Things I've been playing on my new Steam Deck

But god, I just really love a good handheld, and the Steam Deck is so much more comfortable than the Switch due to its beefy grips and high button/stick placement. It feels like a Wii U Gamepad For Adults - it looks huge and awkward, but in reality it's extremely comfortable to use. It's immediately become my preferred way to play much of my Steam library.

(I've also told myself it was a necessity for work. Not much I can do about RPG Maker VX Ace's issues with Proton, but I would like to be able to make sure any future projects play nice with the Steam Deck.)

Anyway, even though this thing is advertised as being powerful enough to play cutting edge AAA games, I've inevitably found myself playing a lot of older games and retro throwbacks on it. So here are some thoughts on the things I've been playing.

1. ESCHATOS

I wouldn't really consider myself much of a shmup player, aside from being a casual Touhou fan, but I fell in love with the ESCHATOS soundtrack recently because... well, I mean, listen to this:

(Fun fact: ESCHATOS composer Yousuke Yasui has done a bunch of work for Arika, including contributing to the Mega Man Network Transmission OST - the most underrated Mega Man soundtrack!)

Since it was on sale and it's Steam Deck compatible, I figured it couldn't hurt to pick it up. And man. I think i really love this game. There's something... elegant about it. There's no story aside from what's implied by the various set pieces, the main mode starts your weapons off at full power with no need to collect power ups, and each level flows directly into the next without even a results screen or a fade to black in the way. It's just a 30-minute thrill ride where you weave through bullet patterns and blast wave after wave of enemy as the dynamic camera zips and twirls around and the FM synth soundtrack rocks the fuck out. Bosses make especially good use of the 2.5D art direction by being these massive independence day-style UFOs that rotate around to expose different weapons and weak points, with the camera tilting to really show off their enormous scale. And if you get a game over, you start it all over again. I've only beaten it on easy, but I still find myself wanting to replay it more because it's just pure arcade-style fun, plain and simple.

After playing ESCHATOS I also picked up Qute's later shmups - Ginga Force and Natsuki Chronicles - since they were on sale for $4 each. While they're technically much more polished and "fleshed out" games, adding on a bunch of story and ship customization and an upgrade shop, I think all those extra frills just distract from the pick up and play simplicity that i find so engaging in ESCHATOS. (Also those stories are largely told through undubbed Japanese dialogue playing over every level, and man, I don't have time to read subtitles in a bullet hell game!!!) Really, they've just made me like ESCHATOS even more.

Does this mean I'm about to become a shmup connoisseur in my 30s? Who knows!

2. Lunistice

I was gifted Lunistice for my birthday last Christmas and only got around to playing it now. Oops! Anyway, Lunistice is great.

Coincidentally, like ESCHATOS, Lunistice feels like a pretty straightforward take on its genre - in this case, the 3D platformer. But sometimes a straightforward 3D platformer where you've got a double jump and a spin attack is all you really need. The levels are well-designed and filled with secrets (which are required to get the true ending), the 32-bit low-poly visuals are super appealing, and the soundtrack gives everything a lot of pep. Also the main character is a cute tanuki. What's not to like? It is perhaps a bit on the easy side, I guess, but the levels ramp up in complexity towards the end. And I don't always need my platformers to be super tough masocore affairs. I'm a Kirby fan, after all.

Apeaking of Kirby, Lunistice is an easy recommendation for fans of both that series and Klonoa. It's that same style of platformer where everything is very cute and colorful and whimsical on the surface, but there are some more somber undertones to the story, particularly if you go for the true ending. Admittedly that story can be surprisingly cryptic for how minimal it is, but idk. I felt like the cyberspace dream world simulation stuff enhanced my enjoyment of the game overall. Don't think too hard about it, just let it add to the vibes.

Anyway, yeah, buy Lunistice. It's five bucks. Apparently it even has a free expansion in the works.

3. Spark the Electric Jester 2

Many will probably be shocked that I haven't played the 3D Spark games - especially if you spotted my name in the Kickstarter backer credits of the sidescrolling original. (I was a big fan of the creator's prior Sonic fangames.) But now I'm finally righting that wrong!

In many ways, Spark 2 is Spark 1, but in 3D!!! As such, many of the same pros and cons apply. At the risk of sounding mean, the story and many of the character designs feel amateurish, very much the result of a solo indie dev deciding not to hire on a writer or a character designer because "how hard could it be to do it all myself?" I do really love the art direction for the levels, but almost all of them are straight 3D adaptations of the locales from the first game. Likewise, the soundtrack still whips ass, but a number of tracks are recycled from the first game.

The main draw, of course, is that rather than being modeled after the 16-bit Sonic games, Spark 2 is now a 3D platformer modeled after the Sonic Adventure games. And that platforming is an absolute blast. The controls are super tight, easily rivaling the best of the 3D Sonics. While every level only requires you to run to the end, there are lots of alternate routes for every section and little automation, allowing you to use your moveset as you see fit to get from point A to point B. Likewise, gravity tends to be more of a suggestion than a rule, with curved slopes frequently sending you up walls and along ceilings. It's amazing how smooth this all feels, especially given this was mostly the work of a solo dev with only two years of development time. These are things Sonic has historically struggled with!

If there's one element of the gameplay that's lacking, though, it's the combat, which isn't nearly as polished as the platforming. Like Spark 1, Spark 2 has melee combat with a Kirby-esque power system that lets you swap between multiple different weapon types. Unfortunately, I didn't see much point in picking one power over another. They feel kind of samey, and all of the boss fights just boil down to parrying everything and spamming your basic attack. And even though every level is littered with enemies, there's no real point in fighting them. You can just run right past 99% of them. Which is exactly what I did.

(I also got a weird rendering glitch on various UI elements, including the world map, that completely blew out the contrast. I have no idea what's up with that.)

Still, I had a good time with Spark 2 because of that core platforming gameplay. I've also heard that Spark 3 improves upon it in every way, so i'm looking forward to checking that out soon. Actually, most people will tell you to just skip to Spark 3, since apparently the Spark 2 levels were patched into that, but I like seeing how a series evolves and iterates on its ideas.