Lumines Arise was provided by Enhance for review. Thank you!
There are many iconic games from the PSP era, and some I still adore and play today, but Lumines was a cut above the rest. It is a Tetris-like puzzle game filled with flashy, psychedelic visuals. It was an easy game to fall in love with, and I was elated to see a new game in the series being released. Lumines Arise continues the series with its incredible gameplay and hypnotic visual style that makes it feel unmatched in a sea of unique games.
The Lumines gameplay largely remains largely unchanged from Remastered, and I couldn’t be happier for it. We will be raining down 2x2 blocks of two different colors to try creating combinations of 2x2 similarly colored squares to keep our grid as clear as possible. There will be a wave that passes through, which will consistently remove blocks that we put together correctly and add to our score. Once we get a certain number of combined squares, we move on to the next scene.
There are multiple ways to add to our scores to get the highest possible. We can further add to our combined squares, utilizing more of the same color, to increase our score and get rid of more of the grid. And if we get in a pinch, there are chain blocks that can fall and lock onto other similar colors, even if they aren’t in a square, and get rid of them to clear up the grid. This doesn’t add to our score directly, but it can free up some extra space to place more blocks and make the second color blocks fall into each other, creating more combined squares that can contribute to the score.
We also have the new Burst mechanic, which can be used to both dramatically increase our score in a huge combo and get us out of sticky situations. While the special chain can get rid of blocks, Burst essentially pauses how fast your blocks can fall by themselves, giving us a little extra time to plan where we put down our blocks. As we do, we can continually create more and more combos to increase our Burst level, which will ultimately explode with extra points. We have a Burst bar that can be activated once it reaches 50%, but it will last longer if you can hold out until it reaches 100%.
All of these mechanics work together to create one of the most engaging puzzle games I have ever played. It feels like a simplified Tetris that requires us to act fast and keep moving to constantly get rid of that grid as much as we can and increase our score. However, what really makes Lumines Arise stand out and go far above is its incredible visual feast.
The visuals, effects, and overall aesthetic just shine in almost every aspect that they possibly could. The backgrounds are vibrant and unique, and every single level has completely different designs in the backgrounds and the blocks themselves. The variety of visuals, mixed with the gorgeous effects and incredible soundtrack composed by Hydelic, this is just such a fantastic sensory experience. There is really nothing like it. Even with developer Enhance's other games, like Tetris Effect, they have clearly mastered a style that no other game has come close to touching.
There is an assortment of modes to enjoy this game, ranging from single-player content like Missions and a stage-based experience, to multi-player modes to compete against others in quick battles or try to get the highest score on the leaderboards. There's a solid amount of content to enjoy, especially with 35 fantastic stages/songs to play through, and it was hard not to love them all.
The stage-based mode, Journey, is structured kind of like a narrative mode, packed with difficulty levels and a Survival mode, and while it isn't groundbreaking, it is a nice touch I didn't expect for a game like this. It's also pretty friendly, allowing you to continue the entire level where you lost instead of making you redo everything, though your score will suffer.
We also have Playlists we can create with up to 12 tracks of our choice, and play through them as we please. Missions, on the other hand, are just curated smaller experiences where you have to complete a goal that isn't score-based.
And all of these modes earn us currency we can use to customize our character, known as the Loomii-Pon, in Lumines Arise. We can use the currency to unlock new heads, expressions, designs, unique motions, symbols, and objects that are placed inside our head. It's another example of something that isn't necessary, but I do appreciate the option. We do see our Loomii-Pon while playing sometimes, so our customized character will show up to some degree.
There should be no issue playing Lumines Arise on the Steam Deck, and honestly, it's the best way to play it. Enhance does recommend setting the text size to 120% in the accessibility menu, but the default 110% should be okay. The game also defaults to the "Low" quality setting, but I ultimately didn't see a huge difference between this and higher graphical quality. There are some stages where framerate can drop at Very High, but since the Low quality keeps the rendering scale at 100%, I felt it was best to just keep it there.
It does drain more battery than I would expect, but it isn't egregious either. The game itself is so vibrant and beautiful that I am happy to put up with some extra drain as long as the spectacle for my eyes isn't harmed.
There is an accessibility menu specifically, which allows us to change camera distance, transparency, bonus arrows, background motion, some effects, text size, and some filters. We can also toggle some HUD options like the Timer, Time Limit, Drop Guide, counters, and gameplay vibration. There are options for keybindings, audio, and whether we want cross-platform multiplayer.
