Welcome to this week’s early edition of Steam Deck. Things are always changing with recent reviews and embargoes, but I have a lovely review today with two previews and gameplay impressions as well as news highlights and more. On the Steam Deck Verified front, I’m surprised by some of the ratings from last week, but that’s just how things work at Valve these days. Before we break out the news and new verified games, let’s take a look at the reviews and Steam Deck impressions.
Steam Deck Game Reviews and Impressions
Thank God you are here! Steam Deck Review
Considering the sheer number of new indie games released every month, I wouldn’t blame people for picking. With limited time and money, it’s impossible to buy and play everything. We saw the release of several amazing indie games in March, but many people only ended up playing one or two of them. With the exception of Animal Well, I’ve played almost every indie game I wanted to play this year, and while it’s been a huge year for cross-platform indie games, I think thankfully Coal Supper and Panic “You’re Here” will disappear.
Thank God You’re Here is a “slapformer” where you explore locations, help others, and advance the narrative. What makes it unique is that everything responds to you as a player, and of course the beauty and writing of the traveling salesman you play visiting the small English town of Barnsworth wowed me from the start. Within 10 seconds of the opening, I knew the voice acting, writing, and visuals were going to be something special. The use of specific cutscenes all make Thank God You’re Here memorable.
I’m not sure if a demo will be available when the game launches, but if you’re interested in the trailer, I highly recommend giving Thank God You’re Here a try. Don’t look for anything because every little element of the game has been carefully designed and the developers have thought of almost everything, namely that you can disrupt the world by slapping things.
I originally planned to review Thank God You’re Here on Switch, but the port wasn’t amazing. Performance feels choppy almost all the time when you’re not indoors. I hope this gets fixed as it looks great and feels comfortable on a portable device. On the Steam Deck, You’re Here thankfully works flawlessly with zero issues and even runs at 144 fps on my monitor when docked. Currently, if you have a choice, Thank God You’re Here is best experienced on the Steam Deck, not the Switch. I’m looking forward to replaying it on PS5 to see how it feels and if the developers have added any rougher touches.
I don’t want to spoil the interactions or anything here, as all of this is best experienced without prior knowledge, but I want to highlight the game’s language options. By default, everything, including menus, is in Yorkshire dialect. You can change it to General English, but the default will be more interesting even for people not from the region. On top of that, the PC version of Thank God You’re Here allows you to adjust the resolution and run at an unlimited frame rate. Considering the way it works on the Steam Deck, I don’t think anyone will run into performance issues.
Having played it twice now, all I can say is thank god, thank god you are here. This is a gem of a game and I hope we see a sequel in the near future. With its superb animation work, excellent writing, voice acting, and music, it’s an absolute joy to play from start to finish. I hope it does well enough to get a physical release with some people
Thank God you are here! Steam Deck Rating: 5/5
SNK VS. CAPCOM SVC CHAOS Steam Deck Game Impressions
SNK VS. SNK’s CAPCOM SVC CHAOS was a surprise release during EVO 2024 this month, and I hadn’t really heard of it until this new version of Code Mystics hit Steam and consoles. Shaun is working on a full review of the Switch version, but I wanted to cover what it’s like on the Steam Deck. I also tested it online a few times with friends from another country.
As someone new to SNK VS. CAPCOM SVC CHAOS, this game is truly an experience. It feels weird and incomplete, but it’s fun to play online with my friends. This works pretty well considering the distance between us and SNK VS. CAPCOM SVC CHAOS works perfectly on Steam Deck. I even tried it alone with my Haute42 M Plus 16 and everything worked fine.
When playing online, you get the usual rollback options, such as input lag adjustments, and even the ability to see how many people are online and waiting for a match on Steam. Gallery mode has tons of promotions and character artwork. Beyond that, there are achievements, leaderboards, and visual options to play with.
I also played SNK VS. The CAPCOM SVC CHAOS on the Steam Deck docks to my 1440p monitor and has no issues online. This is another great Code Mystery switch. Whether it’s SNK VS. Whether CAPCOM SVC CHAOS is worth buying or not, I’ll let Shaun answer his full review, but I can say that I’m glad it exists, with rollback netcode, galleries, additional features, and the usual greatness we’ve seen from the code Features Mystic and SNK.
SteamWorld Heist II Steam Deck Preview
The original SteamWorld Heist is a very special game. I bought it and replayed it on almost every platform, but I never thought there would be a sequel. It feels like the series developers are always trying to do something different with each new game, and with the exception of SteamWorld Dig II, which is still the team’s best game as far as I can tell. So the announcement of SteamWorld Heist II really comes as a surprise. I didn’t pay much attention to it because I knew I was going to play it and here we were.
