Mudborne was provided by Future Friends Games for review. Thank you!
Mudborne is an interesting title, and before we begin, it would be good to set expectations as to what exactly Mudborne is. Mudborne is not a "pet" simulator where you grow and care for and raise frogs. It firmly falls under the "Puzzle" genre of games, where the whole aim of breeding frogs is to create the right genetic "key" in order to unlock various pools around the game world that will open up new areas for you to progress the story.
The game starts with you being awakened by a... Frog god? Who then tasks you with restoring the pond (the world map) to its former beauty. What follows is a pretty lengthy tutorial that runs you through basically all the game mechanics at play, such as gathering the resources needed to breed frogs, and then talking you through the process of breeding frogs and modifying their genetic code.
During the breeding process, you're required to add mushrooms to the mix to alter the genetic sequence of your frogs. Each "pool" in the pond has a certain genetic sequence that must be matched, and so it's up to you to figure out what frogs and mushrooms you need to use in combination with each other to get the correct genetic sequence.
It's a pretty interesting game idea, and while the game imposes no time limits on you, I found it somewhat overwhelming. It can become frustrating to figure it out in your head. There is a tool in the game called a "Predictor" that can help out, but I still found the game difficult to wrap my head around. You might be best off writing down notes to figure it all out if you're struggling to do it in your head.
Because of this puzzle element, I didn't find myself very relaxed playing Mudborne. There is no reason to breed frogs other than to crack the key sequences, and getting it wrong is a pretty big headache. That alone made me feel pretty... empty? I thought there would be more to do in Mudborne than simply trying and retrying to get the correct sequence to progress the story, but that's about all there is to it, and there's no respite from it either. The best part of the game is finding new species of frog and discovering new types of mushrooms, but filling up your encyclopedia only goes so far when you realize that half of the frogs don't really seem to serve any purpose or function. It's just puzzle after puzzle.
Once frogs have been bred, if they don't match the sequence you want, you just release them and forget about them. They're a waste of space and offer no benefit. There's no interaction you can have with them other than petting them and they serve no purpose except as scenery, and that's a real shame.
While I feel like Mudborne is intended to be a relaxing game, I didn't find that to be the case for me. My brain quickly got overloaded with figuring out the correct combinations to get the desired results. As the game progresses, it adds more puzzle mechanics such as "Ancestry," to the mix, requiring you to not only have the correct frog but also to make sure its ancestors came from the correct place.
Mudborne's cute pixel-art graphics have a certain charm to them, and the ambient sounds are peaceful, if a little repetitive. The maps may also be a little too big. I felt like I wanted to sprint so I could get between places quicker, but you instead have to walk everywhere. You don't even hop!
As long as you approach Mudborne with the right attitude, you'll probably find it to be an interesting and engaging time. The game bills itself as a "Frog Management Sim," but I would say it's closer to a puzzle game. It's a Frog Breeding Sim, where the purpose is to breed the specific correct frog to progress. There is no "management" here, and the frogs can be discarded as soon as you have progressed and don't need them anymore.
While Mudborne might not be my cup of tea, I can't deny that it runs great on the Steam Deck. The controller support is great, and the game fills the Steam Deck's display with no black borders. There are also no graphical settings to adjust. The game also has large UI elements, meaning there is nothing difficult to read on the Steam Deck.
I recommend running the game with a 60 FPS Frame Limit and applying a 5W TDP Limit in SteamOS. This kept the game pretty stable at 60 FPS the entire time, and as there are no graphical settings to adjust, this is how I would leave it.
The power draw sticks largely around 7W, and temperatures around 60C or so. Expect about 7-8 hours of battery life on a Steam Deck OLED and around 5 Hours on a Steam Deck LCD.
There are some accessibility options to simplify puzzles, such as showing you the correct mushrooms you'll need to use for that pool, meaning you just need to find the correct frog and amount of mushrooms to use at that point. You can also make the game highlight certain objects more clearly.
Mudborne is a fairly complex puzzle game. If you're after a game that requires plenty of logical thinking and some planning, then you'll probably enjoy your time with this one. But if you're after a relaxing game that lets you settle down on an evening and enjoy some downtime, this probably isn't a game for you.
It does, however, run beautifully on the Steam Deck, requiring no configuration to get working. With a low TDP Limit required for 60 FPS, you can't ask for much more.
Our review is based on the PC version of this game.
If you enjoyed this review, be sure to check out the rest of the content on SteamDeckHQ! We have a wide variety of game reviews and news that are sure to help your gaming experience. Whether you're looking for news, tips and tutorials, game settings and reviews, or just want to stay up-to-date on the latest trends, we've got your back.
