can feel all of that in the end result. This is as close to a new Suikoden game as we’re likely going to get, and it was clearly put together with a lot of passion and not quite enough resources.

Still, if you’re looking to scratch the itch and can accept that this was never going to live up to a full-sized production from a major video game publisher at the height of its powers, I think you’ll find a lot to love in this game. Collecting all of the characters is just as enjoyable here as it was in the Suikoden games, even if most of them are lacking the charm and utility you might hope for. There’s a really interesting battle system at play here, one that you’ll have to properly engage with. The overall story isn’t particularly great, and it has some trouble escaping the shadow of what came before, but it’s engaging enough to keep you going. The game is sometimes loyal to those twenty-five year old games to its own detriment, but if that’s the flavor you’re after I think you’re likely to forgive that.

If you’re looking for a sequel to the classic Suikoden games that can hang comfortably with the best entries in that franchise, Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes might not be up to your expectations. But if you’re just trying to get a little of that old magic back, there’s enough pixie dust in this game to carry you most of the way to Neverland. It’s a game brimming with passion, struggling against its limitations, but ultimately a genuine expression, and it’s always nice for something like that to come into this world. -Shaun Musgrave

News and Trailers

The news highlights of the week are mostly from the Nintendo Direct. I’ve included my favorites below.

Marvel Vs. Capcom Fighting Collection might be the biggest surprise of 2024 for me in terms of announcement. I kept hearing so much about these games but never got to play them. With this collection on Steam, Switch, and PS4, I’m going to make sure I play it. The games also have rollback netcode thankfully. Watch the announcement trailer from Capcom below:

Capcom also announced the Ace Attorney Investigations Collection for Steam and consoles. It launches on September 6th worldwide with pre-orders now live. While the first game is available on mobile and DS, the second game was never released in English. That changes with this collection. As a huge fan of the series, I’m excited to revisit Ace Attorney Investigations and play the second game for the first time.

Farmagia from Xseed Games and Marvelous USA launches on November 1st alongside an anime. The monster farming game with character designs from Fairy Tail’s Hiro Mashima will also see a physical release on consoles. I’m looking forward to this one. Watch the trailer for it below:

Speaking of Hiro Mashima, Fairy Tail 2 from Gust and Koei Tecmo is also due this year in Winter on Steam, PS5, PS4, and Switch worldwide. It is the follow-up game to 2020’s Fairy Tail for PS4, Switch, and Steam. Watch the announcement trailer below:

Spike Chunsoft is localizing Natsu-Mon 20th Century Summer Vacation for PC this August on Steam. The adventure game from Toybox and Millennium Kitchen is also getting DLC when it arrives on PC in Japanese later this month. I never played the Japanese Switch version, but will be checking this one out on Steam. Watch the Japanese trailer below:

NIS America announced Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero for Steam, PS5, PS4, and Switch set for 2025 release. This is the first new Phantom Brave game in a very long time, and it features more than 50 characters with 300 skills. It is a turn-based strategy game without a grid, and I can’t wait to see how a modern game in this series feels like.

As a surprise to everyone, Bandai Namco launched Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster on Steam this week. It debuted on Switch last year, and I thought it wouldn’t be ported given Nintendo and Monolith Soft’s involvement. It has a month 1 edition including a digital artbook. Read my Switch review here. I’ll be covering the Steam version on Steam Deck as well.

PowerWash Simulator’s Alice’s Adventures Special Pack DLC launches on July 2nd adding Alice in Wonderland to PowerWash Simulator for Steam and consoles. It includes five locations, a new outfit, and much more. Watch the release date trailer for it below:

Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical is set to release its Orpheus DLC for $9.99 on June 27th for Steam and consoles. I enjoyed the base game and will be checking this one out to see where it takes the story.

Level-5 is releasing the first major content update for Megaton Musashi W: Wired soon with a 50% off sale on Switch and Steam. This content update arrives in 3.1.0 bringing in UFO Robot Grendizer and much more. Watch the update trailer below:

The amazing Fate/Samurai Remnant has gotten its third major DLC pack this week in Record’s Fragment: Bailong and the Crimson Demon. Check out the launch trailer for the DLC below:

Beyond Good & Evil – 20th Anniversary Edition launches on June 25th for Steam and consoles offering 4K 60fps with improved graphics, control improvements, and more. Watch the trailer below:

I saved the best for last with Square Enix’s announcements from the Nintendo Direct including Fantasian Neo Dimension bringing an enhanced version of the amazing Apple Arcade game to Steam and consoles leading the news. It is due later this year, and it includes a new difficulty option as well.

Square Enix is remaking Romancing SaGa 2 as Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven, and it looks incredible. Set to launch on October 24th, this 3D remake is coming to Steam, PS5, and Switch. It feels weird that this remake is such a bigger production than the newest mainline game but here we are. Watch the trailer below:

The final announcement is Dragon Quest III HD 2D Remake coming November 14th for Steam, PS5, Xbox Series X, and Switch worldwide. It looks stunning, and remakes of Dragon Quest I and II will be following in 2025.

New Steam Deck Verified & Playable games for the week

Only a few notable games this week compared to the last few weeks, but some heavy hitters like No Rest for the Wicked (I’m still playing this), Kingdom Hearts, and more are in the newest batch of games tested by Valve.

• Anomaly Collapse – Playable
• FOUNDRY – Playable
• KINGDOM HEARTS HD 1.5+2.5 ReMIX – Verified (via TouchArcade reader Mor)
• KINGDOM HEARTS HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue – Verified (via TouchArcade reader Mor)
• Mullet Mad Jack – Verified
• No Rest for the Wicked – Verified
• Winning Post 10 2024 – Verified

Steam Deck Game Sales, Discounts, and Specials

Next week, the big Steam sale begins. Ahead of that, you can grab Dragon Age games in the new Dragon Age franchise sale here or grab Everspace 2 and more in the Games Made in Germany 2024 sale here.

That’s all for this edition of the Steam Deck Weekly. 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.

Dear Reader 5.0.0 adds in a Catalogue section to purchase all books from the game with rotating shelves and more. A new Puzzler difficulty setting is also now available in-game to play without worrying about time. Solitaire Stories version 5.0 adds in the Soulmatez story, the Jupiter event., and the Tiki Luau event today. With the updates done, head over to our forum threads for Japanese Rural Life Adventure here, Simon’s Cat – Story Time here, BEAST here, Tamagotchi Adventure Kingdom here, Dear Reader here, Solitaire Stories here, and Warped Kart Racers here. For all other Apple Arcade related things, check out our dedicated Apple Arcade forum for discussion on the service and every game included here. What do you think of Apple’s newly released games and updates recently?

If you’d like to try the Japanese release next week, you can pre-order Pand Land on the App Store for iOS here and pre-register for it on Google Play for Android here. Pand Land launches on June 24th for mobile in Japan. An international release date is yet to be announced. I’m curious to see how this one does, and whether it hits Switch as a free to play game in the future as well. It is going to be interesting to see what Game Freak has in the works other than Pand Land and its project with Private Division. What do you think of Pand Land and will you be trying it through the Japanese release next week?

OXENFREE II: Lost Signals, Free Oxenfree II: Lost Signals on mobile through Netflix is my favorite way to play it. Night School exceeded my expectations from the original game and delivered a more mature story despite the supernatural and thriller elements. In a lot of ways, Oxenfree II feels like a reflection of the studio making it with its scope and polish. This is a game I recommend to everyone with a Netflix subscription, and I hope it gets a physical release on console in the future so I can add it to my collection with the first game.

Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon, Free Despite launching on other platforms before, Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon arrived on Netflix with new content included. It has some aspects that don’t work as well as others, but Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon is an amazing puzzler bringing in challenging gameplay, tons of polish, and gorgeous visuals to mobile. It is immediately one of the best puzzlers on mobile through its Netflix release.

The Case of the Golden Idol, Free The most recent of the games included here, The Case of the Golden Idol from Color Gray Games and Playstack is phenomenal, but it might not be for everyone. With that out of the way, it is one of my favorite detective games ever, and the Netflix mobile version includes the base game with all DLC making it an insanely good addition to the service. This one is special, and I urge you to just download it and not read much about it.

Hades - NETFLIX, Free Hades on iOS is just incredible. While it has some minor issues, I have no hesitation in recommending it for anyone with a Netflix subscription. The wait for Hades on mobile was very long, but Supergiant Games delivered an excellent version of one of the best games in years with no compromises on iOS here. Just note that while the other games in this feature are also on Android, Hades is just on iOS right now.

TMNT: Shredder's Revenge, Free TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge is a Streets of Rage 4 level release, and if you don’t know what I mean by that, play both games immediately. Jokes aside, I adore TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge and I was super happy to see it come to mobile in a fantastic conversion through Playdigious and Netflix. It is a modern take on a classic Konami style beat ’em up that delivers in spades with its gameplay, visuals, music, and fanservice for TMNT fans.

Kentucky Route Zero, Free Kentucky Route Zero was one of the most fascinating games I played. It took so long for all the acts to release, that I ended up not even having my older saves through the years as I switched computers. The adventure blends surrealism, gorgeous visuals, amazing music, and memorable characters to deliver something that you will either love or drop after an act or two. The Netflix release brings the complete experience with all updates and improvements over the launch version. It also happens to have one of my favorite musical moments in any game. If all of that sounds good to you, give it a shot on iOS or Android through Netflix.

IMMORTALITY, Free Immortality from Her Story developer Sam Barlow is Sam’s best work yet according to most, and while I prefer Her Story, Immortality is a superlative experience for those who enjoy the FMV interactive film genre. The only issue with the mobile version is that you have to download a lot of data in-game. Keep that in mind and you’re good. It is another one of those “Perfect for Netflix" gaming experiences, and I’m glad it did make its way to mobile after its initial launch on console and PC platforms.

Katana ZERO NETFLIX, Free Katana Zero is one of the best games on the service, and a fantastic, and near-perfect, conversion of a magnificent indie. If you have a Netflix subscription, and you likely do if you are reading this, drop everything else and play Katana Zero right now. It is that good. If you don’t want to play it, listen to the soundtrack, but still, go play it now. It is action-platformer perfection.

Into the Breach, Free I’ve been wanting Into the Breach on iPad for years ever since I played FTL from the developer. It seemed like the ship had sailed, but Netflix revealed that Into the Breach is not only coming to iPad, but also iPhone and Android in a new version that would see added content patched into existing versions. Into the Breach on any platform is an essential, but having it on an iPad with such a great port is everything I wanted. This is pure turn-based strategy greatness.

Poinpy, Free Poinpy from the creator of Downwell is one of the best games on mobile right now regardless of paid games, subscriptions, or free games. Instead of going down like the developer’s prior release, you sling yourself up and this release feels perfect to play in short bursts or long sessions. The gameplay is everything you’d want, and there’s a lot of depth included. Poinpy was one of the first “essential" games in Netflix, and even with so many more games added to the service, it is in our top games feature. Hopefully more people check it out.

And there you have it. Some changes and additions to the service warranted a new list, and I hope you find something new to play with your Netflix subscription here. If you’ve enjoyed a game on Netflix that you think I should’ve featured, let me know in the comments so more people will discover great games on the service. If you’d like to see us feature more games in subscription services or anything else, let us know. Thanks for reading.

Assassin’s Creed Mirage is set in Baghdad, and you play as Basim Ibn Ishaq on his journey. Assassin’s Creed Mirage is set before Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, and it was originally planned to be an expansion to that before being changed into a full game in the series. It initially felt weird going back to the classic parkour, stealth, and well assassination focus compared to the full action RPG the recent games have, but I have no real complaints with Assassin’s Creed Mirage when it comes to the story and gameplay. It feels great to have a modern game with a classic series focus, and I hope we see more like this in the future in between the larger RPG entries in the series.

Having waited nearly two weeks since launch to see if any update releases to fix any teething or launch issues in Assassin’s Creed Mirage, I’m going to assume this is what players should expect for the near future when it comes to features and port quality. On launching the game, you need to download about 7.5GB in-game. I didn’t test playing with Ubisoft Connect as my aim was to play Assassin’s Creed Mirage across my PS5 and iPhone 15 Pro. I did try playing offline a few times and the game let me load my save. I can’t check if this works throughout though.

The Resident Evil ports and Death Stranding play great with a controller, but are quite a mess with touch controls. Assassin’s Creed Mirage on the other hand has seen the developers actually add a bespoke touch control option for playing on iPhone 15 Pro and iPad that makes it feel like a big and modern mobile game rather than a console game ported over with a ton of on-screen buttons. This is something I hope more developers do when bringing over console games to mobile. Just slapping a virtual button for every single input on a controller isn’t feasible anymore unless your game has only a few action buttons. Assassin’s Creed Mirage feels tailor made for iPhone 15 Pro when it comes to its controls at least, aside from a few tiny touch targets.

Customizing controls in Assassin’s Creed Mirage lets you move virtual buttons around across different control sets (swimming, base, etc), and also lets you increase or decrease button sizes. I like how the game has a red zone to indicate overlap issues as well when you are trying to tweak the layout to your liking. The issues I have with the UI in Assassin’s Creed Mirage have to do with a lot of the non gameplay sections. The touch targets in some menus are often too small. While the game is capped at 30fps as of this writing, there’s no need for the menus to feel sluggish as well. I hope this aspect can be improved over time.

I waited a few more days before publishing this review because I wanted to try it on my new Backbone One PlayStation Edition USB-C controller, and I’m glad I did. This feels like one of the first few games I’ve played where it not only properly detects the controller with PlayStation button prompts, but it also has Backbone One button prompts for the menu and other non gameplay buttons. The game plays perfectly with a Backbone as well.

Visually, I was mostly impressed with Assassin’s Creed Mirage, but the performance is where things fall apart. Playing with the high graphics preset results in a good image, but performance is unacceptable. I ended up tolerating the game’s performance in the medium settings, but combat really struggles. In addition to the unstable frame rate in these parts, frame pacing is also an issue with the 30fps cap not being perfect. Even if you play on the low graphics preset, there are drops from 30fps, albeit not as bad as in the medium or high presets. This is quite disappointing, and I hope patches can improve this at least on the low and medium presets. High will likely be best for newer iPads.

MrMacRight on YouTube has an excellent video covering how the game is across different iPads. I don’t currently have an iPad that can run Assassin’s Creed Mirage though. I do have the game on PS5, and I was curious to see how I’d feel playing it on that and iPhone with my save syncing across. The PS5 version runs and looks a lot better with 60fps gameplay and a much crisper image. I did enjoy Assassin’s Creed Mirage on my iPhone as a way to continue playing bits of the game though when I was away from home.

While I like the gameplay and story, I want to highlight the music. Assassin’s Creed games usually excel on this front, but I think the audio design in Assassin’s Creed Mirage is just superb. This is one to play with headphones for sure. The voice acting is a bit inconsistent in English, and I also wanted to check out some of the other dubs. You need to download more data in-game for this so keep that in mind especially if you want to play with Arabic voices.

This is more than a solid base for Ubisoft, and it is a few patches away from being superb. Having cross progression through Ubisoft Connect makes it even better though. While this isn’t a game I see myself coming back to later on unless it gets some notable DLC, I hope to see Ubisoft continue bringing cross progression support. I enjoyed using it in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Riders Republic, and Immortals Fenyx Rising on console already, but seeing it on mobile is a good sign for future Ubisoft ports.

One aspect I want to cover is the price point. Assassin’s Creed Mirage is a free to try game with a $49.99 unlock for the full game, just like on other platforms. In addition to this, there are optional DLC packs like the Deluxe upgrade, weapons, and more. The reason I bring this up is to make sure everyone knows that these are the same DLC packs sold on consoles and not new ones for mobile despite the way things appear on the App Store page. I don’t like having this stuff in a full price premium game, but sadly that ship has sailed with Ubisoft’s releases. Just keep in mind that you only need the Assassin’s Creed Mirage full game unlock and nothing more to get the proper game experience.

I’m in two minds about Assassin’s Creed Mirage on iPhone 15 Pro right now. It is a great game and Ubisoft put in a lot of work into making it feel good to play with touch controls, but the performance issues hold it back right now. Since Assassin’s Creed Mirage is available as a free to try game, I recommend giving it a shot, but make sure you play until you get to experience some combat so you can properly judge how it will run on your own device. Assassin’s Creed Mirage is a great entry in the series, and it is worth your time even if you are a newer fan to experience a modern take on classic Assassin’s Creed. I can’t wait to eventually see how Assassin’s Creed Shadows feels on iPad after playing it on PS5.

You can read what Jared thinks about the game in our Game of the Week feature here and head over to our forum thread for more discussion around the game here. Check out the official website here. You can buy Afterplace on the App Store for iOS here and on Google Play for Android here. You can wishlist Afterplace on Steam here. Apple also did a feature on the design of Afterplace in an interview with Evan. Read it here. Have you played Afterplace yet on iOS or Android and what do you think about today’s update?

If you’d like to buy one of the limited controllers, you can sign up on the official website to get notified of when it goes live here. Check out the official Backbone website here. While this will be only on the official website, other Backbone One controllers are available on Amazon and more retailers. While this one looks excellent, I’m going to hold out for a translucent purple controller if we get one. What do you think of the new Backbone One – Post Malone Limited Edition controller, and will you try and order one next week?

FANTASIAN, Fantasian isn’t going to be for everyone, but it is certainly a powerful monument to what possibilities Apple Arcade held. A full-on proper RPG from the creator of Final Fantasy, packed with gorgeous sights and challenging battles, Fantasian was so big it had to be delivered in two parts. Composer Nobuo Uematsu did his magic with a very unusual but cool soundtrack, and the presence of a number of Final Fantasy veterans could be felt all throughout the gameplay systems. Handily the best RPG on Apple Arcade, and one of the finest original mobile games in the genre. -Shaun Musgrave

Hello Kitty Island Adventure, While Apple Arcade now feels like it brings in more “+" games rather than bespoke exclusives, we still get those once in a while. Hello Kitty Island Advenutre from Sunblink is easily one of the best newer releases on the service. While originally expected to be just a take on Animal Crossing, Hello Kitty Island Adventure is so much more, and it keeps getting regular updates to make things fresh for players. Hello Kitty Island Adventure is one of the best reasons to stay subscribed to Apple Arcade right now.

Ridiculous Fishing EX, Sure, Ridiculous Fishing EX just came out, but I’m more than comfortable putting it on this list. The original Ridiculous Fishing was already one of the best mobile games ever, and this remade and juiced up release just piles more goodies on top. It’s always nice to see games that understand the strengths of a platform and the ways its users like to play on it, and Ridiculous Fishing EX completely gets it as far as mobile is concerned. You’ll probably burn through the main story quickly, but this EX game has plenty more for you to enjoy after that. -Shaun Musgrave

Sneaky Sasquatch, Sneaky Sasquatch was a somewhat thin game when it launched, but this is a fine example of just how much a game can grow over time. The developer must be bonkers here, because there has been a constant stream of cool new stuff hitting this game. At its core, this is a game about the titular sasquatch and his daily life. At first he was just sneaking around swiping food, but now he does everything from taxi driving to politics. If you like open-ended life sim style games, give this one a shot. Its scope is positively admirable. -Shaun Musgrave

Mini Motorways, As a big fan of Mini Metro, I was extremely excited to see a follow-up arrive in the form of Mini Motorways. Would it be able to maintain the same appeal despite the shift in theme? Could it be different enough to justify its existence? Would it hook me the way its predecessor did? The answer to all of those questions is an emphatic yes. A terrific fast-paced puzzle game that sees you trying to run roads all over the map until everything gets way out of hand, Mini Motorways is tense and fun in all the right ways. It looks and sounds great, too. -Shaun Musgrave

Pocket Card Jockey: Ride On!, The people at Game Freak aren’t just about Pokemon, and if you need proof of that then look no further than Pocket Card Jockey: Ride On!, a unique hybrid of solitaire and horse racing. It isn’t something that should work at all, but it’s somehow completely sublime. Pick your horse, train them up, and then play solitaire during the races to push them to victory. Use some special skills at the right moment and you can turn the tides of any race. Cute, clever, and hard to put down, Pocket Card Jockey is a great way to spend a lazy afternoon or wait in a line-up alike. -Shaun Musgrave

WHAT THE GOLF?, I kept flip flopping on whether I wanted to include What The Golf? or What The Car? here. I decided to go with the former as I’ve played that a lot more. Both games are excellent additions to the service, but What The Golf? is the better overall package. If you do get Apple Arcade, play them both so consider this list entry as me cheating with two games instead of one. What The Golf? has humor, great levels, fun gameplay, and tons of quality content. It is worth your time even if you have no interest in golf.

Sayonara Wild Hearts, Some of the best mobile games are the ones that offer up fairly simple mechanics with a strong narrative, and dress it all up in some of the most stylish sights and sounds a screen can deliver. Sayonara Wild Hearts is one of those games. It’s a rhythm game, but between its dazzling visuals, amazing soundtrack, and confident story-telling, it’s quite unlike any game in that genre you’ve likely played. Developer Simogo and publisher Annapurna Interactive individually have an amazing track record on mobile, and this collaboration easily lives up to the reputations of both. -Shaun Musgrave

Taiko no Tatsujin Pop Tap Beat, If you want a more standard rhythm game experience, you can’t go wrong with Bandai Namco’s Taiko no Tatsujin Pop Tap Beat. Tap your fingers to the beat of a list of songs that includes everything from the Indiana Jones Theme to the Sesame Street song. It’s always getting new tracks added across a variety of genres, and while there are bound to be a lot of songs you don’t know here, they’re all worth playing. A great version of a genre classic, this has been one of my quiet favorites of the Apple Arcade line-up since the minute it was added. -Shaun Musgrave

Grindstone, If there’s a poster child for Apple Arcade originals, Grindstone just might be the best choice. This is a terrific puzzler packed with things to do, the sort that normally cajoles you to buy IAP or watch ads on mobile. Yet here, the game is blissfully free of such things, allowing you to enjoy the pleasures of the matching puzzler genre in a very pure form. It’s enjoyable to play and has charm to burn, making it a perfect fit for those little pockets of time you need to fill. -Shaun Musgrave

There you have it. I know Apple Arcade right now feels very different to how things were in the first two or three years, but there are still many excellent games on the service. Hopefully you find something you like if you do end up subscribing to the service in the near future. If you think I should’ve included something that you like a lot, please let me know in the comments below. As usual, thanks for reading.

You can pre-install Honkai Star Rail 2.3 from the title screen after logging in on both mobile and PC platforms. The Honkai Star Rail 2.3 download size is around 12.7GB on iOS and 21.3GB on PC. If you’ve not gotten it yet, you can download Honkai Star Rail on the App Store for iOS here, on Google Play for Android here, and here on the Epic Games Store in addition to its regular PC version. Check it out here on PS5. Have you been playing Honkai Star Rail recently and what do you think of 2.3 so far?

Steam Deck Game Reviews & Impressions

Monster Hunter Stories Steam Deck Review

Last month, I did a preview on Monster Hunter Stories’ remaster covering early parts of the Switch, Steam Deck, and PS4 versions. Since then, I’ve been able to experience the game more on all three platforms, but I decided to focus on the PC version for my review, because it is by far my favorite version, when played on Steam Deck.

Following its debut on 3DS, Monster Hunter Stories saw mobile versions that were dramatically better when it comes to visuals and performance.You can still play Monster Hunter Stories on iOS and Android, and it is even in Apple Arcade, but those versions aren’t worth your time as of today. After the success of Monster Hunter Stories 2 on Switch and Steam, Capcom wants to expand the audience of this series, and what better way to do that then bringing the original to more platforms? Well, Capcom surprised me by not only bringing Monster Hunter Stories to Switch, PS4, and PC, but also bringing the West content we never got, a new gallery, voice acting, and more. Capcom also finally brought Monster Hunter Stories 2 to PlayStation today.

If you’ve not played Monster Hunter Stories at all through its prior releases, it doesn’t really play like a traditional Monster Hunter game. It is more of an RPG set in the world of Monster Hunter that features monsters, hunters, and basically was a fantastic game on 3DS that I enjoyed more than every Pokemon game with its turn-based combat, gorgeous visuals even back then, and memorable characters. For the remaster, I expected Capcom to just bring the mobile version of Monster Hunter Stories to current platforms. Instead, we have visual improvements, performance improvements, the addition of content never released outside Japan, voice acting, a new gallery, and more.