If you’ve never played the original, I highly recommend you do as it’s one of the best indie games to come out in years. SteamWorld Heist II is bigger and more ambitious than the original in almost every way. The combat, classes, weapons, visuals, and levels are incredible so far. SteamWorld Heist II and Thank God You Came are two of the most beautiful indie games I’ve played in a while.
Thanks to Thunderful’s early review code, I’ve been playing SteamWorld Heist II on Switch, Steam Deck, and PS5. Judging from the opening two hours, I have no complaints about the game on these platforms. On PS5, it supports activity cards. The Steam Deck version runs at a higher frame rate than the PS5 and Switch, and the Switch version feels like a perfect fit for Nintendo’s console, boasting an excellent port to date that delivers smooth performance and crisp visuals across the board.
I’ve barely scratched the surface of the turn-based combat and classes, but I want to highlight the many ancillary options included here, allowing you to tailor the experience to your liking.
Sean is working on a full review of SteamWorld Heist II, so I decided to write a little bit about how I spent my early hours and what I’m feeling now that it’s cross-platform. Stay tuned for his full comments.
News and trailers
Atlus and SEGA have released a new ATLUS exclusive reveal video for Metaphor: ReFantazio, showcasing more of the story and characters, including the candidates vying for kingship in the Royal Tournament. Watch the full reveal below:
Bandai Namco Entertainment has announced more playable characters for Dragon Ball: Sparks! Zero in the trailer for Saiyans and the Legend of Namek. Watch below:
Shiravune will finally bring the action role-playing game “Zan of Legend” to PC via Steam in 2025. Haven’t seen an English version on any platform yet.
Panic will host the Panic Games Showcase on August 27th at 10am PT, which will include updates to existing games, new games from Okomotive, and more. See the live demonstration website here.
Warner Brothers Games has announced a new story expansion for Mortal Kombat 1 Khaos Reigns, as well as the game’s Kombat Pack 2, which will launch on all platforms on September 24. New characters include Cyrax, Sektor, Noob Saibot and more. Watch the trailer below:
Fantastic Fest has teamed up with Day of the Devs to host a new showcase at the festival, which runs from September 20th to 22nd. It will contain 12 horror games that require special access to play, with many more to choose from. Get more information here.
Arc System Works has released the Uzuki DLC for Under Night In-Birth II Sys:Celes following the announcement at EVO. I’ve played with her for a while on Switch and PS5, and she’s awesome. UNI2 continues to deliver. Watch her launch trailer below:
SNK showed off a new trailer for Billy Kane’s Tales of the Wolf during ChinaJoy. Billy Kane is voiced by Chris Sharps (English) and Masaki Masaki (Japanese). Watch the trailer below ahead of the game’s full release:
New games verified and playable on Steam Deck this week
The big news here is that both Dragon Age: Veiled Guard and Romance of the Three Kingdoms 8 Remastered have been confirmed on the Steam Deck, while the former doesn’t even have a release date yet, while the latter is months away. I hope EA considers removing the region lock from certain regions on Steam for this game. Beyond that, Fallen Aces is unsupported because it’s effectively unplayable without major tweaks, but I’m surprised Selaco isn’t supported because of how good it feels in the deck.
- Always Sometimes Monsters – Playable
- Athena Crisis – Verified
- Between the Horizons – Verified
- Cat Quest III – Verified
- Linked together – not supported
- Classic Marathon 2 – Playable
- Crime Boss: Rocky City – Verified
- Dragon Age: Veiled Guard – Verified (via TouchArcade reader Mor)
- Fallen Ace – No support
- Frogun Encore – Playable
- Gestalt: Steam and Cinder – Verified
- Humanity – verified
- Musashi vs Cthulhu – Playable
- My Little Pony: Zephyrland Mystery – Verified
- No rest for the wicked – Verified
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms 8 Remastered Edition – Playable
- Selaco – not supported
- Star Wars: Bounty Hunter – Verified
- Thronefall – Verified
- Top Racing Collection – Playable
Steam Deck game sales, discounts and specials
There are no big sales at the moment, but you can buy HITMAN World of Assassination Part One at a 90% discount. Don’t ask me what this needs to be upgraded, because I can’t understand how confusing IO Interactive has made this Steam version. I own the game on both consoles and haven’t tried it on the Deck yet, but it’s verified.
That’s all for this Steam Deck Weekly. As usual, you can read all of our past and future Steam Deck reports here. If you have any feedback on this feature or what you’d like us to do on the Steam Deck, please let us know in the comments below. Hope you all have a nice day and thank you for reading.
