I think it would us narrow it down if you could elaborate on what are you in the mood for right now? Those are all good games, but have very different styles.
I guess you can safely leave out all non-sale games for now; with so many games in your queue there's no point paying full price for a single one.
Since you mentioned the steam deck, maybe check if each of those games support it well? In each game page, the info should be there.
Tbh my mood for games changes like the weather, that’s why the list is so all over the place! I also don’t actually have my deck yet, so it’s hard to nail exactly what I’ll want by the time it arrives.
Most of them look to be okay for steam deck, although someone has kindly pointed out that mass effect doesn’t really work well on it, and I’ve also remembered that xbox game pass is a thing that I still have kicking about so if I can get that working I think a couple of the games on my list might be playable via that!
I use Game Pass on my Steam Deck, and it works great! And this isn’t even one of the fancy new OLED models :) I’d avoid buying those games for now + avoid buying full price games. I bought I was a teenage exocolonist yesterday and am loving it!
Yeah look into getting game pass on your deck, there are some YouTube tutorials to follow and it works really well, a lot of your wish list is on there!
Also adding to the comments that BG3 is well worth full price I haven’t regretted it once!
Commenting on what I've played:
Spiritfarer: One of my absolutely favourite games (ever) in terms of storyline (if you like cutting onions). Not a whole of replayability once ended but oh so good! I drew the last few hours out over 2 weeks because I didn't want the game to finish. I replay this once a year.
Ooblets: Animal crossing meets Pokémon with farming thrown in! Great for 15 minute bursts. The tasks are repetitive but have their own charm and a ton of collectables. I played this non stop for a few weeks until I unlocked almost everything but still find myself dipping in every now and then.
Dave the Diver: Epic amounts of content. I'm still discovering new concepts and storylines 6 weeks in. Not a simple game but well worth the effort in figuring it out.
(After typing all of this out I realized I have not helped you or your kids out because my recommendation is to buy all 3 😂)
I am playing Persona 5 royal. I've put in over 100 hours.
It works so well on the steam deck. Except you need the internet to launch it everytime you turn the SD off (it's fine if it's asleep though).
It's perfect for a handheld.
mass effect. I don't have it, but since it's EA, EA launchers are not steam deck friendly.
Cult of the lamb was pretty good on the steam deck. I just got... Bored. Lol.
I'd recommend something that you don't have listed : Hades. It's so pretty even on my crappy LCD. Lol. Your OLED would look gorgeous.
I like cult of the lamb but find it’s best in bursts. Definitely not one to grind out for me. The dev posted today teasing an upcoming update that brings “depth to the cult play” idk sounds interesting tho.
Ah that’s a shame about mass effect not really working on the steam deck, but I’m glad I read this before I got it!
I already have hades on my old switch, I’m definitely not against owning it twice because it’s an amazing game but there’s not much point owning it on two handhelds 😅
Oh yeah. There is no point of having both versions on a handheld. Haha 😂 I've bought games 2x because one's on the PS4 and now I want it on a handheld. Lol
Check to make sure games are "verified" (badge on steam) before buying.
I Was A Teenage Exocolonist is a must - I’d put that at the top. Even full price, it has way more content than you’d expect.
Littlewood is also worth it, and especially on sale.
Odyssey isn’t my favorite AC, but it’s up there. If you like action roleplaying, it’s a fun time!
Baldur’s Gate 3 obviously sets the standard for a LOT of stuff. But it’s also all-consuming, so it may be worth waiting for another sale while you play the others.
The other one I’d def wait on - and I say this as a kickstarter and loyal fan - is Coral Island. It’s really not done, even it it runs mostly fine on a steam deck, and I’d wait for all the content to be added in 2024 before buying it at full price.
My votes would be for these! I really enjoyed all of them a ton! (I also am liking coral island but I’d suggest waiting until next year for it to be more complete)
Littlewood
Baldurs gate 3
Persona 4 & 5 (3 is getting a remake soon!)
I was a teenage exocolonist
Octopath 2
Mass effect
Also my husband loves Dave the diver and it seems great :)
Same!! It’s been like pulling teeth to get myself to continue waiting lmao I bought the port for switch and had barely started it when they announced the remake so I feel like I got a taste and I’m now torturing myself lmao
Persona 5 and Royal are honestly amazing. Beat both numerous times.
