Finished Vampire: The Masquerade: Shadows of New York, sequel to Coteries of New York. Liked it, but it felt like a more linear game, with less choices and consequences, and overall way less stress and intensity in both the narrative and the overall mechanics. Liked the first one more.

Finished Lost Records: Bloom and Rage. What a sad and nostalgic game. Ending really made me cry a lot. A lot of 90s kids nostalgia in there, with some very sad events throughout the game. Quite the emotional experience.

Pathologic 3 is out with good reviews. Less survival but more strategy than previous titles, somehow I've waited for the right mood for 2nd game. Not really there but it might be soon. Controls are good for Deck but may need tweak graphics

"By default it runs the FSE (full screen experience) which is basically a button switch between the Xbox app and the Steam big picture mode. So you don't need to do anything in that sense to get games running, it all just works seamlessly."

Yeah, that's how SteamOS works as well, with backdrop to KDE desktop environment. IIRC Heroic Game Launcher works on Windows as well and it is able to add Epic / GOG games to Steam big picture launcher, if you wanted to tap those libraries as well. You just log into your GOG / Epic / Amazon accounts and it'll download, set them up and add to Steam for you.

It also comes with Proton profiles for Linux, which is like super neat, but unnecessary for you.

The charger also has a port to connect a monitor to it in case I want to be fancy somewhere and also plug in mouse / keyboard into it. It's literally just a PC with an overlay / UI on top and some apps to customise the performance / power profiles.

And most importantly, ALL my library carries over so I don't have to rebuy games. One of the reasons why a Switch is a big no for me.

By default it runs the FSE (full screen experience) which is basically a button switch between the Xbox app and the Steam big picture mode. So you don't need to do anything in that sense to get games running, it all just works seamlessly.

But there is still Windows underneath, so with another button you can switch to full blown Windows and use whatever you want on it.

I don't know how well Epic and EA App and Battle net work with controllers and what not, but I don't have a need for those atm since I am mostly playing games on Steam and via Game Pass anyways.

"I want this to also be my laptop replacement as well"
Yeah, that's why I'm so psyched SteamOS comes with KDE Plasma desktop mode - I actually carry a bluetooth keyboard / mouse combo in my luggage with the Deck and it has completely removed any need for me to trudge my work laptop along on my vacations.

Battery life is fantastic for coding / team management tasks and form factor of the device is much more handy than a full fat laptop. Love it for that use case.

"Including performance profiles, from 12W to 25W or boost it all the way to 35W, obviously at more battery cost."
That was supposed to be the next question, but I didn't wat to come off as total SteamOS fanboy as I assumed other handhelds could not do that.

Super cool that they can. And the input rebinds, that's a huge deal for me. ... And quick resume, but obviously, you're right about the battery drain (Deck drains about 10%/day of sleep),

And the battery life of the X model is great. I mean, it's mostly comparable to Deck when both devices are under stress, but you can downclock the X and (I presume) get a longer battery life with comparable performance to the Deck.

The Armory Crate / Commander app thingy hooks up with the AMD Adrenaline software that controls drivers so you can change resolution, refresh date, stuff like that on the fly, and have those set system wide or per game too. Including performance profiles, from 12W to 25W or boost it all the way to 35W, obviously at more battery cost.

Nah I'm good. I have Game Pass and I want this to also be my laptop replacement as well so I am going to stick with Windows. I don't mind it at all and actually like that this is my PC on the go. With a click of a button you get the full native Windows as if it were a laptop with a touch screen.

Sleeping is as unreliable and as terrible on x86 Windows as it has always been. But a cold boot takes maybe 10-15 seconds so it's not a big deal at all and I rather save battery when I am traveling, something that sleeping is pretty crap at.

No idea on switching displays, but I imagine exactly as any other PC.

Yes you can customise the overall inputs via the Armory Crate thing that manages the device, along with calibration for dead zones and similar things. Per game and system wide, depending on what you want. But you can also use the Xbox Accessories app for the same thing.

