Steam Deck Related News

5 followers

2 articles/week

Stay ahead with the latest news and updates about the Steam Deck. We bring you all the information you need about this new handheld gaming device.

Drywall Eating Simulator Gets Frustrating Life is frustrating, and Drywall Eating Simulator is an attempt to capture that while also being funny and driving you to gnawing through walls when your anger hits its peak. It’s relatable! However, the unfortunate part is that this simulation does still feel like a work in progress. While patches did make things easier to deal with along the way, it’s still a bit buggy. Drywall Eating Simulator is about dealing with everything annoying about life. Dealing with an apartment complex where you’re trapped inside, encountering annoying neighbors, and can’t get out. The stress builds until you explore and encounter enough irritants that the Stress Buddy shows you’re about to lose it. At this point, you’ll see glowing red segments of walls. These can be eaten to make new paths and reduce stress. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-Nj3y8PQKo So the first really frustrating thing about Drywall Eating Simulator is the speed of the camera. While moving forward and backward is fine, as is strafing, actually moving the camera felt shockingly sluggish and slow on a handheld gaming PC. This meant actually turning and exploring felt like a chore. This persisted even after the patches that fixed some softlock situations, which is annoying. I tried messing with the settings as well and didn’t encounter the issue when playing on a laptop, so it must be tied to the Steam Deck sort of experience. Also troublesome is the fact that sometimes Drywall Eating Simulator stages don’t work well. The first and second levels are working reasonably well as of time of writing, with the recent patches up to this point making it possible to see which parts of walls are susceptible and the Questlog.txt tracker keeping accurate notes on what needs to be done. But I experienced issues with the mission list not updating and the fourth level still locked up on me. Images via Peripheral Playbox But even when Drywall Eating Simulator is working well, the way in which you progress can get a bit irritating. That’s because it’s essentially an “explore everywhere and click on everyone” type of experience. There are times when the commentary from NPCs can be funny! The idea is hilarious. The situations are perfect examples of irritating moments of life. But actually getting to the progression points can be difficult in some stages. This felt most noticeable in the first stage, but it also happened to me in the fourth as well. The idea behind Drywall Eating Simulator is amusing and captures the frustrations encountered at work or in society. Unfortunately, I feel like this is a game in need of another few patches. Some Steam Deck optimization would be great too. Peripheral Playbox did already release one patch on Steam and seems responsive, so this could be a situation where it’s in a much better place in a few weeks. Drywall Eating Simulator is available for PCs. The post Drywall Eating Simulator Gets Frustrating appeared first on Siliconera .