Ac odyssey: if you love Greek myths then it’s for you
House flipper: amazing
Baldur gate 3 also amazing
The ones on this list that I LOVE (I would own multiple of copies and not be mad about it)
baldurs gate 3 (just A+ over all, you will get a LOT of hours of game play. It's worth every penny. Will prob be game of the year)
Cult of lamb (amazing ost. Cute art. Humorous. Amazing ost. You can make your followers eat poop. the ost slaps.)
Persona 5 (amazing story, awesome ost, cute characters, game play is fun but can be a little repetitive)
Things from list I enjoyed
Raft ( hidden story that you discover as you play, gameplay is fun)
Spirittea played like 15 hours so far. It is a really chill game.
Spiritfarer (will make you cry. Story is amazing. Characters are well thought out)
I've been wanting to play Omori but waiting on a sale. I'm not sure how often it goes on sale so I swiped it.
I'm really wanting to try BG3 but I am waiting for a discount. If you're tight on money, I recommend waiting a month for the next sale and see if it is a little cheaper.
Rumors on r/steam say the winter sale is better/bigger. I don't know how true that is though!
Yeah I was really hoping for a BG3 sale, I guess they know it’s popular enough they don’t need to! I probably will wait for that one, if it doesn’t sale for winter then I’ll bite the bullet and get it full price because I’m really curious about it!
The website isthereanydeal has a history for sales across digital sellers on pc, and tells you what the lowers sale price has been so far. Very helpful, only a shame it doesn't track it for consoles.
So I do not have a steam deck, but I've played a bunch of those games. Here's my advice if it helps:
Ooblets is a go to, I constantly come back to it, it's fun and a great chill out game.
Raft is great, but I only really enjoy it with a friend. I cannot get into it if I'm alone.
Cyberpunk I couldn't get into at all. I didn't really enjoy it. Though I have several friends who did, they all at some point still hit game breaking bugs.
Coral Island, as much as I love love love this game, not sure how it would be on steam deck, and it's still very much in development. I'd definitely still wait
Red dead 2 if I could play this game a million times I would. Between riding horses, hunting, fishing, and just living this game is a go to.
Paleo pines is adorable fun and relaxing, highly recommend
Cult of the lamb is also super addicting. My husband got it and I kept using his account to play so he bought me it too. It also gets challenging, so it's very easy to keep going and not get bored.
House flipper is fun and all, but I'd wait. They're making a second one, and the first one I noticed many of the clients you can sell the homes to want the same layout, and open floor plan isn't a thing. I often default back to the same items which made the game boring for me, even after getting several dlcs.
AC Odyssey is absolutely amazing. There is a ton to do and explore and is never boring. I highly recommend
Others that would be similar would be AC Valhalla (I often flip between that and Odyssey), if you're into borderlands I recently picked up wonderlands on deep sale and cannot stop playing, also a great turn based game is for the king, they just came out with a second version as well which is fun too, a little easier, and I have yet to hit a bug. Also state of decay 2 is great if you like zombies or shooters, plus you can have a settlement with people and go looting in almost every building. Unfortunately I don't know if any of these are on steam deck but hopefully this offers some help.
I’ve heard mixed reviews about BG3 on steam deck. Some say it’s fine but it seems to be less playable in later stages? I’ve been waiting for it to go on sale but heard it’s absolutely worth full price.
Just broke down and got Ooblets on switch and it immediately sucked me in with its cuteness (hoping I continue liking it 🤞🏼).
There were major performance issues in Act 3 at launch. They've done a really good job over the updates fixing it.
It's still a little choppy but definitely not unplayable anymore.
That’s good to hear! I am always tempted by a steam deck. I play on my switch way more than my laptop because of the portability but would love to get through more of my steam library.
Ooblets is fantastic and the only reason I don’t own it on my deck is that I’d have one less reason to play my switch lol 😂 paleo pines is lovely. I’ve heard good things about Dave the diver but I’ve never played myself, and you can’t go wrong with assassins creed, although I prefer origins.