The game does support 16:10 resolutions, cloud saves, and controller support. There are no HDR settings.
Just as I thought I had moved on from the addiction that is Lumines, Lumines Arise pulled me right back in. The fantastic gameplay style remains easy to comprehend and hard to master, feeling just as good as it did in previous iterations. Enhance not only added a great new mechanic with Burst, but it also went overboard on its visuals and created something so mindblowing to see that it just stuns with each level. With the new single-player content, missions, customization, and multiplayer modes, this is going to be a game I can't see myself putting down.
On top of that, it's a joy to play on the Steam Deck. It does have a little bit of higher battery drain than I would have liked to see, but it's still fantastic to play and looks great on the Steam Deck OLED screen, even on the lowest quality. This is going to be an amazing game to have in your portable library, and I highly recommend it.
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.
Escape Simulator 2 was provided by Pine Studio for review. Thank you!
In my quest to find amazing co-op games to play with my friends, one game stood out to me: Escape Simulator. Working with friends in a closed-off area, solving multiple puzzles that all relate to each other in some way, and escaping from the room in the nick of time was one of my favorite co-op experiences in recent years. So, as soon as Escape Simulator 2 was announced, I was all in. The shift from the bright, cartoonish visuals to a darker, higher fidelity aesthetic was surprising, and although I wasn't dissuaded by it, I was curious to see where developer Pine Studio would take this new entry. It turns out their goal was to create bigger puzzles, better-looking environments, and wrap it all together in a package that is hard not to love.
In the original levels of the first Escape Simulator, it felt more contained. Smaller levels with 15 minute time-limits where everything was easy to get to and puzzles were quicker to solve. With some of the free extra levels and collaboration DLC, the team started to experiment with larger-scale levels, but it never felt like it evolved from the mechanics from the smaller room.
Escape Simulator 2 takes what the team has learned from the first game and pushes it further. The levels feel significantly larger, more in-depth, more creative puzzles, and even more interesting situations. Some of the levels just sit you down in the room, similar to the previous game, but some start off with a scenario we need to get out of. Whether its getting out of the Hibernation Pods and guessing what the name of our ship is, finding a way out of the upside-down lock we are at in the Crypt, or figuring out how to get our co-op friend out of the carriage they are trapped in in the Courtyard, some levels just start out with unique situations that feel realistic to the level we are in.
Walking around these bigger levels was a little overwhelming at first, especially coming from the previous game, but I easily started to sink back in and solve puzzles one by one. Each puzzle felt more creative and geared towards the level we are in, leaning away from the general feel it could have. We will have to watch the environment, listen up, read, interact with objects, and more. They also felt very interconnected with each other. Items found in the room of one puzzle could be used in another, and items lying around could be useful in ways we don't expect.
There were maybe 1 or 2 puzzles that really stumped me in Escape Simulator 2, as I found no indication whatsoever of what to do for them, but the generous hint system is back and easy to access from the pause menu. Otherwise, figuring out the solutions wasn't too hard, but it definitely required some thought, and that new 45-minute timer to finish is needed. Unlike the previous game, there's no way I could figure out and finish each level in 15 minutes; there are more puzzles for each level, and they feel more detailed and creative, so I needed to spend more time with them.
The puzzles don't have any randomly generated aspects to them, which means once you finish a puzzle, there's little reason to go back and play it again. However, to solve this and add some reason to come back after finishing all the puzzles, we have a couple of features. Each puzzle has collectibles to find, and once a puzzle is completed, you can take on an alternate version of it with more difficult puzzles.
There is also custom puzzle support and an editor, so the community can make and upload their own puzzles for us to try. The editor is solid and decently intuitive, and while I couldn't make anything worth playing, it does open the door for others to make puzzles. We had this in the first Escape Simulator as well, and I loved playing what the community created. This aspect will be very dependent on the community, but if Pine Studio follows the same schedule they had with the original game, there will be more puzzles to enjoy post-release.
The game launches with twelve puzzles, four for each theme. There's the gothic-esque Dracula's Castle, the Space-themed Lost Starship, and the Pirate-esque Cursed Treasure. Each of the four levels within each of these themes feels wholly different from the others, only sharing the overall decorations and atmosphere.
Visually, I was a little worried since I liked the more colorful, cartoonish aesthetic as it allowed the team to create some cool-looking levels and areas, but after playing more of Escape Simulator 2, I am happy to say I was wrong. The higher fidelity, more realistic style was gorgeous and wonderful to experience, and I grew to love it more than I initially expected.