SiliconeraDec 26

Review: Death Howl Can Test Your Resolve Games like Slay the Spire and Into the Breach involve careful plotting, deck-building, tactical awareness, and patience to succeed, and Death Howl is the latest new title to follow in their footsteps. The Outer Zone often references both types of genres, as well as soulslikes, when discussing its strategic affair. It’s an absolutely gorgeous game with some situations that can prove truly taxing. It can be a challenge! But some of the situations can prove quite daunting. I’d say in a good way, as it makes you think while surrounding you with an appropriate atmosphere. Ro’s son is dead. However, the warrior won’t accept that. She is determined to do whatever it takes to retrieve Olvi, even if that means braving the dangers of the Spirit World. So she undertakes a ritual to traverse unknown areas and face opponents in the hopes of reuniting with him. It’s a dangerous path, one that involves fighting and taking Death Howls from fallen foes into Ro’s self. By wandering through realms, facing spirits, opening up nodes on skill trees to get Spirit Cards and abilities, grinding past spirit fights to get Death Howls and crafting materials, getting totems for boosts, and unlocking fast-travel via Sacred Groves, you can build better decks of cards with actions and attacks and come closer to Ro’s goals. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7J4c7mzP2M While some roguelike games and strategy titles like this feature picking nodes on a map, Ro actually wanders through various realms in the Spirit World. Once you happen upon a Spirit, you choose the starting position on the grid from the initial row. You then get five cards from your deck dealt to you, with each one featuring a certain energy cost to them. Ro herself also has 20 health. Your goal will be to defeat the spirit you face, using different attacks and abilities to retaliate. Attacks may also have effects like poison or push, and actions might involve sprinting a certain distance to go further than usual or adding armor. You can have 20 cards in a deck, I will warn you that Death Howl isn’t for everyone for a number of reasons, even though it is excellent example of things happening in the deckbuilding and tactical genres. The references to soulslike refer to the ambiance and difficulty. Even some standard enemies are really challenging, until you’ve faced them a few times and realized what their gimmick and range is. Speaking of which, RNG itself can be brutal and result in moments when you won’t have much of a chance. Which is a whole thing in standard roguelikes, but becomes extra punishing here. This means there’s a lot of grinding necessary to become strong enough to actually survive. At times, it might even feel a bit unbalanced. Images via The Outer Zone Especially since Death Howl falls into the soulslike trap of often not explaining things to the degree necessary. This is very much a game where I felt like I learned by doing. If you aren’t familiar with titles like Into the Breach, Lost in Fantaland , and Slay the Spire , then Death Howl will confound you. It fill feature icons like skulls, drops of blood, shields, spirals, and plus signs next to cards and assume you know what that means. Enemy stats aren’t well explained. There’s nothing wrong with having a game where you need to work things out on your own, but it’s another thing to be aware of when it’s already quite challenging. However, because there is grinding in Death Howl and quite a few side quests, it doesn’t feel truly impossible. If you keep pushing forward and experimenting with which path you take through a realm, things might go better. I found sometimes I’d find a solution to get past an encounter that was troubling me or get the crafting materials I needed. Images via The Outer Zone I also feel like, considering how fantastic the story is, it is worth weathering the storms you’ll face when aiding Ro on her journey. It’s a dark, sad tale that also incorporates lore as she encounters different individuals. It’s a haunting tale about grief, beautifully executed with its spritework and punctuated with battles that feel like they test your limits. It all comes together so well. The struggle in Death Howl is real, both in terms of its story and challenge. It’s meaningful and haunting. While it can mean going through quite a bit of grinding and dealing with major foes and a bit of unfair RNG, it is a battle worth fighting. Death Howl is available for PCs. The post Review: Death Howl Can Test Your Resolve appeared first on Siliconera .

SiliconeraDec 25

I Hope Cross Blitz Gets More Quality of Life Adjustments We’ve been able to watch Cross Blitz grow over the last few years. After all, the roguelike deck-building game started out in early access back in November 2023, with Tako Boy Studios gradually building it up until its November 2025 launch two years later. We’ve seen the team adjust and fix issues. While I do appreciate how far the team and game has come, it feels like it’s lacking some important quality of life adjustments. Cross Blitz is unusual in that it does feature some roguelike elements, but it’s also a deck-building game with strategic elements that features a more traditional campaign too. The two parts feed into each other, in a way. The Fables Story Mode follows the characters Mereena, Quill, Redcroft, Seto, and Violet as they go around the world fighting in matches with their decks to accomplish individual goals after winning matches. This can feel a bit like the Game Boy Pokemon Trading Card Game affairs, in terms of the whole collectible card RPG thing, and each storyline is three chapters long. Doing well here unlocks cards via actions like completing recipes or earning XP as you go through chapters, which feed into your deck in further affairs. In the Tusk Tales roguelike mode, you and one of 20 mercenaries go through randomized matches to earn Husks and build your deck up, with both your partner’s cards and your own influencing what the build can look like. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0twc6R34RMc Matches proceed a lot like Hearthstone . You’ll find certain synergies and archetypes to build around when collecting and compiling cards. These are placed in the 4x4 field, with four spaces in front of each of the two players. (There’s no competitive multiplayer against actual people, with only virtual opponents available.) Relics can be acquired to help affect matches and runs as well. There are hundreds of cards, so there’s so much freedom when developing decks. And the Tusk Tales Mode has daily and weekly hunts to encourage revisiting even if the Fables are all done. The actual core gameplay is fine. So the first issue with Cross Blitz is that there’s no native controller support. It is planned. Tako Boy Studios confirmed it on the Steam Discussions board . But considering this is a game that’s been in early access for two years now, the fact that it’s a genre that we’ve seen comfortably accommodate controller support before, and that we’re about a month out of 1.0 without it, it’s disappointing that it’s absent. It’s one of the things that keeps me from really enjoying and getting into it on a Lenovo Legion Go or Steam Deck-like handheld gaming PC. Image via Tako Boy Studios The other is the UI. In a deck-building game or roguelike with those elements, being able to clearly understand what you’re doing and see what cards can do is critical, and Cross Blitz is not great at it. Especially if you are playing it on a handheld gaming PC. The menus aren’t helpful. Informative boxes will overlap and block out information. The cards themselves tend to be very clear, with descriptions that let us know what they do, though the brevity does mean sometimes critical information might not appear. This means you’ll need to learn by doing. Combine that with times when it can feel like it’s harder to put together some decks, collect some cards, and check some information than it could be due to some QOL UI issues, and it’s a bit buggy. I’m still experiencing some crashes and lag. Cross Blitz ’s actual matches and modes are quite fun, with so many deck-building options, but it feels like it needs a few more patches. It’s close to being a really great game! It’s just not quite perfect yet. In a way, that’s a little disappointing. You’d expect some of these crash, UI, and QOL elements to be addressed after two years in early access. But one controller support is in the pipeline and we already saw a patch on December 2, 2025 , so I’m hopeful it will be in a much better position in a few more weeks. Cross Blitz is available on PCs. The post I Hope Cross Blitz Gets More Quality of Life Adjustments appeared first on Siliconera .