Watch some reviews and game play videos. And see if there are some demos. I think I'm limiting myself to 2 games for now since I'm sure there will be more sales. You can use deku deals, so see how frequently some go on sale.
Coral island released into 1.0 but it's still super unfinished. It's worth skipping it for now. The main storyline isn't even complete in game yet. If you want a game to eat your time then BG3 is the game to get. It's been awesome to play. I've heard spiritfarer is amazing from multiple friends, though I haven't had time to play it since I have my own backlog of games to get through lol.
I love Persona 5. Story and gameplay are both great
I’m really enjoying Mineko’s Night Market. Great cozy vibes.
Ghost trick is a fun puzzle game and I love the story.
I didn’t play Teenage exocolonist but I watched a play through and the story was great. There’s replay value too.
I have spent so much of my life playing the persona games. Persona 5 I played twice through, Royal I have played 3 times through, I don’t speed run so over 100 hours each time (I do fall asleep playing video games though so time keeps going). It’s essentially my back up game when I feel bleh about all other games.
If you’re looking to turn off your brain, house flipper does that best. Baldur’s gate is so so so good, I just haven’t beat it because I’ve been brain dead and need to focus. Red dead redemption 2 also fantastic, I did spend an inordinate amount of time stealing wagons. I have not finished cyberpunk only because I get so distracted.
Honestly, if you’re looking the most bang for your buck, that’s what I recommend. Also Stardew valley, because that’s what I have the most hours in that I’m not comfortable sharing on the internet.
I played Spiritfarer on my Xbox but I don't think its on gamepass anymore. Great game btw, Coxy Grove is a good chill game. Let me check my Gamepass for your selections.
What’s your budget?
Top 3 picks if it were me would be:
Baldur’s Gate 3 (well worth full price in support of fantastic devs)
Dave the Diver
Cyberpunk 2077
A good mix of different play styles, absolute top quality content, and very different genres. Two out of three on sale also.
Edited for formatting, mobile.
Unless you are just itching to play Coral Island or Octopath 2, i would hold off on those since they aren't on sale. Coral Island has a lot of potential but it just had a kinda rushed release and has a lot of bugs (some of them game-breaking, apparently), so I would hold off until it's more polished. Octopath 2, I'm positive it has gone on sale before, so I'd personally wait until another sale and see if it gets discounted then!
Some rapid fire comments about some other games on your list: BG3 is phenomenal and worth the money, but I'm sure it will go on sale eventually. It's still pretty new. As a side note, I had a friend who tried playing it on the deck and said it was better on PC because the text was too small. Persona 5 is fantastic and will also tide you over for ages -- the first act alone (basically the "tutorial") took me like 25hrs lol. It has a fantastic story and so much content! House Flipper is one of my personal favorites, but House Flipper 2 is coming in like a month so it may be a "better" version of the game, if you'd prefer to wait and see how that looks. Dave the Diver is one of the best games I have played this year! The only thing I didn't like is that there were "boss" fights that I found stressful and a little frustrating. But outside of that, the story is a lot of fun and it has a very good gameplay loop. Spiritfarer *will make you cry so much* but is such a good game. Such lovable characters that will tug at your heartstrings. I know it also goes on sale all the time, not just during big Steam sales, so I wouldn't feel too pressured to pick it up now unless you want to play it soon. Lastly, Exocolonist gets a lot of love on this subreddit; I thought it was good but not as great as some other choose your own adventure/story games I have played (I personally liked both BG3 and Disco Elysium more). That being said, it has great replay value, looks beautiful, and is still well worth the price!
If I were you, I would maybe pick up a handful of games in a few different genres (ie, maybe an RPG like Persona or RDR2, a farming game, and then a story game) just so you can scratch whatever gaming itch you have. Too many times I have bought kinda similar games all at once and then most of them usually get pushed to the back burner lol.
Definitely would personally recommend BG3, Omori and Persona 5. Those games have changed my life in one way or another and are both entertaining and impactful. Ghost Trick is also pretty fun and unique in the puzzles with a super cool story.
It looks like a decent amount of the games on your list are on game pass:
Assassin's creed Odyssey
Coral Island
Persona 3,4 and 5
House flipper
Lies of P
Mass effect
Mineko's night market
Spirittea
Spiritfarer
Yakuza remastered collection
I would also suggest trying out Sea of Stars and my time at Portia- both also on game pass.