If you already played Monster Hunter Stories, the new content and upgrade to visuals and performance makes it worth the asking price for sure, but don’t bother unless you want to replay the full game. It would’ve been an easier game to recommend on consoles at least if there was a physical release on PS4 and Switch (without a code for Monster Hunter Stories 2). On PC though, the first Monster Hunter Stories makes its debut through this release, and it is a fantastic port that shines on Steam Deck.

Since playing the game for preview, I wanted to see if anything would change, but that build is basically the final game everyone can play today. The PC version of Monster Hunter Stories lets you adjust window mode (windowed, fullscreen, and borderless), resolution (864×486 to 4K), frame rate target (30fps to 144fps), toggle v-sync, toggle anti-aliasing, and adjust shadow quality (low, medium, high). You can also adjust brightness.

Monster Hunter Stories held 90fps very well with everything set to high aside from shadow quality which I turned down from the start on my Steam Deck OLED. Load times are near-instant as well. It only supports 16:9 gameplay, but does have Steam Cloud support.

While I’ve praised a lot of Monster Hunter Stories so far, it still feels dated in its visuals in ways. I didn’t expect this to be addressed since this is a remaster and not a remake, but it is worth keeping in mind that this release will not change your mind if you bounced off the game on 3DS. It is still an excellent RPG, but its roots are very much felt here despite how good it can look on modern screens.

This new remaster of Monster Hunter Stories is easily the best way to experience an actual 3DS classic from Capcom. I always said Monster Hunter Stories was the best looking 3DS game, and it now shines on modern screens thanks to a remaster that did a lot more than I expected. While it isn’t as good as Monster Hunter Stories 2, Monster Hunter Stories is still worth playing for not only fans of the Monster Hunter games, but also fans of RPGs in general. It is obviously aimed at a younger audience so keep that in mind, but there’s no denying Monster Hunter Stories is excellent in just about every way.

Monster Hunter Stories Steam Deck Review Score: 4.5/5

Duck Detective: The Secret Salami Steam Deck Review

When I got an email about Duck Detective: The Secret Salami, I immediately knew I wanted to play it based on its premise. Having now played it, I’m glad I did because it is fantastic. My only real complaint is that I wish there was more of it, but this mystery adventure game has been a lovely and charming surprise. Given the short length, I decided to play Duck Detective: The Secret Salami on both Switch and Steam Deck to see how it feels on both portable systems.

The mystery and adventure genres are full of some great games, but I love it when a developer tries to do something different. Duck Detective: The Secret Salami isn’t mechanically amazing or anything, but it excels in its setting, charm, voice acting, and music. As I made my way through the story filling in the blanks, I ended up hoping Duck Detective: The Secret Salami would go on longer. I already knew it was a short game when I got my review code, and while the price is justified given the quality here, I hope we see many more games from the developers in this series.

On Steam Deck, Duck Detective: The Secret Salami runs at 16:10, supports Steam Cloud, and runs at a locked 90fps on Steam Deck. I have no complaints with how it plays here, and you can even use touch controls. On Switch, Duck Detective: The Secret Salami also plays great, but the lack of touch support is my only complaint. If you were hoping to have a good portable experience with Duck Detective: The Secret Salami, you can’t go wrong with both Switch and Steam Deck.

If my only complaint with a game is that it gets over too soon and I want more of it, I take that as a good sign. Duck Detective: The Secret Salami is a lovely and charming surprise that I enjoyed playing for about three hours. On paper, the voice acting and music with this aesthetic shouldn’t work, but the developers managed to pull through and deliver something special. You can also press a button to quack.

Duck Detective: The Secret Salami Steam Deck Review Score: 4.5/5

Isles of Sea and Sky Steam Deck Review

When I first saw Isles of Sea and Sky gameplay, I knew I had to play it. I was hoping it would be fine on Steam Deck as well. Not only does it play great on Valve’s handheld, but I ended up thinking about it constantly even while playing other games. It has that draw where I want to just quickly boot it up to try and make some progress.

Isles of Sea and Sky is an open world puzzle game that starts off with you just pushing blocks. Even in its opening moments, you start seeing how much freedom you have in-game, and things start to get complex quite fast with mechanics and changes. One thing I love about the puzzle games that opt for a more open structure, is being able to come back to puzzles later on and still make progress by taking another path. Isles of Sea and Sky excels at this, and it feels like a gorgeous puzzle box full of blocks to stimulate your brain with, and one that has crisp and colorful visuals.

Even if you’re new to puzzle games, I recommend Isles of Sea and Sky because of how approachable it makes everything despite the depth. It feels like an old school puzzle game in the modern era, but one with quite a few modern features.

On Steam Deck, Isles of Sea and Sky hasn’t been tested by Valve yet, but it works perfectly. You can change window mode only when it comes to graphics. There’s also a streamer mode option that adds a space in the interface for an avatar or video for those streaming the game. I had no issues running the game. It plays at 16:9 and is capped at 60fps, but it does support Steam Cloud. I imagine it will be Steam Deck Verified soon.

Isles of Sea and Sky is a superb puzzle game that is absolutely worth your time. It also feels right at home on Steam Deck, and manages to stand out with its gorgeous art, puzzles, open world, and blend of ideas. If you enjoy puzzle games, stop what you’re doing and get this now.

Isles of Sea and Sky Steam Deck Review Score: 5/5

Broken Roads Steam Deck Review

It sucks when you’re excited to play a game and it ends up falling short, but that’s exactly what happened with Broken Roads at launch. The Australia setting, voice acting, and music were good, but it was too buggy and linear. It has been just over two months since I started playing Broken Roads on Steam Deck, and it is in a much better place with the newest update. I wanted to do a quick review covering how the current game feels on Steam Deck after recent updates.

Broken Roads is a modern take on traditional party-based RPGs with elements of Disco Elysium and Wasteland, but one that doesn’t live up to its inspirations by the end of it. The Australian setting, voice acting, music, and visuals are highlights for sure. The narrative will be hit or miss for a lot of people. The one constant throughout my different save files and attempts and seeing how varied things can be in Broken Roads, has been the combat not feeling fully realized, and also some of the quests. The moral compass in-game feels tacked on in parts because I sometimes felt like I had no real freedom to do or say what I wanted even early on. As a concept, I like what it could be, but it needs some more work here.

Broken Roads on Steam Deck is a bit of a mixed bag in some ways, but plays well. You can’t change any settings barring forcing windowed mode and the resolution with a few refresh rate options. Broken Roads supports 16:10 800p and 90hz natively, but it can’t hit that 90fps beyond the opening portions. I’d recommend capping it from the quick access menu. Aside from that, it plays well out of the box with full controller support and even has a large font option to make it better in handheld mode. I didn’t try Broken Roads docked on my monitor so I cannot comment on how it feels there. I ended up capping it to 45fps at 90hz when playing.

Broken Roads has improved quite a bit since I played it in early April, but still needs a bit more work to be an easy recommendation. In its current state, I can recommend it, but it is a few updates away from being something special. It definitely needs a demo because I can’t imagine many people will give it a shot at its current asking price given the launch reception.

Broken Roads Steam Deck Review Score: 3.5/5

Umbraclaw Steam Deck Impressions

Shaun already covered Umbraclaw on Switch in his review, but I wanted to cover how it felt on Steam Deck. As with many of Inti Creates’ PC ports, on launching the game, you’re prompted with a button configuration option for whatever controller you’re using. This lets you map buttons as you please before jumping into the game.

Once that’s done, Umbraclaw basically runs at a locked 60fps. On Steam Deck and the Steam Deck OLED, I found no way of running it higher than 60fps. Some prior Inti Creates PC ports have supported 120fps, but I don’t see an option for that here when playing on the Deck itself. Umbraclaw plays at 16:9 or is stretched. It looks great out of the box, but I recommend manually changing it to 720p or 1080p. The frame rate stays the same but you might find the increased clarity better.

Umbraclaw has DualSense button prompt support on Steam Deck when using a DualSense, but I found no way of changing button prompts when playing using the Deck’s own controls. You can rebind keyboard and controller buttons, toggle v-sync, adjust resolution (seemingly capped at 1080p), and frame rate. Note that on Steam Deck the frame rate option doesn’t seem to work, and it is capped at 60fps as I mentioned above.

If you aren’t sure if Umbraclaw is for you, I recommend trying the free demo on Steam. I ended up liking it more than I expected going into it. The stained glass meets painterly aesthetic shines on the Steam Deck OLED display for sure.

News and Trailers

Not a lot of news this week following the Summer Game Fest 2024 bonanza, but there are a few bits of note. The highlights are below. Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance is now available on all consoles and Steam. Alongside the launch trailer, Atlus also has a very weird and hilarious Slipknot interview as a part of the collaboration. I never thought I’d see Slipknot’s Clown being interviewed on the Atlus YouTube channel, but here we are. Watch both videos below:

Fallen Aces Episode One is out now on Steam Early Access from New Blood Interactive. Yes, it is finally here and only $9.99 (how?). Watch the launch trailer for it below:

Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO had a new gameplay features trailer go up confirming an offline multiplayer mode and a lot more including Custom Battle, Episode Battle, and showcasing new gameplay of course. Watch it below:

Digital Extremes released a new TennoCon 2024 hype trailer ahead of the event set for next month. If you missed my interview with Creative Director Rebb Ford, read it here. Watch the video below:

Caves of Qud got its Spring Molting Update, the last major update before 1.0, this recent week on Steam bringing a change to the UI to be friendly for mouse and gamepads in addition to more new features. Watch the trailer for it below:

Shovel Knight: Shovel of Hope DX is in the works for Steam as an enhanced version of the original game with 20 characters with unique playstyles, online multiplayer, Challenge Stages, Custom Knight, and more. Watch the announcement trailer below:

New Steam Deck Verified & Playable games for the week

Catching up with basically two weeks of new Steam Deck Verified and Playable games has resulted in a bigger list than usual, which means more surprises.

• AMANATSU Perfect Edition – Unsupported
• Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure – Verified
• Bulwark: Falconeer Chronicles – Verified
• Chivalry 2 – Playable
• Command & Conquer: Generals – Playable
• Cryptmaster – Playable
• Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- Sweep the Board! – Playable (via TouchArcade reader Mor)
• DRAGON BALL Z: KAKAROT Steam – Verified (via TouchArcade reader Mor)
• Duck Detective: The Secret Salami – Verified
• Dungeons of Hinterberg – Playable
• F1 24 – Unsupported
• INDIKA – Verified
• Machinika Museum – Playable
• Mashiroiro Symphony HD Sana Edition – Unsupported
• Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite – Playable
• Nine Sols – Verified (via TouchArcade reader Mor)
• Out of the Park Baseball 25 – Playable
• Outcast – A New Beginning – Playable (via TouchArcade reader Mor)

• Quest Master – Verified
• Rabbit and Steel – Playable
• Read Only Memories: NEURODIVER – Verified
• Reus 2 – Playable (via TouchArcade reader Mor)
• Rolling Hills: Make Sushi, Make Friends – Verified
• Rotwood – Playable
• SAND LAND – Playable
• Scars Above – Playable
• Selaco – Playable (via TouchArcade reader Mor)
• Still Wakes the Deep – Playable
• Tchia – Verified (via TouchArcade reader Mor)
• Thank Goodness You’re Here! – Verified
• The Lullaby of Life – Verified
• The Red Lantern – Verified
• The Rogue Prince of Persia – Unsupported
• The Shell Part II: Purgatorio – Unsupported
• Truxton 2 – Playable
• Vigor – Playable (via TouchArcade reader Mor)
• Void Crew – Playable

Steam Deck Game Sales, Discounts, and Specials

Instead of sales, I’m going to use this space to recommend checking out the newest Steam Next Fest with many demos for upcoming games. I’m going to be playing quite a few demos tonight. The ones I recommend are Fumes, Hookah Haze, Blade Chimera, Metal Slug Tactics (no controller support yet), Blue Prince, Maid Cafe on Electric Street, LOK Digital, Bo: Path of the Teal Lotus, #BLUD, and Wizard of Legend 2.

That’s all for this edition of the Steam Deck Weekly. 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.

The Shovel Knight Dig Wicked Wishes DLC begins in the Hoofman’s Guild Hall where you climb the ranks after clearing challenges to collect relics and buffs while facing off against new bosses and enemies.

Watch the Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon Paradox Pack DLC trailer below:

This DLC pack adds new characters, challenging stages, relics, items, cheats, and more. If you have an active Netflix subscription, you can grab Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon on the App Store for iOS here and on Google Play for Android here. Make sure to read my interview with Yacht Club Games discussing Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon, the developer’s other releases, working with Netflix, and more here. We featured it as our Game of the Week when it launched. If you have Apple Arcade, you can grab Shovel Knight Dig on the App Store here. Both games are also on PC and consoles as a paid release. If you watched the showcase, what do you think of the announcements and will you try the DLC for the two games on mobile?

TouchArcade (TA): Since Warframe hit mobile back in February, it has gotten quite a few updates bringing it up to speed with all the other platforms, and to improve the mobile version in general. How has it been for the team to not only ship updates on all platforms simultaneously, but also deliver feature updates to mobile?

Rebecca Ford (RF): So yesterday was June 11th, and we kind of hit a point where we thought about what we are doing with the playability on the iOS platform. We have all these optimizations and improvements that just haven’t shipped yet like auto aim, performance improvements, and we’re trying to decide to make the best next swing for the mobile client. Is it about content parity or is it about all these optimizations? We’re making a plan right now to make sure that even with something like Jade Shadows and with all the stuff that’s for TennoCon, that we’re not ignoring some of the core playability problems. We still have a team cracking away at it. We’re working with partners and we’re working with getting everything going so it’s just a bit more approachable.

TA: How has it been for the team looking at the response from players on iPhone and iPad specifically after launch?

RF: It’s kind of been all over the place. You have a 10 year old game that suddenly launches on a new platform, and I think I have a bit of a veteran problem where I know what I use it for which is, login and grab my systemic things, but then you have this opportunity of an entirely new market that have an entirely new experience with the game, and it’s kind of exposed some problems in Warframe’s early game. We always get exposed to that, but it’s done once again, and it’s kind of put me in a position just as an individual where now I actually am playing more mobile games just to understand them better.

I can’t look at Warframe as anything other than Warframe. For instance, I’ve gotten really into Honkai Star Rail just to understand. I’m not looking at it for anything other than the mobile client. It’s not like we’re gonna add gacha to our game or anything. It’s kind of radical and eye-opening in terms of the usability differences in a game like Honkai Star Rail where you just tap and it’s so well optimized and beautiful, and then you have Warframe where you really asked to touch a lot all the time to play the game. We had someone on our team do a spy mission and it was a radical paradigm shift mentally still I think.

TA: Have you had a chance to try out some of the recent big iPhone 15 Pro ports like Death Stranding and Resident Evil 4 Remake?

RF: No, but god’s willing I will as soon as possible, because Resident Evil 4, especially the remake, is one of my all timers right now. Playing that as soon as possible, would be incredible, but no I haven’t touched it. Have you?

TA: The reason I bring it up is Capcom is going to launch Resident Evil 7 biohazard in a few weeks on iPhone and iPad, and they seem to have done an actual new interface for the mobile version. Resident Evil 4 and Village just had a ton of buttons on the screen which was a mess for touch controls. I think they probably just had to ship those for folks who don’t use a controller. This is the first time they seem to be doing something bespoke for the platform. I was just wondering if you tried them. You know the Backbone controller, right? Everyone uses that on their iPhone. When they shipped a special Death Stranding Edition controller, I thought it would be a really nice experience on the phone in general, but it is a mess for touch controls. Thankfully, Warframe is good with touch controls.

TA: Speaking of the Backbone controller. Are there any plans to do a Warframe themed Backbone controller?

RF: I don’t know (laughs). I wish I knew.

TA: Before we get to Jade Shadows and TennoCon, the big question everyone is asking about mobile is what about Android? Back in February, the plan was to have it go into testing on Android this year. Can we expect a date for that at TennoCon?

RF: We are pretty aggressively reviewing the mobile version as it is on what’s already out there. As a team, as a business, we have to decide what state we want mobile to be in before we add more. We’re very bullish usually about getting everyone in and getting going. I think by TennoCon we will have decided which is usually a good sign that TennoCon forces us to make decisions in a good way. So we will know by then. I don’t have anything to announce right now, though.

TA: Next week’s Warframe Jade Shadows update is a huge one for the game. How has it been for the team through the last week and leading into launch next week?

RF: It’s gonna be a very cathartic update for us because this is one of the longest concept to execution updates we’ve ever done. We were talking about Jade shadows as far back as late 2022 and early 2023. We actually intended to ship this last year, and then with some delays and with the scope of Whispers in the Walls, we had to move it. We did intend to ship it last year. So for me, I’ve been waiting over a year for players to experience this in some way. The feeling for the team is, “it’s finally here!". We’re actually excited to time it, at least I am, to TennoCon because having an update before that, while difficult to achieve in terms of development, it’s great for the community because it gives you such a touch point to talk about something that just happened, and then look to the future. Everyone is very excited, nervous, and a little bit terrified because of some of the places that this quest goes narratively, so fingers crossed.

TA: I’m glad you brought up the narrative. I’m not up to speed with the latest Warframe story and updates. When I talked to friends about the game, and brought up Jade Shadows when it was dated, they all told me to stop reading about it and just go play the game to get caught up for spoiler reasons. Even the Jade Shadows website has a spoiler warning. How do you deal with updates like this and for folks who are either still early into the game or new to Warframe in general and was there any consideration for making this quest approachable for newer players as well?

RF: Yes, and no. We were deciding whether or not we would put it right after The Second Dream or right after The New War, and then we made the decision to put it after The New War because we wanted to go a little more heavy, I think, with themes that might be a little off-putting early on in the game especially with just some conceptual themes that we were exploring. So for us it was important to put this a bit later, but we do trust our community to follow our lead and not spoil it. We hope that works out usual. There will be some cases where things get spoiled, but ultimately we made the decision. It has to be later in the game. It’s a shorter quest, but it pays off a lot more if you’ve built up a relationship with Stalker to that point. So that was one of the more important things.

TA: Jade obviously has an amazing design, and you said you were waiting for a year for players to experience this quest. I wanted to know how Jade compares to your favorite Warframes in the game right now.

RF: I will be fully honest. The reason this took such an endeavor to release was because of Jade’s visual design. Our character artist, Michael Skyers, came up with this Warframe. We saw what we were working with, and we just went okay now is the time to do a Stalker quest because there’s such opposites. Stalker is this vampiric edgelord and then Jade is this Angelic presence with all of her nuances. For me, the fact that she can fly around puts her top rank right now in terms of actual play design, but once you play the story it’s gonna be pretty hard to dethrone her for me for a long time. She’s my tentative current number one Warframe for lore reasons, as well as her kit. So in this regard, it’s gonna be hard to dethrone her.

TA: Another question I asked you last time was about more Warframe merchandise. Jade’s design is perfect for a nice statue like the OverWatch collectors edition one. Is that something we can expect at TennoCon because I saw some merchandise teases on the website?

RF: For merch for Jade there’s some surprises. There is a Stalker statue and there’s a Stalker ball cap. I will say the one thing we did do, (at this point Rebecca showcased some art via screen share on the call), and have coming in Jade Shadows, is we worked with an artist whose art I have in my house. We have this artist that we reached out to, Eileen Kai Hing Kwan (shown below), and she does this beautiful artwork and we worked with her to do three custom art pieces for this quest that we will also be selling in limited editions at Tennocon. They’re gonna be beautiful prints of art pieces from the quest. She is a fantastic artist, and they will also be available for free in game. We’re giving these posters in-game for free, and then we’re doing a limited edition series of prints for them at TennoCon. Her work is just incredible, and I’m so excited that we get to put her work in the game and my house is decorated with this as well as you can imagine.

TA: You mentioned you’ve been waiting a year for this update to ship, and it’s a big one. I wanted to know if you could share some interesting anecdotes from development leading into launch next week.

RF: Both of these anecdotes will make sense after the quest. The first anecdote, so in 2023, Steve said something publicly that was a direct reference to this update, and players have no idea. It’s haunted me ever since. I have been haunted by Steve saying something about this and that is horrifying to me. For a year I’ve lived with this nightmare.

The second anecdote is that Megan sent me a video of her watching the quest playthrough, and it was just 90 seconds of her crying. I’m not laughing at that, I’m laughing because hopefully players see what we were going for, and fall in love with the story as much as we did making it. Steve has haunted me for a year and Megan’s reaction to the quest was a 90 second video of her watching it and just crying, and that’s a true story and I have the video as proof.

TA: What are your thoughts on Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail so far without spoilers?

RF: It’s gonna be a pick-me-up update it looks like. It doesn’t seem to be super high stakes, which I actually really like. So it’s very much the beginning of a new adventure. I love the world, the tone, and the theme. The Pictomancer looks super cute, the Viper looks super badass. I looked at some gear sets and they look pretty cool. I haven’t read any of the previews from the level 100 job changes. I haven’t looked at any of that. I’m a Black Mage main and it seems like it’s pretty intensely being discussed right now. So we’ll see how I feel. What about you?

TA: I’ve been avoiding the story stuff because I’ve been slowly making progress into Heavensward’s patches and I finally reached and put in about 15 hours into the main story of Stormblood on Steam Deck which is really cool. I’m very interested in the new visual upgrade, and to see how it runs on Steam Deck and consoles, also for new music from Soken of course.

RF: I’m actually going to Japan to see The Primals. I’m so excited for Tokyo Game Show. That’s gonna be fun, or I’m hoping to go I should say. The graphic stuff is really interesting, because in a work capacity, we have a really similar problem to them where we have a 10 year old game. We have PlayStation 4, but they are clearly much more complex with their MMO, you have to load so many player avatars, where we have a maximum of 50 in our relays. Looking at their graphics update stuff has been fascinating. I sent it to Steve Sinclair who was a graphics programmer, he’s now our CEO. I was kind of asking him about the graphics overhaul, you can see what they’ve done with character models and lighting, and everything. We were looking at it, because we’re coming to a point now where we need to be looking at some of our graphics like our operators for instance. Those are now 10 years old so the texture work, and the rendering and everything we used for those, I would love to revisit in the same way. We already did an engine overhaul. We enhanced our renderer and we support GI lighting as recently as last year. So we’re always updating our graphics engine and programming, and all those things, but there are pieces where it’s gonna matter a lot to the players when it comes to their characters. It’s a shared struggle across long-running games.

TA: Have you been playing anything else aside from Final Fantasy XIV and Warframe lately?

RF: Honkai Star Rail. I’ve literally been playing it because I am just fascinated by it. My dearest colleague, AKA my work wife Pablo, is a die-hard Genshin Impact and Honkai Star Rail player and plays them so much. So finally, I decided to play Honkai Star Rail because whatever, and I’ve been playing every day. Just to see and learn. Balatro, I play until I fall asleep. I play Balatro so much. It is the best. Balatro is probably my most played game of the year, which is saying something. I’m obsessed, it’s so good.

TA: When I was watching one of the recent Devstreams, you mentioned Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End. I’ve had loads of people tell me to watch it. Why do you like it so much and why should I watch it?

RF: You should watch Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End because it is a beautiful reflection on what time passing means to your identity, and what it means to the life you can live. It is pure art, and I love it so much, and I tried to tell someone in the office to watch it, and I couldn’t stop crying as I was talking to them. It’s got it all, Frieren is the best, and she’s so cool. It’s not what you expect because it’s so much more than just an anime. I love it so much. It’s just so beautiful.

TA: Okay, I’ll try watching one episode this week.

RF: Watch the first two episodes. You have to do it back to back. That’s it.

TA: As usual, for my last question, what coffee Are you drinking today?

RF: I had an iced vanilla latte with oat milk. It’s hot here. I’m sure it’s hotter where you are, but it’s hot here. I had my ice vanilla latte with oat milk. I made it over in our little cafeteria.

I’d like to thank Rebecca Ford and Tatum from Digital Extremes for their time here.

You can keep up with all our interviews here including our recent ones with M2 discussing shmups and more here, Digital Extremes for Warframe mobile, Team NINJA, Sonic Dream Team, Hi-Fi Rush, Pentiment, and more. As usual, thanks for reading.

Note that this review will focus on how the KINGDOM HEARTS PC ports (all three bundles) play on Steam Deck. I will not be covering every individual game included here as there is no new content, and they have all been ported multiple times since their debut on PS4 to Xbox One, PC, and even through cloud versions on Nintendo Switch if you count that. I have tested all the games here on my Steam Deck OLED, and a few on the LCD model as well. All the games below were tested using Proton Experimental.