SiliconeraDec 24

Teppen Shutting Down in 2026, Offline Update Confirmed Gungho and Capcom will shut down Teppen , the crossover card game available on mobile devices. Jewels are no longer being sold. The game itself will go offline on March 30, 2026. An offline update to allow people to still access Teppen will be available between March 30, 2026 and April 29, 2026. Here’s the official schedule for important Teppen updates as the game sunsets. December 22, 2025: Jewels no longer sold. December 24, 2025-March 30, 2026: Data Transfer preparations can begin. (Someone must update the app and log in.) March 1, 2026: Card Packs are no longer sold and Adventure Jewel exchange ends. March 30, 2026: Official Teppen shut down and offline version update distribution. April 29, 2026: End of offline version update and game distribution. June 30, 2026: Teppen website closes and support ends. Capcom and Gungho went over what will still be present in Teppen after the game is shut down and the offline update appears. The Story Mode will still offer Adventure and Hero Stories to play offline. The Battle Tab will feature CPU Random Match as one option and a Select Match that lets you choose a CPU of a set difficulty level. The Cards section will let you editor your deck and view, reap/craft cards, the Archives section will show the opening movie and pack illustrations, and we can still check past tournament results. Ranked Match, Point Match, Free Match, Room Match, the Grand Prix options, Tourney, Missions, Quest Board, Chronicles, and Challenge will not be in the offline version, and all shops will also be absent. We also won’t be able to get some of the Basic Cards, Backgrounds, Cubes, Emblems, Hero Auras and Skins, Legendary Relics, Music, Player Icons, or Secret Spheres. However, all cards, Backgrounds, Emblems, Hero Auras and Skins, Music, Player Icons, Relics, Secret Spheres, and Souls we already own will transfer offline. Teppen will be available until March 30, 2026, which is when the offline update will be available on Android and Apple iOS mobile devices. The post Teppen Shutting Down in 2026, Offline Update Confirmed appeared first on Siliconera .