Outside of the general gameplay, we can customize our character a bit, changing our body type, hairstyle, eye color, and outfits. There aren't a ton to change, but it's a nice way to make yourself look the way you want to when playing with friends.
Playing Escape Simulator 2 on the Steam Deck was an odd one for me. Not because it doesn't run well, it actually runs better than I expected with the quality level it has, but it just bewildered me how the settings affected the game. Regardless of the settings, even on the lowest possible, the game will throttle the framerate in certain situations. Sometimes it will get to 60 FPS, but at other times, it will drop to 45, even when there is some obvious room for a higher framerate.
Still, I would consider the game very playable on the Steam Deck. At the highest quality settings, we can play with the game at 45 FPS using the in-game framerate limit just fine, and it's quite nice. There are some little hitches and stutters here and there, but those are unavoidable and happen regardless. However, we do have some extra battery drain, sometimes going up to 22W if we leave it alone and look in a certain direction. On average, I would say to expect 15W - 17W battery drain in most levels if you play this way.
Personally, I would actually change the dynamic resolution and set it to "Fixed" at 0.5. This sounds bad, but it brings down the battery drain from 22W to 13W without affecting visuals too much. At first, I couldn't even tell the difference on the smaller screen, only really seeing it once I saw pictures of the before and after. There are some far-away objects that become a little pixelated, and some details in the ground disappear, but in general, it keeps the aesthetic and visual fidelity high enough to still feel premium.
Turning down the settings didn't change performance much or bring framerate up to 60, so keeping everything at their highest with effects like Ambient Occlusion, Volumetrics, and Screen Space Reflections turned on is the best way to play.
There were some controller issues that I experienced when I first started testing the game, including not being able to interact with needed pieces of the puzzle, but an update that was pushed out today seems to have fixed that, so I am overjoyed!
There are some accessibility settings we can change in the Advanced section of the settings. We can enable anti motion sickness, change movement speed, disable UI overlay in levels, turn on a chat profanity filter, hide item hints, invert camera, change controller sensitivity, and modify audio bars.
The game does support 16:10 resolutions, cloud saves, and controller support. There are no HDR settings.
Escape Simulator 2 is the evolution of Escape Simulator that I was hoping for. The levels are bigger, puzzles are more creative and fit very well within the level, and the new, darker, higher-fidelity aesthetic is just a joy to walk around in. There are some smaller issues here and there with controllers, and some of the reasons to get back into the game after beating the levels will be based on the community, but it's overall a fantastic sequel that is well worth your time, especially if you have someone to play with.
It also runs quite well on the Steam Deck and should be no issue to play on the go. There are a couple of changes I would make for optimal play, and performance is a little weird at times, but it's ultimately fantastic, and I can't wait to play some new puzzles that the community can make.
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.
The Talos Principle: Reawakened was provided by Devolver Digital for review. Thank you!
In February and March, it felt like I was reviewing JRPG after JRPG, and this month, I am feeling like puzzle games are going to be my focus. I just reviewed an incredible game called Blue Prince, which I highly recommend, so of course, it means I am able to go directly into another fantastic puzzle game, The Talos Principle. However, instead of playing the original version, I had the pleasure of going through The Talos Principle: Reawakened, the definitive version of one of my favorite puzzle games I've ever played, and it's definitely a worthwhile reason to return to the virtual world.
The Talos Principle was originally released in 2014, and while it still holds up today, this new version of the game improves upon it. The visuals have been completely updated and rebuilt with Unreal Engine 5, a chunk of quality-of-life updates, a new versatile puzzle editor, and brand new content, called In the Beginning, that goes over the origins of the simulation, while still containing the original and Road to Gehenna DLC content. It's a great reason to dive back into one of the best puzzle games out there, and for those looking into diving in for the first time, this will be an experience to remember.
The Talos Principle really stands out thanks to two key factors: its straightforward gameplay and its story. The puzzles in the game are all to the point in their concepts, and what makes them so enjoyable is how you have to utilize the tools given to you. These can range from jammers and laser benders to motion recorders and fans. There aren't any specific gimmicks to the puzzles you encounter. Everything has a purpose and reason for existing; you just have to figure out how to use them.
The puzzles can range from being more on the easy side, very much so in the beginning, to quite difficult. I was able to complete most puzzles without worry, but there were some later on and in the new content that were head-scratchers. However, when I was able to figure these puzzles out, it was so rewarding. Maneuvering jammers to bring down force fields and bend specific colored lasers to reach their corresponding colored locks to get the Tetris-like piece I needed to unlock the next door just felt so good.