Before getting into the individual games and bundles here, you might be curious what makes the PC version worth considering. Currently, the KINGDOM HEARTS games on consoles are PS4 and Xbox One games running via backward compatibility on PS5 and Xbox Series X. There is no native current generation version. While this might not be a big deal for the likes of KINGDOM HEARTS HD 1.5+2.5 ReMIX which was already 4K 60, it would’ve helped in the newer releases. It is also worth noting that the KINGDOM HEARTS games on PC support frame rates above 60fps including in KINGDOM HEARTS III if your hardware can handle it at those high frame rates. All games here also support up to 4K and run out of the box on Steam Deck. I’ve not finished playing all of them considering I just got review codes before the weekend, but if you were hoping to experience or replay all the KINGDOM HEARTS games on Steam Deck, your wait has been worth it.

KINGDOM HEARTS HD 1.5+2.5 ReMIX Steam Deck Review

KINGDOM HEARTS HD 1.5+2.5 ReMIX is easily the best value proposition of the KINGDOM HEARTS games releasing on Steam this week. It originally released on PS3 as two separate bundles of older titles, but was brought to PS4 as a combined release. On Steam, KINGDOM HEARTS HD 1.5+2.5 ReMIX includes KINGDOM HEARTS FINAL MIX, KINGDOM HEARTS Re:Chain of Memories, KINGDOM HEARTS II FINAL MIX, KINGDOM HEARTS 358/2 Days (HD cutscene compilation), KINGDOM HEARTS Birth by Sleep FINAL MIX, and KINGDOM HEARTS Re:coded (HD cutscene compilation). That is a lot of game for its asking price, but note that these are all older titles, so they have some quirks even though they look good when played on modern screens.

If you’re new to KINGDOM HEARTS, KINGDOM HEARTS HD 1.5+2.5 ReMIX itself is an easy recommendation. Having played it on PS3, PS4, and Xbox platforms over the years, KINGDOM HEARTS HD 1.5+2.5 ReMIX is perfect on Steam Deck, and playing it in portable on Valve’s handheld is my favorite version of this release. There are some things to keep in mind though when it comes to the performance across both Steam Deck LCD and OLED models.

Before playing it on Steam Deck, I redownloaded the release on Xbox to replay bits on my Xbox Series X just to get back into the groove. I forgot how clean most of the games in this package look on modern displays with this excellent remaster as well. Moving from Xbox Series X to my Steam Deck OLED was interesting because I found a few issues relating to frame rates above 60fps on not only the Steam Deck OLED screen, but also when played docked on my 144hz monitor.

KINGDOM HEARTS HD 1.5+2.5 ReMIX doesn’t have too many graphics or display options. From the config menu, you can adjust screen mode (fullscreen, borderless, and windowed), resolution (800×600 to 4K), frame rate (30, 60, 120, and uncapped), toggle v-sync (called refresh rate in-game), display brightness, and colorblind settings. There are no graphics options that I could find in games like KINGDOM HEARTS 2 HD. You can set the game to display Xbox, PlayStation, Generic, or auto-detect button prompts, and it also has keyboard input support.

As of now, it seems like there’s a bug relating to refresh rates higher than 60 and camera movement. I ended up having a better experience on my Steam Deck LCD than OLED out of the box. I fixed this by setting the OLED screen’s refresh rate to 60hz, enabling v-sync, and cap the game to 60fps in-game. I hope a 90hz fix is found or patched in. Leaving it at 90hz or 144hz on my main monitor even at a lower resolution to just see how the frame rate held up resulted in camera movement issues and even the game sometimes slowing down. I recommend sticking to the 60fps and 60hz refresh rate right now. If I discover a better solution, I’ll make sure to mention it here as an update.

Revisiting KINGDOM HEARTS HD 1.5+2.5 ReMIX on a portable natively has been amazing. The package is incredible value even today and it shines on Steam Deck. If you’ve never played a KINGDOM HEARTS game before, get KINGDOM HEARTS HD 1.5+2.5 ReMIX on Steam Deck immediately. I do recommend grabbing the full KINGDOM HEARTS INTEGRUM MASTERPIECE on discount for the best value overall though.

KINGDOM HEARTS HD 1.5+2.5 ReMIX Steam Deck Review Score: 4.5/5

KINGDOM HEARTS HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue Steam Deck Review

KINGDOM HEARTS HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue was actually the first KINGDOM HEARTS release I bought on PS4 back in the day. While most were excited for KINGDOM HEARTS 0.2 Birth by Sleep to get a taste of KINGDOM HEARTS III, I wanted to play KINGDOM HEARTS Dream Drop Distance HD (a remaster of the 3DS entry). This release also includes KINGDOM HEARTS χ Back Cover, the movie. After its release on PS4, KINGDOM HEARTS HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue was brought to Xbox One and eventually the Epic Games Store for PC. A few years later, KINGDOM HEARTS HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue is now on Steam, and it works fine out of the box on Steam Deck.

On Steam Deck, KINGDOM HEARTS HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue doesn’t have as many graphics options as you’d expect. You can adjust resolution (800×600 to 4K0, frame rate (30, 60, 120, and uncapped), refresh rate (v-sync), brightness, and colorblind options. These options seem common with the KINGDOM HEARTS games including the button prompt and keyboard options.

When it comes to performance, 60fps in KINGDOM HEARTS Dream Drop Distance HD is easy. Running it above 60fps caused some camera issues in the time I put into it. I ended up capping it to 60fps. Back Cover plays fine and doesn’t require any Proton changes like some speculated pre-release. KINGDOM HEARTS HD 0.2 Birth by Sleep cannot run at a locked 60fps on Steam Deck at 720 or 800p. It drops to the high 40s even early on. It can go way higher than 60 as well, but I would recommend playing this at 45fps at 90hz using the Steam Deck’s quick access menu if you have an OLED. If you want a locked 60fps, it seems like you will need to play at a lower resolution. I turned it down to 800×600 just to see, and 90fps seemed doable.

KINGDOM HEARTS HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue is not the best of the three KINGDOM HEARTS games releasing on Steam this week in terms of pure value, but it is still great for fans and worth playing if you’re going through the games one by one. It plays great out of the box on Steam Deck thankfully, but I don’t recommend buying this one on its own. I would recommend getting it through the combined bundle with all KINGDOM HEARTS releases right now.

KINGDOM HEARTS HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue Steam Deck Review Score: 3.5/5

KINGDOM HEARTS III + Re Mind DLC Steam Deck Review

KINGDOM HEARTS III + Re Mind DLC (henceforth KINGDOM HEARTS III) is the newest release of this set that originally debuted in 2019 on PS4 and Xbox One. I played it on both PS4 Pro and Xbox One X at launch, and hadn’t really revisited it aside from the Re Mind DLC’s launch. Fast forward to today, I’ve been playing it on Steam Deck, and it runs out of the box without any trouble, but getting a locked 60fps requires some effort.

KINGDOM HEARTS III + Re Mind DLC includes the base game, a Steam exclusive keyblade, and the Re Mind DLC. Note that the concert video available on the PS4 and Xbox One versions of the DLC bundle is seemingly not included here. KINGDOM HEARTS III itself with the DLC is priced a lot lower than the same bundle on consoles. If you already played it on consoles, the reason to get it on PC specifically is to have much better performance, though that doesn’t really apply to Steam Deck out of the box.

On Steam Deck and PC, KINGDOM HEARTS III lets you adjust screen mode (fullscreen, windowed, borderless), resolution (800×600 to 4K), resolution scale (50 to 200), frame rate cap (30, 60, 120, and uncapped), toggle v-sync, display brightness, HDR (I could not get this to work at all on Steam Deck OLED even docked), HRD brightness, and colorblind options. The KINGDOM HEARTS III PC graphics options let you adjust presets (low, medium, high, max, or custom), texture quality (medium, high, max), shadow quality (low, medium, high, max), level of detail distance, character level of detail (low, medium, high, max), foliage level of detail (same options), anti-aliasing (off, FXAA, TXAA, or both), toggle motion blur, ambient occlusion (off, low, medium, high), capsule shadows (off, medium, high), screen space reflections (off, low, medium, high, max), volumetric clouds (medium, high), volumetric fog (low, medium, high), bloom (low, medium, high, max), toggle lens flare, and depth of field (off, medium, high, max).

Back when KINGDOM HEARTS III launched on PS4 and Xbox One, it also had PS4 Pro and Xbox One X support. I remember playing it all the way on PS4 Pro running at 1080p to get the best frame rate. I’ve since replayed it on Xbox Series X via backward compatibility, but the game did not hit close to a locked 60fps even at 900p on base PS4. This had me wondering how things would be on Steam Deck OLED. Playing at the low preset and native resolution (100 scale) results in 60fps nearly locked in the opening hours with some drops, but I ended up setting it to 75% render scale for a more consistent experience. Medium with a 60fps target sees drops to the high 50s often, and you can stick to playing at 45fps at 90hz on Steam Deck OLED here. The high preset runs in the low 50s often if not dropping to the 40s in parts so I would not recommend it unless you want to play at 40hz with some drops or even cap to 30fps. Based on what I’ve played, I’d stick to the medium preset with some tweaks or play at low if you want the closest to a locked 60fps experience.

I decided to see if 90fps was possible at all next. Turning it to low, running at 720p (800p renders at 16:9), and using a 50% render scale still sees drops to the 80s often if not lower even early on, and seeing some drops to even the high 50s. Don’t bother attempting to get 90fps here. Running at the max preset and native resolution results in drops to the mid 30s often. I’d only use this if you want to play with a 30fps cap.

KINGDOM HEARTS III lets you use Japanese or English voiceover options from the language options under game settings. It also has multiple subtitle options including full EFIGS and more. When it comes to controls, KINGDOM HEARTS III has keyboard support, but I didn’t test it. On the controller side, it lets you select from three button prompt options including PlayStation, Xbox, and a generic controller. You can set this to automatically detect button prompts as well.

While I wish a locked 60fps was possible with better visuals, KINGDOM HEARTS III runs a lot better on Steam Deck than I expected given how it was on base PS4. I hope the load times can be improved though because they seem long even when running off the Steam Deck OLED’s internal SSD.

One thing to note is that while PS4 and Xbox One had an option to buy a more expensive version of ReMind with a concert recording, the PC version doesn’t have that included or an option to upgrade to it. I hope this can be added at some point, but don’t expect it given how long it took to see this package hit Steam.

KINGDOM HEARTS III is a lot more demanding compared to the other releases here, and it understandably struggles to hit a locked 60fps out of the box on Steam Deck. With a bit of tweaking, that is possible though, and having native KINGDOM HEARTS III on a handheld with rock solid performance, is excellent. If you held off on the games on PS4 or Xbox One before, KINGDOM HEARTS III is a solid PC release that has no issues running on Steam Deck including its cut-scenes. I enjoyed my time revisiting it on the go.

KINGDOM HEARTS III + Re Mind DLC Steam Deck Review Score: 4/5

If you, like me, held off on getting the Kingdom Hearts games on the Epic Games Store on PC, your wait has been absolutely worth it. Every KINGDOM HEARTS game in these bundles runs without issue on Steam Deck out of the box. There is some tweaking needed for specific games if you want to play at higher frame rates though so keep that in mind. I hope this does well enough to get KINGDOM HEARTS: Melody of Memory on Steam in the near future.

Update: This review has been updated on June 20th, 2024 with the final review score for each game included here after testing more on the Steam Deck OLED and LCD models.

If you’ve not played the game in a while, check out the 2024 roadmap for what is due this year and more. You can get Diablo Immortal for free on the App Store for iOS here, Google Play for Android here, and PC here. Even though it has been a while since launch, I’m still curious to see if we get Diablo Immortal on Steam after Diablo 4 hit Valve’s storefront. What do you think of Diablo Immortal if you play it regularly and will you be trying out today’s update?

You can check out the Genshin Impact Cloud Open Beta version of the app on the App Store for iOS here and on Google Play for ANdroid here. Check out the official cloud client website here for the PC link. This release has arrived before the upcoming major version 5.0 update that has upgraded visuals. Read about that here. If you’d like to play Genshin Impact (natively) and don’t own it yet, you can download it for free on the App Store for iOS here and on Google Play for Android here. The PC version is available on the official website here and the Epic Games Store. If you play on iOS, with iOS 14.5 or iPadOS 14.5 and later, you can use PS5 and Xbox Series X|S controllers to play Genshin Impact. We featured Genshin Impact as our Game of the Week when it released and awarded it our 2020 Game of the Year. I also featured it as one of the best iOS games to play with a controller. What do you think of Genshin Impact Cloud and will you be trying it if you’re in a supported location?

If you’d like to play Sonic Dream Team, you can grab it here on the App Store for Apple Arcade. Head over to our forum thread for the game here for more discussion. With three major content updates done, I’m curious to see what comes next for the game, and whether Apple and SEGA bring more to it leading into the release of Sonic X Shadow Generations. What do you think of Sonic Dream Team so far if you’ve played it, and what do you want to see in potential future updates?

Watch the Avatar Legends: Realms Collide new gameplay trailer below:

If you’d like to play it at launch, you can pre-order Avatar Legends: Realms Collide on the App Store for iOS here and pre-register for it on Google Play for Android here. Check out the official website here. The Avatar Legends: Realms Collide background story has been written by Tim Hedrick (Nickelodeon’s Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra). Avatar Legends: Realms Collide is free to play and the App Store has an estimated release date of August 28th listed. An official release date is yet to be announced. The in app purchases right now look like placeholders for different VIP and Supreme bundles. What do you think of Avatar Legends: Realms Collide and will you be playing it launch?

I’m going to cover how Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance feels for those who played the original and also for newcomers who likely are going to experience Shin Megami Tensei V for the first time through Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance. This review will not have any story spoilers for the base game or the new Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance route. I will also be covering how Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance feels on Nintendo Switch compared to the original, which platform you should buy it on if you’re new to the game, and more.

It feels weird writing about Shin Megami Tensei V as a new release but here we are. After more than four playthroughs of the original, I wanted to keep playing more, but I decided to wait for potential ports or a re-release. Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance isn’t just a new enhanced port for current consoles and PC, but a dramatic improvement in just about every way over the original. After having beaten Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance twice and currently halfway through my third full playthrough, I can safely say that this is one of Atlus’ best games for replaying. I just love spending time in the world, so what exactly was changed or fixed in this new version?

Before getting into the story content, if you didn’t enjoy the open zones and general structure of Shin Megami Tensei V, that has not changed here. If you enjoyed everything the original had aside from its overall narrative (or lack thereof with many characters poorly developed or just tacked on), this Vengeance route is a huge improvement, but it also has many changes to the narrative. In a lot of ways, playing the original route in Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance feels like an enhanced new version of a game with quality of life features and all the technical improvements. The new route in Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance feels like a remixed take with new story content, new characters, lots of new voice acting, fantastic new music, new areas, changes to the original story, and its own different endings. Yes, Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance’s new route doesn’t have just a single ending.

When you start a new save in Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance, you get to choose which route you want to take soon after. Taking the girl’s hand results in you being on the Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance route, while not taking her hand results in you being on the original game’s route, but with the new features and quality of life improvements. If you play Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance on Switch, you get to carry over three demons into the compendium, some items, and additional items based on the endings you had in your save file. I laughed when three of my maxed out level 99 demons were carried over into Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance on Switch.

When it comes to the story, my issues with Shin Megami Tensei V weren’t that it wasn’t in your face throughout, or that I wanted more social elements. My issues were that some characters just showed up randomly during important moments when you don’t even remember they exist. One specific character seems to be super important, but I barely even remembered they existed until the ending of the game. The true ending in the original game also involved doing some missable quests that you wouldn’t even bother looking into unless you were going to complete every quest it had. I’ve done every quest the original game had on Switch with the DLC, and really thought they should have handled many aspects of the characters and story better.

Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance’s new route fixes most of this. Not only are there more interactions, but you actually see the cast grow with you and the world changing. Everything feels like it is part of a cohesive story that isn’t full of holes anymore. The new character interactions, additional dialogue in older scenes, remixed bosses, changes to cut-scenes, and more all come together to make Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance feel like the actual main game. I even enjoyed having Yoko in older story moments with new voiced dialogue and more context to specific situations. Barring Yoko, the major new story addition is the Qadistu. I won’t reveal too much about them, but they definitely served to improve Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance’s story a lot, and I enjoyed every interaction I had with them.

I can’t comment on every ending Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance has, but the ones I did get I liked. I did like the change to going for different paths here compared to the original. Knowledge from the original does help in a small way, but be prepared to have Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance surprise you both mechanically and narratively.

Before getting into the visual and performance improvements and other technical details, I want to highlight some of the gameplay changes in Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance. I can’t say for sure if this was only because of some of the new features, or because I knew every older map in and out, but I found Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance easier overall. Being able to save anywhere and using the sky view made exploration much less stressful here. Beyond that, the combat changes and additional negotiation options make Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance feel more complete. The only thing I dislike is the change to the Estoma ability that uses Magatsuhi gauge here instead of MP. You can’t spam it like you could in the vanilla game, and I got annoyed at the amount of enemy encounters in one specific map here. The challenge mode is also a lovely addition because I enjoy taking on older bosses or enemies again. I didn’t finish it all because it feels like a lot of it is meant for min-maxing.

If you’re new to Shin Megami Tensei V in general, I think the new Vengeance route is basically better than the original in every way. I’m curious how people who play this route first and then play the original will feel about the story across both. If you already played Shin Megami Tensei V, playing the Vengeance route will feel amazing with the story additions, changes to existing aspects of the game, and all the new boss fights and music. Even if this release just included the Vengeance route and was only on Switch, I would’ve been satisfied. Thankfully, Atlus and Sega have brought Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance complete with the original route and prior DLC to all current and last generation platforms.

Visually, Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance is a huge upgrade over the vanilla game since I focused on playing it on Steam Deck. Aside from the massive image quality and frame rate improvements over Switch, the new areas in the game are gorgeous. You saw some of these in the “New Locations" trailer, but seeing them in game at a high resolution is really something. When it comes to character models and new demons, I think Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance is one of Atlus’ strongest releases in years. It has an impeccable aesthetic that oozes the Shin Megami Tensei vibe I love from Atlus. This also carries over into its music.

I’ve never hid the fact that Shin Megami Tensei V has a sublime soundtrack. I listen to it regularly even years after it was originally released. Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance’s new music feels like a blend of Ryota Kozuka looking to deliver something that lives up to Shin Megami Tensei V, but also reaching back into his Shin Megami Tensei IV vibe. The new boss themes in particular are amazing. I can’t wait for the full new soundtrack to be released. Outside the music, the new voice acting in Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance is very good across the board. Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance might be my favorite Atlus re-release yet, and I don’t say that lightly.

I’ve been playing it on Steam Deck, Nintendo Switch, and PS5. On Steam Deck, Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance arrives Steam Deck Verified. This isn’t always a guarantee of something running well, but having done more than two full playthroughs specifically on Steam Deck, I’m very impressed by how Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance looks and runs.

Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance Steam Deck settings, graphics options, and features

If you play on a Steam Deck OLED, Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance can hit 90fps (and even higher on both Steam Decks when played docked) in many areas of the game, but it isn’t locked 90fps. At the default preset by turning a few things up and shadows down, I only saw it drop below 60fps in a few specific situations, but it almost always runs well above. The menus are capped at 60fps though. On my Steam Deck OLED specifically in handheld mode, it regularly runs at above 80fps even while exploring. The major area I noticed frame drops below 60 was the Fairy Village. You go there quite early on. Even the new locations hold up really well including the more open areas.

Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance on PC doesn’t have 16:10 support, but it has Steam Cloud support and full controller support. If you aren’t happy with the image quality at 800p, I recommend forcing 1080p for the internal display and playing at 30 or 45hz with some drops for the most crisp handheld experience. Speaking of handheld experience, Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance even on its default PC settings at 800p on Steam Deck is a huge upgrade in visuals and performance over the docked Nintendo Switch version that rarely held a stable 30.

I also played Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance on my 1440p 144hz display to see how it felt there. 1080p 60fps isn’t really possible on Steam Deck. I also tested 1440p and 4K and you can imagine how that went. I stuck to playing at 720p even docked to see how the game held up at frame rates above 90fps. Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance can easily hit above 100fps on Steam Deck at 720p even in some open areas. It just isn’t consistent and you’re better off locking it at 60fps or playing with a 90fps target and fluctuations. VRR would’ve helped a lot on the Steam Deck OLED’s 90hz screen in Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance. You can play at a lower resolution of course, but I didn’t want to settle for under 720p here.

Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance’s PC port lets you choose button prompt options including an auto option, adjust keyboard controls, rebind controls for field and menus, and adjust a few graphics options. You can toggle ambient occlusion, motion blur, and anti-aliasing. The display options let you adjust screen mode (fullscreen, borderless, windowed), resolution (640×480 to 4K), toggle v-sync, and use a frame rate limit (30, 60, 90, 120, 144, unlimited). There are no additional options, and I was hoping to see draw distance and other features we see in Unreal Engine PC ports. Hopefully this can be added in a potential update.

Overall, Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance is an absolute joy to play, and it might be my favorite console to PC conversion that I’ve played on Steam Deck alongside Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth for 2024. The load times are also very fast on Deck.

Shin Megami Tensei V Vs Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance on Nintendo Switch

Having beaten Shin Megami Tensei V on Switch multiple times years ago, I was curious to see how this new upgraded version of the game felt on the same platform. There are now a few more post processing options even on consoles like anti-aliasing which you can toggle on. It just can’t handle the game and drops from 30fps even indoors on Nintendo Switch both docked and handheld. I got used to it and put over 30 hours into the game on Switch OLED. If you played the original and enjoyed it on Switch, you will not have trouble playing this new version.

Comparing Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance to Shin Megami Tensei V has some visual changes. Even the FOV seems a bit different in the wide option the game has compared to the original. Beyond that, the new post-processing option toggles are not present in the original game either. I didn’t have enough time to test every location to compare because I was focusing on the Steam Deck version for this review, but it feels like Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance isn’t going to be much different in terms of performance compared to the original. If you are ok with that and want to play the new route on the same platform, this version is fine.

On the PS5 side, I can’t remember the last time I was this impressed by the glow up a game has seen moving from Switch to PS5/Xbox Series X. Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance looks incredibly crisp, runs flawlessly, and loads instantly on PS5. It even has PS5 Activity Card support.

Having played it on Steam Deck (main platform), Switch, Switch Lite, PS4 on PS5, and the native PS5 version, you might be wondering how the Xbox version is. Well, I didn’t take a code on that platform because I pre-ordered it there already. If there’s a notable difference between Xbox and PS5, I’ll update this review in the future.

Should you get Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance on PS5 or Switch?

At this stage, the only reason I’d recommend anyone play the Switch version is if they have no other platform to play it on and want to exclusively play in handheld mode. The downgrades compared to current platforms are just too big right now. Obviously this wasn’t an issue back at launch, but for those who have multiple platforms, keep in mind that every other version is better right now, and it absolutely shines on both Steam Deck and PS5. Hopefully Atlus can do an upgrade for the Nintendo Switch successor for those who buy Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance on Switch right now.

Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance isn’t just the definitive version of a game I loved years ago, but one of Atlus’ best RPGs in a long time. I always enjoy revisiting games I love every few years, but Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance is just an incredible upgrade and release on its own. It is one of the best games you can play on Steam Deck in general, not just for this year.

Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance Steam Deck Review Score: 5/5

If you’d like to play The Case of the Golden Idol on mobile and have an active Netflix subscription, you can grab it on the App Store for iOS here and on Google Play for Android here. The Case of the Golden Idol on Steam is available for $17.99 with the two DLC packs (that are incredible) are priced at $5.99 each. Check out the complete game and DLC here on Steam. Have you played The Case of the Golden Idol before, or will you be jumping into it for the first time on mobile through Netflix today?

After playing and enjoying M2’s on Darius Cozmic Collection Arcade and G Darius HD, I started buying every M2 ShotTriggers release on the PS Store and eShop in Japan. I knew I had to interview the team about these games, and that’s where today’s feature comes into the picture. I got a chance to chat with M2’s Yukiko Karashima and Naoki Horii about working on G Darius HD, M2 ShotTriggers, more Switch Ports, potential PS5 releases, Steam Deck, whether Mushihimesama Futari is happening, and more.

TouchArcade (TA): For those unaware, tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do at M2.

Yukiko Karashima (YK): I’m a director at M2 Co., Ltd., and was in charge of the G Darius HD port. I managed the overall planning and progress of the project, and handled the slowdown adjustment and other tasks.