SiliconeraDec 22

Review: Dogpile Is Full of Good Dogs Dogpile is a Suika Game like puzzle, which isn’t uncommon as of late, but it’s one of the most intriguing due to its deck-building nature and implementation of roguelike elements. While there is a barebones, straightforward sort approach that just involves matching dogs, the real fun comes from playing around with your deck, dogs’ traits, and other elements to keep successfully adding more pups to your yard. In Dogpile , you start with a yard and no dogs. Which is no good. You need puppers in your life! Fortunately, there are small and big ones, ranging from a score of a teeny lil’ dude at a “1” or a big ol’ buddy that is a “King.” Each hand deals you three cards you must play, which could be dogs, trainer ones that affect the dogs, or a pet store for a shopping visit. (Depending on the tags on your collar and traits, you might draw more than three.) Your goal is to keep hitting bone objectives through merging dogs to get bigger ones, to meet objectives and get to go to the dog wash for perks, while also earning money you can spend at the pet shop for more dog cards, trainer cards, and tags with perks. It’s all incredibly clever, coupled with an amusing “script” that features great descriptions for items and a personable flea as a “guide.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nypRrTHPCE At its heart, Dogpile is a matching game like Suika Game , since we have the well in the center of the screen and the different sized animals that merge with identical pairs of themselves to create a bigger one, continuing to merge them until they can get no bigger. But it’s the implementation of the deck-building elements and sorts of traits found in roguelikes that makes it feel like we have more decisive and strategic control over things. For example, the dog wash allows us to grant one of three traits to three dogs from our deck. Maybe we go with an upgrade that improves all of them by one level? Perhaps we make them all teenier than they were before. We could also always go with making them friendly, which I love because it then automatically makes them rush over in the yard to pair up with their match. While there are good traits like the ones I mentioned, such as making them extra good to get more currency or a pack trait that will automatically also use another dog card from your deck and deploy it, there are negative traits too. Timid will make them run away from other dogs. If one is fostered, it becomes a single-use card. A dog could end up temporarily crated, which makes it unable to match for a number of hands. And if a dog has fleas, none of its positive traits will come in. A royal dog is opposite of a miniature one, as it will be bigger than usual. Not to mention missing bone criteria via matching will mean incurring a punishment like temporary crating, fleas, or adding a rock to the yard. It makes you think about your decisions and consider adding more trainer cards like a sponge that could wash negative traits off a dog in the yard, sheers to make one in the yard miniature, or a treat to make a specific one extra good. Images via Studio Folly, Toot Games, Foot The tags are also great. You’re limited to a certain number on your collar, and these are exclusively purchased in the pet shop. These can give you things like more bones or more money for certain actions, ensuring a certain option always appears at the dog wash, automatically assign traits to certain classes of dogs, and other bonuses for playing in certain ways if equipped. While we can only hold a certain number on our collar at a time, they can be sold back for funds and to make room for more. It’s almost like they’re relics like in typical roguelikes or deck-builders, offering a reason and excuse to tailor our deck and playstyle to a certain situation. Dogpile also deviates from Suika Game to behave more like Balatro with its varied decks. If you “beat” a game by getting the Saint Bernard (King), you can unlock a new deck. These could change the difficulty of a run, depending on the situation. I also noticed that, while no new dogs appeared, I did sometimes see new tags after getting more decks. Images via Studio Folly, Toot Games, Foot Dogpile combines the Suika Game formula with deck-building, and I really like the results. It’s quite clever and incredibly cute. I loved playing around with certain builds and trying to capitalize on putting together decks that involved certain mechanics. Did I see myself getting near the endgame? Eliminate all smaller dogs to prioritize minimized versions of larger ones in the deck! Did I want to make things easier for myself and not worry about placements? Try and add friendly and pack traits to as many dogs as possible. I really loved challenging myself and working things out. Dogpile is available for PCs. The post Review: Dogpile Is Full of Good Dogs appeared first on Siliconera .

SiliconeraDec 17

How to get your Steam Replay recap for 2025 December is a lovely time of year. It means cold weather, holiday cheer, game sales, and a whole bunch of recaps from your favorite nosy apps. PC gamers know full well by now that Steam is the place to be when it comes to gaming. And every year since 2022, Valve has released Steam Replay , which is its version of "Spotify Wrapped" or any of the other year-long recaps that track your data every waking moment. Steam Replay is coming back for 2025, and we've got the info on how to find yours so you can feel a deeper shame than you thought possible when it shows you just how many hours you spent playing games when you could've been touching grass or something. Table of contents What is Steam Replay? How to view your 2025 Steam Replay What is Steam Replay? Screenshot by Destructoid Steam Replay is a yearly recap of your activity on the PC gaming platform throughout the year. It recaps everything from how many games you played, achievements you unlocked, and even your longest streak of playing games. How to view your 2025 Steam Replay Screenshot by Destructoid When it becomes available, you can check your Steam Replay on the official Steam Replay page here . Keep in mind that until the 2025 edition is online, you will see your 2024 version. But as of Dec. 16 at about 2:30pm CT, Steam Replay 2025 can be found on the Steam store home page. Just make sure you're logged in to your account if you want to view it on web whenever the feature goes live, otherwise, it will eventually appear on the Store tab of the Steam app. And that's when the fun begins. Stats tracked include playtime split between Windows or Steam Deck, if you participated in betas or play tests, and it gets so detailed that you can even see what games you played and when throughout the year, broken down by month. It's a good time every year to peruse the info. So, let us know in the comments below what your top games of the year were. The post How to get your Steam Replay recap for 2025 appeared first on Destructoid .