While they are on the harder side, the new puzzles added from In the Beginning are fantastic. I had a great time trying to figure out the intricate solutions to these new problems, and even if I had trouble, it still felt so rewarding to complete.
Gameplay-wise, there isn't much else going on. When you finish puzzles, you get those Tetris-like pieces, which are used to unlock doors by combining them into perfect squares or rectangles. It's another little puzzle to complete, but that's what the entire game is about! Luckily, the maps you will be running around to go to the puzzles in are just stunning, and even while the original game's visuals still look great, these new assets, textures, models, and lighting all look incredible.
The other key aspect is the story. I won't go into detail about this, since it's so important, but I love it. The whole idea about the virtual world you are in, and why, and the philosophical questions that revolve around what it means to be human, make it so great. Throughout the original game's story, you will be directed by a mysterious god-like voice called ELOHIM (which means god in Hebrew) to complete puzzles and not go up the large tower in the middle.
The twist at the end got me, and the philosophical undertones feel impactful as we question the world around us and why we are here. The Road to Gehenna DLC rounds out the story nicely as well, offering more insight into the operations of the virtual world and what else is going on inside. Throughout the game, you will find QR codes as well, which offer more insights from others who have been there before you, making it feel more like a lively place, and you are retracing steps from those before you.
I enjoyed the new story introduced with the In the Beginning DLC, which feels different from the rest of the game. This section takes place in the virtual world that is actively being worked on by other humans, so there are different interactions than what is in the main game. Instead of QR codes, you will find bug reports and voice notes from those working on this virtual world, and while there are some really heavy moments, it all comes together and creates a worthwhile prequel to the main campaign.
The new level editor is also quite fantastic. It's easy and intuitive to put puzzles together, and I think it will only be a matter of time before the community grows with its own custom-made puzzles. This will keep the game alive after the campaigns are done. I tried it out a bit, and the only complaint I can think of is there's no gamepad support. This is intentional and makes sense due to how puzzles are built, but I was hoping I would be able to easily make puzzles on my Steam Deck. Otherwise, it's a fantastic editor that streamlines the process of making community maps, and I love it.
The Talos Principle's 2014 release is a joy to play on the Steam Deck, so I was hopeful that Reawakened would be as well. While it is a bit more performance-heavy due to the new technology and improved graphics, it can still be played on the Deck. And while it does have the Playable rating, I was told that the game isn't certified for the Steam Deck. Still, I would consider it a good time to play on the go.
Because of the higher system requirements it needs due to switching to Unreal Engine 5 and improving the visual quality, I can't recommend playing this higher than 30 FPS. The default settings go to the lower end, and I would say this is where it should stay, for the most part. However, there are a couple of changes I recommend making.
I would switch the upscaling method from FSR to XeSS on Quality. I found that XeSS looks significantly better in darker lighting, especially with lasers, and has better visual quality overall. It is especially obvious when running around or in rainy weather that XeSS looks monumentally better. I would also set the View Distance to Medium so there isn't as much pop-in. We will need as much power as possible since there are some more demanding areas. The battery drain still averages around 12W-14W, but it's better to be safe just in case for later parts of the game.
With these settings, we can get a near-stable 30 FPS, with only some sections running fast through the map, going below the 25 FPS range. There are some visual compromises to make when playing on the Deck, especially when it comes to shadows and trees further away, and watching them quickly get more detail as you get closer can be jarring, but it's still looking great and is very playable this way:
There are some great accessibility settings to change when playing the game! You can change your field of view, motion blur strength, preferred view type (first vs third person), view bobbing, the player speed, gameplay rewind animation and time, subtitle size and thickness, toggling crosshair and changing its type, and toggling input and tool hints.
The game does support 16:10 resolutions, and has good controller and cloud save support. The Steam Deck OLED screen does support HDR for this title, and you can enable it in the video settings.
The Talos Principle: Reawakened is the definitive edition of one of the best puzzle games around, and it still holds up today. The simple to learn, hard to master puzzle mechanics and philosophical story still feel fresh and hit just as hard as they did over 10 years ago. Some of the puzzles later on are a bit on the hard side, which can teeter on frustrating, but with fully updated visuals, great new content, and a wonderful puzzle editor, there's no better way to experience this classic!
It may not be certified for the Steam Deck, but it's great to play on the go. Even with the compromises here and there, I would still say this is the way to experience The Talos Principle. Hopefully, the puzzle editor gets updated so we can use it with a gamepad, but even still, I am happy with the results.