Naoki Horii (NH): By building and running a company, I can produce the games I want to play. It’s like having a farm and growing the crops that you like. Apparently, my public title is CEO or something like that.

TA: In the last few years, we’ve seen many major M2 releases come to the West through ININ Games like the Taito releases. These include legendary games like G Darius HD, Darius Gaiden (in Arcade), and the Ray’Z collection. Which has been your favorite project so far?

NH: As a project that we put everything we had into, the Mega Drive/Genesis Gauntlet was my very favorite. We were all students, or living with our parents, so we were able to work on it until we were completely satisfied, without worrying about time or life pressures. There is a Japanese proverb that says, “The soul of the 3-year-old stays the same at 100," and only recently I came to realize that Gauntlet has always been my standard for everything we work on.

YK: I love and have feelings for all of them, but my personal favorite is Darius Gaiden, which is included in the Darius Cozmic Collection. I love shooting games, but I’m a beginner as far as skill goes. Darius Gaiden has a route with a pelican eel as the final boss, which is not too hard for beginners to clear. I would recommend even those who have never played a shooting game to give it a try.

TA: G Darius HD is a very special release because it was already amazing, but M2 did the huge 2.0 update making it basically perfect. What led to the team wanting to go above and beyond with G Darius HD for the 2.0 release?

YK: We started talking within the team about how awesome it would be to include everything up to G Darius Ver.2 even before the initial release. However, the slowdown adjustment work for G Darius was very difficult, and it took so long that we could not make it in time for the first release, so we talked with Taito and decided to do a 2.0 update. The team was very enthusiastic from the early stages of development, and although the porting was difficult, I was happy with all the things we were able to do.

TA: G Darius HD basically felt like an M2 ShotTriggers-lite release with how much it added. I wanted to know how M2 approaches gadgets for shmups?

YK: As with M2 ShotTriggers, we were reissuing a legendary shooting game for the modern era, so the G Darius HD gadgets were carefully considered and selected with the help of test players and staff familiar with the game, to make it accessible for new players and at the same time make it even more enjoyable for existing players. We then enlisted the help of programmers who specialize in analysis to implement everything.

In terms of the gadget design, we placed great importance on making them clearly visible and usable during game play. Because the game is a side-scroller, there is only so much free screen real-estate left for the large number of display elements, and the designers had a hard time fitting them on the screen.

Besides gadgets, M2 also focuses on recreating the play feel of the original game. The arcade version of G Darius uses the hardware to its limits and is very prone to slow down. In addition, because the background music is timed to the action with the amount of slowdown figured in, we took extra care in reproducing the slowdown.

Through Taito, we were able to hear from members involved in the development of the game about what they were doing back then, and with the cooperation of programmers, sound staff, and test players, we spent a long time repeatedly adjusting and testing the game to recreate it as best we could.
　

TA: The Darius series is very important to the industry, and I’m glad to see so much of it preserved perfectly thanks to M2. Is there anything more you’d like to do with Taito on Darius in the future?

NH: So Taito, what’s next? We still have Night Striker to work on before Darius!

YK: I’m interested in the other Darius titles that haven’t been ported yet, such as less well-known titles like Darius Wide that came out on mobile.

TA: I’ve bought every single M2 ShotTriggers release on PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch through the Japanese or North American digital releases. Not all games are on all current platforms. Are there any plans to bring Battle Garegga, Ketsui, and Dangun Feveron to Switch?

NH: Yes, if we have the opportunity. Let me rephrase that. We’re always looking for that opportunity.

TA: Now that DoDonPachi DOJ (amazing work) has been brought to the M2 ShotTriggers lineup on PS4 and Switch, can we hope for Mushihimesama Futari?

NH: We’re always looking for the opportunity. There are so many things I want to do compared to what I can actually do, I have to do something about it. (Laughs)

TA: Are there plans to bring M2 releases to PS5 natively or should we expect to play them via backward compatibility only?

NH: It can be both, and we are always looking for opportunities. A 60+ fps environment, or rather a 120 fps environment, is very appealing, so I would definitely like to do something with that.

TA: How has M2 changed over the years in terms of the number of employees and are all the founders and key staff from when it was founded still more or less at the studio?

NH: In the first decade, there were a little over 10 employees, in the next decade it went up to 20 then over 30, and in the following decade it grew to over 50. The number of employees has increased in line with the scale of our games. There’s always a shortage of talent, so I’m glad that people want to join us.

TA: Has there been a project in the shoot em up genre that didn’t work out for M2 that you tried to pursue before?

NH: Perhaps the release of the Aleste Collection, in that it ended up taking until 2020. There were twists and turns, but I’m glad we were able to create something very satisfying.

TA: We spoke to you (Naoki Horii) back in 2021 about Darius Cozmic Revelation. Since then, we’ve seen M2 release more games on Steam through Taito. I wanted to know if there were plans for M2 to expand more titles for the Steam platform in the future including the M2 ShotTriggers lineup? I love them on Switch and PS5, but would also like to play them on my Steam Deck.

NH: Steam Deck sounds good. I have a feeling that by the time this interview is out in the world, I will probably be playing Devil Blade (Reboot). I’m very much looking forward to it.

(Editor’s note: This interview was conducted over a month ago, but it needed to be translated back and forth.)

TA: What are your thoughts on the state of the console industry in Japan and globally?

NH: There’s no longer that much of a difference in what PCs and consoles can do. It seems like the Switch is the only system that’s unique, but nowadays there are many gaming PCs inspired by the Switch’s style.

TA: What are you currently playing, and what did you enjoy the most in 2023?

NH: The most in 2023? It’s hard to narrow it down to just one. The game I’m playing the most right now is Dungeon Sweeper. It’s fun to just switch off and click away.

TA: How do you balance M2’s projects for external partners like Taito and ININ Games compared to M2’s internal projects?

NH: By setting up a production system that enables us to do our best in response to any requests that we think are worth doing. That’s what we aim to do, anyway. It really is difficult, though.

TA: Can you give us an update on what to expect from Aleste Branch?

NH: At the end of summer of 2023, we said “It’s pretty much done!" So we held an event where local shooting game developers could play test it and give us their opinions, and I remember seeing them and thinking we’ve finally (almost) completed the game. Seems like yesterday, but now it’s almost the summer of 2024. Isn’t that kind of crazy? It’s progressing well and is now nearly complete.

TA: Is there anything you’d like to say to your overseas fans of Taito projects and M2 ShotTriggers reading this?

NH: Thank you for always playing our games. I’m always happy to hear about what titles you want to play, what features you want, and so on. We want more and more people to experience the excitement (the “shooting game high," you can say) that you get with shooters. In my case, when I feel I get into that mode, the tip of my nose gets itchy, which is a problem.

TA: Do you like drinking coffee? What is your favorite coffee drink?

NH: Yes, I do. At cafes, I usually order coffee. I love Kilimanjaro coffee. Usually I just drink from cans (canned coffee is popular in Japan). I also love tea and green tea. My body is fueled by caffeine. That being said, if you have any recommendations for equipment, procedures, beans, etc. for making coffee at home, please let me know. I feel that what’s missing in my life is time spent doing those kinds of things.

I’d like to thank Yukiko Karashima and Naoki Horii from M2 and Derek and Dan from PR Hound for their time and help here.

You can keep up with all our interviews here including our recent ones with Digital Extremes for Warframe mobile, Team NINJA, Sonic Dream Team, Hi-Fi Rush, Pentiment, and more. As usual, thanks for reading.

Check out our pre-order thread for Resident Evil 7 biohazard here. If you’d like to try Resident Evil 7 biohazard on iOS, iPadOS, and macOS, you can pre-order it on the App Store for free here. It will be using MetalFX upscaling from Apple, and I hope it has an uncapped frame rate option. Resident Evil 7 biohazard will ship with an auto fire option and enhanced controls. If you’ve not tried the currently available games in the series on mobile yet, read my review of the iPhone 15 Pro version of Resident Evil 4 Remake here and Resident Evil Village here. Will you be trying out Resident Evil 7 biohazard when it arrives on July 2nd for iPhone 15 Pro and M1 or later iPad and Mac hardware?

Fallen Aces Episode 1 launches this Friday (for real)

Back when I wrote about the best boomer shooters on Steam Deck, I featured many New Blood games. For the second article I’m working on, I thought I’d wait for Fallen Aces to hit early access on Steam. During the PC Gaming Show 2024, we finally had a date for Fallen Aces Episode 1, and it is out this Friday. Watch the trailer below:

Nightdive announces Killing Time: Resurrected and The Thing: Remastered

Nightdive Studios announced Killing Time: Resurrected and The Thing: Remastered for Steam and other platforms including consoles. Both are due this year, and Nightdive Studios is so good at these remasters that I’m willing to buy just about anything to support the team. Killing Time debuted in 1995 while The Thing debuted in 2002. I can’t wait to play the remasters. Watch the trailers below:

Monster Hunter Wilds Crossplay, Street fighter 6 Year 2, and Kunitsu Gami

Capcom had a trio of announcements and reveals over the last few days. Monster Hunter Wilds had new footage that looks amazing, Street Fighter 6 revealed year 2 with Mai Shiranui, Terry Bogard, and Elena as highlights, and the final reveal was Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess launching on July 19th. I’m so excited for Year 2 of Street Fighter 6 with Mai and Terry joining. Monster Hunter Wilds adding crossplay is a huge deal, but the lack of cross progression is disappointing. Watch the trailers below:

Slitterhead release date and gameplay

Bokeh Game Studio announced that its horror game Slitterhead will launch on November 8th for Steam and consoles. Alongside the date, Xseed Games announced that it will be doing a physical release on console which I’m definitely going to get. Slitterhead’s gameplay looks interesting, but the vibe seems amazing. Watch the trailer below:

Persona 3 Reload Episode Aigis release date, Metaphor gameplay, and SMTV: Vengeance opening

Atlus announced that Persona 3 Reload’s Episode Aigis releases on September 10th for Expansion Pass owners with a new trailer. This is The Answer content from Persona 3 FES. I can’t wait to see how it plays in this remake. Atlus also revealed the opening title loop video for Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance, something the series hasn’t had since Nocturne. Metaphor: ReFantazio saw an extended gameplay showcase as well, but the huge news is Metaphor is getting a Steam collector’s edition. Will this be one of the rare PC collector’s editions I order? I’ll find out soon. Watch the videos below:

Annapurna Interactive reveals Mixtape and Wanderstop

Annapurna Interactive had two major reveals during the many showcases of note. Both Mixtape and Wanderstop look excellent, and they are due for Steam and more. Wanderstop is a narrative-centric cozy game about change and tea coming to Steam and PS5 while Mixtape is a mixtape of memories coming to Steam, PS5, and Xbox Game Pass in 2025. Watch both trailers below:

Devolver Direct 2024 announcements: Tenjutsu, Neva, Talos 2 DLC, and more

Devolver Digital’s newest direct had Tenjutsu revealed, Neva getting gameplay, The Talos Principle 2 Road to Elysium DLC, and much more. Watch the whole showcase below:

Black Myth: Wukong release date and pre-orders

Game Science’s action RPG Black Myth: Wukong launches on August 20th for Steam and PS5 worldwide, and it looks like it might be a bit too much for Steam Deck. That will not stop me from trying though. Either way, the new trailer looks great and pre-orders are now live. Watch it below:

The Big Catch set for release in 2025, published by Xseed Games

During the IGN Live Preshow, Xseed Games announced that it is publishing The Big Catch, a 3D platformer inspired 5th and 6th generation console games, via Steam worldwide. It was a Kickstarter game back in 2022, and it is set for release next year with a demo now available. Watch the trailer for it below:

Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO release date and pre-orders

Bandai Namco Entertainment announced the DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO release date for October 11th, and also opened pre-orders worldwide. DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO pre-orders include early access to Broly (Super), Gogeta (Super) and more characters. I’m excited to see how this one plays on Steam Deck. Watch the trailer for it below:

If you saw an announcement or reveal from Summer Game Fest 2024 on Steam Deck or PC that thought I should highlight, let me know in the comments below. As usual, thanks for reading.

Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector is also coming to Switch in early 2025

Fellow Traveler and Jump Over the Age announced that Citizen Sleeper 2, previously confirmed for Xbox and PC, will also be coming to Nintendo Switch and PS5. Alongside more platforms getting confirmed, a new gameplay trailer released during the PC Gameing Show 2024. Watch it below:

Sonic X Shadow Generations release date

During Summer Game Fest 2024, SEGA confirmed that Sonic X Shadow Generations will launch worldwide on October 25th for Switch, PC, and other console platforms. A new trailer was also released with pre-orders going live digitally on all platforms. There is also a Digital Deluxe Edition as usual. Watch the Sonic X Shadow Generations release date trailer below:

HUNTERxHUNTER NENxIMPACT gets new trailer and Arc System Works publishing

Arc System Works announced that it will be publishing the 2D 3v3 fighter Hunter x Hunter Nen x Impact for PS5, Switch, and Steam this year outside Japan. A demo will be playable at Anime Expo 2024 from July 4th to 7th as well. The announcement trailer also confirms that Treasure Hunter Biscuit Krueger (Bisky) will be playable with Gon, Killua, Kurapika, Leorio, Hisoka, and Netero also announced. Watch the trailer below:

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind announced by Digital Eclipse

Digital Eclipse announced that it will be releasing Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind, a new retro-inspired adventure game for PC and consoles due late 2024. It looks like a lovely brawler, and I hope to try it out on Switch and Steam Deck when it launches. Watch the trailer below:

New Dredge expansion and physical release

Black Salt Games and Team17 announced Dredge’s The Iron Rig expansion coming August 15th for Switch, PC, and other consoles. Alongside this expansion that I will be playing on Switch and Steam Deck, a new physical collector’s edition has been announced. The Iron Rig is priced at $11.99. Watch the trailer below:

Indie horror game Fear the Spotlight announced for Switch

During Day of the Devs: Summer Game Fest Edition, Blumhouse Games and Cozy Game Pals revealed the first look at the indie horror game Fear the Spotlight. Fear the Spotlight is due this year for Switch, PC, and other console, and it looks like a great narrative 90s-inspired horror experience. Watch the trailer below:

Chasm creators Bit Kid announce World War II metroidvania WOLFHOUND

WOLFHOUND from Chasm creators Bit Kid has you fighting mutant nazis in a sci-fi WWII metroidvania experience due next year for Switch, Steam Deck, PC, and PS5. I liked Chasm a lot, and this is definitely one to keep an eye on. Watch the WOLFHOUND trailer below:

School-life tactics RPG Demonschool gets September release date

School-life tactics RPG Demonschool from Necrosoft Games and Ysbryd Games finally has a release date for Switch, Steam Deck, and other platforms. Due September 13th, Demonschool was showcased a few times over the weekend. I’ve included the release date trailer below, and it looks incredible.

Slay the Princess The Pristine Cut coming to Switch

Slay the Princess The Pristine Cut is an update and a console version for the excellent game from Black Tabby Games including loads of new content, a new ending, gallery, voiced dialogue, and much more. Slay the Princess The Pristine Cut is also getting a physical release on consoles. While it doesn’t have a definite release date, it is due this fall. Watch the Slay the Princess The Pristine Cut trailer below:

Moonstone Island Nintendo Switch release date announced

Announced during the Wholesome Direct Showcase 2024, Moonstone Island from Raw Fury arrives on June 19th for Nintendo Switch. This version includes a new roster of spirits, new rewards in the never-ending dungeon, a new marriage component, a decorator’s pass, and much more in addition to whatever was included when the game debuted on PC. Watch the trailer below:

If you saw an announcement or reveal from Summer Game Fest 2024 on Switch that thought I should highlight, let me know in the comments below. As usual, thanks for reading.

Resident Evil 2 Remake will also be coming to the same hardware, but it doesn’t have a confirmed release date yet. Both games will be free to try with a single in app purchase for a universal unlock for the full game. Both games also use MetalFX upscaling from Apple. Resident Evil 7 biohazard will also have an auto fire option with enhanced controls. This is good because both current games from Capcom on iPhone 15 Pro have bad touch controls. If you’ve not tried them yet, read my review of the iPhone 15 Pro version of Resident Evil 4 Remake here and Resident Evil Village here. Both Resident Evil 4 Remake’s full game unlock and Resident Evil Village on Apple hardware are discounted for a limited time. Resident Evil 4 Remake is a universal purchase including iOS, iPadOS, and macOS together with save syncing. Will you be trying out Resident Evil 7 biohazard and Resident Evil 2 Remake when they hit Apple hardware, and did you try Resident Evil 4 Remake and Resident Evil Village before?

Goat Simulator 3 Multiverse of Nonsense will also have a crossover featuring another Coffee Stain-published game and references to some other major franchises with the Capybara goat skin being included. I hope Goat Simulator 3 Multiverse of Nonsense hits Switch alongside the base game and that it arrives on iOS and Android sooner than later. You an wishlist Goat Simulator 3 Multiverse of Nonsense on Steam here. If you’ve not gotten the base game yet on mobile, you can buy Goat Simulator 3 on the App Store for iOS here on Google Play for Android here. Check out my review of the game on iOS here and Steam Deck here. If you want to try other games in the series, they are all here on the developer page on the App Store. These include Goat Simulator PAYDAY, Goat Simulator Waste of Space, Goat Simulator MMO Simulator, Goat Simulator GoatZ, and Goat Simulator itself. If you’d rather get them on Steam, check out the full bundle here. Have you played Goat Simulator 3 on any platform yet and what do you think of Goat Simulator 3 Multiverse of Nonsense so far?

Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure launches on July 25th for $19.99 on PS5, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store. It will be available for free to Netflix subscribers on iOS and Android the same day. It will likely also soft launch in the near future on Netflix in select regions ahead of its worldwide launch. If you’d like to try Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure before it launches, you can grab the demo on Steam here. Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure is already Steam Deck Verified ahead of its launch next month as well, which is great to see. What do you think of Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure so far and will you be playing the demo on Steam Deck?

TouchArcade (TA): For those unaware, tell us a little bit about yourself and Capybara Games.

Dan Vader (DV): I’m the Creative Director and I’m currently the director of Battle Vision Network. I’ve been doing design and writing at Capy since 2007. I’ve worked on a lot of our games in a design and creative capacity.

TA: While most people today likely know Capybara Games because of Critter Crunch or Might and Magic, I wanted to also cover some of the older games like Super Shove IT or Plant Life. How is the Capybara Games of today different from the one back in 2003? How is the studio philosophy and stuff like that right now?

DV: That’s one of the wild things. A lot of people that were there in the beginning, are still there. I’ve been there since 2007. People have been there a couple of years before me. There’s a lot of folks at the studio who we’ve all worked together for, you know, 15 plus years, which I think is kind of astonishing a bit in the industry to not have people leaving and moving around for whatever reason Capy has really high retention. And then the other cool thing is that we just had an influx of a bunch of new folks who have come from other corners of the industry that brought their expertise in. And so it’s a nice melting pot of the old school folks that have been there forever, and a bunch of new people that have different perspectives. And it’s just it’s gelling really, really nicely. The vibe is great these days.

TA: Sound Shapes was one of the few games which got me to buy a PS Vita back in the day. I wanted to know how it was for Capy working with the teams involved in Sound Shapes. I really love that game even today.

DV: Yeah, that’s a really special game. That was a really cool experience. So you know, we’re an indie studio in Toronto, Queasy games, the studio that made Sound Shapes was an indie studio. And so it was a really, I think to certain extent still is a really tight knit community that everyone knows everyone. And so Queasy was working on that game for a while, and I think just sort of casually they just needed some help. Like they were focused on the core experience, but they just didn’t have the person power to sort of explore the tool themselves. Make a bunch of levels sort of figure out the identity of the game and what you could do with their level editors.

So Capy lent me as a designer to them. And for you know, I think it was for over a year. Like almost all I did was just make levels all day long. And I just experimented and made tons of levels with different kinds of ideas. And the cool thing is you weren’t just making levels. You were making songs and levels. You were placing notes to make cool beats and songs and melodies that also provided gameplay and kind of told the little story. So for about a year or more, it was just me sort of exploring their tool and having frankly an amazing time doing it. Kind of learning a lot about level design. Those are the first level like levels that ever made. And then yeah, we sort of together through all those experimentation, I made hundreds hundreds of levels. And through all those experiments, experimentations we sort of figured out a plan for like the official albums that were going to be like the level packs that were presented to players.

And the really cool thing about it was we kept saying like, you know, those levels we made that were like the campaign. They were sort of there not to be the definitive experience. They were there to sort of give players ideas of what they could do. And the idea always was it’ll be really cool when the community makes levels that are better than ours. And we’re always wondering how long is that going to take.

And I think you know, I think some of us were like, oh yeah, in a month, I bet you they’re going to have like the stuff that’s mind-blowing better than ours. And the game was released and I swear to God it was like two days later. We’re like look at this stuff. Like what are people making? Like it was mind-blowing what people were making. And it was just that they were beautiful songs. Incredible visual art. You use blocks to basically buy everything. And then these like mind-blowing game play concepts. It was totally stunning to me with the community created. Yeah, it was such a special game. And I really, I just off every once in a while just like hear those songs again and just get back into that mode. Yeah, it’s such a wonderful game.

TA: You’ve been at the studio for a very long time now. What has been your favorite game to work on so far?

DV: That’s really tough. It’s kind of a toss up. It’s kind of a toss up between I think of the games where just like making games is hard. They’re all stressful, not none of them are not stressful. They’re always harder than you think. I think about what the game is and where it doesn’t matter how tough the week was, or how long the day was. When I found myself playing them for fun at night like playing a build not to test it not to find bugs, but just because I wanted to play it. I knew those were really special like games. So the two that come to mind are definitely Grindstone, like I played every level of it 10 times each. I played the whole thing and sometimes when I go to a cottage or something or on a vacation, I pull up my phone and I load up Grindstone to just play. So that was a really special game.

I think the one that they really like, not just me, but the studio and everyone that works on it has a really soft spot for Super Time Force. That was such a fun game because you know it will really encompass the humor and the wild sort of sense of humor in the studio. Like there was no like almost no ideas were left in the cutter and floor we put everything into that game. Like there’s a million jokes, a million Easter eggs. We just really poured ourselves into that game and it is one of the most happy games in terms of the vibe of it. So I love that game.

TA: Since we covered a bit of Grindstone, when I saw the trailer for Battle Vision Network, there’s an obvious Grindstone influence, because it feels like it’s picking up from that aesthetic. What are your inspirations for Battle Vision Network?

DV: The main inspiration was our own game Clash of Heroes. We were looking back at that design and sort of dusting it off, and sort of seeing what new ideas we could shake out of it because like I said, there’s a lot of nostalgia for the games we’ve made, and a desire to return to them and that is sort of how Battle Vision Network came about. There were a few dedicated folks at Capy who just like remembering nostalgia believe that multiplayer battles we used to have in the office, you know DS to DS, and we’re sort of tinkering with the prototype of what if we just built a multiplayer only version of this? A version of Battle Vision that was completely focused on a PvP experience. That was the main inspiration. What could we do with the Clash design we created?

Another big inspiration actually for it was Eurovision, like the contest. We were just thinking about the world, and we came up with the idea of a televised spectacle. Obviously the Olympics comes to mind, American NBA/NFL kind of stuff. Eurovision really spoke to us in terms of you never know what’s going to walk on stage on Eurovision and it can be one of the wildest things you’ve ever seen. We wanted something just like that. You just don’t know what team and what new units are going to come out of the universe, out of hyperspace and join this crazy melting pot.

Definitely Grindstone to a certain extent just in terms of what we learned a lot making and updating it over like five years. We learned a lot about that kind of development, and the idea of iterating on your own game live. Instead of just sort of happening into that, we wanted to build it from the ground up with that in mind.

TA: Is a lot of the team that worked on Grindstone also working on Battle Vision Network?

DV: A fair bit of the team has moved over to this. We’re always sort of working on a couple things at once, so it’s not everyone, but a lot of the Grindstone folks are now over here on Battle Vision Network.

TA: When I saw the trailer during the Day of the Devs media event, I figured it was going to be a Steam and Switch game. I was surprised to see it coming to Netflix for mobile, especially because Grindstone is one of the banner Apple Arcade games. How was it working with Netflix on this one?

DV: It’s been amazing so far. They were just really excited about Battle Vision Network, and about our games. It’s Netflix and they have a wide reach, a huge audience, and an audience for sort of every kind of thing. It feels like there’s a place for every kind of entertainment at Netflix.

