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Welcome back to our weekly review where well be covering Marvel Snaps latest card, War Machine, along with the best decks and synergies. Ill be covering new deck ideas in this article, but to stay up to date, check out ourFull Tier Listto see any new meta changes.

Lets get right into the guide.

On Reveal: Until the end of next turn, nothing can stop you from playing cards anywhere.

War Machine is essentially a card that turns everything into Jeff the Baby Land Shark, minus the ability to move. You only get to do this for one turn, but its still a very powerful effect.

You can ignore both card effects and location effects that restrict you from playing cards for whatever reason. There are some potential combos you can do with War Machine, but overall, hes a good stuff card.

He doesnt play with archetypes like Discard or Destroy, but add flexibility to a deck, similar to a card like Legion or Quake.

His stat line is also fairly standard, as his 4/6 stats are the same as The Thing, a vanilla card. His effect can potentially be very powerful, but time will tell.

Before we go into certain archetypes, lets first talk about what cards benefit from War Machine. There are also many locations that restrict playing cards, so having War Machine will also benefit you in those games. But for now, lets just look at the list of cards.

All of these cards synergize with War Machine, but War Machine also counters some. If your opponent plays Professor X, playing War Machine will allow you to play into Professor X. The same goes for Storm, Goose, Jean Grey, and Sandman.

We could see War Machine doesnt just empower certain decks or cards, but can also counter other decks that try to lock you down.

You could not live with your own failure. Where did that bring you? Back to me.

Once again, we arrive at Thanos for a new card release. This time, it is because the best midrange deck in the game is Thanos. Midrange decks of the past like Zabu or Sera decks have fallen by the wayside due to Mobius and other decks simply dodging tech cards.

However, Thanos is a deck that has ample power with cards like Cull Obsidian and Mockingbird. Other 6-cost cards like Magneto and Blob also can win lanes through Power as well.

The rest of the deck facilitates this strategy with utility through the Stones or tech cards like Mobius and Shang-Chi. Because of this, Thanos right now is not a synergy deck, its simply playing good cards that are above rate. There are combos like Professor X and Alioth, but overall, the deck simply a toolbox, with many tools to combat certain strategies.

War Machine is a card that looks to be played in a midrange deck. While you can play him in Zabu shells or Location control decks, any midrange tool can be shoved into Thanos and the deck will likely still be good.

While War Machine might not be ideal for Thanos, it can be a surprising tech card. (Once the new card hype dies down)

Even though Zabu decks have fallen out of favor in the meta, they can still be quite good. Since Darkhawk is now a 5-cost, Black Knight decks seem to be the new strongest Zabu engine, with cards like Ghost Rider and The Ebony Blade being 4-cost.

War Machine doesnt synergize particularly with any Zabu decks, but Zabu decks are also midrange decks. They want to play above rate cards while making room for tech cards.

Another potential archetype for War Machine are location control decks. These decks use cards like Storm or Professor X to lock opponents out of certain locations.

However, War Machine doesnt particularly synergize amazingly. If anything, he works better as a counter to these decks, rather than play alongside them.

Even still, you can potentially go Storm -> War Machine -> Legion to lock the game down on turn 6. This can be a fun meme combo to catch opponents off guard, but some decks will easily overpower you by turn 5 and not even need to play on turn 6.

Other decks might want to explode on turn 6, making this combo particularly potent.

For this section, Ill be going over some decks that synergize with War Machine.

Keep in mind that these decks are all first impressions, so things can definitely change rapidly. As new discoveries are made, I will be updating ourFull Tier List, rather than update this article.

Be sure to check it out to see what the best decks are.

First up, lets shove War Machine into a Thanos deck. For this deck, I opted to replace Cull Obsidian with War Machine. You lose out on 4 points of Power, but War Machine cannot be hit by Shang-Chi and does provide upside with his effect.

He also doesnt have the restriction of being needed to play in a location with a 1-cost card like Cull. There may be a different replacement you can make for War Machine to keep Cull Obsidian, as playing War Machine would turn off Culls restriction.

But for this deck, I found Cull Obsidian to be the natural cut for War Machine.

Once again, we are replacing Cull Obsidian for War Machine in this Zabu deck. This is a fairly standard Zabu Black Knight deck that can run War Machine, but youre giving up other options like Cull Obsidian or even Enchantress.

This deck also naturally benefits from War Machine because you will be able to play The Infinaut on turn 6 without skipping turn 5. However, this would require you to play War Machine on turn 5.

Because of this, I do expect the deck to warrant further changes. Ebony Maw can potentially come in to be a strong 1/7 to play alongside Annihilus on turn 6 as well.

Lastly, we have a location control deck that uses War Machine as a flexible 4-cost card. I spoke about the Storm, War Machine, Legion combo, but the deck also has some issues.

If you dont have War Machine, Storm and Legion actually have anti-synergy. If you play Legion on 5, you could potentially just overwrite your Flooded location you played Storm to get.