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.
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.
Paper Trail was provided by Newfangled Games for review. Thank you!
When I first saw its trailer, Paper Trail looked like such a unique game, so I was delighted when I received a copy to test on the Steam Deck. The developers specifically mentioned that the game had been tested on the Steam Deck and that you could use a variety of control methods to play it intrigued me, so let's dive into our review and see just what Paper Trail is and how well it runs on the Steam Deck!
Put simply, Paper Trail is a puzzle platformer that makes use of, well, paper for its puzzles. The game is separated into rooms or pieces of paper, which you can fold in various ways to manipulate the world around you, thus creating new paths and revealing the solutions to the puzzles. Paper Trail starts you off with some basic tutorials teaching you about some of the techniques you'll need to be familiar with to progress, and it does a good job of showing you how to manipulate the paper. The controls are also quite simple and shouldn't be a problem.
In relatively short order, you'll find yourself confronting some pretty tricky puzzles in Paper Trail, within 30 minutes you'll be in the thick of it, trying to create new paths to move boulders around, matching up numbered blocks, and perhaps taking a little extra time to get some collectibles too! Each world introduces new puzzle elements for you to contend with, so the puzzles always stay fresh.
Collectibles take the form of little origami figures that are usually a secondary puzzle to solve, separate from the puzzle needed to progress.
Paper Trail is very lenient with you, though; if you do find yourself struggling to solve puzzles, you can simply press the Y button, and you can see that the next step you need to take is to progress the puzzle along a little. You can choose whether you see the whole solution or the next fold you must make. I love the fact that this accessibility feature is here. Puzzle games can get frustrating, and although the challenge is there with Paper Trail, if you are getting despondent about the puzzle or are here mainly for the story, it offers you a way to always progress. You forfeit a Steam achievement by using hints, though.
I'll admit I did use the hint system a fair bit. Puzzle games always stump me, and even with the hints, you still need to figure out where you need to be and where the objects in the game world need to be when you decide to fold the paper, so it doesn't solve it all for you. It was a nice compromise for someone like me who isn't the best at logic puzzles.
The story follows a teenage girl, Paige, who has grown up in a secluded place with her parents. However, she wishes to pursue her dreams against her parents' wishes and, therefore, decides to run away from home, with the player helping her on her journey to the "big city." The game is broken up into 9 worlds, which essentially serve as different environments, with each new environment bringing further narration on Paige's story. While I found the story somewhat intriguing, it did fade into the back of my mind when playing, and I didn't find myself on tenterhooks waiting to hear the next part of Paige's backstory that explains why she's running away.
In terms of presentation, Paper Trail is very pleasant. The world is largely designed to look like a watercolor painting, and it pulls it off quite well. There are vibrant colors mixed in with a sort of slight noise to simulate the world being made of paper. The background music is rather subtle, as are the sound effects, with a constant but quiet background track playing at all times and sound effects mostly occurring when you do certain tasks. All of it combined makes for a rather relaxing time.
As for the length of the game, it's hard to pinpoint exactly, as it'll largely depend on whether you use hints or not and how good you are at solving puzzles, but I would say if you're going in blind. You're "average" at puzzling. There's probably a solid 6 hours or so of content here, not including any extra time spent going for collectibles. There is a Steam achievement to finish the game in 4 hours or less, but I think that's mostly for players doing a second playthrough and effectively "speedrunning" the puzzles.
So I think Paper Trail is a solid little puzzler, but how does it perform on the Steam Deck? Let's find out!
The developer clarified that they had tested Paper Trail on the Steam Deck and designed control options specifically for it, so you might have a good idea of how this will go, but I'll cover it anyway.
Paper Trail gets pretty much everything right. It has 16:10 aspect ratio support, including 1280x800, the Steam Deck's native resolution. It has full controller support that automatically maps all the controls for you. You can modify the text size in the game, but the default ran fine for me. The only settings adjustment you'll be making is lowering your TDP Limit to get some killer battery life out of your Steam Deck.
The only issue I did have is that, for some reason, clicking the right touchpad defaults to the X button, which shows the other side of the paper, and it did annoy me a couple of times as you use the right touchpad a lot and accidentally pressing it stops your cursor. I would personally unmap X from the right touchpad and just use the X button when I need to use it.
So, let's dive into the very complicated process (sarcasm) of optimizing Paper Trail for the Steam Deck!