Their enthusiasm for the game was something that really appealed to us. Obviously we loved working with Apple Arcade on Grindstone, and I think it really benefited from being in that launch, so it was a great time working with them, but it just came down to just wanting to sort of try a new thing. Also we really admire their enthusiasm for games. I see what you guys write about every week. There are a lot of really interesting games coming to Netflix Games, so it’s just sort of cool to think about where it’s going to lead.

TA: I feel like the focus at Netflix is quite different to where Apple is with Apple Arcade right now. Apple is still bringing quality indie games, but we are seeing a lot of older games arrive through “+" versions. If you’re going to release a boutique indie game right now on mobile and don’t want to do a standalone release, it feels like Netflix is a safe bet because you also get the reach of Android without being limited to just iOS. How has it been working on Android if you can talk about that?

DV: Yeah it’s still ongoing right. I’d say probably maybe even half of our studio are our Android users, and it’s exciting to be bringing one of our games to that audience. It’s great having the potential to reach that many more people simply because of servicing both platforms. We’re still working on it now so yeah.

TA: You mentioned having the PvP focus. Will the online be cross platform between Netflix Games and Steam?

DV: Yes

TA: Will Battle Vision Network have its own campaign for people who want to play solo?

DV: The interesting thing about Battle Vision Network is despite it being a PvP game, there’s a strong focus on the single player experience. There are challenges and narrative quests that sort of are agnostic of whether you win or lose a battle. Just by playing a battle against whoever no matter the outcome, you’re sort of moving the needle on all these different aspects of the game of your single player experience.

TA: I wanted to know are there any plans to do any crossovers with Grindstone and Battle Vision Network with characters appearing or maybe cosmetics and stuff like that?

I’m gonna say no comment for now.

TA: Will Battle Vision Network be optimized for Steam Deck?

DV: Our goal is to be fully Steam Deck ready at launch, but it’s too early to say based on where we are in development.

TA: How will the monetization work in Battle Vision Network across Steam and Netflix?

DV: Apart from the cost of entry (buying the game), monetization on PC is not planned for Battle Vision Network. Thanks to Netflix, the team also doesn’t have to worry about microtransactions and other monetization methods on mobile platforms.

As indie devs working with an Apple Arcade or Netflix allows us to focus on making the best game we can make, a fun game, and we don’t have to worry about monetization and sort of the gamification of those kinds of systems which are really tough to figure out. It can be really tricky and sometimes even controversial with players. By working with Netflix, we just have to focus on the game because none of that stuff exists for Netflix Games which is great.

TA: Can you comment on who is doing the music for Battle Vision Network?

DV: We are teaming back up with both Jim Guthrie (Sworcery) and Sam Webster (Grindstone). They’re collaborating on a kick ass soundtrack for the game. The track in the trailer is one of the new tracks for the game.

TA: Going back to Sworcery. You mentioned how it was working on Sound Shapes. I wanted to ask about how it has been working on Sword and Sworcery all those years and just revisiting it for updates.

DV: It’s amazing. We’ve still worked on porting to other platforms and updating it for newer devices, and it was a very small team that worked on that. So every time there’s a new version that needs to be put out or updated, those original folks have to jump back into it. I think they get very nostalgic, and there’s a lot of sharing of old memes, and old memories every time. It’s a very special project and was very formative for the studio.

I think the folks that were involved are super proud of it, and so it’s wonderful that we still get people requesting new versions, having it come to new platforms, and sharing their memories of it. We’re realizing how formative a game it was for a lot of people. It came out of a really interesting time for mobile games, and for indie games, and for sort of more narrative or arty games. It’s just a really special game that we’re super proud of.

TA: I still think it’s one of the best games I’ve ever played, and it’s unfortunate because of what’s happened with Twitter’s API with that aspect of the game lost. Those gimmick accounts for the game like Logfella and sharing stuff from the game to Twitter was really great. Good times.

I’d like to thank Dan Vader from Capybara Games and Jurge Cruz-Alvarez from popagenda for their time and help here.

You can keep up with all our interviews here including our recent ones with Simogo here, Amanita Design here, Akitoshi Kawazu, Kenji Ito, and Tomokazu Shibata here, Dave Oshry of New Blood, Digital Extremes for Warframe mobile, Team NINJA, Sonic Dream Team, Hi-Fi Rush, Pentiment, and more. As usual, thanks for reading.

If you’d like to play The Dragon Prince: Xadia at launch, you can pre-order it on the App Store for iOS here and pre-register for it on Google Play for Android here. Check out Wonderstorm’s official website here and the Netflix page for The Dragon Prince show here. The store pages have screenshots showcasing gameplay as well if you don’t want to watch the trailer for the game. I’m not familiar with this show at all, but I will be trying out the game when it launches on July 30th worldwide. Have you

You can download Honkai Star Rail on the App Store for iOS here, on Google Play for Android here, and here on the Epic Games Store in addition to its regular PC version. Check it out here on PS5. Have you been playing Honkai Star Rail regularly since it launched on mobile, PC, and PS5 and what do you think of Honkai Star Rail 2.3 so far from its trailers?

If you’d like to grab it, you can get Assassin’s Creed Mirage for free on the App Store for iOS here. Note that it has the same DLC as the console versions available as in app purchases like the Deluxe Pack or various cosmetic packs. Assassin’s Creed Mirage is limited to A17 iPhone models and available on M1 chip or higher iPad models. It isn’t on macOS yet. I’m curious to see how Assassin’s Creed Mirage ends up doing on iPhone and iPad. Will you be playing it and what do you think of the performance analysis video for Assassin’s Creed Mirage?

Welcome back to the Outlands!
COMING SOON to @AppleArcade: Outlanders 2: Second Nature!

A new, courageous generation of outlanders is ready to redefine life on the Outlands!

Find it on Apple Arcade: https://t.co/K5mJzkK1Dc pic.twitter.com/MWmF4NdaDD

— Pomelo Games (@PomeloGames) June 6, 2024

Alongside Outlanders 2: Second Nature on Apple Arcade, side-scrolling action game Punch Kick Duck+ from Shaun Coleman and Zen Koi Pro+ from LandShark Games are joining as App Store Greats. Read our review of Punch Kick Duck ahead of its launch as well. If you’d like to play the games on Apple Arcade on July 3rd when they launch, you can sign up for Outlanders 2: Second Nature here, Punch Kick Duck+ here, and Zen Koi Pro+ here. I’m glad to see Outlanders 2: Second Nature for sure, but I’d prefer getting the standalone version of Punch Kick Duck+. What do you think of next month’s Apple Arcade games?

Disney Speedstorm is a free to play kart racer with Disney and Pixar characters and worlds. It is available in some regions as a soft launch on mobile. If you’d like to try out the soft launch, here’s the Disney Speedstorm soft launch App Store link. You can pre-register for it on Google Play for Android worldwide here and pre-order it on the App Store here (same link as the soft launch). It will support cross save at launch. On Steam and consoles, Disney Speedstorm is available now. The mobile version is free to play with various in app purchase sets of tokens. Have you played Disney Speedstorm on any platform before and will you be trying it on mobile when it does release?

As of this writing, a price point hasn’t been announced for Sniper Elite 4 on Apple devices. Sniper Elite 4 is priced at $59.99 on other platforms. I assume it will come to iPhone, iPad, and macOS with a universal purchase that is discounted for launch like every other iPhone 15 Pro big game port. I never played Sniper Elite 4 despite owning it, but will definitely be trying it out on iPhone 15 Pro to see how it plays with touch and controller. The new Apple version will include all gameplay features from the original. I’m hoping MrMacRight does a comparison as well when it launches. Have you played Sniper Elite 4 before, and will you be checking it out on iPhone 15 Pro, iPad, or macOS this holiday season?

Stitch. brings in a new Play Together category, the aquarium category, more hoops, a new daily Shikaku Reward hoop, and more this week. Cooking Mama: Cuisine! also has a Play Together event on right now until July 4th letting you play with friends and family and a new ingredient available daily during the event. The Play Together event in Goat Simulator+ lets you challenge friends and family in event challenges with a random goat and level daily. Zookeeper World brings in 12 new puzzles and infinite boost items with the next set of puzzles available on June 16th. Crayola Create and Play+ adds in Camp Create and Play as a creative adventure, Father’s Day cards, kite flying summer activities, and more in the newest update. Jetpack Joyride 2 brings in the pixel invasion event, Hunting of the Lost Skulls event, a new power-up, arcade mode additions, and more. The original Jetpack Joyride+ brings in the pirates in a new limited time event this week.

The final notable update is NBA 2K24 Arcade Edition bringing in eight new greatest of all time players including Kevin Garnett, Ben Wallace, Kevin Durant, Trae Young, and more. With the updates, check out our forum threads for Stitch. here, Cooking Mama: Cuisine! here, Zookeeper World here, Crayola Create and Play+ here, Goat Simulator+ here, Jetpack Joyride 2 here, Jetpack Joyride+ here, and NBA 2K24 Arcade Edition here. Head over to our dedicated thread for all things relating to Apple Arcade and every game included here. What do you think of these games if you’ve played them already and will you be trying the new Apple Arcade Original today?

If you’d like to try the closed beta, you can sign up for it here. Check out the official website here. You can wishlist Tribe Nine on Steam here. Like I said back in 2021, it is great to see Rui Komatsuzaki’s art in 3D again because this project continues to look excellent. Since 2021, the Danganronpa series has made its way to basically every platform now, and we even have Spike Chunsoft bringing Rain Code to Steam and other consoles following its debut on Switch. I’m very curious to play this one, even if I’m not a fan of the monetization. Did you play Danganronpa and what do you think of the new Tribe Nine trailer?

[Source: Dengeki Online]

Following today’s update, the major version 5.0 that has upgraded visuals is also planned for the future. Read about that here. If you’d like to play Genshin Impact and don’t own it yet, you can download it for free on the App Store for iOS here and on Google Play for Android here. The PC version is available on the official website here and the Epic Games Store. If you play on iOS, with iOS 14.5 or iPadOS 14.5 and later, you can use PS5 and Xbox Series X|S controllers to play Genshin Impact. We featured Genshin Impact as our Game of the Week when it released and awarded it our 2020 Game of the Year. I also featured it as one of the best iOS games to play with a controller. What do you think of Genshin Impact 4.7 so far and will you be playing it today?

Netflix’s game announcements with release dates:

Netflix Stories: Perfect Match – June 6

The Case of the Golden Idol – June 11

Hearts – June 18

Cozy Grove: Camp Spirit – June 25

Too Hot to Handle 3 – July 23 (previously July 18)

The Dragon Prince: Xadia – July 30

Arranger: A Role-Puzzling Adventure – Summer 2024

Netflix games with no release date:

Don’t Starve Together

Harmonium: The Musical

Lab Rat

Netflix Stories: Emily in Paris

Netflix Stories: Selling Sunset

Rotwood

Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of The Rings Game

Those are quite a few game announcements, and I want to play at least five of those games. I’ll probably wait on Rotwood to hit mobile instead of playing it through early access on Steam next. Don’t Starve Together and The Case of the Golden Idol are the big indie gets for sure from the games I’ve played before, but I will be getting both on Netflix for sure. What do you think of the announcements and what do you want to play from Netflix’s new games?

If you’d like to play Wildfrost on mobile, you can get it on the App Store for iOS here and on Google Play for Android here. Wildfrost on Steam and Switch is priced at $19.99. The iOS and Android version is free to start with a $6.99 in app purchase to unlock the full game. Wildfrost on mobile supports English, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese languages. Check out our forum thread for Wildfrost here. Hopefully we get a release date for the update hitting mobile soon. Have you played Wildfrost on mobile yet, and what do you think of this update?

Skul: The Hero Slayer on mobile includes a revamped interface for touch, Game Center achievements, cloud save support, MFi controller support, and iPhone 15 series optimizations. Skul: The Hero Slayer is priced at $19.99 on PC and consoles. The mobile version will be $7.99 with a launch discount bringing it to $6.99 or $7.19 depending on region and platform. If you’d like to grab it today, you can buy Skul: The Hero Slayer on the App Store for iOS here and on Google Play for Android here. Have you played Skul: The Hero Slayer on PC or console before, and will you be getting it on mobile this week?

I played a bit of the update on Steam Deck, and it is amazing as expected for this game. If you’ve not played Mini Motorways yet and subscribe to Apple Arcade, you can grab it here on the service, on Steam here, and on Nintendo Switch here. Head over to our forum thread for Mini Motorways here for more discussion around it. For all other Apple Arcade related things, check out our dedicated Apple Arcade forum for discussion on the service and every game included here. What do you think of today’s major Mini Motorways update and do you play the game regularly on Apple Arcade or other platforms?

I decided to put together a list of the best looking Nintendo games on Switch right now, and it has been difficult to narrow it down to just 10. This list includes my picks for the best looking Switch games since the platform debuted back in 2017. Note that this isn’t just about games that run at the best resolution or frame rate, with art direction and more also factoring into how I decide on what games to include. With Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door’s recent release, I felt the time was right to finally get around to this with how gorgeous it is. Only Nintendo-published games are included here, but if you’d like us to do one on the best-looking third party releases, please let us know. As usual, this list is in no particular order.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder ($59.99)

Super Mario Bros. Wonder isn’t just the freshest the 2D Mario games have felt since the SNES days, but it also happens to be a gorgeous and creative game throughout. I haven’t stopped thinking about it after playing it, and it is the first Mario game that hits the same highs as Super Mario Odyssey, also featured in this article, does. If you’ve ever wanted to experience pure creativity and some of the best art direction from Nintendo, look no further.

Splatoon 3 ($59.99)

I thought Splatoon 2 looked excellent on Switch, but Splatoon 3 pushed things quite a bit in its ambition throughout the single player campaign and the DLC which I adore. It also fixed most of my issues with Splatoon 2 making it a much better game overall. Splatoon 3 is another game that excels in its designs and direction, and ends up being one of the best-looking and feeling games on the system. I just hope we eventually get the Splatoon 1 campaign fully redone on Switch in some form. Given how good the Splatoon games look and run in handheld mode on Switch, I can’t wait to see what the team pulls off in the future.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 ($59.99)

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 might be one of the most ambitious Nintendo games, but it was not great in handheld mode. I played it for hundreds of hours and kept wishing it looked better, but given it was the first full game for Switch by Monolith Soft, it was understandable. We saw some minor improvements in the standalone DLC, but Xenoblade Chronicles 3 ended up being a big step up technically. Even the Future Redeemed DLC felt great to play handheld. The Xenoblade Chronicles games have always had gorgeous worlds, but Xenoblade Chronicles 3 with characters like Eunie match the excellent designs we saw with the likes of Mythra in Xenoblade Chronicles 2. While I may prefer Xenoblade Chronicles 2 overall when it comes to its music and story, there’s no denying how much better Xenoblade Chronicles 3 looks. I can’t wait to see what we get from Monolith Soft.

Metroid Prime Remastered ($39.99)

Despite being called a remaster, Metroid Prime Remastered felt more like a ground up remake for Nintendo Switch. As my first proper experience with Metroid Prime, Metroid Prime Remastered was a gorgeous and smooth experience throughout when played docked and handheld. It also helps that it is priced lower than other Nintendo games making it an easy entry point if you want to experience this landmark title. I hope we see Metroid Prime 2 and 3 on Switch in some form.

Fire Emblem Engage ($59.99)

When Fire Emblem Engage was first revealed, I refused to believe the game would look as good on the console as it did in the trailer. As much as I love Fire Emblem Three Houses, it had a lot of technical issues. When I got my Collector’s Edition for Fire Emblem Engage, I was floored by how good it looked handheld on my Switch OLED. Fire Emblem Engage looks and runs very well, but I ended up loving the character designs quite a bit more than I expected. It is the most polished Fire Emblem game we’ve gotten on Switch for sure, and I love Mika Pikazo’s designs. I didn’t care much for the DLC, but the base game is excellent. The opening song is already playing in my head right now just thinking about it and…EMBLEM ENGAGE!

Super Mario Odyssey ($59.99)

Back in 2017, I kept telling people that Nintendo’s 5/5 game was actually Super Mario Odyssey and not Breath of the Wild, because I had no complaints with it at all. Revisiting it a few months ago when Super Mario Bros. Wonder released only reminded me of how amazing it was. While it has some technical issues in New Donk City, Super Mario Odyssey is a gorgeous game and my favorite 3D platformer of all time. It feels like a game we will be talking about for ages, and I can’t wait to see what the team works on next.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild ($59.99)

You might be wondering why I included The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild over Tears of the Kingdom given how much more ambitious the latter is. Looking back at both games, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is the more polished visual experience despite the absolute craziness possible in Tears of the Kingdom. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has a bit too many minor visual issues that hold it back, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is a game I look back on more fondly now. It may be a cross generation release, but The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is basically the best launch title for any current console, and a sublime experience in handheld mode on Switch, especially on the OLED model.

Luigi’s Mansion 3 ($59.99)

When I first played Luigi’s Mansion 3, I was stunned at how good it looked. I still tell most friends who upgrade to the Nintendo Switch OLED model to play this game as soon as they can, because Next Level Games’ art direction and technical prowess on Switch is great. I never got around to playing the DLC much so I can’t comment on it, but the base release of Luigi’s Mansion 3 is absolutely one of the best looking Nintendo games in a long time.

Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door ($59.99)

Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door on Nintendo Switch is basically a new game for me because I never played the original. I loved Paper Mario: The Origami King in most ways, and I kept hoping we’d see more of the series playable on Switch. Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door is gorgeous across the board. My only real complaint is some menus not feeling as responsive. It is unfortunate that it isn’t 60fps like the original, but having not played the original, I can’t comment whether the combat is better or worse here. Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door is a gorgeous game across the board though when played handheld.

Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon ($59.99)

Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon might be a surprise for some folks here, but I just can’t get over how much of an impression it made on me when I first played it. It oozes creativity and is gorgeous across its environments, character designs, and animation work. While the free demo doesn’t make the best impression with its basic gameplay, the full game is an easy recommendation, and one of PlatinumGames’ best releases in recent times. If you have no interest in buying the game, at least try the free demo to see how you find the visuals.

That’s my list then. If you have a game you think I should’ve included, please let me know in the comments below. It is going to be interesting to see what else Nintendo has in store for the Switch leading into 2025. Writing about these games just makes me want to replay all of them, especially Xenoblade Chronicles 3. As always, thanks for reading!

Monster Hunter Puzzles is set on the Felyne Isles, and you will be helping the various characters by building various things on the island and helping them rebuild their businesses. If you’d like to play Monster Hunter Puzzles at launch, you can pre-order it on the App Store for iOS here and pre-register for it on Google Play for Android here. Monster Hunter Puzzles is a free to play game with various in app purchases. The App Store lists different packs, but the contents of these packs is not known. I assume it will have the usual match 3 puzzle free to play consumables and some Monster Hunter themed ones. Check out the official game website here. Will you be playing Monster Hunter Puzzles when it launches later this month?

This update arrives ahead of the major version 5.0 that has upgraded visuals. Read about that here. If you’d like to play Genshin Impact and don’t own it yet, you can download it for free on the App Store for iOS here and on Google Play for Android here. The PC version is available on the official website here and the Epic Games Store. If you play on iOS, with iOS 14.5 or iPadOS 14.5 and later, you can use PS5 and Xbox Series X|S controllers to play Genshin Impact. We featured Genshin Impact as our Game of the Week when it released and awarded it our 2020 Game of the Year. I also featured it as one of the best iOS games to play with a controller. What do you think of Genshin Impact 4.7 so far and will you be playing it later this week?

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.

This week, NIS America announced a demo for The Legend of Heroes: Trails through Daybreak on PS4 and Switch. Nothing has been announce for PC or PS5 right now, but the PC version is already available without English through NIS America on Steam, and the PS4 version is playable on PS5. Alongside this announcement, the publisher posted the opening video for the game just about a month away from its launch. Watch it below:

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.

Skul: The Hero Slayer includes a revamped interface for mobile, Game Center achievements, cloud save support, MFi controller support, and iPhone 15 series optimizations. It will be launching on June 4th worldwide with pre-orders and pre-registrations available. If you’d like to play it at launch, you can pre-order or pre-register for a 10% discount. Skul: The Hero Slayer is priced at $19.99 on PC and consoles. The mobile version will be $7.99 with a launch discount bringing it to $7.19. Check Skul: The Hero Slayer out on the App Store for iOS here and on Google Play for Android here. Have you played Skul: The Hero Slayer on PC or console before, and will you be getting it on mobile next week?

SpongeBob: Patty Pursuit is preparing for Plankton’s birthday with a new Tale of the Deep. You will be able to play as SpongeBob to help Plankton organize a surprise party here. Bloons TD 6+ adds its newest hero in Rosalia with Tikerton now available as a new beginner map. The Boss Rush team event is also available in-game now. LEGO DUPLO WORLD+ brings in animal routines like bath time, bedtime, and eating. The final notable update is Solitarie by MobilityWare+ bringing in improved and expanded Jigsaw events and Daily Streak tracking with rewards.

Where Cards Fall is officially available for Apple Vision Pro through @AppleArcade!

Unravel the 3D spatial puzzles of Where Cards Fall as you reach into the dreamscapes of this captivating coming-of-age story.

Read more on the Snowman blog: https://t.co/c90tEHKZhe pic.twitter.com/wUfLSTNB6w

— Where Cards Fall (@wherecardsfall) May 30, 2024

With the updates done, check out our forum threads for Where Cards Fall here, Doodle God Universe here, Crayola Adventures here, SpongeBob: Patty Pursuit here, Bloons TD 6+ here, LEGO DUPLO WORLD+ here, and Solitarie by MobilityWare+ here. Make sure to head over to our dedicated Apple Arcade forum for discussions on the new and older releases on the service. What do you think of the state of Apple Arcade right now?

As for the release dates, Netflix Stories: Perfect Match launches on June 6th as a new game that casts players on the new season of the show. Too Hot to Handle 3 launches on July 18the letting you crash the retreat and start drama among paired-up singles in a new season of the Too Hot to Handle game. Pre-registrations are now live here. The Ultimatum: Choices doesn’t have a release date yet. It lets you be a contestant on the show and decide to marry your current partner or find love with a new one. Netflix Stories: Selling Sunset is due Fall 2024 and has you taking the role of the newest agent at LA’s glitziest luxury brokerage and you need to sell your way to the top to win a $100 million Bel Air listing. Once release dates are announced for the remaining two games, we will post about them. I know these games are quite popular, but I hope Netflix continues to bring quality indie premium-style releases to mobile as well. Did you play Netflix Stories and what do you think of these announcements?

If you’re wondering about Harvest Moon and Story of Seasons, I recommend watching this video to see what led to the brand splitting like that with Marvelous handling Story of Seasons while Natsume Inc handles Harvest Moon. Harvest Moon: Home Sweet Home is set to release on iOS and Android in August 2024. A definite release date or price point have not been announced yet. I’m curious to see how this ends up as a mobile-only title in the series compared to getting ports before. What do you think of Harvest Moon: Home Sweet Home from Natsume Inc. and did you play the publisher’s prior mobile releases?

The social impact nominees are The Wreck, Cityscapes: Sim Builder, and The Bear. The visuals and graphics nominees are Death Stranding Director’s Cut ($39.99), Lies of P, and Honkai Star Rail. The spatial computing nominees are Synth Riders, Blackbox, and Loona: Cozy Puzzle Games. A lot of the games here I expected, but some are surprising based on the category they are nominated in. The winners will be revealed around WWDC 2024 which takes place on June 10th. I’m curious to see if we get any new game announcements at WWDC alongside iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 that will likely be there. What do you think of the nominees?

If you’ve not followed it, Squad Busters has you building squads during four minute matches grabbing gems and evolving characters across their classic and super forms. Supercell is giving Squad Busters a global launch after multiple rounds of positive feedback from players across the regions. At launch, Squad Busters ships with more than 25 characters and it is supposed to include custom room support. If you’d like to play Squad Busters today, you can grab it on the App Store for iOS here and on Google Play for Android here. It includes various in app purchases of gold and season pass bundles. What do you think of Squad Busters so far and will you be trying it today?

Riviera: The Promised Land will likely get localized on Steam and Switch eventually, but I really hope Sting brings over the localization to the global mobile release as well. Right now, Riviera: The Promised Land Remaster is available for $19.99 on the App Store for iOS here and on Google Play for Android here. I wouldn’t buy it assuming English will be patched in at this point, but if you want to play the Japanese version, you can grab it now. Sting self published Yggdra Union on Steam and Switch internationally with no sign of the mobile version getting English support as of today. Have you played Riviera: The Promised Land on GBA or PSP in the West before and did you end up trying Yggdra Union on Steam or Switch in English?