It could be a potential turn 6 play to combat locations like Limbo, but the deck doesnt have a strong 1-cost card like Demon from The Hood to pair with Legion on turn 6.

I simply put this together as a mostly functioning deck that can make use of a fun combo to surprise opponents.

Overall, War Machine doesnt have too many particular counters. Technically Cosmo could counter him since he is an On Reveal card, but that doesnt really count. That would only occur in if your opponent played Cosmo right before your War Machine, which is quite unlikely in this current meta.

For a card like War Machine, counters and weaknesses are present more in the archetype he is in rather than he himself.

Overall, I would rate War Machine a 7/10.

At first, I rated War Machine quite highly as there is a lot of potential with cards like Ebony Maw, The Infinaut, Hope Summers, etc.

Its possible that a simple Hope Summers deck that plays Ebony Maw + The Infinaut on turn 6 is enough to win games. 27 Power on the final turn is quite a big number.

However, its a fairly straightforward approach, and War Machine seems to be somewhat lacking in other archetypes. There are fine replacements such as Cull Obsidian or other 4-cost cards, so War Machine doesnt seem to be a necessity like Hope Summers is.

Overall, hes a solid and flexible card, but I doubt he will impact the meta in a large way. We may see cards like Professor X and Storm become less popular, but will likely fade once newer cards release and the hype for War Machine dies off.

Be sure to check out our Tier Lists for our current rankings on Marvel Snap decks and cards.

Good luck in your games, and thanks for reading!

Welcome to this weeks edition of the Steam Deck Weekly. If you missed yesterdays long interview with Dave Oshry of New Blood Interactive, read it here. Aside from that, there has been quite a bit of news since last Friday when it comes to new game announcements, trailers, release dates, and more Steam Deck Verified and Playable games from Valve. I havent had enough time to review anything for this week, but Ive been playing two notable games on Steam Deck. Before the news, lets get into the Steam Deck gameplay impressions first.

Missile Dancer 2 is a new sprite scaler shmup from the awesome Terarin Games. If youre not familiar with the indie developer, Shaun has reviewed loads of their games on Switch, and with many of them hitting Steam as well, Ive been buying every single release. Im a huge fan, but was curious to see how the developer would tackle this style of shmups. Very well it turns out. Missile Dancer 2 feels like a blend of Terarins signature charm with After Burner across its lock-on system, great music, and lovely visuals. Missile Dancer 2 runs flawlessly on Steam Deck (capped at 60fps though) in the time Ive put into it since yesterday. Stay tuned for Shauns full review of the game on Switch. I definitely recommend trying out the demo.

I was always going to play Pepper Grinder because Devolver Digital published it, but the soundtrack being composed by Xeecee ensured it would be special. I love Xeecees work and music recommendations. Before going off on a tangent about that, Pepper Grinder is a superb and slick pick up and play 2D action platformer about drilling and diving.

Shaun is doing a full review of this, and Ive been playing Pepper Grinder for a different feature, but it was so good that I just had to talk about it here. Barring some hit stop effect with the screen and the text effect that both give me a bit of motion sickness on both Switch and Steam Deck, Pepper Grinder feels perfect. It even runs at 90fps albeit at 16:9 and has Steam Cloud support. While I hope it comes to PS5 to see how the developers use the DualSense features, right now Pepper Grinder is basically perfect on Steam Deck. You definitely need to try the demo out.

Holo X Break from the developer of the awesome Holocure is a free Hololive fangame. This one is a beat-em-up with pixel art visuals featuring a few of my favorite Vtubers like Polka and Botan. It has local co-op support right now, but online is being added in a future update. It is worth noting that Holo X Break has Steam Remote Play Together support right now, and thats always a good option until official online play is added.

Holo X Break released a few hours ago (as of this writing), but Ive had no issues playing it on Steam Deck at 90fps on the Steam Deck OLED. Ive been focusing on playing with Polka for now, but I will likely be playing it more over the next few days while trying the other characters. I appreciate that the developer lets you choose your own button prompts while playing. Theres also an Entomophobia option. If you like Hololive, download this for free right now.

Some interesting fighting game reveals, FFXIV expansion stuff, and more this past week. We also had Square Enix announce and release a surprise update for the amazing Star Ocean 2 remake and some more DLC announced for other games. Arc System Works released A.B.A in Guilty Gear Strive this past week as the newest Season 3 character with the next DLC arriving in May. Season 4 is in development as well. Dizzy better be in. Watch the A.B.A trailer below:

Square Enix announced that FINAL FANTASY XIV: Dawntrail will launch on July 2nd worldwide for PC, PS5, PS4, and Xbox Series X. Pre-orders are now live with early access beginning from June 28th. Pre-order bonuses include a Wind-up Zidane minion and Azeymas Earrings (30% EXP boost until level 90). Pre-orders are live here for all platforms. Square Enix also confirmed that the FFXIV and FFXVI crossover begins next week. Watch the trailer for it below:

XSEED Games and MAGES. announced Corpse Party II: Darkness Distortion for a North American release on Steam, Switch, and PS4. This is a brand-new game in the series which has had a lot of games through spin-offs and more since the amazing original debuted. It feels like Ive been waiting 10 years for this. Watch the trailer for it below:

Free to play cozy simulation game Palia is now available on Steam following its Nintendo Switch and other PC storefronts launch before. I have this on Switch and will be checking it out on Steam Deck soon.