In your SteamOS settings, set an FPS Limit of 60 FPS / 60Hz, and you'll want to set a TDP Limit of 5W.
The default graphical settings are fine. It defaults to 1280x800, V-Sync On, and High quality. All of this is fine. You can raise the FPS a little and lower the power draw by having it on Low quality. Still, the difference is about 1-1.5W. I'd prefer having all the visual niceties for the game rather than gaining a few minutes of battery, especially when your battery life is quite significant anyway.
With the 5W TDP limit, we get a very stable 60 FPS out of the game, with the frame time graph being pretty much flat the entire time. The only area I saw some variation in the frame time was in a couple of scenes during the Autumn area, likely due to some extra visual effects in that environment. However, it is a short section that experiences frame time drops, and upping the TDP limit to 6W eliminates them if it really bothers you.
Power draw using these settings varies between 10-12W depending on your environment. During the narrated puzzles between each world, it often stays around 9-10W. During the Autumn world, it often stays nearer 12W, for example. Regardless, Steam Deck LCD owners should expect around 3.5 hours of battery life, and Steam Deck OLED owners about 4.5 hours.
Temperatures held around 60C for almost the entire time of playing.
Pleasantly, Paper Trail offers a decent selection of accessibility options, from removing camera shake to making it so the camera doesn't smoothly travel between rooms but instead instantly jumps, likely to counter motion sickness. You can also adjust the size of the text in the game and enable a grid if you're having difficulty working out where things are positioned.
Paper Trail is a delightful little puzzler, in my opinion. It offers a decent challenge for anyone out there looking for one but also makes the story easier to enjoy via the hints system. The story is interesting, but for me, it mostly fades into the background as a means of giving a reason for Paige's journey and not much else.
The puzzles themselves are kept fresh by the fact that each new world introduces new puzzle elements to the game, and with there being 9 worlds to work through, with most lasting roughly 30-45 minutes, the puzzles switch up a bit before you get too used to them. I didn't find myself rolling my eyes at having to solve a similar puzzle at any point in my playthrough.
Finally, the way the game plays on Steam Deck is excellent. The graphics are pleasant and easy to run, the power draw is low, and the controls work wonderfully. There's really not much going against Paper Trail as far as Steam Deck compatibility is concerned. If you've had your eye on this game, you can buy it with confidence that it'll work just as well on the Steam Deck as anywhere else!
Our review is based on the PC version of this game.
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Viewfinder was provided by Thunderful Publishing for review. Thank you!
Ever since reviewing The Talos Principle 2, I have been getting back into mind-bending puzzle games. While looking for some to play, I remembered my time with Superliminal, one of my all-time favorites to play on the Steam Deck. It was the first game where I really felt the emphasis of contorting and bending reality to suit your needs and solve each level, and I loved it. Viewfinder is very similar in that sense, and I loved it.
Using photographs, you will manipulate reality, completing pathways and bringing items into areas where you couldn't before. Some of these photographs will be taken for you, while others will require you use a camera and snap the photos you will use. Some of these puzzles are generally easy, while some completely stumped me and I had to take a moment to think out of the box. I loved the gameplay, but my biggest complaint is length. What was there is amazing, but it just felt too short. The optional puzzles are a nice touch, but I beat the game and was left wanting more.
The story revolves around you trying to discover how to save your dying world. This is told throughout the narration and clues you find along the way in a digital landscape that is extremely beautiful. Color permeates through every model and the varying styles of photos and filters you can find make most levels astonishing to just walk through. Each of the hub worlds that housed the levels were unique and had a design of their own, which felt cohesive as we went from place to place. This was only enhanced with SteamOS 3.5, and I am sure will be even more beautiful on the Steam Deck OLED. Speaking of which...
Playing Viewfinder on the Steam Deck is extremely easy and I found little issue, for the most part. In the beginning, I did find some areas which saw heavy drops, which I found were caused by the Shadows. Swapping this from "ULTRA" to "High" fixed a majority of these with little change to visuals. There are a couple of spots, usually in the hub worlds, where we need more change to bring down.
Luckily, this doesn't really affect the levels, which makes playing the game at 60 FPS all the more better! There are some massive drops when going to new hub worlds, and a significant one when getting back into the digital world early on in the game, but these quickly dissipate once loading is done.
With all of that in mind, I found just changing the game's Shadow setting and keeping at 60 FPS was the best way to enjoy. Most of the puzzles are more condensed areas, so we were able to keep the framerate with a 14W or lower battery drain. The hub does have some slowdowns, but bringing Anti-Aliasing to 2X solved this. It still drains a bit, but I saw no visual difference either. This is one of those games that I really preferred smoothness over everything, and luckily, it isn't one that requires a lot of compromise.