Wanderstop was provided by Annapurna Interactive for review. Thank you!
If you're looking for a relaxing game that still manages to have a decent amount of depth in its gameplay, then Wanderstop might just be the game for you. I was full of a cold when reviewing this game, and it was the perfect game to play when I'm not feeling my best, with no stress and no time limits, you just grow plants, make tea, and enjoy some silly antics.
In case you aren't aware, Wanderstop follows the story of a successful fighter named Alta who... Well, isn't so successful right now. In her quest to regain her fighting prowess, she ventures into the forest to find a fabled trainer. However, she ends up passing out and being rescued by Boro, a kindly tea shop owner who suggests she take a break from her quest to be the best fighter, and instead help him run his tea shop. Thus begins Wanderstop, a tale about Alta's change as a person.
The game, at its heart, is a "Farming Sim," requiring you to grow the ingredients for your tea. However, it isn't just straight-up farming on a grid. Instead, you have to grow certain seeds in certain patterns in order to get the ingredients you want. This adds a neat level of depth to the mechanics as you explore and see what different combinations end up growing.
Once you've grown and harvested your ingredients, it's time to make the tea! Various characters will show up at the tea shop and request different types of tea, sometimes in a straightforward order, sometimes in a more cryptic manner. It's up to you to determine what kind of tea they request. But making tea isn't as straightforward as pressing a button. You'll have to navigate around a rather Rube-Goldberg-like tea-making machine, filling it with water, heating it, adding the tea and ingredients for the specific type of tea you need to make, and finally pouring it into a cup.
This is just another layer of depth to what could have been a simple process, and I'm here for it. The requests for tea made by customers didn't appear to be time-limited, and you are free to fulfill their requests when you can get around to them. It doesn't mean you can shut off your brain entirely, as you still need to plant crops in the right order to get your ingredients, and the tea-making process does require some attention, but none of it feels pressured or stressful. Wanderstop strikes a great balance between having enough depth in its gameplay and not causing an overload for the player.
The characters you meet are also well-written. They air on the "cheesy" side, but not as far as to make you cringe. Some of the dialogue is funny and comical, and the dynamic between Alta (the protagonist) and Boro (the tea shop owner) is quite sweet, with her being very serious and Boro being the most laid-back individual you can imagine.
Wanderstop presents itself well as a game in the fantasy realm. While it's fairly grounded in its mechanics, there's still that air of whimsy in the world design, especially the characters that you'll encounter with their zany personalities. The stylized world with brightly colored trees and the art style that makes you think of a fantasy realm blend well with the cozy yet crazy Wanderstop tea shop.
Not only that, as you progress the story and Alta's journey continues, the somewhat small playing area you get to inhabit changes, with new structures, different crops, new customers, and more, adding to the variety of the game.
The only issues I felt I had with the game were a couple of bugs that resulted in customers sitting on thin air, which wasn't a huge deal. Also, when watering/harvesting crops, the game likes you to be pretty accurate in where you're looking and doesn't always let you interact, meaning you have to walk around the plant a bit to get it to do what you want.
All of this makes Wanderstop the perfect game to relax with. If you aren't feeling your best or just want a game that lets you wind down at the end of the day, it should definitely have a place in your library.
Wanderstop works great with controllers, and it also supports the Steam Deck's 1280x800 resolution, so we don't have to worry about black borders.
When it comes to the actual performance of the game, it defaults to Very High, or it did for me, so we'll need to adjust the settings a little. I've got 2 presets for you today.
If you want your stay at Wanderstop to last as long as possible, these are your settings. Drop all the settings to "Medium" except Texture Detail, which can again remain on "Very High." Apply a 30 FPS limit in SteamOS and a 10W TDP Limit.
You should be seeing a stable 30 FPS experience. The game doesn't look as good as it does on the quality settings below, losing some lighting and shadow quality, but we've lowered that power draw down to 11W-13W, and temperatures are around 55C-60C. This means we can expect a battery life of around 4 hours on the Steam Deck OLED and about 3 hours on the LCD.
If you want the game to look as good as it can on the Steam Deck, turn all the settings to "High" except for Texture Detail, which you can leave on "Very High." Then, apply a 30 FPS limit in SteamOS and no TDP Limit.
With these settings, the game should hold a stable 30 FPS and look pretty good while doing it, too. Power draw is high, however, ranging from 14W to 19W, and temperatures are around 55C to 65C. Expect to get around 3 hours of battery life from a Steam Deck OLED and around 2 hours from an LCD model.
All dialogue in the game is subtitled and has adjustable font sizes. A dyslexia-friendly font can be enabled, colorblind filters are available, and a motion sickness dot stays in the center of the screen for you to focus on. There is also cloud save support if you are switching devices.
