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.
A GEEKOM A7 with Fedora KDE and steam big picture as a separate wayland session vesa mounted to the back of a cheap monitor has become my console of choice.
Some gamescope tweaks here and there and any steam library just shines. I've been playing my games in chronological order from oldest to newest. It's been a blast. FSR looks like absolutely donkey turds sometimes but makes even newer games playable if you sit far away enough. A consistent 30~40 fps on Final Fantasy XV with little to no slowdown. I never dreamed what amounts to a toy mini pc would be capable of as much as it does. Gamescope, gamemode, mangohud, not loading anything other than steam and related services on booting the thing. If I need to get work done, I use my regular session without fear of an auto-update wrecking my shit (that's my middle finger to Windows). It's just heaven. I've revisited all the Metroid and Castlevania GBA games spruced up with filter and shaders.
It's insane. The Switch 2 doesn't appeal to me at all since Nintendo started their witch hunt against emulation. When the console lifecycle ends and they're no longer manufactured emulation should be the way to go. My DSi died and with it all my eShop games. I know there's probably ways to emulate them as well as the games but that feels like too much work. Switch games might die off too eventually since people get in trouble for dumping their physical games legally. I'd rather keep gaming on PC where games I bought 12 or 15 years ago are still kicking or modded to hell. 2025 Morrowind is the nastiest lipstick on a pig situation but I'll still go ahead and make out with that oinky doinky mess.
I'd fuck that pig over most recent titles any day of the week
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