There are ways to lower and get more battery life, or better visuals with the resolution scale, but I didn't feel it was worth it. The 100% resolution scale with 60 FPS was the perfect balance of visual quality, smoothness, and battery life.
As for accessibility, Viewfinder has a specific sert of options for accessibility. You can change the language, override the font for better readability or for those who are Dyslexic, change subtitle font color, positioning, and if they include the names of who is talking, and you can turn off haptics and if any levels have a timer. You can also change font size, turn on a Photosensivity mode, change field of view, crosshair settings, audio sliders, and invert controls.
The game does support 16:10 resolutions, as well as full controller support. There isn't any cloud save support, but with how short the game is, I didn't feel like this was a necessary addition.
Viewfinder is an exceptional puzzle game that feels exceptional with its presentation. The world itself is absolutely gorgeous, and the puzzles will make you feel smart when you accomplish them due to the need to manipulate the world to achieve your goals. It is a little on the short side, and some puzzles are a bit easy, but the overall experience is a great one, especially on the 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 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 Talos Principle 2 was provided by Devolver Digital for review. Thank you!
Do you know that feeling and sense of accomplishment you get when you complete a Rubix cube? Or when you figure out the solution to a math problem you have been stuck on for hours? There's this incredible wave of relief and triumph as it's completed. Now, imagine that, right after, you get to have a minor existential crisis where you question not only your existence but the reality of more advanced individuals who lived before you. This may not seem like a great time, but The Talos Principle 2 makes it one worth living through.
The sequel to The Talos Principle picks up where the prequel ended but kicks things up to an eleven with its new themes, world, and puzzles. Unlike the first game, where we explored the individual, we are now diving into the philosophical ideologies of the collective and civilization. At the beginning of the game, you embark on a mysterious island that is filled with technology and architecture that hasn't been seen before. Who built it, why, and how? That is something you will have a damn good time discovering as you question your existence and if your community is making the right calls.
The Talos Principle 2 is made up of multiple open segments where you can complete the puzzles you need to, compete in other unique challenge puzzles, or walk around and enjoy the scenery. The world is gorgeous, and I often found myself running through sunset-lit levels or the forests just to take everything in.
Then we have the puzzles, oh the puzzles. That feeling of satisfaction when completing is unlike any other. I don't think I have ever felt as smart as I did when figuring out which holes to drill through and how the color beams can connect. The mechanics in The Talos Principle 2 are still as crazy as the prequel, but takes it up a step. There were a couple of them that really got me frustrated, and I had to take a step back, but that sense of accomplishment afterwards was worth it.
And with all of this, it can play on the Steam Deck too, but it is a compromise.
The Talos Principle 2 is a gorgeous game, but the trade-off is it takes a lot to run. The Steam Deck is up to the task, but it has its compromises and some drops here and there. On the lowest settings, with the built-in FSR 2, I got fluctuations depending on which open areas we are in. Some have a ton of trouble and can dip to 25 when turning around fast, while others can go up to 40. For a balance, I went for a 30 FPS lock for stability with FSR 2 on Balanced. It does show some pixelation when moving around fast, but with how slow you will take it when completing puzzles, it isn't that noticeable and still looks great on the smaller screen.
As for options for accessibility, we do have a solid amount to go through. We can change subtitles, crosshair, toggling parts of the interface, and changing sound sliders. There is also a whole section for motion sickness controls, where you can change field of view, toggle bobbing, and set a preferred view type, and color blind settings. You can also edit keybindings, sensitivities, and toggle inverted access.
The game does support 16:10 resolutions, so we won't need to worry about any black bars, and it supports controllers and cloud saves.
The Talos Principle 2 is an incredible follow-up filled with invigorating puzzles and beautiful sites. The challenges are great here and did cause some aggravation, but that feeling of victory and solace after completing them makes it all worthwhile. The story is also fantastic and I love the shift from the individual to the collective. And even though I had a couple of existential moments, the pay off was even more valuable. I do wish it ran a bit better on the Steam Deck, but even with its dips, it is playable thanks to the pacing of this type of game.
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.
Lego Bricktales was provided to us by Thunderful Publishing and Plan of Attack for review. Thank you!