Wanderstop is delightfully relaxing. The story about Alta and her life contains some serious notes, but that doesn't change the fact that this is one of the most enjoyable "cozy" games I've played in a while. The intricacies of making tea and interacting with your customers are interesting and engaging, and I'm glad I got the chance to have this experience.
To top it all off, the game runs great on the Steam Deck. You can adjust the graphics to aim for visual quality or battery life, the controls work perfectly well, and the Deck's native resolution is supported.
Our review is based on the PC version of this game.
If you enjoyed this review, be sure to check out the rest of the content on SteamDeckHQ! We have a wide variety of game reviews and news that are sure to help your gaming experience. Whether you're looking for news, tips and tutorials, game settings and reviews, or just want to stay up-to-date on the latest trends, we've got your back.
Hello Kitty Island Adventure was provided by Sunblink for review. Thank you!
After countless decades of game developers trying to cash in by producing a low-quality game tied to a popular franchise, you could be forgiven for rolling your eyes when you first heard about Hello Kitty Island Adventure. It may even fill you with dread if you aren't a fan of Sanrio's iconic characters. But I'm very pleased to say that this is definitely not a game just trying to cash in on the Hello Kitty name. It's a fully functional, well-made product, and if you've got kids, it might just be one of the best games to play with them.
Hello Kitty Island Adventure places the Hello Kitty gang on a (mostly) uninhabited tropical island. While at first, all your favorite characters are scattered around the island, you will soon be reunited with them, and the team discovers that there are places that seem to have been built just for them on the island.
You'll get to create a character with some basic choices, namely, what species of character you want, such as making a character that's more cat-like, dog-like, bird-like, etc. Along with some choice of patterns, colors, body shapes, and clothing. You'll also be able to unlock new character customization options as you play through the game.
The core gameplay mechanics sort of fall into a blend of Animal Crossing and Disney Dreamlight Valley vibes. On the Animal Crossing side, we can fish and catch bugs with a net, and there's even a Nature Preserve where we can donate our bugs, much like Animal Crossing's Museum. Then, much like Disney Dreamlight Valley, a major part of the game is building friendships with all the other Hello Kitty characters by gifting them the items they like or helping them with things they need to do in the form of quests.
This all adds to the very cutesy feel of the game, with an emphasis on helping out your fellow residents with basic tasks such as baking a cake and more complex ones like restoring power to various parts of the island.
Although you're on a tropical island that largely has the sun shining, there is still plenty of variety in the environment, with a swamp biome, volcano biome, desert biome, and more, as well as a large portion of the map that contains water, in which you're able to freely swim and dive, once you've crafted some flippers for swimming and a snorkel for diving.
Invisible walls are employed around the map boundaries, but not so much in the playing area itself, so you do have pretty much free reign of the decent-sized island. It isn't overwhelmingly large, so younger players shouldn't have any trouble finding their way around and should still find the game world engaging and filled with activities to keep them busy.
The movement in the game is kept pretty simple, allowing players to walk, jump, and hold the jump button to glide. You can also climb mountains with a stamina bar ala Breath of the Wild, and as you progress through the game, you'll unlock flippers, which let you swim, and snorkels, which let you dive and explore more of the island's underwater sections.
While Hello Kitty Island Adventure's progression is largely tied to you finding "Power Crystals" around the island and restoring the island to its former glory with them, there are plenty of unlocks and rewards you can get through other means, such as the aforementioned Nature Preserve donations.
Friendships are one of the key ways to get unlocks. As you give your fellow island residents gifts they like and help them with their quests, they'll gain friendship levels that can unlock new cosmetics for your character, additional quests for that resident, or even other surprises. It forms the basis for a lot of the progression in the game.
And if you were wondering if Gudetama, the lovable egg character that seemed to be all over the internet a few years ago, makes an appearance in the game, it does! There are Gudetama all over the island (over 100 in total), with the player tasked to photograph all of them to unlock rewards. It's a fun side quest, and they're in all sorts of locations, so you always have to watch for that cheeky egg!
Visually, Hello Kitty Island Adventure won't be winning any awards, but it keeps things simple and cute. The world and objects are presented, and the vibrant and playful presentation makes even the "Spooky Swamp" not scary, which is good for me!
Plus, new events happen throughout the year, much like Animal Crossing. During my time playing for this review, events were running for the Lunar New Year and Valentine's Day, offering themed items you could unlock by completing in-game tasks.
Aside from a couple of issues with the camera not positioning itself well (you can't manually control it), there isn't much for me to dislike about Hello Kitty Island Adventure. Perhaps a couple of areas of the map feel a little empty and serve little purpose, but it's not always a bad thing to have some areas purely for aesthetics.
