I guess there aren’t many older games because it’s a list of games that are available on current hardware. Those older games that do appear are there because they’ve been ported/emulated.

What an interesting concept for a game! Reminds me of Before Your Eyes, in which you have to keep your eyes open - but quite the opposite in this case.

Will check this one out.

Yeahhh the boss fights weren’t that great - just dodge attacks, fire, repeat. I did enjoy the final boss though!

That sounds really fun! The combat in the game feels best when each hit hits hard. So satisfying

Funnily enough I was looking to try one of the recent Assassin Creed games (Black Flag was my last). I heard good things about AC Odyssey, but it also sounded a bit overwhelming in its scale. Ghost of Tsushima perfectly filled this niche and was way better than any AC game I’d played before - I’m really glad I gave it a go!

I can understand that feeling regarding the activities of GoT. I skipped a fair amount of the side content and focused on the stuff I found interesting (such as the mythic tales), which I think helped. The ‘main’ side missions that involved specific characters I thought were quite engaging. What difficulty are you playing on? Perhaps it’s worth bumping it up to make the combat harder.

Have you played Ace Attorney or Danganronpa? It’s definitely going for something similar. I was a bit disappointed by it after the hype I’d seen, but it’s still a decent game. If you want something along the same lines of ‘weirdness’ I’d recommend Hypnospace Outlaw - I think that’s a better game overall.

I feel like this is an even trickier task than porting 2 & 3 too. MGS4’s reliance on the weird architecture of the PS3 means you need a powerful CPU to emulate it. Assuming then that it’ll be a port, I imagine the process of porting it would be particularly complex. And seeing how poorly they did with the HD collection it worries me.

Heroes with herpes and villainous turkeys

Catching a virus from a girl in her thirties

Mouth parts all covered with pustules that sting

Those are a few of my favourite things

Crosscode was incredible, and this is looking equally as great! Really love the pixel art style of this studio - just stunning.

Kinda meh. I’ve heard Ender Lilies is decent?

Ah neat! The first Splitgate was fun and I put a fair few hours into it. It felt like it had been abandoned by the devs after a while though (and cross progression wasn’t possible, which put me off playing it after I got a Steam Deck). I’m interested to see what they do with a bigger budget.

I’m not sure if this is the best recommendation looking at your criteria, but Slime Rancher (1 and 2) are chilled games that have beautiful and colourful visuals. To me it feels like a summer vacation - one where you’re staying at a farm and catching adorable slimes.

Another recommendation I’d have is Tearaway unfolded. It’s a super charming adventure in a papercraft work. It really stuck with me and felt like an adventure. It’s only on PS4/5 as far as I’m aware though, but if you happen to have one of those I guess you could cast it to your Steam Deck using Chiaki. Or on the off-chance that you have a PS Vita, the original version of the game was on there.

Amazing game, but I’m not sure I’d describe the gameplay as chill!

Ahh thanks - It’s included within an existing Playstation subscription I have, so I can play it without any extra charge. If it’s short and fun like you say, I’ll definitely give it a go!

Is RE3 remake worth playing? I loved the remake of the second one.

It does feel so easy to get distracted nowadays with the infinite amount of content available online. If you’re pretty certain that there’s a game you’ll enjoy - yes, just give it a go rather than putting it off. If you don’t find yourself enjoying it, at least you gave it a go! On the other hand, maybe you’ll have found a new favourite genre.

Best of luck :)

I’m yet to play Elden Ring, but a friend offered to lend me the PS5 disc. So many people have told me it’s great, can’t wait to experience it.

Yeah definitely, wanting to complete every game 100% is a bit much. I’ll only ever do the side content that I actually enjoy. Ratchet and Clank: RA was great for this as it was easy and fun to complete everything (hence it being the only game I’ve managed to get all the trophies for).

In terms of keeping my to-play list short, I’ve done a pretty good job of not buying any games in Steam sales recently. Because 99% of the time they’ll be on sale again in the near future - buying them now only causes paralysis like you say.

I think that’s a fair way to play a game like that. I like to explore as much as possible, but when there’s a ridiculous amount of side content don’t feel guilty for playing the bits that interest you most. The game was probably designed assuming most people would skip the majority of the extras.