Steam Archives – DestructoidDec 16

The Nitro Deck is back for the Switch 2, and up for pre-orderHandheld players looking for portable comfort take note. CRKD is back and ready to rock the Switch 2 with the all-new Nitro Deck 2. The Nitro Deck returns Yep, it’s back. Peripheral and accessory maker CRKD is back with a brand new option for the Switch 2, aptly called the Nitro Deck 2. The controller … The post The Nitro Deck is back for the Switch 2, and up for pre-order appeared first on BrutalGamer .

BrutalGamerDec 16

Review: Goodnight Universe Might Make You Cry Nice Dream experimented with unexpected control schemes for the first time with Before Your Eyes . As the name suggested, tracking your blinking helped control memories. In Goodnight Universe , that concept is expanded upon and added to a much more compelling story that sees us helping an above average, supernaturally gifted baby find his way through extraordinary situations. Isaac isn’t your average baby. He’s smarter than normal, able to understand the world around him and engage in some pretty complex problem solving situations. There’s also the telekinesis. But he can’t just spend time processing that and trying to connect with his awkward family. There’s a company named Aio Industries that is very aware of what Isaac is capable of and wants to use him for their own purposes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuGuy9VsDxs While Goodnight Universe can be controlled via more typical control schemes, such as a controller, and there will be some segments where we need to move Isaac, the main mechanic here involves actually looking at things and blinking in order to affect the world around you and make things happen. (As such, it’s not a great fit for something like a Steam Deck or handheld gaming PC!) I played using the built-in webcam on a laptop, and it worked pretty well. I do recommend calibrating the game first in Settings to ensure it is catching your eye tracking, since there will be some segments where you want to be certain the game is recognizing when you’re focusing on an object/person or blinking. But I found it’s quite capable in most situations. There are some situations where I did notice it didn’t seem to recognize my inputs, but those were ones where there time felt of the essence and I wasn’t sure if it was due to my moving too quickly and out of my patterns or the game not properly recognizing it. After playing all of Goodnight Universe via the intended control scheme, which didn’t take long since it is three hours or so, I did try it playing only with a controller. It definitely feels less “special” that way. So I will say if you can’t play it with the eye-tracking option, you will be missing out. Images via Nice Dream While Goodnight Universe is an adventure game, it can also feel a bit like a visual novel or interactive movie due to how heavy and pivotal the story and character relationships are. It’s an incredibly well-written affair with a lot of moments that can hit you hard. This is all without feeling overly melodramatic. The plot beats are amazing here. While it also is a drama with some supernatural thriller elements, there’s some levity too. It’s genuinely funny! Some altercations with Aio Industries are scary! As someone who was incredibly close to her grandfather, the parts involve Angus got me misty. This game is absolutely moving and heartfelt. There are a few parts around the middle that feel a bit slow, but in general the pacing is okay. A part of that also has to do with the fantastic casting. I really loved Lewis Pullman as Isaac, and Tessa Espinola does a great job as Cleo. Both Al Madigal and Kerri Kenney-Silver are perfect picks as Isaac and Cleo’s parents, and I’m glad they went with folks who are so adept at comedy for those roles. Perhaps my favorite was Beau Bridges as Angus, as he nailed the part, came across as sympathetic, and it ended up being quite a surprise to hear him. Images via Nice Dream Goodnight Universe features a wonderful story with great performances and a unique, competent control scheme. Said method even works pretty well, considering it’s relying only on eye-tracking! I will say part of the experience is lacking without that, so you should make sure you can play under optimal conditions. But even if you can’t, the narrative and performances from its stacked cast are pretty great. Goodnight Universe is available for the Switch 2, PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC . The post Review: Goodnight Universe Might Make You Cry appeared first on Siliconera .