Square Enix announced and released a surprise update for Star Ocean The Second Story R bringing in a new difficulty mode, post-game Raid Enemies, new weapons, and a lot more. This remake is incredible as I said in my Switch review before, and Im going to try out the update this weekend on Switch and Steam Deck. Watch the trailer for all the changes and new content below:

Koei Tecmo announced that the 2nd Fate/Samurai Remnant DLC Records Fragment Sword Chronicles" will be released on April 18th. More information isnt available. I liked the first DLC, but I still need to finish it.

Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising will get its version 1.30 update alongside Vane who is the next DLC character on April 2nd. Balance adjustments and patch notes will be released a day prior. Watch the gameplay trailer for Vane in GBVS Rising below:

Capcom released the first update for Dragons Dogma 2 with a 30fps cap on PS5, motion blur options, the ability to start a new game on Steam and PS5, DLSS improvements, and more. Check out the patch notes here. Dont bother trying it on Steam Deck yet. It isnt close to being playable.

The final notable bit of news this week is Bandai Namco Entertainment revealing that Eddy Gordo joins Tekken 8 on April 5th alongside a new update. Early access begins on April 1st for Year 1 Pass holders. The downside to this announcement is a battle pass system being added into the game with a premium option. Check out the full patch notes here.

The Steam Deck Builders Fest is live until April 1st. Use this to not save 10% off on Balatro because you should buy it at full price, but you can grab that or many of the other games on sale like Gloomhaven or Peglin.

Thats all for this weeks edition of the Steam Deck Weekly. Im hoping to have some reviews for iOS, Switch, and Steam Deck next week alongside features. As usual, you can read all our past and future Steam Deck coverage here. If you have any feedback for this feature or what else youd like to see us do around the Steam Deck, let us know in the comments below. I hope you all have a great day, and thanks for reading.

See the article here:
Steam Deck Weekly: Pepper Grinder and Missile Dancer 2 Impressions, FFXIV Dawntrail Release Date, New Strive ... - Touch Arcade

Have a seat, fellow handheld gaming PC liker, as I rattle off the 30 best Steam Deck games you should be installing right now. Maybe not all at once, mind. No microSD card is that big.

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Steam Deck Academy brings together all our guides and explainers on getting the most out of your Steam Deck, no student loans or sweaty dormitories required.

I should also clarify that this is basically a non-ordered list of games that Ive personally enjoyed playing on the Deck its not a formal ranking of quality like our best RPGs or best survival games guides. Still, everything here is a genuinely great fit for Valves portable puter, whether its an impressive technical showcase for the hardware or a little indie adventure that just suits the controls well. If youre not sure which games in your Steam library will play well on handheld hardware, consider these my first and foremost recommendations.

Im not limiting this guide to games that have full Steam Deck Verified status from Valve, though their compatibility testing programme is generally handy for seeing which games work (or dont) at a glance. To make the cut, however, a game will need to be comfortably playable with face buttons and thumbsticks, and be capable of running at 30fps or higher. Those that suffer without a mouse and keyboard, or have especially high tech requirements, might be great on desktops but a good Steam Deck game they are not.

The full list follows below, and if you want more on getting the most out of your go-anywhere PC, considering paying a visit to the RPS Steam Deck Academy. Its a collection of all our Deck-specific guides, analyses, and investigations, covering everything from how to stretch the Steam Decks battery life to adding installers like Lutris, which can expand your library of playable games beyond Steam alone.

The short and sweet Aperture Desk Job isnt just one of the best games to play on the Steam Deck it should probably be the first one you try. Its essentially a free Steam Deck tutorial, designed to help you get used to the controls layout, but is entertainingly administered through a genuinely funny mini-jaunt through a pre-Portal Aperture Science. Its a clever, surprising, and unrelentingly charming introduction to your new gadget, not a mention a reminder that Valve should really make more games.

You could say that Horizon Forbidden West is just "Horizon Zero Dawn but more," but then Horizon Zero Dawn is a brilliant open world adventure, and so is this, so whos complaining? Hopefully not any Steam Deck owners, who can now play both games on the go.

Forbidden West does require more aggressive settings adjustments than Zero Dawn, and its a bigger install too: combing the base game with the Burning Shores expansion means the Complete Edition demands 124GB of storage space, nearly twice the capacity of the entry-level Steam Deck. Its worth making room for, though.