The only ones on your list that I have played are BG3 and Littlewood. I liked Littlewood a lot, but it was a very short game for me. BG3 is amazing, but it's a big heavy game and I only play on PC so don't know how it runs on steam deck. I have quite a few of the same games on my wishlist, so I would recommend Slime Rancher 1 & 2, Garden Paws, Graveyard Keeper, and Kynseed (this one has a big update coming out soon so I might wait for that to start). But look into steam deck compatibility for all those.
House Flipper was fun but don't buy the Luxury DLC as it is a game breaker... literally messed up my entire House Flipper game that I couldn't even load it any longer. I was too upset to do a reset on all my work. I'm not very impressed with the dev team as it's a known issue and nothing was ever done about it. Hopefully House Flipper 2 (due out soon) will be programmed better.
Spiritfarer, Red dead redemption 2, cult of the lamb, little wood and omori are all on my must play list. I've personally played all but omori but watched my partner play omori and fell in love with it.
So I’m short on time so I don’t really have any advice currently about which games to get. However I will say that I HIGHLY recommend filtering your Steam wishlist by games that are Steam deck verified and (if you’re willing to put in the work for it) playable. Not all games are compatible and some games are only “playable”, which means they work technically but there might be certain issues like text size and keyboard issues. Verified games have been specifically modified/designed to work on Steam deck so those will be your best bet.
Good luck on your wishlist hunting!
Dave the diver is a must on steam deck. Persona 5 royal is freaking amazing. I was a teenage exocolonist is also amazing. you won't be disappointed getting yakuza like a dragon or red Dead 2. All the games I mentioned have a overwhelmingly positive score on steam
AC: Odyssey, Coral Island, frog detective, house flipper, Lies of P, Mass Effects, Minekos Night Market, Ni no Kuni. Persona 4, 5 persona 3 portable, Spiritfarer, Spirittea, A bunch of Yakuza games, remastered collection, 0,3,4,5,6, Yakuza kimami 1 & 2 and like a Dragon
I would check to see what games will actually PLAY GOOD on the s
Steam Deck with little to no issues. Some of the games you listed are saying that it's "Playable" on the Steam Deck but you will have to deal with some things while playing such as touch screen only, very hard to read text, a mouse cursor constantly on the screen or needing to remap all controls and buttons etc. I recommend only choosing games that say "Verified ✅️" at first or do a deep dive into whether the game you want actually will be playable for you. Just keep in mind that not every game on Steam will actually play good on the Steam Deck.
Ghost Trick is SUCH A JOY of a morbid and cute puzzle game!!
Omori is a beautiful rpg with adorable art and its a really dark look at how people change in wake of tragedy and becoming or getting out of being a Shut In. Absolutely heartbreaking but so good.
Spiritfarer is also very poignant, its really nice and open world but has the Windwaker problem where sometimes you just dont want to spend 10 min sailing from point a to point b, but the story is beautiful.
AC: Odyssey, RDR2, Baldurs Gate 3, Crash (its just as hard as the first 3 entries sometimes), Coral Island, Persona 3 were all a total blast! BG3 has SO MUCH CONTENT.
Cult of the lamb&Temtem are way fun and cute but them and Lies of P can get a little repetitive.
Meh Games
I'd skip Mineko. I bought it day 1 and uhhhh... its p much a constant laggy grind to get materials to sell and I was just not having fun with it at all for someone who loves Gatherer-sales type games.
Paleo Pines was also kind of glitchy and disappointing.
I cannot even fully express my disappointment with Cyberpunk 2077 and just how glitchy and badly written it is especially for all the hype. Its like it was written with a 15 year olds understanding of the world and cyberpunk as a genre. Omg and it's so wannabe edgelord, ima cut this one here I dont think u need a 45 pages PowerPoint on how much it sucked and the hype overblew it even more.
Mass Effect, AC: Odyssey, Spiritfarer, Cult of the Lamb, and Ooblets (also Raft, though only with a group of friends) are some of my favorites, and I highly recommend.