It's time to embark on an epic adventure across the world of Lego. Lego Bricktales will take you across gorgeous unique biomes where you will have to solve puzzles by building your solutions...brick by brick. Journey across the worlds with your robot buddy and help the people so you can gather energy and help your grandfather fix up his rundown amusement park. These puzzles will test your skills in various different ways, including taking physics into consideration, and provide you with a sandbox mode to test the builds you make. With that in mind, let's get to building!
If you are looking for a relaxing game that will challenge your mind while giving you the chance to be creative, look no further! Lego Bricktales will have you walking around gorgeous different overworlds tackling head-scratching puzzles that range from being decently easy to pretty challenging. One moment you will be building a bridge, the next you will have to copy a statue, and then you'll need to build a branching support to hold a platform up, all taking objects and physics into account...and I am all for it.
I love games like this, and with new content updates on the way (Easter is around the corner), now is a great time to check it out! The puzzles sometimes feel weird to control with a controller due to controlling the mouse cursor, but it is something I got used to. Overall, the experience was a good one and luckily, this is a fantastic game to play on the Steam Deck!
With no changes at all, Lego Bricktales runs at 60 FPS with no slowdowns whatsoever at an average of 10W - 12W battery drain. I encountered the game stuttering for a split second a couple times, but this didn't happen often enough to derail my experience, which was near flawless. I also noticed one time where the game spiked battery drain to almost 13W, but this calmed itself down almost immediately and again, didn't change my experience at all.
The controller/gamepad support worked great and I had no visual issues whatsoever. I will say that some of the icons at the bottom during the building screens were a bit small, especially the ones showing the shoulder buttons of the controller, but otherwise, everything else was fantastic.
Lego Bricktales is a wonderful game to sit down and relax with. It doesn't bombard you with time limits or action sequences, its just about taking your time with calming music to build what you need to solve puzzles and help the citizens around you. At times, this feels like a Lego builder's dream, being able to create how you want and even customize it. And with how well it runs on the Steam Deck without changing a thing, this is an easy Best on Deck 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.
10 years ago, Toxic Games released a physics-based puzzle game which took us by surprise. Q.U.B.E. has a simple concept, solve puzzles by moving, you guessed it, cubes. You had different colored cubes that all interacted differently. Red cubes could move outwards incrementally, yellow created stepping stones, blue became a bounce pad, and so on. There was originally no story to it, but one was developed 2 years later with the Director's Cut.
Now, 10 years and 1 sequel later, the original game has been remade Q.U.B.E. 10th Anniversary includes both the original and director's cut, a new chapter with new puzzles, and developer commentary. The game looks more beautiful than ever, giving off a dystopian alternate reality Portal vibe. Now, with all these upgrades, one has to ask, how does it run on the Steam Deck? Well let me tell you...
Q.U.B.E. is a little bit odd when it comes to running at max settings. It can actually run very well in 60% of the game, but that other 40% drains the battery. The biggest parts we saw the most dips was in-between puzzle sections, where the battery drain would hit a high of 22W and 80c temps, or in certain puzzle chambers when looking at specific angles. The game can be playable like this, but it isn't as consistent as I would like. I know we can do better!
This is a spot in-between puzzle sections. As you can see, battery drain and temps are WAY higher than they need to be, especially compared to our recommended build and with almost no change to visuals.
Luckily, once some of the settings are changed, this game is very playable on Deck. Due to the way the game looks, I have a mix of medium and high settings to keep a stable 60 FPS the entire time, while dropping the resolution to 1152x720 with FSR Sharpness 0, I was able to get a consistent 60 FPS with a 14W drain for 3.5 hours of battery. This regularly dipped to 12.5W though, so hitting 4 hours is very achievable too.
I love the game at these settings and I believe it is not only perfect for battery life, but to keep a consistent 60 FPS. And with temps under 70c, the Deck stays cool the entire time. But, for those who want pure quality, we were able to get it working at near-max settings to keep you satiated!
Luckily, there are pockets in the game where battery drain and temps go down. These aren't often, but they exist!
While I didn't encounter any bugs, I did find changing the in-game settings to be a slight nuisance. The settings don't auto-apply when you are done setting them, so you have to scroll down and hit apply for them to take effect. There were multiple times I forgot to hit apply as it wasn't super convenient. But otherwise, I had no negative experiences with any bugs.
It was really nice to go back down memory lane. I remember buying this game when it originally released and loving it, especially since I was obsessed with Portal 2's aesthetic at the time. Q.U.B.E. 10th Anniversary looks beautiful and runs like a charm on the Steam Deck, fitting right at home where it should be!
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!