Come to Signalis for the classic-styled survival horror, stay for the deep, dense, tragic love story that will keep your brain tied in fascinated knots for weeks. The jump to a Steam Deck does absolutely nothing to dull its creepiness, and if anything, its controls are better suited to those gamepadish buttons and sticks than the mouse and keyboard of a desktop setup.

Both the Steam Deck and Steam Deck OLED will easily run Signalis at max quality (if thats even a concern, given the intentionally PS1-aping visuals), and its a tiny install, so will fit without fuss on even the 64GB model. No wonder its got full Verified status from Valve.

At the suggestion of several RPS readers (and with the implicit recommendation of, apparently, scores of other Steam Deck owners), I finally got round to playing Vampire Survivors. And fine, FINE, it rocks. Simply moving around and auto-attacking sounds like a dreadfully dull premise but as the XP-unlocked weapon upgrades stack up, and the initial trickles of enemies become screen-filling bullet hell hordes, holding back the tide with time-stopping lasers and weaponised Bibles becomes almost hypnotically compelling.

It only really needs the left thumbstick and an occasional face button for inputs, and the framerate keeps above 40fps even with the most overwhelming of monster crowds, so chalk Vampire Survivors up as another Steam Deck special. It doesnt suck (hahhhhhh) the battery too quickly either: although I havent done a full full-to-empty test yet, Id say you can expect four to five hours of surviving vampires before the Deck runs dry.

This lush puzzle-platformer was one of my favourite games of 2023, and I happily played through the whole thing on a Steam Deck OLED. Planet of Lana catches the eye with some splendidly colourful, Studio Ghibli-inspired visuals, and will keep your attention with its keenly paced adventuring all without taxing the Decks hardware much, nor requiring more than a few of its basic inputs.

What made its puzzle design click for me, long after Id bounced off similar side-scrollers like Inside and Limbo, is the addition of Lanas adorable monkey-cat buddy. Most puzzles and enemy encounters require you weave in commands for him, which hell follow without frustration as youre making your own moves. The result: executing solutions feels less like a load of dreary box-dragging and more like a flowing dance routine. 'Twixt human and monkey-cat, but still.

When Diablo IV first released, the only way to wrestle it onto Valve handheld was with a strong will and a conveniently step-by-step guide to installing Battle.net on the Steam Deck. These days, you can just get the ARPG demon pummeller on Steam, which certainly makes things easier though the old ways still work, if you happen to already own it on ActiBlizzs store.

Either way, I actually enjoyed Diablo IV more on my Steam Deck than I did on my big, fat PC. This is veering even further into the realm of subjectivity than usual, but the thumbstick and face button controls just feel like Im exerting more direct control over my unintentionally Billie Eilish-faced Necromancer, which in turn makes combat more satisfying than it is when delivering hundreds of abstract mouse clicks.

It also runs pretty well on mostly-high visual settings, which is an increasingly rare quality among megablockbusters. If youre interested, you can check out my Diablo IV Steam Deck settings guide for some recommended tweaks.

Hades claimed, by Advent Calendar rules, RPS GOTY status back in 2020. And its just as tense, inventive and witty on the Steam Deck: it runs at a perfect 60fps, and only needs the face buttons and a single thumbstick for its slick, combo-happy combat. Being a rougelike mostly it wouldnt normally be as suited for short bursts of portable play, say on a bus ride, but the Decks quick resume feature lets you take a break whenever and immediately hop back into a run.

Hi-Fi Rush is the kind of game that plays better on gamepad controls than a mouse and keyboard, so it always had the chance of being a great Steam Deck game. That chance becomes a certainty with its easygoing performance, allowing Medium quality to run at a nearly constant 60fps and High quality to rock n roll along at 45fps or more.

Id happily recommend Tango Gameworks surprise rhythm action/hack-and-slash/platformer hybrid regardless of what you play it on: its a funny and satisfying brawler with some creative boss fights, and its final act kicks off with one of the single best combat encounters Ive played in an action game. That its more or less a perfect match for the Steam Deck thus makes me one very happy wannabe rockstar indeed.

Look at us lucky PC folk the first R&C game on Steam just happens to be the best one in the entire, two-decades-old series. Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is a funny, inventive, intelligently paced shooter-platformer with delightfully mad sci-fi weaponry, from the burrowing rocket launcher to the grenade that turns baddies into topiary sculptures.

On the Deck, its best played with the visuals toned down, but it still looks great and thats about the only concession required. An official Steam Deck control scheme adapts the former PS5 pad inputs flawlessly, and theyre all highly customisable if you want to make some tweaks.

Stray shakes off notions of merely being a haha-funny-cat novelty game with some stellar worldbuilding and intuitive puzzle-platforming, helped along by a sleek context-sensitive traversal style. This translates perfectly to the Steam Decks controls, and despite being a bit of a looker, Stray avoids any serious performance issues on the portable hardware. Theres some very occasional stuttering but thats present on high-end desktop PCs as well, and if you simply lower the Effects quality setting from High to Medium, you shouldnt drop below 30fps.