Hitman: Blood Money — Reprisal, $14.99 Hitman: Blood Money — Reprisal is the newest release on this list, and it immediately shot up the list of the best iOS game ports in a long time. When I played it last year, I finally saw why many considered it one of the best games ever. Hitman: Blood Money — Reprisal on mobile from Feral Interactive has support for controllers, touch, and full keyboard and mouse gameplay. If you’re new to the world of Hitman, this is a fantastic entry point, and it is superlative on modern iOS devices.

ROME: Total War, $9.99 The Rome: Total War Collection brings the base Rome Total War game and both expansions together in a single premium bundle. It is absolutely worth your time if you’re new to the genre or want a fantastic classic PC game conversion for iPad. This is a game I prefer playing with touch controls, but Feral Interactive added full keyboard and mouse support to make it more accessible to those who played it on PC before, or anyone looking to play with that input method on iPad.

Total War: MEDIEVAL II, $14.99 Just like Rome: Total War Collection Feral Interactive brought another classic from the franchise to iOS and iPadOS as a universal game with Total War Medieval II and more recently the Medieval II: Total War Kingdoms expansion. Both hit iPad this year and the conversion is superb. Read my review of the base game here and the expansion here. It has full support for keyboard and mouse controls, and is well worth your time and money even at full price.

Alien: Isolation, Free Alien: Isolation is arguably one of the biggest AAA games to hit iOS in recent years, and it got the best conversion we’ve seen for a big console game like this. While Feral Interactive usually adds multiple control options for their games on iOS, Alien: Isolation went above and beyond with support for not only touch controls, but also full keyboard and mouse support in addition to full controller support. Alien: Isolation on iOS is the best portable version of the game, and it is a must play if you’re a fan of the genre and want to try out something on your iPad with keyboard and mouse support.

Note: Alien: Isolation is a free to try game with the first two missions included for free. There’s a single in app purchase to unlock the full game.

XCOM 2 Collection, $14.99 Another Feral Interactive conversion joins the list with XCOM 2 Collection. I’ve had a lot of issues with XCOM 2’s base game before, but it is a great experience on iOS and PC right now. This XCOM 2 Collection is a steal at its asking price, and it supports full keyboard and mouse gameplay if you aren’t a fan of touch controls. I hope we keep getting conversions of this quality on iOS for years to come from Feral Interactive. Just make sure you have a supported device because XCOM 2 Collection is more demanding than usual.

Company of Heroes, $13.99 The final Feral Interactive release to be in the list is one of my favorite iPad games of all time. Company of Heroes is so good on iPad, that I find it hard to go back to the PC version. It has full keyboard and mouse support in addition to great touch controls. I feel confident that all the amazing work done to make Company of Heroes look and play this well on modern displays will lead to a PC remaster, but that’s for another day. Make sure you grab the DLC as well with the base game. It is available in a complete bundle for new purchases as well here. Existing owners can grab the DLC through in app purchases.

Myst Mobile, Free Myst Mobile is not only a gorgeous remake of a classic game, but also a technical showcase for modern iOS devices. I’ve not even played it on the newest iPad models, but it was still worth playing and gorgeous on my old iPad Pro (2020). Myst Mobile has full keyboard and mouse support on iPadOS with correct button prompts as well. If you aren’t sure if you will like it, it is a free to start release, so it is worth downloading and trying at least.

Terraria, $4.99 Terraria is another one of those massive games that is available on every platform. It plays very well with touch controls, but shines with a controller on iPhone. On iPad, it plays best with either a controller or keyboard and mouse. If you haven’t played Terraria yet, the iOS version is much cheaper than on consoles as well. It is also getting updated more often than a few years ago where it was lagging behind other versions.

Minecraft, $6.99 Minecraft is similar to Terraria in how it is a game available on all consoles and PC, but Minecraft is actually a lot better on iOS than on consoles. A recent update brought in full keyboard and mouse support making it the most versatile version of the game. While I love playing Minecraft with a controller on iPhone, there’s no denying how much better it is with a keyboard and mouse. On iPad, you have all possible input methods and the most stable portable version of the game available.

Divinity - Original Sin 2, $24.99 The final game featured here is the superb and massive Divinity: Original Sin 2 from Larian Studios that hit iPad through Elverils. Divinity: Original Sin 2 was one of the games I was looking forward to the most on iPad, and it delivered in spades. If you have a modern iPad, you can play Divinity: Original Sin 2 with touch, controller, or full keyboard and mouse support. The interface changes depending on your input method. I hope Divinity: Original Sin 2 did well enough to get us an iPad version of the original game which was teased before.

This list obviously doesn’t cover every single game on iOS with keyboard and mouse support, but these are our picks for the best ones you can play in 2024. If you have some suggestions for more games that are worth recommending for anyone who recently bought an iPad, let us know in the comments below. I’m interested to see how developers continue to add support for keyboard and mouse input on iPad, and to see what other big games hit the platform in the near future. Hopefully we see keyboard and mouse support added whenever No Man’s Sky hits the platform. I haven’t given up on hope on that, and also believe in Baldur’s Gate 3 coming to iPad in the future.

Details for the Songs of Travel main characters and stories are here. Songs of Travel is a 600MB or so download on iOS. If you’d like to grab it today, you can get Songs of Travel on the App Store for iOS for free here. It is also available on Google Play for Android here. Beyond mobile, additional platforms have not been revealed yet. Check out the official Songs of Travel game website here. What do you think of Songs of Travel so far if you’ve played it?

Level Infinite promises more to come as well for the “ever-expanding" world of Tarisland. If you’d like to play Tarisland at launch, you can pre-order it on the App Store for iOS here and pre-register on Google Play for Android here. Tarisland releases on iOS, Android, and PC on June 21st. I don’t know if I’ll be playing it day one since the Elden Ring expansion hits the same day, but I will try it later on for sure. Check out the official game website here. What do you think of Tarisland and will you be playing it at launch on June 21st for mobile and PC?

Vampire the Masquerade – Coteries of New York is priced at $19.99 on Steam and Switch. A physical bundle with both Vampire the Masquerade visual novel experiences is also available on consoles. On mobile, PID Games has released Vampire the Masquerade – Coteries of New York for $4.99 on the App Store for iOS. Check it out here. The Google Play version should release in the next few hours. Until then, you can pre-register for it here on Android. Check out our forum thread for Vampire the Masquerade – Coteries of New York here. Have you played Vampire the Masquerade – Coteries of New York before on any platform and will you be trying it out on mobile today?

Zenless Zone Zero will support cross-progression and cross-play across all platforms when it launches. I’m looking forward to playing it on iPhone 15 Pro and seeing how it feels compared to the PS5 version. It is going to be interesting to see if the iOS version gets extra visual options like both prior HoYoverse titles. If you’d like to play Zenless Zone Zero at launch, you can pre-order it on the App Store for iOS here and pre-register for it on Google Play for Android here. Check out the links to the PS5 and PC versions here on the official pre-registration announcement. A Zenless Zone Zero PS5 digital pre-order bundle is now available for $9.99 with in-game items. Check out more about the game on the official website here. What do you think of Zenless Zone Zero so far will you pre-order and pre-register for it on mobile?

Update: Added PS5 pre-order bundle.

I assume gamepad support is a precursor to Pocket City 2 hitting other platforms, which is only good for the game. Read my Pocket City 2 interview here covering many aspects of the game including pricing and more. You can buy Pocket City 2 on the App Store for iOS here and on Google Play for Android here. Check out the official website here. What do you think of Pocket City 2 if you’ve been playing it since launch and will you get back to it to check out the controller support?

A release date for Feeling Death is yet to be announced. I hope it does hit mobile alongside Steam worldwide and not just in select regions. If you’d like to keep up with Feeling Death, you can currently wishlist it on Steam here. Check out the official website here for more details about Feeling Death. I’ll be keeping an eye on this one. room6’s Unreal Life is excellent, and while this isn’t the same developer, I’m still excited to try it. What do you think of Feeling Death so far, and did you watch Indie Live Expo 2024 over the weekend?

Steam Deck Game Reviews & Impressions

Arctic Eggs Steam Deck Review

I love cooking and fishing mini-games. I almost always spend too much time fishing in any game or getting obsessed with whatever recipes a game includes. When it launched, my friend gifted me Arctic Eggs on Steam, and I thought it was going to be one of those joke games that people buy to stream, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. It is an incredible, short, and challenging experience that has been on my mind ever since I played the opening few minutes. Arctic Eggs has a few issues on Steam Deck, but it is equal parts thought provoking and funny, and is one of the most interesting games I’ve played in a while.

Arctic Eggs from The Water Museum hit Steam a few days ago, and it is a sci-fi cooking game about being stuck in Antarctica and trying to find a way out while cooking eggs for colorful people. The eggs you cook and the requirements are basically different types of puzzles with modifiers through over the top combinations you need to cook. After a basic tutorial to get used to the controls and fry a single egg, you start getting more varied requests involving other items and even multiple eggs. You can keep trying and failing as well, and the game lets you avoid some requests while tackling things in a different order if you’re ever stuck. There are also three difficulty options. I stuck to normal for the most part. Hard mode on the Steam Deck seems like a good challenge for me this weekend, especially for some of the later requests.

The reason I haven’t said much about the story here, is that just like Umurangi Generation, I want more people to try this without knowing much about the world. If the concept of a sci-fi cooking game about frying eggs, cigarettes, and other things together sounds good to you, just get Arctic Eggs.

I love the vibe Arctic Eggs has, but the real highlights barring the actual egg requests and NPCs, are the visuals and music. Arctic Eggs has an incredible soundtrack that I’ve been listening to for about a week now. Just like the eggs you need to fry for many people, the way the music brings together different instruments you’d not expect is commendable. I also love how the aesthetic carries into every animation, particle effect, and even the UI. Finishing the game completely also unlocks sandbox mode.

Arctic Eggs is a game clearly built for playing with a mouse, but that has never stopped me from playing something on Steam Deck. After a bit of tweaking, I found myself enjoying it quite a bit on Valve’s handheld. I then ended up using the community layout mentioned here, and it basically felt perfect with the trackpads. I haven’t run into any performance issues either. It runs perfectly on Steam Deck OLED aside from some instances of camera panning or cutting where it drops frames for a few seconds.

Arctic Eggs is currently unrated for Steam Deck by Valve, but the only thing I’d love to see fixed soon is adding Steam Cloud support. I also hope improved controller support is added at some point. The community layout basically elevated my experience quite a bit here.

Arctic Eggs. What a game. What an experience. In this super busy month of quality indie games hitting non stop, I think Arctic Eggs will stick with me for a long time. While it isn’t ideal on Steam Deck out of the box, the community control layout made it my favorite way to experience Arctic Eggs. The soundtrack, aesthetic, and vibe are superb here. It’s time to fry eggs and change lives.

Arctic Eggs Steam Deck Review Score: 4.5/5

Mullet Madjack Steam Deck Review

When I first saw the trailer for Mullet Madjack, I thought it looked brilliant, but wasn’t sure how it would feel to play. It was a different take on a boomer shooter from what I’m used to, but the 90s anime aesthetic and synthwave soundtrack were enough to get me to play it. I have bad news for everyone reading this because Mullet Madjack is another Banger Indie Release from May 2024. Hammer95 and Epopeia Games have something special here, and it is immediately in my top 10 games of 2024, and excellent on Steam Deck with one caveat.

Mullet Madjack ships with its main campaign, endless mode, leaderboards, a manual, and options. Before getting into the game, I want to highlight just how good the manual is. The developers put more effort into just the manual being interactive with its own interface than I’ve seen from almost every other game.

When I first tried Mullet Madjack, it felt like an anime roguelike take on Ghostrunner. It has a lot of weapon variety, never feels one note, and had me captivated for over a week on Steam Deck. The combat is smooth, and Mullet Madjack succeeds at making the player feel like an absolute badass nonstop. Even death is accompanied by excellent dialog and effects work. The developers nailed the VHS and retro anime aesthetic in every category. If you aren’t a fan of all the post-processing, you can disable the VHS filter, flashing, and more.

In Mullet Madjack, health is time. You get more time by killing. There’s not much of a story here, and I didn’t expect one, but it is carried by the awesome narration in between levels and when you choose upgrades, or even die. You play as a moderator, Mullet Mad Jack, and you need to keep killing to refill the 10 seconds of life you have. This 10 seconds is on the normal mode, and there are many options to tweak difficulty, including one that removes the timer letting you play as a traditional boomer shooter. It features custom stages at random across different chapters, and is one of the best arcade experiences of 2024.

Mullet Madjack is another game that is a stunner on the Steam Deck OLED screen. Every cut-scene, particle effect, and animation feel made for the display. I just wish it had HDR support. It isn’t Steam Deck Verified by Valve yet, but it may as well be with how good it plays on the handheld. I recommend disabling the screenshake and tilt if you’re sensitive to them like I am with motion sickness. Aside from that, I didn’t really bother changing anything from the default settings.

On Steam Deck, without changing any settings, Mullet Madjack targets 90fps, but it can’t really hold that frame rate with drops to the high 40s pretty often during the very visually busy sections. I recommend playing at medium settings and capping the game to 45hz from the Steam Deck’s menu for the most consistent experience. It isn’t possible to play at a locked 60fps at native resolution with it dropping below that often. If you’re ok with that, I would stick to the native resolution and play it uncapped as it doesn’t drop noticeably below 50fps for too long.

Aside from the visuals, the main thing to keep in mind is controls. Mullet Madjack is a very fast-paced game, and I recommend using gyro to help with aiming. I set it to “Gyro to Joystick Camera (beta)" and had a much better time when playing on the Steam Deck OLED itself.

Mullet Madjack is plain fantastic. It looks gorgeous, feels amazing, and is a sublime boomer shooter with an aesthetic we don’t usually see in the genre. If you have even the smallest interest in boomer shooters and like the 90s anime aesthetic, this one is worth getting. I recommend downloading the demo on Steam Deck and enabling gyro controls to see how you find the controls though as that’s the only aspect that might not work for everyone.

Steam Deck Review Score: 4.5/5

The Tower on the Borderland Steam Deck Impressions

The Tower on the Borderland is a game I had on my wishlist thanks to a friend of mine who posted about it. I decided to buy it because it looked interesting, and really like what I’ve played so far on Steam Deck. I’ve not had time to finish it yet, but wanted to write some brief impressions on the game and how it feels on Steam Deck right now in what feels like a great month for PS1-inspired horror experiences.

In The Tower on the Borderland, you play as Erin who finds herself trapped with no way out. Your aim is to escape, but it is full of various things of all sizes that want you dead. Combat is likely the area some might struggle with here, but I’ve learned that avoiding combat seems like the best solution at least early on. When you hear of PS1-inspired horror games, you probably think of Crow Country or Signalis now. While those are more traditional horror experiences, everything outside the horror elements in The Tower on the Borderland stood out to me more.

The Tower on the Borderland is set in a huge labyrinth, and I’m nowhere near the end, but the aesthetic and intrigue keep me going. I’m a sucker for this visual style as you can tell, but I am surprised at how well The Tower on the Borderland manages to bring in elements from the games it’s inspired by, well beyond what’s listed on the Steam store page. It is equal parts unsettling, mysterious, and gorgeous.

On Steam Deck, The Tower on the Borderland boots up and seems to run at about 40fps, but the actual game hits 60fps without issue in the parts I’ve played. It has full controller support as well and basically runs out of the box on Steam Deck with no tweaking required. I had one small UI issue when playing on my 1440p display, but I haven’t been able to reproduce it.

I haven’t even finished The Tower on the Borderland yet, but it has convinced me to get developer DascuMaru’s other games just because I think they all have an aesthetic that shines on the Steam Deck OLED screen. I recommend downloading the demo to try it out yourself.

News and Trailers

For some reason almost every fighting game developer decided to announce or release a lot of new stuff this week. In addition to that, some notable game releases, updates, and trailers round out this week’s news. Let’s get into it with the fighting games first.

Street Fighter 6 had a massive balance update arrive alongside the new jukebox mode and Akuma who is the final character of the Year 1 Pass. Check out the full patch notes here. The BGM feature is quite good, but I hope it can be tweaked to be as good as the feature is in Tekken 8 letting you change even the menu music. I immediately bought the Third Strike music on every platform, and see no reason to get any other DLC from the BGM sets right now. Watch the trailer for the update and Akuma DLC below:

Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising version 1.40 launched yesterday alongside Beatrix, the newest DLC character. Beatrix is a lot of fun to play so far, as expected, but I’m hoping we see Ilsa added as DLC in the future. I’ll be playing more of the game this weekend and will likely have some detailed impressions on the current state of the game next week. Stay tuned for that. Watch the Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising Beatrix character guide video below:

Arc System Works also released a new starter video for Slayer who arrives next week on May 30th for Season Pass 3 owners and also as a standalone DLC on PS5, PS4, Xbox, and PC platforms. Slayer is the final DLC of this pass with Season Pass 4 in development. Watch the Slayer Starter Guide video below:

Samurai Shodown’s long-awaited rollback update hit Steam last year, but it has finally gone live worldwide for the PS4, Xbox Series X (not Xbox One), and Epic Games Store versions of the game. This doesn’t directly affect the Steam release, but since EGS and Steam have crossplay, it was worth covering for the folks who got it on EGS and Steam. This makes the online mode finally playable for more than just folks who have people nearly to play with on consoles. Samurai Shodown was always an excellent game, and I’m glad the online is holding up with this update as well across all current platforms now. If you’re wondering what the best version of the game is today, it is Xbox Series X for sure with 120fps support.

Digital Eclipse released Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord, the 3D remaster/remake hybrid of the first Wizardry on Steam and all consoles this week. Read Shaun’s interview with Digital Eclipse and Wizardry co-creator Robert Woodhead here. I’ll be writing up some thoughts on the 1.0 build on Steam Deck next week. Watch the Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord launch trailer below:

Cicada Games launched Isles of Sea and Sky for Steam this week, and it is an excellent open world puzzle game. I’ll be reviewing this one, but I really like it so far, and it looks gorgeous on Steam Deck. Watch the launch trailer below:

Speaking of puzzle games, Animo Games and Astra Logical will be releasing Star Stuff, an automation puzzle game, for Steam on June 7th. It will ship with more than 150 levels featuring you as a part of the solution. Watch the trailer for it below:

The final bit of puzzle news of the week is Ouros from developer Michael Kamm. It is a zen-like puzzle game with more than 120 handcrafted puzzles included for you to solve by forming curves and avoiding obstacles. This looks like a game I’d play a lot on iPad so I do hope it comes there, but I am playing it on Steam Deck right now where it is lovely.

Cassette Beasts from Raw Fury hits mobile very soon, but the Steam and consoles versions were finally updated this week with multiplayer support and an in-game collaboration with Raw Fury’s other game, Moonstone Island. Multiplayer lets you explore with up to 8 people in total. Watch the update launch trailer below:

Raw Fury and developer OTA IMON Studios launched the story-based roguelike deckbuilder Zet Zillions for PC via Steam worldwide this week. I really like what I’ve played so far, and will be doing a full review of it in the near future. Watch the launch trailer below:

This week Spike Chunsoft released both The Quintessential Quintuplets games: Memories of a Quintessential Summer and Five Memories Spent With You alongside a bundle of both on Steam and console platforms including Switch and PS4. The games are out now on Steam here. Watch the launch trailer below:

Gearbox and Wabisabi Games launched RKGK / Rakugaki, the stylish 3D platformer, on Steam this week, and it looks gorgeous. This is definitely another game that shines on the Steam Deck OLED display. I’ll have a full review of this one in the near future as well. Watch the launch trailer for it below:

Disney Speedstorm from Gameloft brings in Kermit the Frog this week as a new mid-season racer. I’m still waiting for this one to hit iOS to start playing regularly again, but it is good to see it still getting supported. Watch the launch trailer for Kermit the Frog below:

Risk of Rain 2 was updated on all platforms to bring in a new map, two artifacts, and a collaboration with the amazing Dead Cells. Watch the update trailer below:

Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree expansion due in a few weeks just had its new story trailer released. I’ve watched it a few times already, and the expansion hype is rising. I have my main save on Steam Deck ready for it. The expansion launches on June 21st with pre-orders now live. Watch the expansion story trailer below:

Overwatch’s new legendary Azure Flame Hanzo skin is contributing (25% of revenue) to the esports prize pool at the DreamHack Dallas festival set to take place from May 31st to June 2nd. The Azure Flame Hanzo bundle is available until June 3rd and it includes the skin, a name card, player icon, spray, and weapon charm.

The Warhammer Skulls showcase aired this week with some big reveals. My favorites are the Boltgun horde mode coming next month on June 18th, new DLC coming for it, Rogue Trader’s first DLC: Void Shadows coming August 8th, it being Steam Deck Verified, and the new trailers for Space Marine 2 which has pre-orders now live. Watch the full Warhammer Skulls Showcase – Festival of Video Games 2024 event below:

Dating sim dungeon crawler hybrid Witch and Lilies from developer Stromatosoft is now available on PC through Steam Early Access. It is available at 15% off for just under two weeks on Steam. Stay tuned for my early access review of it in the near future. Watch the newest trailer for it below:

Inti Creates’ Card-en-Ciel roguelite deckbuilder RPG launches on October 24th for all consoles and Steam with multiple difficulty options, online PvP support, daily missions, and more. It will feature many Inti Creates characters as well. Watch the release date trailer for it below:

I’m going to end the news section with a recommendation for all readers to check out The GameDiscoverCo Newsletter. It is essential reading if you care about the current state of games and the most-recent newsletter covering Rabbit and Steel, a game I want to play as soon as I can, is worth your time. Check it out here.

New Steam Deck Verified & Playable games for the week

Some surprises, but the highlight of the week is Owlcat’s Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader getting updated and Steam Deck Verified this week. I’m surprised Valve also marked FOUNDRY as unsupported when it plays well on Deck, and is a lot better than many Verified games.

• Apex Legends – Playable
• Asteroid Run: No Questions Asked – Verified
• Bleeding Edge – Unsupported
• Command & Conquer and The Covert Operations – Playable
• Command & Conquer: Red Alert, Counterstrike and The Aftermath – Playable
• Dogyuun – Verified
• FOUNDRY – Unsupported
• Gray Zone Warfare – Unsupported
• Insurgency: Sandstorm – Playable
• London Detective Mysteria – Playable
• Mashiroiro Symphony HD: Love is Pure White – Unsupported
• No Rest for the Wicked – Unsupported
• One-inch Tactics – Playable
• Saviorless – Verified
• Tents and Trees – Verified
• THE FINALS – Playable
• Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader – Verified
• Wizard with a Gun – Verified

Steam Deck Game Sales & Discounts

This week, there are three notable sales on Steam. The Warhammer Skulls 2024 festival sale is on to celebrate the announcements from the showcase. If you aren’t sure what to get, grab Boltgun or Rogue Trader for sure. I love them both. Draknek & Friends’ Cerebral Puzzle Showcase 2024 is also on with amazing puzzle games discounted like Patrick’s Parabox, Baba is You, and many more. Check out all the games here and try out the demos to find some cool games for your wishlist. The final notable sale right now is Annapurna Interactive’s publisher sale for 2024. Many great indies are on sale here, and I really should grab the ones I’m missing on Steam soon.

That’s all for this week’s edition of the Steam Deck Weekly. 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.

This update arrives ahead of version 5.0 that has upgraded visuals. Read about that here. If you’d like to play Genshin Impact and don’t own it yet, you can download it for free on the App Store for iOS here and on Google Play for Android here. The PC version is available on the official website here and the Epic Games Store. If you play on iOS, with iOS 14.5 or iPadOS 14.5 and later, you can use PS5 and Xbox Series X|S controllers to play Genshin Impact. We featured Genshin Impact as our Game of the Week when it released and awarded it our 2020 Game of the Year. I also featured it as one of the best iOS games to play with a controller. What do you think of Genshin Impact 4.7 so far?

Magical Drop VI currently has 15 playable characters with new ones in DLC, six game modes, local and online multiplayer support, and many challenges included. The mobile version through Crunchyroll hasn’t officially been revealed aside from this agreement which is on Forever Entertainment’s own investor page. I hope the mobile version includes online multiplayer support. If you’re curious how the game was at launch, read Shaun’s review of the Switch version here. I never got around to getting the game and might wait for the mobile version unless I decide to buy a Switch physical version if that ever gets a largescale release. Have you played Magical Drop VI yet on any platform?