SiliconeraDec 14

Review: Forestrike Will Test Your Skills Forestrike , a roguelike about martial arts fights and the power of premonition, sounds like it makes so much sense. Go on a journey. Enter basically your “mind palace” to work out a fight in your head. Implement it in reality, based on your foresight, to ideally survive and keep moving forward. If you manage to learn exactly what you should and do everything right. There are times it can be great! But when it isn’t, I’ve found it can be the most frustrating roguelike I’ve ever played. A foreign Admiral placed Emperor Lun Liao under his spell, and Yu is one of the few who sees exactly what’s going on. As such, our warrior heads out under one of multiple Masters and Paths in order to deal with the Admiral and save the country. This means using the power of The Cold Eye, The Leaf, The Monkey, The Storm, and The Tiger to win, with only Master Talgun and The Leaf available initially. While you will head through the Moongate and practice using foresight to deal with the situation, you need to go through everything in reality, with no practicing, to understand the full scope of this political thriller and discover the truth. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCbJLFTjgbo&t=1s While it’s never guaranteed that a roguelike will feature a fantastic story, or even offer any explanation at all, Forestrike offers an explanation and intent. Granted, you absolutely need to earn it! (Not to mention, I had to unlock my favorite Master.) Which is frustrating due to the difficulty. After seeing the outcome, I do think it is interesting. However, I’m not a fan of a design decision that means you lose access to certain options once beating a run with them. I feel like narratively, more could have been done with it, not to mention I really liked certain run types a lot. I do appreciate how the narrative does tie in to the repetitious nature of things and explains the foresight ability. When a Forestrike run begins, you choose a Master. This influences the techniques and moveset you get. You then head into fights against The Admiral’s forces. So an initial tutorial match will involve three enemies and Yu, with a task of surviving and perhaps accomplishing an optional goal for additional rewards. (For example, clearing it in under 10 moves.) Since Yu has three health and a heavy hit could knock out more than one, being careful is critical. Enemies come at you one at a time, and certain types have specific patterns you can memorize. You can use attacks or Techniques you’ve learned, and if you collected the right resources perhaps block or dodge an attack. When you win, you might get an active or passive Technique. These involve precise button presses and perhaps even resources. Once the first fight is done, you can see the map and determine which road (and experiences) you’ll face that run. While Forestrike is a roguelike, in that we are picking a path, building a “deck” of moves, and should expect to try multiple times before we succeed, there are ways in which it doesn’t work like one. As a result, I feel like that weakens part of the experience. For example, the fights against foes felt random sometimes. I’d find myself in situations where I couldn’t win, even if I was doing things “right.” Also, unlike a more traditional roguelike, if you lose you don’t start off in a better place next time. You begin with nothing carrying over. As such, it can get incredibly frustrating going through an attempt. Things might go great and you’ll get situations that take advantage of your Techniques. But more often than not, I found myself outclassed. I also felt like not all Masters’ paths were created equal. Some of them can be really cool and fun! The Leaf is a good start, and I enjoyed The Storm. The Monkey is my absolute favorite. However, I hated The Tiger, even though I really liked Buton as a character. Perhaps it’s just me, but it seemed like some were more creative and offered more opportunities for success depending on your choices and implementations of Techniques. Forestrike features an interesting concept and aesthetic I appreciate, but can feel unbalanced. I happened upon many situations where I felt like I couldn’t win, which was even why it took longer to prepare this review. I like the story and the way some of the martial arts movesets work. I just wish it didn’t often feel like chance so heavily affected my odds of success. Forestrike is available for the Switch and PC. The post Review: Forestrike Will Test Your Skills appeared first on Siliconera .

SiliconeraDec 13

CRKD stretches Cyber Monday dealsBlack Friday? Cyber Monday? Yeah, the 2025 editions of both are behind us, but that isn’t going to stop the deals at CRKD. All they’re CRKD up to be Continuing to explode into the peripheral space is CRKD. The accessory company made a splash with the Nitro Deck for Switch a few years back, and … The post CRKD stretches Cyber Monday deals appeared first on BrutalGamer .

BrutalGamerDec 3