Welcome to this week’s edition of the Steam Deck Weekly and the first one for April 2024. I’ve said that I was looking forward to a calmer few weeks after the busy season, but there are too many games coming out even now (and I’m loving every minute of it, Jerry). I’ve been playing loads of great indie games that I will be covering beginning today and also some interesting ports of older Japanese games that hit Steam or will arrive soon. I’ve also been playing quite a few Paradox Interactive games to see how they feel on Steam Deck when it comes to controls and also the newer DLC. Before the news and new Steam Deck Verified/Playable games, let’s get into the reviews and impressions first.
Steam Deck Game Reviews & Impressions
Buckshot Roulette Steam Deck Review
Buckshot Roulette is a game I had no idea existed until I got sent review code for it and tried it. The game’s poster made it look like something I wouldn’t enjoy, but I decided to take the code and play the game to see how I feel when I get some free time. Fast forward to a few days later, I decided to give Buckshot Roulette a shot. I’m glad I did because it is an amazing and short experience that I can’t recommend enough if you’re ok with the aesthetic.
Buckshot Roulette is an interesting take on Russian roulette with a shotgun, items, adrenaline pumping music, and more in its 20 or so minute long sessions. Without knowing anything, you go into a room with a dealer, a shotgun, a table, and sign your name before playing Russian roulette in Buckshot Roulette. As you progress through winning rounds, items are added to the mix, the number of bullets increases, the odds change, and more. I won’t say anything else about how it flows, but I was impressed enough to gift the game to a few friends after spending half an hour with it. The low asking price makes it even easier to recommend. Visually, Buckshot Roulette does a lot with its limited palette, and I love the art throughout. This is complemented by great music as well.
While a few aspects of Buckshot Roulette won’t work for some like the art style, I loved the game, and my main complaint is the lack of Steam Cloud support right now. It plays and looks great on Steam Deck from start to finish and is an easy recommendation at its low asking price. I’m glad I didn’t look into it before playing, because Buckshot Roulette has been one of the nicest surprises of 2024 so far on Steam Deck. I look forward to checking out the multiplayer and console ports later this year.
Buckshot Roulette Steam Deck Review Score: 4.5/5
Front Mission 2: Remake Steam Deck Impressions
I was originally going to write about Front Mission 1st Remake today since I finally got it on Steam to play on Steam Deck, but Forever Entertainment went ahead and announced a PC port of Front Mission 2: Remake with a free demo now available. With that, I decided to cover Front Mission 2: Remake’s demo instead, and there’s good news all around. Before that, you can read Shaun’s full review of Front Mission 2: Remake on Switch from launch here.
Right off the bat, Front Mission 2: Remake feels great on Steam Deck. It supports 16:10 aspect ratio (but you might need to manually set it to 800p in the graphics options. Playing in handheld on the Steam Deck OLED, 90fps locked seems very doable in the early parts I’ve played. I also tested it on my 1440p 144hz display. When playing at native 1440p, 60fps locked isn’t doable. I’d recommend playing at 1080p docked so you can stay well above 60fps at all times.
Front Mission 2: Remake also properly invokes the Steam Deck’s on-screen keyboard for text entry. It also has proper Steam Deck controls including a Steam Deck model in the control options to show you what each button does. It lets you manually change button prompts to Switch, Xbox, and PlayStation as well. I set it to PS5 for now.
While I’ll save my full thoughts for when I get the complete game for review, Front Mission 2: Remake is likely going to be Steam Deck Verified sooner than later, and it feels much better than the Switch version on Steam Deck. I recommend trying out the free demo now since saves carry over to the full game.
Class of Heroes 1 & 2 Complete Edition Steam Deck Impressions
PQube is launching both Class of Heroes 1 & 2 as a Complete Edition bundle and two individual releases on April 26th in the West on Steam and consoles. Shaun is doing a full review of both games on Switch, but I wanted to briefly cover how well they run on Steam Deck out of the box. In fact, based on the time I’ve put into them, both should be Steam Deck Verified. I haven’t played the originals yet, so the impressions below only cover how the games feel on Steam Deck.
Class of Heroes: Anniversary Edition Steam Deck Impressions
Class of Heroes: Anniversary Edition has no in-game settings, but when I force it to run at 1440p on Steam Deck from the game properties, it looks good on my monitor docked and has no issues running in handheld mode on the Steam Deck (both LCD and OLED models). The game seems capped at 60fps and has appropriate button prompts for when I use my DualSense of the Deck itself to control it. For text entry, Class of Heroes: Anniversary Edition has its own in-game on-screen keyboard.
Class of Heroes 2G: Remastered Steam Deck Impressions
Class of Heroes 2G: Remastered has more features when it comes to the PC port. On Steam Deck, it runs without issues. It seems to run slightly above 60fps though so I recommend capping it to 60 since it didn’t go above 70 regardless of the settings I used. It correctly invokes the keyboard for text entry as well. For its graphics options, you can adjust resolution up to 1440p, screen mode (windowed or fullscreen), toggle v-sync, anti-aliasing (up to MSAA 8X), and adjust volume levels. It also correctly shows button prompts for Xbox or PS5 controllers. From the time I’ve spent with it, everything loads fine and works great.