Wavetale runs as smoothly on the Steam Deck as your character does on water. An emotive platformer at its core, the greatest joy in Wavetale is catching a ride on your movement-mimicking merperson friend to zip across the rolling ocean. Its a blast, especially once you also get the hang of chaining together jumps and hookshot moves to navigate the flooded world even faster.

Originally launched for the ill-fated Stadia before finding sanctuary on PC, Wavetale incidentally benefits from the Stadia controller inputs effectively matching the Decks, so it feels like it was meant to be here all along. Performance is good too: not quite a solid 60fps, but consistently about 47-50fps.

For all of its performance hiccups on Windows, Elden Ring is such a good match for the Steam Deck that its earned Verified status from Valve. Its certainly more comfortable to play and navigate menus with the thumbsticks than to deal with Elden Rings wonky mouse and keyboard support, and running on Proton with its shader pre-caching feature - actually helps smooth out the stuttering that, on Windows, plagues the game to this day.

Smushi Come Home got the surprise launch treatment during Wholesome Direct 2023, and whew, is wholesome the right word. Plucked from his island home, friendly fungi boy Smushis return journey is a ranging but almost invariably tranquil one through flowery forests and airy caves. The supporting cast are chill, the acoustic-led soundtrack is delightful, the platforming is gentle... its just a nice place to be, yknow? Especially with a mostly free-roaming setup that lets you poke around each new patch of woodland as you please.

The Steam Decks hardware limitations also do little to harsh the vibe. Smushi Come Home runs at a consistent 60fps and is probably best played with pad controls anyway, while battery drain is on the slower side. I did find it tricky to read the in-game map at 800p, though theres always the Steam Decks zoom tool, and once I got the lay of the land I rarely needed the cartographic help anyway.

If youre like me (or Katharine) and dont have the patience, temperament, or hand-eye coordination for Soulslikes, you may find Deaths Door more palatable. Its a less demanding, though still challenging, take on How do I kill this dude no wait I am dead RPGs that also happens to suit the Steam Deck very comfortably indeed. I actually tried playing it on my desktop after first trying it on the Deck, and quickly abandoned the mouse and keyboard for a return to the handhelds twin sticks. Its easy to get a solid 60fps, too.

Feel-good racer Forza Horizon 5 is a natural fit for gamepad-style controls, and the Steam Decks haptic shoulder buttons even give it a little shake to enhance that feeling of stomping the accelerator. When launching it from Steam Id suggest lowering the graphics settings to Medium for suitably speedy performance, and if youre a PC Game Pass Ultimate subscriber you can stream it instead.

Theres a lot of action on this list. Maybe too much. Lets all calm down for a moment with Dordogne, a beautifully watercoloured indie adventure thats as much about appreciating the little things in life as its about cherishing the deepest relationships. It trades not in arcane point-and-click puzzling but in simple interactions with everyday objects, adopting a deliberately slow pace while injecting enough thought and character into each interaction to stave off tedium; Dordogne masterfully evokes the trepidation of reading a personal letter, or the joy of finding a long-lost heirloom in a dusty drawer.

Valve have only rated Dordogne as Playable on the Steam Deck, rather than Verified. I think the warning of undersized text is a bit harsh I havent had to zoom in to read anything yet though it does fail to offer native 1280x800 resolution support. The closest it comes is the 1280x720 option, which in all honesty is fine. Whats 80 vertical pixels between friends?

Portal 2 was one of first games Valve showed running on the Steam Deck, and its clear why. It runs smoothly, doesnt need a mouse and keyboard, and is even one of least demanding games Ive tried in terms of battery life drain most 3D games tend to quaff a full charge in around two hours, half of the four that Portal 2 took. Its also a successful showcase of the devices rear buttons, which let you jump or crouch without taking your portal-aiming thumb off the right stick.

A charming Portal-inspired puzzler where instead of completing brain-bending test chambers for the amusement of a murderous AI, youre completing brain-bending test chambers to keep the Earth from exploding. Also, instead of portals, your gun fires a time-rewinding beam that scoots objects back along their previous path of movement, or rebuilds ruined stairs and bridges. It makes for some devious puzzle-platforming challenges that you almost have to solve in reverse, as well as some entertaining action sequences based around making desperate repairs to an escape route.

The Steam Deck can run The Entropy Centre reasonably well at Ultra quality, though I found switching to High maintained its polished aesthetic while more consistently staying above 45fps. Its simple control scheme and small installation footprint less than 12GB give further credence to its handheld suitability.

The Steam Deck wouldnt be a consumer electronics product if it didnt run The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, only this time Todd H. wont need to sell you a whole new copy. Other than some slight UI awkwardness when trying to type in a new character name, this is the enticingly sprawling Skyrim that weve known for years just explorable on a handheld.

