cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/18054199
Considering the Switch 2 (with those pretty joystick well covers to protect from drift, omg) and the Ryzen Z2 Go announcements, the low cost and availability of Steam Deck & parity level APU machines for purchase now, and the giant 1080p gaming install base represented by current gen consoles, it sure seems like low spec & 1080p gaming is going to have a pretty sunny future. I am hoping this gives small and medium sized development teams a chance to show up what is left of AAA gaming.
What are your favorite low spec gaming setups right now? I'm enjoying a 5700g APU system the most these days. Mainstream wise, I've been playing Elden Ring and Injustice 2 and Vampire Survivors. The last Indie I played is this beat-em-up / horde survival game An American Werewolf in LA which was pretty cool.
I just bought a steam deck, and bought hogwarts legacy when it was on sale a while back on a friend's recommendation.
Decided to give it a try - such a great game! I tend to compare opens world's to Skyrim, and the detail in the quests is so much better. It's not just 'clear this dungeon'. Plus they've really thought about what sucks about those other games and really tried to avoid them. Plays great on the steam deck too, I've got it capped at 45fps and it never skips a beat.
I don't think I've had this much enjoyment from a gaming device ever. I've done the console and game pass on the phone mounted controller, and that was not very consistent. The instant pause/resume button is a game changer with young kids waking up in the night.
Not at all bothered by performance - in fact I've seeing articles about how 'this windows handheld beats the steam deck in tflops' but an constantly thinking - 'yes, but it's a handheld. Is it good at that? Battery life, pick up and go etc are super relevant, not just performance.
Bit of a tangent there, but I am having a great gaming time.
The Windows ones need the extra horsepower to actually run windows and the games at the same time!
I've been playing it as well, and it really is quite good. It's not very challenging though, which is a bummer, but they've done a great job on the world.
Some nitpicks:
But those are pretty petty things. Quest design is pretty good, casting spells is fun, and side content is largely worth doing. I think it'll age pretty well.
I do like that you can keep the stats of gear you're wearing but change the appearance of it to anything you've collected before. Nice to actually be able to look good and have good gear.
One thing I've done is turn off the Minimap. It's made it more interesting - I actually pay attention to the landscape details and the golden path thing is actually useful. Just wish you could keep a compass visible.
I like that too. I don't like the limited inventory space for gear though, which means I keep having to go sell stuff if I don't want to destroy things. I should be able to just sell it any time with an owl or something, doing a bunch of collectibles to get more space doesn't feel great.
That's a pretty small nitpick because money is rarely an issue. It just feels bad to destroy stuff to open a chest.
Downvoted for supporting J.K. Rowling :(
Downvoted for announcing a downvote and also for downvoting based on something only tangentially related to the comment.
Downvoting is for unhelpful comments that don't contribute to discussion.
Upvoted, because those are very valid, well-made points.