What Have I Been Playing

About a month ago I decided to purchase a Steam Deck OLED. I’ve gotten into “Retro Handhelds” and other means of mobile gaming over the past few years but nothing was really powerful enough to play what I wanted to play. It started when I discovered the Miyoo Mini+ and kind of snowballed from there. After the MM+, I got an old model Anbernic RG35XX ¹, then I got an Anbernic RG351P because I liked the idea of a device with a native GBA screen ratio. It’s also very pocketable and surprisingly comfortable to hold. After that I got an Anbernic RG35XX SP ² because I always wanted a GBA SP growing up but for some reason my younger brother got one. Finally, after all that I bought an Anbernic RG406H because I wanted a device with a controller to play PokeMMO. Now, I know this is a lot of devices, but if you know me you know I tend to collect things. I mean, I have over 20 keyboards. But the reason I got these devices was because I started a job with a lot of downtime leaving me a lot of time to play games I haven’t really played before. Maybe I’ll make a post about all my different handhelds and whatnot. But this post is about what I’ve been playing recently.

Enter, the Steam Deck. This device has been a game changer for me. For the longest time I’ve basically only played competitive FPS games. But after many years playing exclusively on PC with mouse and keyboard I’ve completely lost the ability to play an FPS with a controller. I have always been a fan of the Pokemon and Fire Emblem series’ and so I went looking for some more turn-based RPGs. Obviously there are the classics like the Final Fantasy series as well as Chrono Trigger ³ but I was looking for something a bit more modern. That’s when I discovered Sea of Stars.

Sea of Stars

Holy moly. Sea of Stars is one of the coziest games I’ve played all the way through in a very long time. I cannot accurately describe just how beautiful this game looks on the OLED Deck. The colors pop. The sprites are beautifully drawn. Sea of Stars is a fantastic homage to old school JRPGs and it’s a hell of a lot of fun to play. This game kept me coming back, trying to get all the secrets and achieve the “true” ending. The combat is fun and engaging, the level design in gorgeous, the characters are well written. I personally can’t find a flaw with this game. It’s a good thing I’m not a game reviewer. You play as Valere and Zale, two Solstice Warriors tasked with defeating the last of the Dwellers, but things don’t go quite as planned. I’m not going to spoil anything but this game has some great companions as well as so great boss fights. I’ll let you discover the magic of this game on your own. You won’t be sorry.If I were to pretend to be a video game critic I’d give this game 5 stars: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

OCTOPATH TRAVELER

Octopath Traveler is breathtaking. The atmosphere of this game is just stunning. Something about the mix of 2D and 3D, the god rays, and the tilt-shift like effect with the depth of field really makes for an outstanding visual experience.

I mean, COME ON! A game that is technically a 2D RPG should not look this good! Okay, so visually this game is impressive. But as far as my tiny brain can tell, it’s pretty engaging to play as well. I’ve put a little over 20 hours into it so far and I’ve really enjoyed it. The combat is fun. It’s not as interactive during combat as Sea of Stars is, but it has it’s own charm. The enemy sprites are nice but I have to admit, look a little strange next to the playable character sprites. The enemy sprites have a lot more detail and are usually larger.

I don’t really think it looks bad or anything, it just kind of threw me off at first. The characters have unique abilities, skills, and stories. Again, I cannot emphasize enough that I am not a critic or review and I’m sure nine hundred different games have the same stuff because it’s the same kind of JRPG thing or whatever, I’m new to this genre so I don’t know everything. But as far as I can tell, Octopath Traveler is a good game and I’m going to keep enjoying it. I mean, just look at it!

To be honest, there are too many stories for me to keep track of without the help of the game so I’m not gonna really say anything about any of the story paths of the game here. But they are well thought out from what I can tell so far. Some of the dialog is kinda mid but it doesn’t take too much away from the game. Some of the voice acting on the other hand isn’t so great. At least in my opinion.

All that said, I’d give Octopath Traveler three quarters stars (just pretend). I’m really looking forward to the rest of it. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Balatro

Oh god, I almost forgot about Balatro. This god damn game. When I first started playing this game I put in so many hours. Maybe not as many as something like Rainbow 6 Siege or Call of Duty, but I’ve put in HOURS of Balatro. Unless you’ve played it you cannot understand how addictive this game is. On it’s face it’s a cute little Poker inspired game. But truly it’s an incredible roguelite, and the mods….. oh the mods. There are so many mods for this game. Custom decks. Custom jokers. Custom artwork. It’s all there. I’ve personally been playing with the Cryptid mod and I will say that it makes the “number go up” part of my ADHD brain really really really happy. It’s so good but you can easily spend hours playing and not realize it. Ask me how I know. Balatro - ten out of five stars. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

So Yeah

That’s what I’ve been playing recently. It’s been a really nice change of pace from the sweat dripping tryhards in every FPS game. I actually feel relaxed after playing video games now. The Steam Deck has been a life changer for me. I’m really looking forward to finishing OP so I can start OP II. I’ve heard it’s a huge QOL update. Can’t wait!