Dad jokes aside, the relationship-centred narrative and otherworldly beauty of God of War show how much its grown up from the series edgy early days. Still, the PlayStation link does help make it a natural fit for the Steam Decks controller-esque buttons and thumbsticks, and it runs decently on Original graphics settings. You can always lower these or switch on its native FSR upscaling if youd prefer a higher, smoother frame rate.

What better PC game to play on a handheld than one originally developed for a handheld? Monster Hunter Rise began life as a Nintendo Switch exclusive before a respectable PC port made it playable on Windows and thus, the Steam Deck as well. In places, particularly UI navigation, it often feels more natural to use the Decks more Switch-like controls than a keyboard, and the so-so visuals are a lot easier to forgive on a 7in screen than on a 27in, 1400p desktop monitor.

Playable MMOs are in short supply on the Steam Deck, whether it be down to anti-cheat software refusing to shake Protons hand or complex controls that just cant go without a keyboard. Nevertheless, I was impressed by how the free-to-play Albion Online adapts to the Steam Decks inputs and screen. One or two button presses can handle a full loadout of items and spells, and if using a trackpad to direct the mouse cursor doesnt feel quite right, you can just prod the touchscreen instead.

RimWorld is one of very few games seriously, hardly any to have been patched specifically to improve how it works on the Steam Deck. That means the interface, an easily overwhelming patchwork of icons, indicators, logs, tabs and other tiny-typefaced elements, remains legible on the 1280x800 screen. You can also zoom in further, and scroll through lists by swiping the touchscreen. All very thoughtful additions that might just help your sandbox base-building efforts end in survival rather than starvation.

Valve were so keen on making Half-Life 2 suitable for their portable PC that they went back, early in 2022, to optimise the 2004 shooters UI so it would be more accommodating to a compact touchscreen. Unsurprisingly, it also takes maximum advantage of all the Decks bells and whistles, giving you a full choice between thumbstick, trackpad or gyroscope aiming.

Ill confess, Ive spent hours using Final Fantasy XV for hardware benchmarking, but had never sat down to properly play until trying it out on the Steam Deck. And its great the controls adapt perfectly, and Medium video settings deliver fine frame rates without knackering quality. High is playable too, though youll be dipping close to 30fps at points.

Another top 2D jumper is Celeste. While sharing a wicked fondness for insta-death hazard dodging as Super Meat Boy, its not quite as much of pressure cooker, and tempers the challenge with a stronger story emphasis and a more considered, melancholy atmosphere. The Steam Decks controls are up to the task, too, even if you only need a small selection of them.

Lovely little life-change sim Unpacking feels, appropriately, right at home on the Steam Deck. If anything, the leisurely pace of its stacking and arranging puzzles is a better fit for those moments of melting into a sofa or lazing around in bed, Deck in hand, than it is for sitting up straight at your PC's desk. I also love how you can use the touchscreen to drag your lifetime of bric-a-brac around the room, though the left thumbstick works well too.

The streamlined point-and-clicking of Kentucky Route Zero helps it settle onto the Steam Deck rather effortlessly. I kinda wish it would use the D-pad to flick through menu options rather than the right thumbstick, but thats a personal gripe that hardly dulls this games best bits: the storys slow uncovering, the moments of quiet contemplation, and the gorgeous art. All of these are present and current whether you play Kentucky Route Zero on a Steam Deck or a 3000 titan of a desktop.

Outer Wilds is best experienced with a game pad, says its opening splash. A Steam Deck will suffice as well, allowing you to to enjoy this cute, thoughtful generator of ill-fated space adventures away from your main PC.

Bestest Best badgewearer Marvels Midnight Suns loses none of its charm on the Steam Deck. Firaxis card-based superhero RPG leans heavily on the magical side of its source material, while distinguishing itself from most spandex-and-quip adventures by encouraging you to chat with and befriend your team of supes. Its a game of relationship-building as much as it is of kicking goons through air conditioners.

Theres some performance inconsistency on the Deck, particularly when nosing around your home base hideout, but on default settings it can easily hit 60fps during combat. The slickly-designed UI doesnt need any special control scheme customisations, either; I liked using the touchscreen to thumb through cards, myself.

Here is the original post:
The 30 best Steam Deck games - Rock Paper Shotgun

In 2023, Anthony Albanese was shooting for the moon, his eyes on the Voice referendum. On one view, he looked like the idealist reflecting his left-wing roots.

In 2024, were seeing a pragmatic, determined, managerial prime minister, busy attempting to reinforce the anchors of the ship of state and to clear its decks ahead of the May 14 budget. But this week, some rough weather hit the boat.

At a Labor national conference less than a decade ago Albanese opposed the ALP embracing turning back boats carrying asylum seekers. This week, his government tried to rush through legislation to give it power to force non-citizens to cooperate in their removal by, for example, signing an application for a passport or other travel documents.

Also this week, the government watered down its proposed vehicle efficiency measure in an effort to defuse opposition attacks that it is a new car and ute tax.