Stay tuned for Shaun’s full reviews of both Class of Heroes: Anniversary Edition and Class of Heroes 2G: Remastered.
SaGa Emerald Beyond Steam Deck Impressions
If you missed my hands-on preview with SaGa Emerald Beyond from earlier this week, read it here. That preview was based on the time I put into SaGa Emerald Beyond on PS5. Since Square Enix released demos on PS5, PS4, Switch, and Steam since, I was checking it out on Steam Deck and Switch. The latter has some issues, but I can safely say that SaGa Emerald Beyond’s demo feels superb on Steam Deck. In fact, it runs better than the PS5 version as well since the Steam version supports up to 120fps with even the Steam Deck doing 90fps in handheld on the Steam Deck OLED. It also supports 16:10 aspect ratio.
For SaGa Emerald Beyond’s graphics options, you can adjust shadow quality, texture detail, and anti-aliasing with presets available. There is no option to change button prompts, and it displayed Xbox prompts even when I used my DualSense wirelessly. You can adjust the display settings like frame rate and resolution only before loading your save though. One more thing I noticed is SaGa Emerald Beyond on Steam based on the demo, is the only version with Japanese voice option from the 3 platforms available now. Hopefully the iOS version also has this and it is available in the full game on consoles.
I will be covering SaGa Emerald Beyond’s full game on Steam as well in the future, but based on the time with the demo, it is a winner on Steam Deck. I recommend trying out the demo on your own Steam DEck and seeing how you feel. Keep in mind that the demo character varies per platform.
News and Trailers
A few notable game trailers, announcements, DLC, and more headline the news this week. Let’s begin with the new incredible trailer for Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance. This trailer feels like it has more notable story moments than the entire vanilla game. Jokes aside, it looks incredible and there’s even a new form for Nahobino, the protagonist. Watch it below ahead of the game’s full launch on PC and consoles in June:
As you saw above in my demo impressions, Forever Entertainment is bringing Front Mission 2: Remake to Steam and other consoles on April 30th following its debut on Switch last year. As with Front Mission 1st Remake, this one felt better after a few updates and those who waited got a better experience. It has a free demo on Steam you can try here as well. Watch the new platforms trailer below:
Speaking of demos, Draknek & Friends is publishing LOK Digital from Letibus Design and Icedrop Games. LOK Digital is a world-changing word puzzle game with a demo now available on Steam here. Watch the trailer below:
As revealed last week, Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising has gotten its newest DLC character with Vane who is now available alongside a big update for the game. If you own the character pass or the deluxe pass, Vane is included. Watch his gameplay trailer below:
There have been so many game announcements lately through different showcases and streams, but a few that caught my attention are below. The first is Great God Grove from LimboLane. This puzzle adventure game looks bizarre and hilarious while being colorful throughout. It is due this fall on Steam, and you can watch the trailer below:
Raw Fury and High North Studios SKALD: Against the Black Priory is the second one. This RPG with a retro aesthetic arrives on Steam and GOG on May 30th with a free demo now available on Steam. This one looks excellent and I have the demo downloaded and ready to play this weekend. Watch the trailer below:
The final notable news of the week is Capcom’s trailer for the Exoprimal x Mega Man collaboration that begins on April 17th with Title Update 4. This update will also bring in a custom match mode, new beta variant exosuits, a Time Loop Rebellion mode to take on the main boss and earn rewards, and more. For the collaboration, some cosmetics will be unlocked by doing a specific mission multiple times while others will be sold on the platform storefronts. Watch the collaboration trailer below:
New Steam Deck Verified & Playable games for the week
- Brothers – A Tale of Two Sons (the original game) – Playable
- Cricket 24 – Playable
- Exo One – Verified
- Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition – Unsupported
- NeoSprint – Verified
- Open Roads – Verified
- SOUTH PARK: SNOW DAY! – Playable
- Spirit Hunter: Death Mark II – Playable
- TouHou Makuka Sai ~ Fantastic Danmaku Festival Part II – Playable
Steam Deck Game Sales & Discounts
There are three notable Steam specials on right now. The first is Lovecraftian Days 2024 until April 8th from Fulqrum Publishing with discounts on Darkest Dungeon 2, Slay the Princess, Forgive Me Father 2, and more. Check it out here.
The second is #TurnBasedThursdayFest also available until April 8th with discounts on turn-based games like Chained Echoes, Inkulinati, and more. Check out the sale here.
The final notable sale of the week is The Talos Principle franchise sale with discounts on both games, DLC, and more. Check it out here. I recommend both games if you enjoy puzzlers and want to play two of the best ones in years.
A Teaser for Next Week
I’ve mentioned in the introduction how I’d been playing some newer Paradox games and also DLC for existing games. I wanted to briefly cover what I’m going to do with that. I’ve already written about games like Victoria 3 and how they were at launch on Steam Deck, but I’ve been impressed at how the community has released controller layouts to make these keyboard and mouse games that lack controller support (on PC at least) more playable on Steam Deck. Stay tuned for impressions, reviews, and more in a dedicated portion of the Steam Deck Weekly covering these games and DLC 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.