Hello Kitty Island Adventure is a great game for young children and isn't a bad shout for some adults too. The game is easy to play, has plenty of activities to keep you busy, and is just a good bit of innocent fun, and you can't say anything bad about that. The price of $39.99 is perfectly reasonable for this game, and it has online multiplayer, although we didn't have an opportunity to test this ourselves.
Hello Kitty Island Adventure was originally a mobile title, and that's evident in its ease of use. That's not to say that some enhancements haven't been made for the PC audience, though.
The game supports 1280x800 resolution, so there are no black borders, and it also has great gamepad support, meaning it controls perfectly on the Steam Deck. I'd recommend applying a 60 FPS Frame Limit in SteamOS and a 9W TDP Limit, along with higher graphical settings that I recommend:
At these settings, the game holds 60 FPS the entire time. The one exception in the game world I found was at the bottom of a waterfall near the Swamp, where my FPS would drop into the mid-40s at specifically that point. Also, when opening a UI window, there appears to be a brief moment of slowdown, but it doesn't affect the gameplay at all.
The power draw for this one was steady, around 9W-11W, with temperatures around 55-60C. So expect around 4.5 hours of battery life from a Steam Deck OLED and 3.5 hours from a Steam Deck LCD.
Hello Kitty Island Adventure has rebindable controls, although there are no other accessibility settings. All dialogue in the game is text, and for some puzzles, the game can complete them for you if you find them difficult.
Hello Kitty Island Adventure isn't just a quick cash-in on the popular IP. The game feels like it was made by a team that knew how beloved the IP was and has been careful to retain its charm while also offering a complete and competent game that's perfect for kids and that adults will likely enjoy, too.
It also runs great on the Steam Deck, with fully working controls and easy-going system requirements that mean you get plenty of battery life to explore your tropical island. It's a great way to relax at the end of the day.
Our review is based on the PC version of this game.
If you enjoyed this review, be sure to check out the rest of the content on SteamDeckHQ! We have a wide variety of game reviews and news that are sure to help your gaming experience. Whether you're looking for news, tips and tutorials, game settings and reviews, or just want to stay up-to-date on the latest trends, we've got your back.
Ballionaire was provided by Raw Fury for review. Thank you!
Ballionaire seems to be an indie hit that came out of nowhere. Having launched in December 2024, I quickly started hearing about the game in various places, so I was excited to be offered the chance to review the game on the Steam Deck now. Spoilers: this game is a great one to play on the go on your Steam Deck.
Ballionaire presents itself as an "autobonker", with the aim of building the perfect Pachinko machine. You're given a new object to place on each drop, where you must create the best combos and synergies to accumulate the most money possible in as few drops as you can.
The objects you can place on the pachinko board vary wildly. From simple bouncy objects that grant you money for each "bonk", to "carryables" that your ball can pick up, and then deposit at another object on the board for a reward. There are even objects that spawn more balls when you hit them or objects that "age" and offer a reward if they reach a certain age before being bonked by your ball.
All of these mechanics create a complex and strategic experience. You have to think about what objects will work well together (called synergies in the game). For example, placing a campfire that can spawn fireballs next to a candle, which doubles the value of surrounding objects when lit, is a surefire way to get some extra money. Placing a caterpillar which, if left unbonked for five drops, turns into a butterfly which functions as an extra ball every drop can be really useful. But you'll need to place it in a position where it won't get hit, but also still be useful when it turns into a ball every drop.
The aim of the game is to accumulate as much money as possible. You have to pay tribute to the game's ELDERS, whose demands will increase exponentially on your run, meaning you will start small but need some killer combos to satisfy their demands as the run progresses. Each time you satisfy an ELDERS' demands, you can activate a "boon" that will change the game rules, such as modifying gravity or giving you a cash injection after every drop.
There are over 125 objects and 50 boons that you'll be able to use in the game, including some that are locked at first but can be unlocked by a, you guessed it, gacha machine. Fortunately, all the unlocks are done with in-game currency, so no micro-transactions or real-world money are involved here.
You'll also have five boards to play on, ranging from a simple Pyramid structure to more diverse layouts such as a rotating wheel or a slot machine. Each one requires a different strategy due to the layout of the pins and where you can place objects.
This helps the replayability of Ballionaire, because while the game can be finished in just a few hours, you could have a lot of fun finding new strategies and ways to maximize your income. Sadly, the game seems to lack any sort of online leaderboards, which seems to be a missed opportunity and could have been a fairly easy addition.