Well, I suppose the Origin launcher is the only one that can't be installed on SteamOS without some hassle (Heroic Game Launcher manages GOG, Epic and Amazon games, not Origin, sadly).

Speaking of OS, I do actually have questions that I couldn't find answers for easily about the handheld Windows variant. I ... Assume the answers will universally be "It behaves like native Windows", but I'd love to be proven wrong.
- How does the device handle display device switching? Like if you connect SteamOS (or Brazzite for that matter) to an external screen, it seamlessly switches display and sound output to it - and the game doesn't even know something happened, so it chugs along (yes, at current resolution, but most games can't handle switching displays gracefully).
- Does Windows / handheld version come with a wrapper allowing for custom input bindings? Does it handle input device switching in any meaningful way, or is it down to per game implementation?
- How does quick resume work? Can you put the device to sleep mode mid-game and then continue playing seamlessly?

Welcome to the handheld flock!

You uh... You can also install Brazzite on it for a decent OS. Just ... Just saying.

It took 4 hours to set it up / update everything due to Windows nonsense. But it runs pretty good. Gonna be using it when traveling instead of a laptop since it has touch and I can play games on it nicely.

Happy with it? I take it supports GFN and probably XR glasses.

Picked up my Ally X today.

Pf, I've also finished two games in 2026 I'll have you know.

Second game for 2026 done. Vampire: The Masquerade: Coteries of New York. Super fun narrative adventure game, kept me intensely hooked throughout the 5 hours it lasted. Some surprising twists. The story was intense all throughout.

-26C but weather reports says "feels like - 38C" -_-

Hell Is Us seems good yes, it's on the list

"Wide linear."
I'm quite frankly also not entirely down with that ... Yet. Like I'm glad writers recognize that Kratos would not give a flying ♥♥♥♥ about some dude needing help with a thing and that Kratos would not get distracted from his goal as he's the goal-oriented kind of guy. It's good that there's the BHOY providing motivation for that, I do enjoy that idea.

However, it feels like there's not enough pushback from the BHOY for Kratos to do any of that stuff. And the game recognizes this - he'll keep complaining about sidetracking as me, the player, force him to go way off the beaten path. It feels weird.

There are places in GoW that will stomp you and require you to come back later in the game, some places have sprinkled end game combat and you can stumble upon them if you are not careful.

The new God of War games I mean. Wide linear.

It is an action adventure game like the new Tomb Raider games. Very similar style.

I'm sure Hell is Us director would be happy to hear that their game is higher on my radar than Silksong

"completely uninteresting gameplay-wise"
It's not. The combat system is rather tight and can be difficult even on the medium difficulty, which pleasantly surprised me.

But yeah, I do actually have Hell is Us on my radar.

you should all play Hell is Us. it's gameplay sucks too, but at least it's really about a war.

completely uninteresting gameplay-wise

God of War looks to me like 'press A to win' simulator which Sony has made plenty of before.

Oh and it has Metroidvania elements, because nothing screams Kratos as much as backtracking so that he can get the chest locked behind a red crystal.

Still, it has top notch presentation. The acting, writing, cinematic direction, that's all ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ brilliant. The game really should have cut the fat and remained a linear, cinematic thing as opposed to this RPG... Thing.

God of War 2018 is a worse game by being a 2018 game.

The original God of War had such a strong creative vision and tight direction. Like objectively, the individual parts of it were worse - obviously worse technologically, combat system is a lot looser, jumping puzzles have you falling to your death for no reason, the polish is not there. I mean, it's a 2005 game, that's not much of a shock.

Yet the 2018 version just ... After the creators show that they get Kratos in the first boss fight at the end of the intro, the game puts in an optional arena that spawns lvl 9 Draugr that look exactly like the other Draugr, but they massacre Kratos. ... What the actual ♥♥♥♥? I mean, I don't mind backtracking in RPGs, but it's just so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ out of place for the character.

