Classics on Deck #12: Empire Earth (2001) / Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines (2004)

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Classics on Deck is back again! Last time, we took a look at Impossible Creatures and Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis. This time around, we're looking at the RTS classic Empire Earth (Oliver Stogden) and the cult-classic, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines (Michael Baker).

Empire Earth (2001)

• Digital Availability: GOG.com
• Version Tested: GOG.com Version + NeoEE
• Wine/Proton Version Used: Wine GE 8-26

Installation

If you own the game on GOG, there is a Lutris installer available that will install EE + AoC as well as NeoEE for some modern quality of life enhancements. Just open Lutris, hook it up to your GOG account, then install Empire Earth from your Lutris library and choose the NeoEE option, proceed through the installation as normal. You will want to select the Empire Earth and Empire Earth expansion option when prompted in the NeoEE installer.

Once the game is installed, it will default to booting Empire Earth. You can right-click and "configure" the game in your Lutris library and change the EXE to the AoC executable if you want to play the Expansion content. Just navigate up a level in the directories, then go into the AoC folder and choose the EE=AOC.exe.

Steam Deck Performance & Issues

Empire Earth has no controller support, so you'll need to use the Keyboard (WASD) + Mouse template, which works well for the most part. You might want to do some custom configurations, especially for any hotkeys you may like to use. I also lowered the sensitivity of the right touchpad a little, as it was a bit fast for controlling the cursor in-game, but otherwise, the game is fully playable.

The game does support 1280x800 as a resolution once you're in a game.

Empire Earth only uses 1 thread/core, so it leans pretty heavy on the Steam Deck's CPU, meaning you can't actually maintain 90 FPS in the game, but even in intense combat situations, the game does tend to stay above 60 FPS, so I recommend you limit the game to 60 to enjoy a stable and smooth experience.

The high CPU load does make power draw higher for a game of this time, putting it around 15W, so you should only expect to have around 3 hours of battery life in this one.

Gameplay

Empire Earth is a classic RTS for a reason. The game's main selling point was the fact that the game spans basically all of human history, from the prehistoric age, through the Middle Ages, our modern day, and into the future. There are 15 epochs in total, with a ton of units and unique situations arising because of that.

Alongside Empires Dawn of the Modern World of Age of Empires 1, Empire Earth was in my top 3 RTS games growing up, and it's still a blast to play now, made even better by the NeoEE enhancements.

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines (2004)

• Digital Availability: Steam and GOG.com
• Version Tested: Latest Version of the GOG Unofficial Patch Mod Bundle
• Wine/Proton Version Used: Proton Experimental

Installation

Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines is probably the ‘best broken’ game ever made. Developed by the long-dead Troika Games studio, it was a mix of incredible RPG systems, excellent writing, and a lot of broken bones. Despite its flaws, it is still one of the most enjoyable experiences I’ve had as a game, and it is a solid experience on the Steam Deck.

Recently, GOG began its mod curation program with some of the best mods directly packaged with the game. Only a few are out now, but one is the incredible Unofficial Patch by Wesp5 that restores Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines to what it should have been. It’s an amazing mod, and thanks to GOG, installing it is seamless provided you own a copy of the game on the platform. For that reason, I am sticking with GOG for the sake of today’s choice.

For GOG, you can install the executable file using Lutris or Heroic Game Launcher. Proceed with the installation as usual, and wait for the game to install. Once you’ve saved the new configuration, you can boot the game as normal from Steam if you made a Steam Shortcut, or from Lutris otherwise. In the controller settings, use a default Keyboard WASD and Mouse profile. You should be fine getting it to boot with just the default Proton, but if not, Proton Experimental will do the trick.

Steam Deck Performance & Issues

Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines is technically given an Unsupported rating on the Steam Deck by Valve, but I am having a pleasant experience so far with the Unofficial Patch version. The largest hurdle is the controls, as this is one of the older PC games that has a bunch of keybinds to mess with. I am still working out an optimal custom configuration, but the standard Keyboard and Mouse controller profile is holding up alright so far.

Performance is also impressive. While Bloodlines is a fairly old game these days, the visuals still hold up, especially character animations during dialogue. The graphics still have some bells and whistles, and the Steam Deck chews through the game easily. It maintains 60FPS with all settings tuned to maximum without any TDP tweaking, and the battery life is respectable. Bloodlines is quite lightweight and even at a 4-Watt TDP, you can still hit a minimum of 30 FPS in most cases.

Overall, you won’t be disappointed with Bloodlines on the Deck.

Gameplay

The amount of worldbuilding, great dialogue, and role-playing options in Bloodlines still puts a ton of modern games to shame. This is the best part of Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines, for certain, and the different races in the game have some great variances in how to play the game.

It may have been broken on launch, and the combat is still rough, but this is an essential RPG for fans of the genre.

That's it for this week's Classics on Deck. We'll return with more classic games on your Steam Deck next week.

Please let us know in the comments below if you'd like us to review any specific games as well, and we'll add them to the list of games we plan to find and test.

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