On several occasions, the controls were a little temperamental, with the d-pad or analog stick not selecting the pin I wanted to place an object on. Fortunately, the right analog stick allows fine cursor control, and you can select it that way.
Visually, the game is fairly pleasant, with a vibrant and sometimes psychedelic art style. It's an interesting one, but not bad by any means. The sounds are good for that serotonin release, having plenty of "bonk" sound effects as your balls hit various objects. It' i's complete with pretty forgettable and fairly non-descript background music, for better or worse.
Ballionaire is a solid title. If you are a fan of pachinko and watching virtual numbers flash up on your screen, indicating you're earning big bucks, then Ballionaire should be on your radar. The game only has 5 boards, but it has various difficulty levels and mod support, and for the MSRP price tag of $12.34, you should easily get a few hours of enjoyment out of this one.
Ballionaire is close to a flawless experience on the Steam Deck. The only issue I noticed with the game is that it doesn't support 1280x800 as a resolution, meaning you will get some black bars along the top and bottom of the screen.
The controls are perfect, allowing you to play the game with the gamepad. Ballionaire doesn't have graphical settings, as the game simply doesn't need any.
On my Steam Deck OLED, I could run the game at 90 FPS and get a power draw of around 7-8W, or you can lower that to 60 FPS to drop that another 1W or so. Steam Deck OLED users can easily get 7 hours of playtime from Ballionaire. Steam Deck LCD owners should expect around 4-5 hours. As the game doesn't benefit from 90 FPS, I played at 60 FPS and ran with a TDP Limit of 5W, which seemed to hold a solid 60 the entire time.
Ballionaire has no accessibility options, although it could be argued that it doesn't need any. Every object is clearly defined regardless of color, the text is quite easy to read even on the Steam Deck's display, and the controls are simple and always displayed on-screen.
Ballionaire is a fun take on the standard Pachinko format. With a variety of objects you can place on your board, it opens up an endless variety of strategies you can employ. Couple that with the randomness of being unable to choose which objects you can place, which means that Ballionaire can keep you entertained for far longer than you might initially assume. The only thing lacking, which I'm surprised by, is the fact that the game has no leaderboard support.
That, coupled with the fact that the game plays incredibly well on the Steam Deck, offering long battery life and a smooth and pain-free experience, means that Ballionarie earns our "Best on Deck" badge for being a game that you should check out on your Steam Deck.
Our review is based on the PC version of this game.
If you enjoyed this review, be sure to check out the rest of the content on SteamDeckHQ! We have a wide variety of game reviews and news that are sure to help your gaming experience. Whether you're looking for news, tips and tutorials, game settings and reviews, or just want to stay up-to-date on the latest trends, we've got your back.
Fruitbus was provided by Krillbite Studio for review. Thank you!
Fruitbus is an interesting one. Borne from the plethora of "cozy" games that have flooded the market recently, Fruitbus is worthy of this moniker. It's an unapologetically laid-back and relaxing experience, with almost no pressure to do anything. So it's right up my street, and it's the kind of game I like to play, especially on the colder nights as we approach winter.
Fruitbus is basically about, well, running a Fruitbus. Although it's more of a Fruitvan...Regardless of semantics, this is the premise of the entire game. You've arrived on the Banamas islands after your grandma (the previous owner of the Fruitbus) passed away, so you're carrying on her legacy in the Fruitbus, delivering salads and joy to the island's residents in preparation for Grandma's farewell party.
The main gameplay loop of the game is collecting fruit from the trees and bushes around the island, storing them in containers on your Fruitbus, and then preparing them and delivering them to the island's residents based on what dish they request. These can range from simple Apple and Banana salads to more complex Smoothies containing other ingredients like Mango, Chilis, and Carrots.
Even if you can't fulfill a resident's request, you can always ask for a simpler recipe to make or just reject their request with no consequence, which plays into the relaxing nature of the game. Sure, rejecting a request might mean you can't advance the plot immediately, but there's no penalty for delaying progress. You can return later with the right ingredients and/or equipment and make their desired dish.
But let's talk about the actual Fruitbus! This little machine gets you around the island and stores all your delicious fruit and vegetables. As you progress through the game, you can purchase upgrades and furniture through the profits you make selling your dishes. These include functional items like extra containers for fruit, a blender for making smoothies, an oven for cooking, or even a fruit grabber for getting that hard-to-reach fruit on tall trees. You can also buy countertops to fit in your Fruitbus for additional work surface area, which is useful when storing all the bowls and glasses for your delicious dishes.
You can also get more decorative furniture, like stools or painting your bus, which serves little purpose other than to make your Fruitbus look more homely and cozy. You'll also need to fuel your little workhorse but don't worry, fuel is dead cheap, and you don't need to fill it that often. Eventually, you'll be able to upgrade the engine and wheels of your Fruitbus so it can take you places faster and traverse different terrain better.