On another front, Albanese last week took the extraordinary course of declaring the government wont proceed with legislation on religious discrimination without bipartisan support.

Taken together, these actions show a PM wanting to chart a course firmly focused on an election that is at most just over a year away.

Preoccupied as it was with the Voice referendum for much of last year, the government was late to appreciate the extent to which voters were becoming overwhelmingly concerned with the cost of living.

Its not making that mistake now.

Last year it also didnt anticipate a possible threat to its immigration detention regime. It was ambushed by the High Courts judgement in November prohibiting the indefinite incarceration of immigration detainees.

As a result of that decision, about 150 people were released, the Coalition sparked a fear campaign about ex-criminals roaming the streets, and the government played catch-up with emergency legislation including for preventative detention.

Read more: The consequences of the government's new migration legislation could be dire for individuals and for Australia

But it always has the refugee lawyers on its heels and so, for example, to avoid court rebuffs to legislation already passed, it has been withdrawing its requirement for individuals to wear ankle bracelets.

The government didnt want to be caught out a second time by the High Court, which has another seminal case coming, with a hearing in April. It relates to an Iranian man whos refusing to cooperate with attempts to deport him; Iran wont take back involuntary removals.

The government has better prospects of winning this case. But it wants to shore up its defences, both to convince the court, and in the event the worst happens.

This weeks bill would prohibit non-citizens the government is trying to remove from refusing to cooperate. The penalty would be a mandatory years jail, with a maximum sentence of five years. Countries that refuse to accept involuntary returnees would also be subject to sanctions their citizens (with some exceptions) could not get visas to come to Australia.

One can imagine what Labor would have said if a Coalition government had thrown up such a bill with no notice.

The government gambled the opposition would have little option but to pass the bill. But on Wednesday the Coalition called its bluff.

In a rare alliance of Coalition, Greens and crossbenchers, the Senate has referred the bill to a committee inquiry. This is due to report on May 7, meaning the legislation cant be passed before the budget session (or the High Court hearing).

Worse for the government, the heat intensified on Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil, after a report that she had bawled out her departmental secretary, Stephanie Foster, over Foster making public, in the context of a Senate hearing, a document about the ex-detainees criminal backgrounds.

On the same day the immigration legislation was unveiled, Energy Minister Chris Bowen and Transport Minister Catherine King walked back the governments vehicle efficiency standards policy.

Initially the government had released three options for this new (and overdue) policy, declaring its preferred option would see Australia in line with the United States.

Then a few things happened. The Coalition went into full attack. The US recalibrated its own position, under pressure from its auto industry. The Greens, unhappy about another government policy, indicated they wouldnt wave through the governments option.

The Albanese office maintained oversight of negotiations with the industry, and agreed to take meetings with senior stakeholders from the car companies and industry bodies, to build confidence in the consultation process.

The retreat on emissions standards is modest, although the opposition will campaign against the standards regardless.

While the battle over the immigration bill and the retreat on emission reduction standards were playing out in public, behind closed doors Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus was briefing his opposition counterpart Michaelia Cash, the Greens and crossbenchers about the proposed religious discrimination draft legislation.

Read more: Future of Anthony Albanese's religious discrimination legislation is in Peter Dutton's hands

The government has given Cash the draft legislation, on a confidential basis. The Greens and some crossbenchers were angry they were not provided with it.

From whats been said so far, the proposed religious discrimination legislation would scrap the present provisions of the Sex Discrimination Act, which allow religious schools to discriminate on grounds of sexuality and gender identification against both students and teachers.

This would be replaced in new legislation by a prohibition of any discrimination against students. Schools would be able to preference people sharing their faith and values in hiring, but not discriminate in firing.

In addition, there would be an explicit protection to safeguard people against discrimination on the basis of their faith.

The Senate forced the government into an inquiry on the immigration legislation, but Albanese has said he wont have an inquiry into the religious freedom legislation.

Albaneses conditional stand on this legislation is driven by his not wanting a divisive debate in the run up to the election. He has been seared enough by the Voice issue.

On religious discrimination, he is wedged between LGBTQ+ advocates and various faith groups. The situation is further complicated by the Greens saying they would be willing to work with the government on the legislation. If the attempt to get bipartisanship Labor-Coalition agreement falls apart, both sides can blame each other. Most voters will have their minds on more urgent concerns.

The final days of the autumn parliamentary sitting have run off course for the government, with the delay of the immigration legislation. The uncertainty hanging over the religious freedom legislation is unhelpful. Despite Albaneses efforts, the seas are still choppy.

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View from the Hill: Albanese hit by unexpected wave as he tries to clear the decks - The Conversation

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New Business: Martingale Wharf Restaurant to expand waterfront deck; T-BONES in Derry to get facelift - The Union Leader

Magic: The Gatherings Outlaws of Thunder Junction is arriving, and its time to look at the Commander decks. These pre-con decks are always quite interesting, especially when it comes to their themes. In this case, were heading to Thunder Junction, a villain-centric story focused on a band of outlaws trying to get one big score. That means the primary characters will all be fan-favorite antagonists from the MTG franchise.