It HAS to have crafting resources, because Kratos is exactly the kind of character that's going to inspect two runes, pondering on whether he'd prefer +2 to runic or +3 to strenth. That's just... No. No.

Texas will definitely fight but given demographic and political pressure to the rest of US maybe they need to compromise and create a hybrid version. :p

Finished Echoes of the End. It was a solid AA game, very linear, though. Rather basic in mechanics, but the world building was interesting.

Yeah, I don't know about Louisiana, but Texas would fight that and Florida would loose.

https://x.com/TinyStupidDemon/status/2007575424428359800?s=20

Trumps ultimate life plan xD

Their reserves were higher than I expected so I suppose it helps but for how long.

It's not about drugs, Russia nor Iran. It's a regime-change attempt because of oil.

It's now on live news here about Maduro kidnapping. It's interesting how people say it's not legal but if you have power you can do things anyway somehow that is ignored when the message about legal limits is mentioned. Hard to say if this is valuable but I don't think this will change anything about illegal drug trade in US, Trump would have to go after hard against customers too.

This is probably more related to Venezuelas connection to Russia and Iran. Meanwhile Iran had multiple revolts encouraged by Israel.

Yeah and it's one guy doing it for 5 years for free!! Now other modders are assisting him.

So, I've started God of War 2 yesterday. I'm already halfway in - we're all sick in this household, so I spend ungodly amounts of time playing videogames.

... What I would want to do is to take out my brand new 1911 Government Edition and go shooting with my mates, BUT WHO CARES ABOUT THAT I HATE THE ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ FL...

Right, anyway, God of War 2. I would have ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ loved the franchise if I had the chance to play it back in the day, it brings memories of playing Darksiders or Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. I'm having a great time. Hope I'll get GoW 3 running on the Deck, there are some tweaks which should stabilize framerate.

I'm kinda worried that I'll be disappointed when I get to the Norse saga now.

I have zero interest in VR, but that looks pretty ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ sick. Like the visual and sound design of BotW super immersive, having it translated to VR just ... Works.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNaQNg2h_Kk

A few updates already out for the BotW VR mod. It's still janky but it works. Mostly CPU dependent but with decent hardware, it's not too bad. Going to see if I can finally get it to work.

Thanks! I'll skip it for now.

I believe I tried it shortly. As I recall the setting was more impressive than gameplay but as reviews says it has strange limits like invisible walls and inability to move freely.

Has anyone played Kena - Bridge of Spirits? I like the looks of it, but fear it might be badly balanced for average players like me ... I don't really want to play something that feels like a "soulslike" (and I hear even Normal can be frustrating), but I probably won't enjoy it if there is no challenge at all either (like in Story Mode). Not sure if there is still something in between, that would be a reasonable challenge for me without being too annoying.

I do actually have the original GoW on PS2, but I never finished it. Maybe I should give it another go, even if just to remember why I didn't, heh.

There, finished God of War (2005). That was well worth playing, I can only recommend it. The controls were a bit loose and there were three traversal puzzles that were frustrating and rather non-rewarding ( Like... They were difficult and relied on you failing repeatedly and memorizing what you have to do, which is the dumbest kind of difficulty ). One of them could be skipped via an exploit, so I just did that. The other two I solved eventually, but they were annoying.

Still, the game was around 10 hours long and that's my only major complaint, so it has to be good, right? Well... RIght! I had fun. Would release toxic masculinity upon Olympus again.

I've been told on multiple occasions that you do not need the original games to enjoy GoW 2018. And I do understand and respect that, but the intro is very clearly framed in such a way that Kratos is not just "some dude" to you.

You can guess on what's going on, it's very clearly written in such a way that just a passing understanding of what the old GoW games were will be enough, but like ... When the camera pans to Kratos with epic music playing and my thought is "Yup, it's a person. He's been in games, probably." I'm clearly missing something.

In a way it is a narrative and tonal shift compared to the old games.