As you explore the villages on the islands, you'll meet new residents. Some are just tourists who exist to give you money, and permanent residents of the islands who often have specific quests for you to fulfill, such as finding something that's been lost or preparing a specific (often hard to make) dish for them to advance their quest line.
While the quests to make specific dishes are fairly straightforward (as long as you have or know where to find the ingredients), some of the quests do seem to be a bit vague and slightly frustrating. For example, one of the residents wants you to find their lucky coin. I was told by the game that feeding them their desired recipe would give me a hint, but all I was told was that my grandma hid the coin from them, there is a "show on map" button in the menu for the quest, but I went to that location there was nothing there from what I could tell, stopping me from progressing.
Once you earn enough money, you can pay for a ferry to progress to the next map, which unlocks additional fruit/vegetables for you to make recipes with and new methods of creating dishes, such as using an oven. There are three maps in total for you to explore.
Visually, the game is OK. The developer has adopted a low-poly style with basic shading. Unfortunately, the shadows seem to struggle in this game, and there are frequent flickering and low-quality shadows, even on higher-quality settings. The visuals could use some work, especially to fix the odd shading and a couple of other visual glitches I encountered, such as the volcano lava/smoke not appearing if you save and reload a game at the volcano. Still, overall, the game's graphics are serviceable.
The music in the game is also quite pleasant and fits in with the relaxing atmosphere that the game is going for. While in your Fruitbus, there are various radio stations that you can choose from, which mostly have laidback tunes playing on them. You don't even have to be driving to have the tunes playing, so you nearly always have a background accompaniment of some island tunes. The footstep sounds incredibly irritating, though; they play too frequently, especially when sprinting.
Another downside I found is that some fruits and vegetables are quite rare, and they can take a long time to respawn, so if you get some rarer fruits/vegetables like Chili Peppers, ensure you don't waste them on unnecessary recipes. I did so and waited over 30 minutes in real time, hoping they would respawn, but they didn't. They respawn after several in-game days, and there's no way to speed up time. This is by far the most frustrating part of the game, and I can't tell if my game was bugged or if the respawn timer is that long.
As it is, I think any respawn timers should be minimal. It seems like there is meant to be a solid 15-20-minute respawn on a lot of the resources, and that just seems to go against the spirit of the rest of the game. There should be no need to sit and do nothing while you wait for the necessary ingredients to spawn.
Sadly, the bugs I've mentioned seem to be a bit of a theme with Fruitbus. I encountered visual glitches like shadows flickering, lava and smoke not appearing, and characters sitting in mid-air. There were also gameplay glitches, such as the jerry can I owned seemingly filling up with extra fuel each time I reloaded the game, resulting in a jerry can with 6 bars of fuel when it's supposed to only be able to hold 3, and it had been empty previously.
There is a day 1 update that may fix some of these issues, but since they were present in my playthrough, I am leaving them in. You will most likely not experience these bugs when you play.
The world design can also feel a bit unpolished, with certain objects floating above the ground, given that the worlds aren't overly large, you would kind of expect there to be more attention to detail, but the game in general seems to lack that.
Fruitbus supports 16:10 aspect ratios and runs at 1280x800 on the Steam Deck, meaning there are no black bars around the screen. The game also has great controller support.
However, Fruitbus is quite difficult to run thanks to a strangely intensive CPU demand, so I'm just offering my recommended preset, which is a good mix of quality and battery life.
We're setting the SteamOS frame rate limit to 40, and we'll have no TDP Limit here.
If you want the best quality out of Fruitbus at a 40 FPS frame rate, you can set the in-game graphics settings as follows: Post FX Enabled: On, Fog Enabled: On, V-Sync: On, Anti-Aliasing: FXAA, Graphics Quality: Medium, Resolution 1280x800 60Hz.
I checked the difference against a leaf on having the Anti-Aliasing on FXAA or the more intensive SMAA, but there was zero difference due to Fruitbus' art style, so we might as well use the easier-to-run FXAA for this game. The main strain on the Steam Deck comes from the bizarrely high CPU usage in Fruitbus, so we need to free up as much CPU power as possible.
With these settings, you can mostly hold 40 FPS, but at certain times of day, the performance seems to struggle more. In villages at those times of day, expect the FPS to drop to the low 30s. There will also be the occasional stutter, especially when driving around the island in the Fruitbus. Generally, Driving seems quite intensive, so don't expect to hold 40 while driving.