Update: Changed the release date for PlayStation and Xbox to June 14th after Forever Entertainment issued a correction.

As of now, Cozy Grove: Camp Spirit is only announced for Netflix, and Spry Fox was acquired by Netflix back in 2022, so it remains to be seen whether it hits other platforms or not. This will be the studio’s first game since the acquisition. If you’d like to play Cozy Grove: Camp Spirit at launch, you can pre-register for it using this link. Check out the official game website here. Cozy Grove: Camp Spirit has soft launched, but it will be available to all as of June 25th. I’m interested to see how it does on Netflix, and also whether we see it expand to consoles. Have you played Cozy Grove on Apple Arcade and will you be checking out Cozy Grove: Camp Spirit on Netflix for iOS and Android when it launches?

If you’ve not played the game in a while, check out the 2024 roadmap for what is due this year and more. You can get Diablo Immortal for free on the App Store for iOS here, Google Play for Android here, and PC here. It has been a while since launch, but I’m still curious to see if we get Diablo Immortal on Steam after Diablo 4 hit Valve’s storefront a little while ago. What do you think of Diablo Immortal if you play it regularly and do you like what you see of the Tempest class?

As of today, in app purchase sales have ended for Dragon Quest Champions on iOS and Android. This one never released outside Japan, and I was hoping to see it in the West. This is yet another Square Enix mobile game to shut down about a year or so after launching. Check out the official website for more gameplay screenshots and information if you don’t plan on playing it and want to know how it was. Dragon Quest Champions is a free to play with various gem packs that are now no longer available. If you’d like to try out the Japanese release until it shuts down, you can get it on the App Store for iOS here and on Google Play for Android here. Did you play Dragon Quest Champions in Japan or were you hoping for a localization?

Something fishy’s on the horizon, son…looks like we better get ready to set sail for an all-new Ridiculous Fishing EX update Thursday, May 23rd on Apple Arcade! 🫡

Download now at the App Store! https://t.co/stQ8QyjK4M pic.twitter.com/J16UpFfcpf

— KO_OP RIDICULOUS FISHING EX GARBAGE PATCH (@KOOPMode) May 21, 2024

Solitaire Stories brings in a brand new story in Durango Joe and three new time-limited events: Grand Prix, Mercury, and Groove Ship for this summer. Taiko no Tatsujin: Pop Tap Beat brings in Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex’s opening ‘Inner Universe’ and five more songs in this week’s update. BEAST has season 5 now live with a new character, new map background, and new rewards today. The final notable update of the week is Bloons TD Battles 2+ version 4.0 bringing an overhaul to ranked mode and a lot more.

With the updates done, check out our forum threads for Ridiculous Fishing Ex here, Solitaire Stories here, Taiko no Tatsujin: Pop Tap Beat here, WHAT THE CAR? here, BEAST here, What The Golf? here, and Bloons TD Battles 2+ here. For all Apple Arcade related things, check out our dedicated Apple Arcade forum for discussion on the service and every game included here. What do you think of Apple’s updates this month so far?

How to play Final Fantasy XIV on Steam Deck in 2024

If you’re just here to learn how to play Final Fantasy XIV on Steam Deck, it is pretty simple. If you own the game license on Steam or want to play the Final Fantasy XIV Free Trial on Steam, you can just claim it on your account and get started. Final Fantasy XIV is officially marked as Steam Deck Playable by Valve. This is because the game’s launcher requires using the touchscreen or mouse cursor and manually invoking the on-screen keyboard for text input.

If you’ve not installed GE-Proton yet, I recommend doing so just in general for your Steam Deck because it helps a lot of games run even better. GamingOnLinux has a step by step guide here on doing it. I’ve had a lot of folks who play Final Fantasy XIV on Steam Deck recommend using GE-Proton to play, and I’ve had zero issues using it.

One last thing to keep in mind is Final Fantasy XIV’s region lock and account system. On Steam, you can only access the version meant for your region. If you play using the standalone license, you have no restrictions like that. Most people I know play on NA accounts despite living outside NA or having moved outside NA. On Steam, they would be forced to create a new account and character for another region. Check the Steam game page for Final Fantasy XIV before logging in or making an account if you plan on playing via the Steam license. I recommend using the standalone license for flexibility. Even if Steam only serves you the PAL version and you want to play using the NA region account, the guide below will help.

Final Fantasy XIV on Steam Deck with standalone license

If you own Final Fantasy XIV through its standalone license or the Mog Station like I do, you can still play through Steam by following this guide. It uses no mods or plugins. This has worked perfectly for me for months now on both my Steam Deck LCD and OLED models. The only thing you need to keep in mind is making sure to type your password, then hiding the keyboard. Don’t press enter or click login here. If you do so, you get an error. Once you type your password and then hide the keyboard, move the cursor to the one time password field and then type that by invoking the keyboard. At this stage, hit return on the keyboard/right trigger. This will let you play without issues. I’m not sure what the problem is for clicking or not doing it this way, but I’ve tested multiple times and the only way to do this without any friction is hitting enter/return/right trigger after the one time password has been filled. You also need GE-Proton to ensure stability.

How does Final Fantasy XIV run on Steam Deck OLED

As of this writing, I’ve made it to about 10 hours into the Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood storyline. I have not played Shadowbringers or Endwalker yet so cannot comment on the content in those expansions, but everything in Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, Heavensward, patches, and whatever I’ve played of Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood so far is excellent on Steam Deck OLED, with it running well above 60fps almost all the time. I’ve even done dungeons with friends at 80-90fps.

While I’ve not done too many raids, I want to highlight that it does play really well even in Crystal Tower with all the effects and ran noticeably better than when I played on consoles. You just need to get used the clutter on the small screen. I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how well Final Fantasy XIV runs and plays on Steam Deck through the many dozens of hours I’ve put into it recently and in the last two years across updates.

Final Fantasy XIV Steam Deck graphics settings

I’ve been using the 150% UI setting, windowed mode, custom 1280×800 resolution (with 16:10 support), the 90fps frame rate limit, real-time reflections off, anti-aliasing at FXAA, transparent lighting quality and grass at normal, parallax occlusion and tessellation at high, map resolution at high, and glare off. For shadows, I have all displayed with LOD set to low-level. Shadow resolution at 1024p, cascading at the best preset, softening at strong, anisotropic texture filtering at 16x, and dynamic resolution off. I played with dynamic resolution on and off, so try both and see which you prefer. If you want to run at 60fps and not higher, you can turn a few options higher. Since Final Fantasy XIV is an online-only game, I’m usually playing at home or when I’m near my phone for hotspot, and I usually have a charge near me. This isn’t a game I prioritize battery life with.

Final Fantasy XIV control settings

The only thing I changed here was PS5 gamepad type controls so I could have the same button prompts I’ve been used to for years. I also enabled DualSense features for when I play on Steam Deck over the docking station with my DualSense controller plugged in. One thing to keep in mind here is that the controller ordering sometimes causes issues with which controller is active. While not directly related to controls, I don’t recommend using the on-screen keyboard for chatting. I’ve been using Discord voice to chat with friends while playing online here.

Final Fantasy XIV on Xbox Series X

Since Final Fantasy XIV hit Xbox Series X recently, I decided to also cover that version. Final Fantasy XIV on PS5 feels pretty close to the PS4 Pro version aside from some minor visual improvements. The big boost was to load times and the amazing DualSense haptics. On Xbox Series X, aside from the controller features being absent, it plays great and loads fast. I also appreciate having VRR support which I don’t have on PS5 when using my monitor.

The biggest advantage to playing Final Fantasy XIV on Xbox Series X is for my lazy side. Not having to type the password and one time password each time is great for getting me to play when I just want to boot up the game and do a quest or two. This is more of a laziness issue, but it is worth highlighting, and I hope the other systems have this added as an option.

How is Final Fantasy XIV in 2024 for a new player?

Despite having a character from around 2013, I still consider myself a relatively new player since I’m still playing story content that hit back in 2017, just with newer features added. Final Fantasy XIV is not only a fantastic Final Fantasy game, but it is worth your time even if you want to play solo. Almost all the content can be played with a party of NPCs, and when you do need to do some content that isn’t doable like that, the queue time is very short in my experience. If I had to count, I think I’ve had only about 5 instances of needing to play with others in all of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn and Heavensward with patches. Playing with others is more fun for sure, but you can treat this as a single player Final Fantasy game, just one that is online-only.

While Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn has its ups and downs for the story, I enjoyed almost all of it leading into Heavensward. Heavensward on the other hand is sublime for its narrative, characters, new locations, music, and more. Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward is in my top 5 Final Fantasy games of all time. It is absolutely worth experiencing.

Having played Final Fantasy XIV on a controller since the early PS4 days and even remote playing it on PS Vita if you believe it, I’ve always enjoyed the controller input method. What I didn’t know until someone in my free company told me, is the expanded hold controls and other crossbar options for a controller. This coupled with the Steam Deck’s Steam Input makes Final Fantasy XIV more enjoyable for me to play on Steam Deck than on PS5 and Xbox. It also helps that the game runs brilliantly on Valve’s handheld.

If you’re a longtime player and you just want to replay the story, there’s a NG+ option now, and that might be the best use case for experiencing the main story on Steam Deck. If you just want to use the Steam Deck to grind out certain things, that’s also an option. Having an excellent portable version of Final Fantasy XIV that even excels above the console versions will never get old.

The main thing I’d like to see addressed with Final Fantasy XIV on Steam Deck and PC in general, is the login system. Right now, Final Fantasy XIV on PS5 has you inputting your one time password to login. On Xbox Series X, it saves everything so you just need to boot the game up and can directly hit login and play. On PC, you have to input both the password and the one time password to login. Doing this is very annoying on Steam Deck. I hope we see the Xbox-style login option added on PC and PS5 in the future.

The music of Final Fantasy XIV

I’ve basically stuck to Final Fantasy XIV all these years because of Masayoshi Soken’s music. I’ve been listening to it well before getting the expansions or even reaching those points story wise in-game. I know this isn’t ideal, but the music in A Realm Reborn was too good for me to not listen to it constantly over the years. It was interesting seeing where each song was used in-game though. I decided to put a pause on that for Endwalker, and have been saving that soundtrack for when I hear it in-game. Soken’s music in Final Fantasy XIV is beyond incredible. I even love most of his work in Final Fantasy XVI, but I think the Heavensward and Shadowbringers music form some of the series best music of all time. It is that good. I’ve been making it a point to always buy Final Fantasy XIV music even if I’m not up to date with the game. I like it that much.

What’s next for Final Fantasy XIV on Steam Deck?

Next month, Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail with a graphics overhaul arrives. It might make some aspects of this article obsolete, but I can’t really say right now. I will try and keep this updated once Dawntrail releases so those looking to get into Final Fantasy XIV with the new graphics can still play it on Steam Deck. Stay tuned for that. I’ll hopefully also be covering Dawntrail in the future.

When I originally got the Steam Deck back in 2022, it took me a while to se tup Final Fantasy XIV because of how complicated all the guides were back then. In 2024, playing Final Fantasy XIV on Steam Deck is easier than ever, and there’s almost no friction involved. It feels excellent on the handheld, and is even playable over a phone hotspot in my experience.

As someone who is playing it only for the story and music, I’ve had a ton of fun with it on my Steam Deck OLED and Xbox in recent weeks. If you aren’t sure if it is something you will enjoy, at least get the free trial because Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward is easily one of the best Final Fantasy experiences I’ve ever had.

If you’ve not played Monster Hunter Now recently or are planning to just start playing, I put together tips and tricks for the game, details on the weapons, special skills, the current monsters list, my wishlist for future update monsters, and more. You can grab Monster Hunter Now on the App Store for iOS here and on Google Play for Android here. The in app purchases include different sets of gems and upgrades. Check out the official website here. What do you think of Monster Hunter Now if you’ve been playing it and what do you think of Driftsmelting if you’ve used it?

If you’d like to play Katana Zero and have an active Netflix subscription, you can get it on the App Store for iOS here and on Google Play for Android here. Check out our forum thread for Katana Zero here. Katana Zero is priced at $14.99 on Nintendo Switch and Steam. Make sure to listen to the soundtrack here as well. With Hades and Katana Zero both now available, I’m curious to see what the next big indie is to arrive on the service. Have you played Katana Zero on Steam or consoles yet and will you be playing it on mobile through Netflix?

Having enjoyed and beaten Katana Zero multiple times before on Switch and PC, I was well aware of how difficult some stages are, and also how annoyed I was for specific bosses. In the translation to iOS, Katana Zero has lost nothing, and I’m quite surprised by that. It almost makes me want a port of Hotline Miami from Devolver, but I digress. As with my other port reviews, I’m going to also cover how the game on mobile compares to other platforms I’ve played said game on, and help you decide which one you should get.

Katana Zero is a stylish action-platformer with stunning pixel art, mesmerizing animations, and superb music. While most games in the genre have a story that gets the job done with a focus on gameplay, Katana Zero is the rare game that punches (slices?) well above its weight in every single category. It is very much a once in a generation experience, and I don’t say that lightly. After every few stage sections when you get used to a new mechanic or enemy type, Katana Zero throws something new at you. This could be with a brand-new stage type, boss fight, story moment, and more. Expect to take about 5 hours or so to see Katana Zero to its end, but it took me a lot more during my first run through it on Switch back in the day.

The core gameplay in Katana Zero involves platforming, attacking, dodging, jumping, stopping time, and more. You end up using a combination of all of this to make it through a stage section. You can keep playing through a specific section if you die until you manage to clear it. If you hadn’t caught on from the title screen and the opening, Katana Zero wears its synthwave and VHS vibe proudly. When you die, you get a VHS-like rewind effect. In fact clearing a section also has you ejecting a tape.

Speaking of the length, Katana Zero feels like it is built for speedrunning. It has a few settings that save your time, like being able to skip the VHS rewind animation on death and almost instantly restart. I recommend enabling this because it does get annoying when you make a mistake a few times in a row on a specific level and see the same animation play out.

Given the structure and difficulty, there is a lot of trial and error as you learn a specific level segment before moving to the next one. This may or may not be an annoyance for you. I expected it given the genre, but there are a few bits that annoy me to this day. When watching Katana Zero trailers or gameplay, you’d think this is a very fast-paced game, and you’re right, but there’s a lot more to it. While the opening levels feel pretty straightforward, there is a lot of depth and strategy at play in Katana Zero. Each level, enemy placement, point of interest, object, and more work together to make you feel like a puzzle solving samurai genius with one of the best soundtracks in gaming.

If you played Hotline Miami, the addictive one more chance style action is at play here. You will die often, but every death is a learning experience. This aspect might turn some players off, but outside of maybe a handful of deaths, I’ve never felt like my time was being wasted in any level of situation. I will say that some of the boss battles are frustrating, and that’s really my only complaint with the core game. It is a sublime experience, but I never really enjoyed some specific moments in my Switch or Steam playthroughs. Those aren’t fun when experienced on mobile either as you can expect.

On Switch and PC, Katana Zero plays perfectly with a controller. On iOS, you can of course use a controller, but I was more interested in seeing how the developers adapted the game for touch controls. On the controller side, I tested using a Backbone One on an iPhone 14 Plus and my 8BitDo Pro 2 on iPad Pro. It all works well. On my iPhone 15 Pro, I used touch controls, and found them to be very good outside one issue. The action buttons and interaction button can all be resized and moved around. The analog stick for movement has three settings, but none of them let you properly fix the joystick including the fixed setting. I have to imagine this is a bug or a mislabelled setting. If you aren’t used to playing platformers on touch controls, this will take you some time to get used to, but I think the team has done a fantastic job with the controls on iOS.

Katana Zero looks brilliant on iOS. It has some border artwork on iPhone 15 Pro during gameplay, and has black bars in menus and interfaces. On iPad Pro, there are just black bars around the 16:9 gameplay. It looks crisp though, and performance has been very good on my devices. Katana Zero is capped at 60fps on PC so I didn’t expect support for more on iOS. I did notice a variable frame rate in some parts on iPad Pro (2020), but performance was excellent on my iPhone 15 Pro.

If you’re new to Katana Zero and have a Netflix subscription, I’d definitely try it out on mobile before buying it on another platform. If you don’t have a Netflix subscription, I’d recommend getting Katana Zero on Switch or Steam Deck to play on the go with the latter being the best version with no performance issues at all.

I mentioned the soundtrack being great, but it really is one of the best game soundtracks in many years with it touching quite a few genres through its runtime. This is definitely one to own on vinyl. If you have no interest in the game and have somehow made it this far into a review of said game, at least listen to the soundtrack. You will not regret it.

While I’m not sure I’d say Katana Zero justifies subscribing to Netflix if you don’t have an active subscription, it is immediately one of the best games on the service, and a fantastic, and near-perfect, conversion of a magnificent game. If you have a Netflix subscription, drop everything else and play Katana Zero right now. It is that good. Replaying it has not made the wait for Katana Zero DLC easier.

Check out the official Wuthering Waves website for more character and pre-registration reward details here. If you’d like to play Wuthering Waves from day one, you can now get it on the App Store for iOS here and on Google Play for Android here. Wuthering Waves is a free to play game, but it has various in app purchases listed including different Lunites packages and even a Lunite subscription. There are two in app purchases of Connoisseur and Insider Channels listed as well. I don’t know what those do yet, but I assume the game will have them listed when it fully launches from May 22nd. What do you think of Wuthering Waves so far and will you be playing it this week?

Kingdom Two Crowns: Call of Olympus follows Kingdom Two Crowns: Norse Lands campaign which launched as DLC on other platforms and as an in app purchase for $2.99 on iOS and Android. You can currently wishlist Kingdom Two Crowns: Call of Olympus on Steam here. If you’ve not gotten the base game yet, you can buy Kingdom Two Crowns on the App Store for iOS and Google Play for Android. The base game is 75% off on Steam as well as a part of a Raw Fury publisher sale. Have you played Kingdom Two Crowns on iOS or Android yet and what do you think of this new expansion?

Fast forward to earlier this year, Capcom announced a remaster of Monster Hunter Stories for PS4, Nintendo Switch, and Steam. This remaster promised improved visuals over the 3DS release, a museum mode, full voice acting, all Japan-exclusive title updates, and added language support. That sounds great of course, but I still thought the improved visuals just meant we would be getting the mobile version on modern consoles and PC. I was wrong. Capcom has gone and improved a few notable aspects of the visuals even on Nintendo Switch compared to the mobile version. Thanks to early access from Capcom, I’ve been playing the remaster of Monster Hunter Stories on Switch, Steam Deck, and PS5 for this preview. I will not be directly comparing the game on platforms here, but will cover how each version feels, and what makes it worth getting even if you own prior releases of Monster Hunter Stories, based on my time with it.

Monster Hunter Stories remaster hands-on preview

If you’re completely new to Monster Hunter Stories, it is an RPG from Marvelous and Capcom that basically floored me on 3DS with its visuals and excellent transition of Monster Hunter mechanics to a monster collecting RPG. In fact, I used to joke about how Monster Hunter Stories on 3DS was better than the Pokemon games on the system. Looking back, not only do I still believe that, but I think Monster Hunter Stories 2 transcended that to become its own fantastic game, but I’ll save my thoughts on Monster Hunter Stories 2 for another article later on. So, Monster Hunter Stories is quite different from mainline Monster Hunter games, but it very much was a great gateway game for a younger audience. Following its 2017 release on 3DS, it saw a mobile release internationally a year later, and basically will have not seen a single new platform release until this PS4, Switch, and Steam version will release next month.

Monster Hunter Stories remaster new features

When I first got access to this remaster, I purposely didn’t play the mobile or 3DS versions until a few days later. I wanted to see how this new version felt out of the box. I thought it looked and played great on my 1440p monitor, but the voice acting was the biggest surprise. It sounds good enough to the point I was surprised it wasn’t included in the original release. It also felt great to play Monster Hunter Stories with a controller after spending a lot of time with the touch version on my iOS devices.

Monster Hunter Stories remaster visual improvements over mobile and 3DS

Visually, I first thought this remaster of Monster Hunter Stories was just the mobile version running on Switch, PS4 (and PS5), and Steam, but adjusted for different aspect ratios and hardware. After then replaying the opening hours across multiple devices, I could see the improvements in the remaster. These range from increased foliage to improved textures and even support for higher frame rates depending on the platform. I’ll have comparisons for the different platform versions closer to launch. For this Monster Hunter Stories remaster hands-on preview, I mainly wanted to confirm that this release isn’t just the mobile version ported like I expected.

Monster Hunter Stories also has a Museum that features music and an art gallery. I can’t show it all for spoiler reasons, but the music is split up into 6 sections. The art gallery features characters, backgrounds, monsters, and other illustrations. This is all accessible from the title screen menu, and you get a spoiler warning before accessing it if you’re new to the world of Monster Hunter Stories.

Before getting into how this remaster feels on each platform, I recommend all those who get the remaster immediately look at the camera options to fix the movement. It feels very sluggish by default. Play around with the settings to make it feel better.

Monster Hunter Stories remaster Nintendo Switch impressions

Monster Hunter Stories on Nintendo Switch is an upgrade over the mobile version in some ways, but the frame rate right now isn’t stable throughout. It basically feels like it is running uncapped with a 60fps target, but it feels a lot better than Monster Hunter Stories 2 did on Switch. It looks excellent on the Switch’s OLED screen and when played docked. Load times are not bad either.

Monster Hunter Stories remaster Steam Deck and PC port impressions

The PC version of Monster Hunter Stories includes a few graphics and display options. You can adjust window mode (windowed, fullscreen, and borderless), resolution (864×486 to 4K), frame rate target (30fps to 144fps), toggle v-sync, toggle anti-aliasing, and adjust shadow quality (low, medium, high). You can also adjust brightness.

On my Steam Deck OLED, Monster Hunter Stories held 90fps very well with everything set to high aside from shadow quality which I turned down from the start. Load times are near-instant. The game supports Steam Cloud, but doesn’t do full 16:10 on the Deck’s screen.

Monster Hunter Stories and Monster Hunter Stories 2 PS5 impressions

I won’t lie. I was disappointed to see Monster Hunter Stories being a PS4 game with no native PS5 release. A native release would’ve allowed for higher resolutions and frame rates. The PS4 version runs at 60fps on my PS5, but it could’ve been crisper. Aside from that, the load times are fast and I have no real complaints with it. The lack of a proper physical release of both games worldwide on PS4 is disappointing though.

I couldn’t obviously test the Monster Hunter Stories 1.20 and 1.30 title updates for this preview. I’m looking forward to digging deeper into this remaster for my full review closer to the game’s launch. Until then, Capcom definitely went above and beyond for this release. I expected just a port of the mobile release with controller support, but this is a lot more than that, and it is fantastic even for those who enjoyed it on 3DS like myself.

The episodes will initially be exclusive to France before releasing worldwide later. If you’ve not gotten the game yet, you can buy Dead Cells on the App Store for iOS and on Google Play for Android for $8.99. If you’re unsure whether to grab it on mobile or Switch, read my comparison here and my DLC review covering the newer updates here. I’ve been playing the game more on Steam Deck lately, but you really need to get the Castlevania DLC on whatever platform you play the game on. What do you think of the first trailer for Dead Cells: Immortals?

Steam Deck Game Reviews & Impressions

Cryptmaster Steam Deck Review

Cryptmaster might just be the most interesting game of 2024 so far that feels perfectly tailored to my taste. I love word games and dungeon crawlers, and Cryptmaster blends both together while constantly surprising me during its runtime. I’ve even started replaying it just to try and see how much the developers thought of with the text input mechanic and dialog.

Cryptmaster is full of mystery, lovely NPC interactions, good combat (that isn’t too deep), and a lot of wordplay (inputting words to guess lost skills) that ended up making it one of my favorite games of the year so far just after my first play session of three hours. I’ve since continued that, started over fresh, and basically tried my best to milk this game of all it has to offer in its voiced dialog and while also trying the alternate combat option. I definitely recommend playing in turn-based mode for your first run.

Cryptmaster lets you choose between keyboard or controller input when you boot up the game. You have a few control options to let you adjust rotation speed, stick sensitivity, skipping dialog options, instant rotation snap, and headbob. The graphics options let you adjust resolution from 720p all the way up to 3840×1600 on Steam Deck when docked. There are quality presets from low to ultra, draw distance options, a color tint option if you aren’t a fan of the black and white aesthetic, FOV options, and three audio sliders for speech, effects, and music. I left everything on default aside from resolution that I tweaked depending on the display I used.