I recently got to preview these decks alongside other members of the press to see what awaits Commander fans in Magic: The Gathering for Outlaws of Thunder Junction. Several of these decks look very interesting to me. Lets dive in and see what is on offer!

As is tradition, Magic: The Gatherings Outlaws of Thunder Junction expansion will feature four Commander decks. Most of these are three-colored, like the Fallout Commander decks, with one Red/Blue deck to round things out. You can see the deck themes below, with a brief description of each of them:

Desert Bloom comes with Yuma and Proud Protector, a three-color Human Ranger with a high mana cost. However, for each land in the graveyard, he costs one generic less.

His purpose is to help you flood the board with 4/2 Plant Warriors each time a Desert is put into your graveyard from anywhere. Thats right, Desert lands are back! Im curious about this deck, but the other ones felt more powerful to me.

Grand Larceny is more my speed - Im all about taking my opponent's cards and using them myself. This Magic: The Gathering Outlaws of Thunder Junction Commander deck features Gonti - Gonti, Canny Acquisitor. I love Spells you cast but dont own cost 1 less to cast right out of the gate for this 5/5.

This deck promises chaos in multiplayer groups. Whenever one of your creatures deals combat damage to a player, you can peek at their top card and exile it. You can then play it as long as it stays that way and use any mana to cast it. Thats interesting because it says 'play.' I imagine you can also use your opponent's lands that way.

Most Wanted brings back Olivia as Olivia, Opulent Outlaw, a Vampire Assassin in a deck focused on building lots of Treasure Tokens and picking up Outlaws. Outlaws are a new mechanic focused on a specific set of creature types: Assassins, Mercenaries, Pirates, Rogues, and Warlocks.

Whenever one of those creature types deals damage, and shes in play, you gain a Treasure Token. You can also sacrifice two of them, alongside 3 mana, to give all of your creatures two +1/+1 counters for this Magic: The Gathering Outlaws of Thunder Junction Commander deck.

Sadly, this can only be done as a Sorcery. Nonetheless, I think this will be an incredibly powerful, popular Commander in Magic: The Gathering.

Finally, the two-color deck, Quick Draw. This deck feels like it will require a lot more thought and planning if you want to get the most out of Stella Lee, Wild Card. She is all about getting access to more cards. When you cast your second spell each turn, exile the top card of your deck, and you can play it until the end of your next turn.

She also lets you copy an instant or sorcery - only if youve already cast three or more spells this turn. This feels like the more effort and thought you put into your turns, the bigger payoffs youll get when it comes to combos. I want to see her in Storm decks right away.

Outlaws of Thunder Junction will be released in Magic: The Gathering on April 19, 2024, alongside these powerful new Commander decks. There are plenty of interesting new mechanics, powerful cards, and more coming for players worldwide.

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Magic: The Gathering reveals deck archetypes for Outlaws of Thunder Junction Commander decks - Sportskeeda

Newly crowned bosun Ben Willoughby may have felt like the last Below Deck docking was rainbows and sunshine, but dark clouds are on the way.

Captain Kerry Titheradge reveals exclusively to Entertainment Weekly that not only was the former lead deckhand not his first choice for bosun, but Ben's future isn't locked in on St. David.

"Ben wasn't my first choice to be in that position, but he does know the boat well. He's very good at his job, but he definitely needs to stay focused and understand what the chain of command means," Captain Kerry says.

Also, firing bosun Jared Woodin immediately before a new charter meant that someone from the deck team would need to lead. "He knew the boat well. I didn't know the boat," Captain Kerry says about Ben. "I used to live by a mantra that you can teach a job, but not a personality. And I think if you can treat someone differently, maybe they might not be the ideal personality for the job. But at the time, I needed the right skillset for the job, and that's what he had."

But Captain Kerry adds a teaser that could be a harbinger of tension to come. "I had a lot of faith in him to do that job. But you'll see in the episode as well, more than once, I said, 'Are you up for this?' I mean, I think three times I asked him," Captain Kerry recalls. "And the last time you could see his face, he was sick of being asked a question. And that might give you an idea of the future discussions I'll be having with him."

Fred Jagueneau/Bravo

A possible future discussion could involve Ben's boatmance with deckhand Marie "Sunny" Marquis. Did Captain Kerry know about the bubbling flirtation?

"That was part of the conversation I had with him about having to act different amongst the other crew. I wasn't officially aware," Captain Kerry says. But he was aware of Ben's messy love triangle from last season: "I was aware of his history in his position," the captain adds. "I give everyone a fresh start. Hopefully people react differently to different styles of leadership. And I was hoping that he would react to a different style of leadership later in the season more than once. He came quite close to things not being very good for him. And he may not make the whole season."

Could this neatly tied bowline start to unravel?

Below Deckairs Mondays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Bravo.

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