The power draw varies quite a bit depending on whether you're in a village or the countryside. For the most part, expect it to be around 13-15W in the countryside and around 16-20W in a village. I would estimate 2-2.5 Hours of battery life for a Steam Deck LCD and 2.5-3 hours for an OLED.
Temperatures can get pretty high in the villages, up to 85C on the CPU, with the fan kicking in quite hard at that point. Outside of villages in rural areas, though, temperatures tend to be around 70C, a bit higher if you're driving.
Unfortunately, even on the absolute lowest settings, the game still runs in the low-40s to mid-50s due to the high CPU usage, so there's no hope of a stable 60 FPS experience.
Fruitbus has no accessibility options, although all dialogue, whether voiced or not, is subtitled.
Fruitbus embodies the "cozy" game experience. Aside from the not-so-real worry of running out of fuel, there's no pressure to do anything here. Nothing can go wrong with Fruitbus, so if you're after a relaxing time to just chill out at the end of the day, Fruitbus is just for you.
There are some visual oddities here and there, a couple of vague quest lines, the issue with rare resources taking an age to respawn, and a few more bugs than I'd like there to be. There's also the fact that the performance is quite poor, considering how the game looks. I expect to play this game at 60 FPS on the Steam Deck, but that's impossible even with low settings. The game does control nicely, though, and remains perfectly playable on the Steam Deck.
If the bugs are fixed and some more polish and optimizations are made, Fruitbus could be a fantastic title for relaxing on the go. Right now, it's just a decent title for me.
Our review is based on the PC version of this game.
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Time to continue the adventures of Beatrix LeBeau in the follow up to the smash-hit prequel. Slime Rancher 2 takes you to Rainbow Island where you will be confronted with new lands, new slimes, ancient technology, and much more. Capture Slimes, put them in your conservatory, and feed them to get Plorts to sell and upgrade your tools, build new gadgets, and expand your conservatory. And paired with the beauty of the island, it is just a fun time to walk around and see the sights.
Thankfully, with some tweaking, Slime Rancher 2 can run decently well. It isn't perfect yet, but for an early access game, I am very optimistic. The game at max settings will dive bomb to 24W battery drain with 80c - 87c temps, which is definitely not viable. With the settings I changed, I was able to get a solid 40 FPS that ranged between 12W - 15W for a batter life of around 3.5 hours and staying at native resolution! Proton GE also seemed to help a little with stability, so I used Proton GE 7-35.
There are some drops when there are a ton of slimes on screen, especially in your conservatory, and turning TDP up will help with that, but I felt the drops didn't justify the change. Later in the game, going up by increments of 1 will solve that, but for a good chunk of it, sticking at around 9 should be fine.
I also did notice that the UI would be a bit weird with lower resolutions and using FSR to upscale, so I felt native resolution was much better. It also made the game a bit too sharp in the front and blurrier in the back. The intro to the game is also a little bit weird. The framerate drops significantly, but goes right back up when it is done. I was getting weird screen tearing on the intro when trying it on my PC too. Didn't affect anything after the intro, but still notable.
Overall, Slime Rancher 2 is a fantastic game to play on the Steam Deck so far! As this is early access, everything is subject to change and more optimizations, so we will hopefully see a bunch more and maybe a Linux build further down the line like they made for the prequel. This is definitely a safe game to get on Deck though!
Our review is based on the PC version of this game.
If you enjoyed this review, be sure to check out the rest of the content on SteamDeckHQ! We have a wide variety game reviews and news that are sure to help your gaming experience. Whether you're looking for news, tips and tutorials, game settings and reviews, or just want to stay up-to-date on the latest trends, we've got your back!
The game was provided for free by PQube and MassHive Media. Thank you!
The town of Moonbury has long since depended on themselves since they were scorned by the capital. Now, when the residents of this small isolated community need the help, the medical association sends their most accomplished chemist to help and hopefully convince the town to trust them once again. Welcome to Potion Permit.
Diagnose the issues and gather the right ingredients out in the world once you have decided the right concoction for each issue, though you may have to fight in the real-time combat against foes like bears. Brew your remedies and build a relationship with the 30 unique townsfolk that inhabit Moonbury. And yes, some of them are bachelors and bachelorettes! Upgrade the town, surrounding areas, your tools, and just relax in the gorgeous vistas with your canine companion that you can pet at any time. The pixel art is gorgeous and feels wonderful to play, but we have to ask, how will it run on the Steam Deck?
The answer is it runs fantastically. I am sure most people didn't think this would be a hard one to run, but I am here to confirm it does! It plays very well with Proton and really doesn't require any changes at all. The game at default runs at 60 FPS with battery draining around 9W - 10W for around 4.5 hours of battery life and 56c-57c temps. This is really low in general, but there is a tiny catch. Potion Permit tends to have minor stuttering when running around and when loading into new areas. Luckily, we can completely solve one of these stuttering issues and give a little more battery!