Playing at 1440p on my monitor worked out fine for a 30fps target on Deck. If you want a locked 60 or 70fps, you need to play at 720p. Setting everything to the lowest or off resulted in around 95fps when played at 720p. The aesthetic scales well through lower resolutions as well, and it looks excellent on the Steam Deck screen.

I wanted to play Cryptmaster on Steam Deck for two reasons. The first is because the game’s premise was pretty damn cool, but I also wanted to see how a game that was clearly built for keyboard gameplay would feel on Steam Deck. The developers have made sure it is playable even for those who only use a controller or play on the Deck itself, but I would still recommend playing it with a keyboard hooked up for the best possible experience.

Aside from the control issues if you don’t use a keyboard and some difficulty spikes I ran into, I have no complaints with Cryptmaster as a game. It is a smart blend of two genres that worked out well, and I hope it does well enough to get console ports down the line. I do hope the PC version gets patched with Steam Cloud support though.

If you like word games and dungeon crawlers, Cryptmaster will likely be one of your favorite games in years. It oozes humor, charm, and constantly keeps you engaged with its striking aesthetic and mechanics. I also like how the developers cater to those who play with a controller here, though I recommend a keyboard for the smoothest experience.

Cryptmaster Steam Deck Review Score: 4.5/5

Gigantic: Rampage Edition Steam Deck Review

I initially was skeptical of Gigantic: Rampage Edition on Steam Deck because it is a MOBA, and online games can sometimes have issues with Proton thanks to anti-cheat measures. When I eventually did get sent review codes for Gigantic: Rampage Edition, I was surprised to see it work out of the box. I’ve slowly been playing it with randoms and with friends since launch to see how it feels. I’m going to cover how it plays on Steam Deck and whether it is worth your time right now.

Gigantic: Rampage Edition is a new version of an older game that I hadn’t heard of until learning about this new release. It hit PC and consoles last month with cross platform play. If you, like me, were new to Gigantic, Gigantic: Rampage Edition is a 5v5 MOBA hero shooter that aims to appeal to both genres with its blend of interesting heroes, modes, and more. Right off the bat, I’m going to say that I rarely play MOBAs, and the last one I truly spent time with for more than a month was Heroes of the Storm. With that out of the way, I’ve enjoyed the gameplay across the modes in Gigantic: Rampage Edition with friends. I’ve still not seen what all heroes have to offer, and I wish there was some sort of proper story mode to build up the heroes here.

In its current state, Gigantic: Rampage Edition is a paid release at $20 or regional equivalent. More hero skins and a ranked mode are due through free updates. I was surprised to see this arrive as a paid release, but I won’t fault the developers for trying. It being a one and done purchase has definitely made it easier for me to get friends to try it out, but the ones who bounced off it have similar complaints as I do. Gigantic: Rampage Edition needed a bit more time to cook and flesh out certain parts of the game more. It isn’t remotely a bad experience, and I recommend it, but it could’ve been more.

The PC version of Gigantic: Rampage Edition lets you adjust display mode, resolution, toggle v-sync, graphics quality, texture details, dynamic shadows, and various levels of anisotropic filtering. Without changing anything, Gigantic: Rampage Edition held 60fps quite well even in visually busy portions of the game. Turning everything to low resulted in less drops from 60fps, but I recommend leaving things at the default preset.

Gigantic: Rampage Edition is officially marked as Steam Deck Playable by Valve due to needing to manually invoke the keyboard for some text entry and for small text size. In my experience with it playing on my Steam Deck OLED and also on my monitor through the docking station, I’ve had no issues even grouping up with friends across the world. There have been some hiccups, but those affect all platforms.

In future updates, I’d love to see an offline mode added to play with just bots, but I understand that might not be possible.

Gigantic: Rampage Edition with cross platform play and with how well it plays on Steam Deck is worth your time if you have people to play with despite the few issues I have with certain aspects of the experience. I worry for the online population, but this is a solid base at a low asking price. I just hope some sort of story mode can be added as future DLC or in an update.

Gigantic: Rampage Edition Steam Deck Review Score: 3.5/5

Crow Country Steam Deck Review

When I played Signalis, I thought it would basically have no competition for throwback horror games given how good it was. It turns out I was wrong, and I’m glad about that. SFB Games’ Crow Country is a superb 90s style survival horror game with a surprisingly good blend of modern features to make it feel right at home today. SFB Games nailed what I pictured in my head for a retro horror game built for modern audiences here.

Crow Country is full of surprises, gorgeous 90s visuals, smooth controls, excellent puzzles, riddles, and even an option to play it as an exploration game if you aren’t a fan of horror. The developers really thought of just about everything here with it even having a hint system. Another aspect I love is the general design language that applies to environments, character designs, enemies, and the UI. SFB Games absolutely knocked this one out of the park as its first survival horror game.

Crow Country on Steam Deck is officially Steam Deck Verified, and it basically is the version of the game I recommend. I loved playing Signalis handheld on Switch and Steam Deck, and will be replaying Crow Country if it ever hits Switch. I have zero complaints with how it runs on Switch both playing on my Steam Deck OLED and when docked on the 1440p monitor. The only graphics options it has are adjusting screen mode, displaying exit arrows, and showing the gameplay HUD.

The only thing I don’t like about Crow Country is the traps spread across the game. They aren’t always bad, but in some instances I just got annoyed with the placement and despite some of them also working on enemies, I would rather the number be reduced in general as an option. Aside from the roadmap already announced, I hope Crow Country comes to Switch and gets a physical release.

Crow Country joins Signalis as one of the best survival horror games in recent years. It is shockingly good, and I can’t wait to revisit it when its next update arrives. I urge you to at least try the free demo. It feels perfect on Steam Deck. What I thought would be a nice throwback horror game ended up being one of the best in years for the genre, and a standout title in an already amazing 2024 for games.

Steam Deck Review Score: 4.5/5

INDIKA Steam Deck Review

INDIKA is a very interesting third-person adventure game that always tiptoes between a few styles, but manages to be its own thing by the end with surreal and humorous moments. You play as a young nun in the middle of self discovery with religious themes, torment, and more. When it launched, it had issues on Steam Deck, and still does in parts, but it is now at a point where I can recommend experiencing it on Valve’s handheld.

When it comes to gameplay, INDIKA is basically a walking simulator, albeit one that feels much bigger budget than the norm, and one that has some mini-games sprinkled across. It plays well and looks excellent on Steam Deck, but suffers from drops below 30fps in some parts. Overall, it is a game I’m glad I got to play, and one you should try if you’re interested in the premise.

The PC version of INDIKA doesn’t have any graphics options outside disabling the UD, motion blur, and gamma. You can adjust the FOV or controller sensitivity, but have no control over capping the frame rate or anything else in-game. I capped it to 30fps from the Steam Deck’s own menu. I also recommend turning the subtitle size to 150% if you plan on playing in handheld mode only, and also disabling the pixel font. The pixel font would’ve been fine if you could tweak the UI size across the board.

INDIKA was a fresh adventure experience that continuously surprised me throughout with how its narrative flowed, and one I’m definitely going to replay on PS5 when it releases there. As a fan of walking simulators, this is one of my favorites in the genre, and I’m just shocked it even exists. It might even be one of my favorite games 11 bit studios has published so far.

Steam Deck Review Score: 4/5

Hatsune Miku – The Planet Of Wonder And Fragments Of Wishes Steam Deck Review

Hatsune Miku – The Planet Of Wonder And Fragments Of Wishes is a game I had no idea existed until I saw it get Steam Deck Verified pre-release. It originally released on Switch last year, and arrived on Steam a month ago. While most Miku fans know and love the rhythm games, she does also see games in other genres. Hatsune Miku – The Planet Of Wonder And Fragments Of Wishes is a short adventure game with mini-games included that you can get through in about two hours or less.

At its asking price of $30, that’s a hard pill to swallow. If you look beyond the price, Miku fans will enjoy the interactions and mini-games. I definitely liked the time I put into it, but I just cannot recommend it at that price. Hatsune Miku – The Planet Of Wonder And Fragments Of Wishes is Steam Deck Verified like I mentioned, but it has a scrolling issue where the game doesn’t feel smooth at 60fps or 90fps. I fixed this by forcing the Steam Deck’s display to 50hz. This is a bug I’ve experienced in a few other games as well, and I hope it can be fixed so the scrolling is smooth even at higher frame rates.

Hatsune Miku – The Planet Of Wonder And Fragments Of Wishes is a game I recommend on a big discount if you like Miku. I try to play just about every Hatsune Miku game I can across platforms, and Hatsune Miku – The Planet Of Wonder And Fragments Of Wishes would’ve been easier to recommend if it cost about half of what it does and didn’t have a constant scrolling issue. As a short adventure game for Miku fans, it gets the job done, but the asking price makes it a non starter right now.

Hatsune Miku – The Planet Of Wonder And Fragments Of Wishes Steam Deck Review Score: 2.5/5

Samurai Warriors 4 DX Steam Deck Review

I have very fond memories of Samurai Warriors 4 because it was basically the first proper Warriors game I played after getting into the genre through Hyrule Warriors. When I bought Samurai Warriors 4 back on PS4, I was blown away by how smooth it felt, but also with how addictive the gameplay was throughout the main story. I ended up sticking with the series and buying Samurai Warriors 4-II and Samurai Warriors 4 Empires (my favorite of the lot) as they came out. Back then, also Koei Tecmo ported Samurai Warriors 4-II to PC, but it was a middling conversion that used old generation assets and just wasn’t as good of a port. Times have changed since with Koei Tecmo games usually best on PC these days.

Samurai Warriors 4 was PlayStation exclusive, and it hadn’t seen any re-release until Samurai Warriors 4 DX hit PS4 and Nintendo Switch in a few years ago in Japan. Since Koei Tecmo released Dynasty Warriors 8’s complete (more or less) edition on Switch, I hoped Samurai Warriors 4 DX would make its way over. That ship seemed to have sailed as the years went by, but we had a surprise announcement and release of Samurai Warriors 4 DX for Steam this week, and it arrived Steam Deck Verified to my surprise.

If you’ve never played a Warriors game before, Samurai Warriors 4 DX is one of the best introductions to the genre, and a fantastic version of Omega Force and Koei Tecmo’s hack and slash action games. Samurai Warriors 4 in particular also has excellent storytelling and has you slowly experiencing different characters across regions that all build towards the grand finale. It remains one one of the best Warriors games out there as well even in its base format. With Samurai Warriors 4 DX, it includes all the DLC from the PS4 version, and just buying the DLC on PS4 looks like it would cost more than Samurai Warriors 4 DX does on Steam. This DLC includes edit parts, costumes, scenarios, weapons, BGM, and more. You can see all the DLC on the PSN store page here.

Samurai Warriors 4 DX on PC also includes online co-op support and splitscreen. I didn’t test the latter, but playing online worked perfectly with a friend of mine in another country. There was no delay, and we got in and out of a mission near-instantly.

The PC port of Samurai Warriors 4 DX lets you adjust resolution down to 640×360, frame rate target (30 or 60fps only), toggle movie playback, adjust overall quality preset, dynamic shadows, texture filtering, reflections, and ambient occlusion. It has Xbox button prompts only as far as I can tell, and has Steam Cloud support. The game is 16:9 only as well.

On my Steam Deck OLED, out of the box Samurai Warriors 4 DX runs with a 60fps target, but drops to the mid 40s often during busy combat when played at 720p. I turned everything low or off and had it running around the 50s in the test area. I then turned everything on and used the high preset. This is good for a 30fps target because the game hovered between 30 and 40fps. As of this writing, a locked 60fps is not possible at 720p as far as I can tell. I hope this can be improved in patches. The high and medium presets look very good on the handheld screen.

If you’ve never played a Warriors game before, Samurai Warriors 4 DX is superb value and a fantastic game to start with. Some aspects are dated compared to newer Omega Force games and the price should’ve been a bit lower though. That aside, it is incredible to finally have it on PC over a decade later, and it is almost perfect on Steam Deck out of the box. I hope it can be optimized a bit for a locked 60fps because I always love playing Warriors games on a portable, and Samurai Warriors 4 DX on Steam Deck is an amazing version of one of my favorite Warriors games.

Steam Deck Review Score: 4.5/5

Capes Steam Deck Impressions

I’ve had a preview build for Capes since a while now, but didn’t get around to playing it much until a few weeks ago. With it set to release later this month, I wanted to write up some brief impressions of how the pre-release preview build plays on Steam Deck. Things are looking good already, but what surprised me the most, is how much fun I was having playing Capes on Steam Deck.

Spitfire Interactive and Daedalic Entertainment’s newest game is a sci-fi turn-based tactical RPG where you grow your team of heroes, upgrade, level up, take on more, and progress through the various campaign missions. I didn’t have access to more than the opening hours in the preview build, but it is definitely polished and fun so far.

A reductive way of describing Capes would be Marvel’s Midnight Suns with less of the downtime, no licensed characters, and more comic book aesthetic. If that sounds good to you, Capes should be on your radar. It also plays great out of the box on Steam Deck. I’ll save my full thoughts on the PC port for when I have access to the review build in the near future. We will likely be covering it on Switch as well for our review coverage.

PO’ed: Definitive Edition Steam Deck Impressions

Shaun is doing a full review of PO’ed: Definitive Edition on Switch, but I wanted to cover how it is on Steam Deck from day one in this impressions feature. PO’ed: Definitive Edition is a supercharged and enhanced version of the 1995-released 3DO and PlayStation shooter that I had never heard of until Nightdive Studios announced this release. It is funny, smooth, and basically feels amazing to play today thanks to an excellent release from Nightdive, who have yet to disappoint me.

On Steam Deck, PO’ed: Definitive Edition is marked as Steam Deck Playable by Valve. This is because Valve says some text might be too small to read. I’ve had no issues with PO’ed: Definitive Edition on Steam Deck playing at 90fps in handheld on the Steam Deck OLED, or playing at 144hz on my monitor. It just works out of the box, and has been a very interesting experience. Shaun will cover how the game itself has aged in his full review, but I’m pleased with what Nightdive has released here.

News and Trailers

That sure was a long reviews and impressions section wasn’t it? Let’s get into the news with a new Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance trailer from Atlus showcasing the new locations included in this enhanced and expanded version of one of 2021’s best RPGs. Watch the Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance New Locations trailer below:

Alongside my full review of the PC port above, here’s Koei Tecmo’s announcement and launch trailer for the excellent Samurai Warriors 4 DX. This is incredible value if you’re new to the game, but I still wish it was $40 instead of $50 on PC. I hope Koei Tecmo brings Samurai Warriors 4 Empires to Steam next so we have the complete set of games from that generation of Samurai Warriors on PC. Watch the trailer for it below:

Sega is bringing the recently-released Switch game Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba -Sweep the Board! is coming to Steam and other consoles on July 16th. Digital pre-orders are live on Steam featuring some stamps to use and three premium tickets. Check it out on Steam here.

This week, Day of the Devs revealed the partners for the Summer Game Fest Edition showcase stream including: Calligram Studio, Clapperheads, Crescent Moon Games, Furniture & Mattress, Mossmouth, Oopsie Daisies Studio, Optillusion Games, Pikselnesia, Pollard Studio, Rocket Adrift, Soup Island, Studio Tolima, Tan Ant Games, Those Dang Games and more. The showcase will take place online on June 7th at 4 PM PT. It will stream on YouTube, Twitch, and more.

Spike Chunsoft announced that it will be bringing The Quintessential Quintuplets – Memories of a Quintessential Summer, The Quintessential Quintuplets – Five Memories Spent With You, and The Quintessential Quintuplets Double Pack to Steam, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch on May 23rd. There will be a discount for launch week. I’m not familiar with the source material, but it is good to see more visual novels get localized for PC and consoles in the West.

Warhammer Skulls returns on May 23rd featuring Rahul Kohli who will be hosting it to cover updates on Rogue Trader, Boltgun, Darktide, and Space Marine 2. I’m very interested in all of those barring Darktide which I still need to play more. Watch the showcase trailer below:

Cygames confirmed that Beatrix, the next playable DLC character coming to Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising, will launch worldwide for Steam, PS5, and PS4 next week on May 23rd. I’m looking forward to getting back to the game to try her. Watch the Beatrix Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising trailer below:

The final bit of news is Prime Video announcing a new series based on Tomb Raider which is the first news we’ve had for the IP after Crystal Dynamics and Amazon Games announced a multiplatform game project. Check out the announcement for the show here.

New Steam Deck Verified & Playable games for the week

Nothing out of the ordinary this week aside from the surprise launch of Samurai Warriors 4 DX which arrived Steam Deck Verified.

• ASTROLANCER – Playable
• Class of Heroes 2G: Remaster Edition – Verified
• Command & Conquer Tiberian Sun and Firestorm – Playable
• Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 and Yuri’s Revenge – Playable
• Days With Ollie – Verified
• Footgun: Underground – Playable
• Hell Let Loose – Playable
• Kill It With Fire 2 – Playable
• Laysara: Summit Kingdom – Playable
• Maid of the Dead – Playable
• Nuclear Blaze – Unsupported
• Piczle Cross Story of Seasons – Unsupported
• Echoes of the Plum Grove – Playable
• PO’ed: Definitive Edition – Playable
• Pools – Verified
• Rainbow Cotton – Verified
• Salt 2 – Verified
• SAMURAI WARRIORS 4 DX – Verified
• The Colonists – Playable
• The Settlers: New Allies – Playable

Steam Deck Game Sales & Discounts

The highlight sales of the week are the Monster Hunter Humble Bundle including both Rise and World across different tiers and Devolver Digital’s 15th anniversary sale. For the Monster Hunter bundle, I recommend the $30 bundle so you have World with Iceborne and Rise with Sunbreak. While you can get by with just World, the base Monster Hunter Rise is not worth playing. Iceborne and Sunbreak make their base releases superlative. Check out the bundle here. Note that the Deluxe kits are not worth grabbing on their own later on.

Devolver has boatloads of great games discounted, but if you had to just pick one of the recent releases, I’d go with The Talos Principle 2 at 40% off. I’d also say Loop Hero, but that’s best on mobile now. Devolver Digital’s sale is on from now until May 30th.

Steam has its Endlessly Replayable fest with discounts on Dead Cells, Crusader Kings III, Balatro, Risk of Rain 2, and much more. This sale definitely has a lot of games I want, but I thankfully own most of what I want already. This sale is on until May 20th.

That’s all for this week’s edition of the Steam Deck Weekly. 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.

The Brotato Abyssal Terrors DLC (also not confirmed for mobile yet) will bring in 20 new waves of enemies and bosses, more than 10 new characters, more than 10 new weapons, more than 30 new items, and more. As revealed before, the free update will bring in local co-op for up to 4 players, game balance adjustments, and new content on PC. If you’ve not gotten Brotato on mobile yet, read Shaun’s review of Brotato on iOS here and my Switch review here. We featured Brotato as our Game of the Week when it launched. If you’d like to get it on mobile, Brotato (premium) is available for $4.99 on the App Store for iOS here and on Google Play for Android here. Have you played Brotato and what do you think of the new weapon?

The second major update for Puyo Puyo Puzzle Pop has launched today bringing in four new rulesets for solo/multiplayer, two new ways to play endless mode, three new Puyo Puyo tracks, and more. I’m curious to see if this pace is kept for future content updates as well. Castle Crumble adds in the Amber Hills Kingdom with 40 new levels, Amber King challenge, Conquest Mode, and more in today’s 1.10.0 update. Simon’s Cat – Story Time brings in support for 250 new levels with 50 coming each week. Tamagotchi Adventure Kingdom has its major 2.0.0 update bringing in loads of new content, features, 60fps support, and more. The final notable update of the week is Zookeeper World bringing in even more levels with the next set arriving on June 16th.

With the updates done, head over to our forum threads for Hello Kitty Island Adventure here, Puyo Puyo Puzzle Pop here, Simon’s Cat – Story Time here, Castle Crumble here, Tamagotchi Adventure Kingdom here, and Zookeeper World here. For all other Apple Arcade related things, check out our dedicated Apple Arcade forum for discussion on the service and every game included here. What do you think of Apple’s newly released games and updates recently?

Update: Added information on Tamagotchi Adventure Kingdom update.

• 2048
• Amstrad – CPC (CrocoDS)
• Amstrad – CPC/GX4000 (Caprice32)
• Arcade (FinalBurn Neo)
• Atari – 2600 (Stella 2014)
• Atari – 2600 (Stella)
• Atari – 5200 (Atari800)
• Atari – 5200 (a5200)
• Atari – 7800 (ProSystem)
• Atari – Lynx (Handy)
• Bandai – WonderSwan/Color (Beetle Cygne)
• Commodore – Amiga (PUAE)
• Commodore – C128 (VICE x128)
• Commodore – C64 (VICE x64, fast)
• Commodore – C64 (VICE x64sc, accurate)
• Commodore – C64 SuperCPU (VICE xscpu64)
• Commodore – CBM-II 5×0 (VICE xcbm5x0)
• Commodore – CBM-II 6×0/7×0 (VICE xcbm2)
• Commodore – PET (VICE xpet)
• Commodore – PLUS/4 (VICE xplus4)
• Commodore – VIC-20 (VICE xvic)
• Dinothawr
• Fairchild ChannelF (FreeChaF)
• GCE – Vectrex (vecx)
• Game Music Emu
• Handheld Electronic (GW)
• MSX/SVI/ColecoVision/SG-1000 (blueMSX)
• Mattel – Intellivision (FreeIntv)
• NEC – PC Engine / CD (Beetle PCE FAST)
• NEC – PC Engine / SuperGrafx / CD (Beetle PCE)
• NEC – PC Engine SuperGrafx (Beetle SuperGrafx)
• NEC – PC-98 (Neko Project II Kai)
• Nintendo – DS (DeSmuME)
• Nintendo – DS (melonDS DS)
• Nintendo – Game Boy / Color (Gambatte)
• Nintendo – Game Boy / Color (Gearboy)
• Nintendo – Game Boy / Color (SameBoy)
• Nintendo – Game Boy / Color (TGB Dual)
• Nintendo – Game Boy Advance (VBA Next)
• Nintendo – Game Boy Advance (VBA-M)
• Nintendo – Game Boy Advance (gpSP)
• Nintendo – Game Boy Advance (mGBA)
• Nintendo – NES / Famicom (FCEUmm)
• Nintendo – NES / Famicom (Mesen)
• Nintendo – NES / Famicom (Nestopia UE)
• Nintendo – NES / Famicom (QuickNES)
• Nintendo – Nintendo 64 (Mupen64Plus-Next)

• Nintendo – SNES / SFC (Snes9x 2005)
• Nintendo – SNES / SFC (Snes9x 2010)
• Nintendo – SNES / SFC (Snes9x)
• Nintendo – SNES / SFC (bsnes)
• Nintendo – SNES / SFC (bsnes-hd beta)
• Nintendo – SNES / SFC / Game Boy / Color (Mesen-S)
• Nintendo – Virtual Boy (Beetle VB)
• PocketCDG
• Quake (TyrQuake)
• Rick Dangerous (XRick)
• SNK – Neo Geo AES/MVS (Geolith)
• SNK – Neo Geo CD (NeoCD)
• SNK – Neo Geo Pocket / Color (RACE)
• ScummVM
• Sega – MS/GG (SMS Plus GX)
• Sega – MS/GG/MD/CD (Genesis Plus GX Wide)
• Sega – MS/GG/MD/CD (Genesis Plus GX)
• Sega – MS/GG/MD/CD/32X (PicoDrive)
• Sega – MS/GG/SG-1000 (Gearsystem)
• Sega – Saturn (Beetle Saturn)
• Sharp – X68000 (PX68k)
• Sinclair – ZX Spectrum (Fuse)
• Sony – PlayStation (Beetle PSX HW)
• Sony – PlayStation (Beetle PSX)
• Sony – PlayStation (PCSX ReARMed)
• Sony – PlayStation Portable (PPSSPP)
• Texas Instruments TI-83 (Numero)
• Thomson – MO/TO (Theodore)
• Vircon32
• VirtualXT
• WASM-4
• Watara – Supervision (Potator)

If you’d like to grab it, you can get RetroArch on the App Store for iOS here. Check out the official website for RetroArch here. While not as user-friendly as Delta, RetroArch does a lot more with its platform support and features right now. I can’t believe both RetroArch and PPSSPP are now officially on the App Store. What would you like to see next for the world of emulation on iOS?