Potion Permit has full dog interactions, and it is beautiful.
By setting the refresh rate/framerate limit to 50 and GPU Clock Speed Frequency to 700, you can bring down battery drain to 8W and add on an extra 30 minutes to an hour of battery life with similar temps. Doing this also eliminates the random stutters you may encounter when running around. I also didn't experience any difference in smoothness when going from 60 to 50, so I would say this is a pretty fantastic way to improve Potion Permit even further.
An example of the stutters in Potion Permit. While it doesn't happen often, especially at recommended settings, it can still happen. It isn't that noticeable though.
Otherwise, I didn't encounter any bugs in my time playing so far. It has been smooth sailing, which I expected from a game like this that isn't intensive at all. The game also does have cloud save support through Steam, which is always a wonderful plus.
One of the few things I felt off about the game was the colors. While they do the job, they look a little washed out. Luckily, not too long ago, a plugin came out that SDHQ covered that, when enabled, makes this game look incredible!
By using the vibrantCrankshaft plugin, we can very slightly alter the saturation to really make the colors shine on a screen that could use some vibrant colors. I found the sweet spot to be around 130-140 for making this game glow without it being oversaturated. Honestly, seeing it with the vibrant plugin, it is hard to go back.
Potion Permit is a game that really pleases when you are playing and if you even remotely enjoy games like Stardew Valley, I have a feeling you will enjoy this one too. The gameplay loop is enjoyable, the townsfolk are unique, and I love me some open-ended simulators. On the Steam Deck, this won't disappoint. At around 5 hours battery, cloud saves, and the ability to bring out the colors, this is one you won't want to miss. Potion Permit releases on September 22nd!
Our review is based on the PC version of this game.
If you enjoyed this review, be sure to check out the rest of the content on SteamDeckHQ! We have a wide variety game reviews and news that are sure to help your gaming experience. Whether you're looking for news, tips and tutorials, game settings and reviews, or just want to stay up-to-date on the latest trends, we've got your back!
It is time to dive into the magical world of disney in this life-sim adventure game where you must save the idyllic land of Dreamlight Valley. Once a paradise of Disney and Pixar characters, this place was corrupted by the Forgetting, which threatened to sever all the grand memories associated with the territory. But thanks to you, you can save them all and bring the light and magic back!
Discover secrets and forge friendships with your favorite Disney and Pixar characters like Wall-E, while also decorating your home and putting together some awesome outfits. And hey, settle where you want to as well, whether it be on a beach with Moana or even Wall-E (I like Wall-E). In the end, you choose the way you play and the life you build is completely up to you.
This is an early access game, so a lot is subject to change over time until it releases, but so far, it has been okay. On max settings, the game tends to hit 23W draining while temps go to 80+ and framerate stutters around 30-35 FPS, but with the right changes, we were able to get a solid 40 FPS build with around 3 hours of battery life.
While the game looks nice at max, it is highly unstable and drains way too much. And this goes even higher when actively running around!
We also noticed that Dreamlight Valley tends to use more power based on what you see, so when in menus and not looking at much rendering in, you will have better stability and drain less battery. Unfortunately, this means running around and assets loading in can be a decent strain, so I felt setting the Distance Quality to "PC Low" solved this, keeping stability with pop-in not being nearly as bad as I would have thought. You can change this to "PC Medium" which does get rid of most of the pop-in, but there's definitely instability at the 40 FPS mark (could switch to 30, but will still see minor dips).
I also want to mention that this game DOES have cloud saves, though you need to sign into a 3rd party account to do it at this current stage, but it does go across multiple platforms. You should also use Proton GE, since the game crashed multiple times for me using regular Proton.
Overall, the game is in a pretty decent state for early access. I do wish it ran a bit better and had more fleshed out graphical options, but I am willing to give it the benefit of the doubt! So far, so good though!
Max Settings vs Recommended. There is a decent drop in visual quality, but not enough to justify a 1.5 hour battery drain with an unstable framerate!
Draw/View distance here. Medium definitely looks better, but way more unstable. Just by standing there, you can see 2 little spikes on the framerate graph. Moving around makes it significantly worse.
Our review is based on the PC version of this game.
If you enjoyed this review, be sure to check out the rest of the content on SteamDeckHQ! We have a wide variety game reviews and news that are sure to help your gaming experience. Whether you're looking for news, tips and tutorials, game settings and reviews, or just want to stay up-to-date on the latest trends, we've got your back!