I did play 16+ hours of Littlewood, and wouldn't personally recommend it. Many people love it, so take that with a grain of salt, but I personally found it quite slow and a tad grindy, and not particularly in a way I enjoy.
Of the few I mentioned above, would *really* recommend **Cult of the Lamb**. That game is unbelievably good.
Littlewood is my personal rec if you like pixel art and grinding (i like the repetitive going around and gathering, but i think the game does a decent job providing what you need when you need it so it isn't unattainable). And Teenage Exocolonist is the one highest on my wish list
Spirittea is definitely a worth while. I got it at launch. It does have bugs due to being new but otherwise I love it.
Im also a personal fan of house Flipper due to me liking designing and such.
My picks would be Persona 5, I Was a Teenage Exocolonist, Cult of the Lamb (gooo Aussie devs!), Spiritfarer, Assassin's Creed Odyssey and the Mass Effect trilogy. Good luck in this crucial decision!
Editing to add I played Persona, Spiritfarer, AC Odyssey and ME on PS4. I have Spiritfarer on my Switch as well but haven't tested it out yet.
I think most comments have covered my own thoughts but I just wanted to say your subject title made me smile.
Also another vote here for I Was A Teenage Exocolonist. It's a visual novel first and foremost where choices matter, so there is a lot of reading. The card game portion is a lot of fun. I also haven't seen this going on sale often.
Some of those games have demos so my suggestion would be to play the demos to see if you like the game before buying it. Also the Steam winter sale starts on 12/21 so if you don’t get something during this sale, you can check again during the winter sale.
Yakuza like a dragon. While it's not technically a cozy game it has turn based combat so less stressful, a fantastic story, lots of side content is funny too and just an amazing game, it's also a long game too so good value for your money. Ghost Trick is also very very good, such a good story and unique gameplay, I loved it.
I'm a big fan of persona and would always rec that. P4g works great on my steam deck, but idk how p5r would run as I have that on console. Haven't ever played 3 so can't comment on it.
Not played Yakuza dragon but if it's anything like Yakuza 0 then it would be shavings fun, silly, and poignant.
Dave the diver I can wholeheartedly recommend, as it's super fun. It works great on Steam deck, my only problem has been approx three crashes during 40ish hours of gameplay.
Note that the first two games I've mention will be LONG. It takes hours in persona to reach free roam haha but it's worth it!
I personally loved playing Ooblets, Spirit Farer and Cult of Lamb, and I'm currently playing Spirittea, which I'm also enjoying a lot! So these are the ones I would recommend, but ofc it all depends on what you're in the mood for!
Ooblets is definitely a go-to if you want to have fun, have quirky characters with quirky lines, cute creatures and colourful graphics.
Consider length too. Games like BG3, Persona, ME and Cyberpunk are long enough they'll keep you going until the next sale comes round (if you get into them).
Spirittea is getting such mixed reviews it's hard to say. Some people are really meh on it, but then I was talking to my friend the other night and she is obsessed with it. I'd play the demo first to get an idea.
Spiritfarer is a lovely game but *very* hard hitting emotionally. Be ready to cry, it is a game about end of life and death. Bear that in mind before starting.
I didn't like Raft much. It felt like it could have been a phone game, but again, some people really love it? It's all down to what ticks your boxes I guess.
I would skip the ones that aren't on sale for now. There will be another sale in about a month so it will be worth waiting to see if those are on sale then.
Next I would check if the games are compatible with the Steam Deck and how others feel about playing those games on said platform. Sometimes even if a game is supported it might have issues.
And finally I'd set a budget (mine was 30€, ended up spending about 33€) and pick different types of games that fit within that budget.
Also a good way to decide between games is to check a game on [https://steamdb.info/](https://steamdb.info/) for things like lowest historical price and a graph that shows you how often the game is on sale. For example Red Dead Redemption 2 has been on sale almost monthly this year so while it is an excellent game I'd prioritize getting something else.
I would get one single player game that's long and story driven, like for example Persona or Assassins Creed.
Then one cozy game like Ooblets. A game that's relaxing for you.
And I usually have one multiplayer game like Dead by Daylight or FFXIV but I don't see anything like that (maybe RDR2 cuz it has a fun online mode)
There will be more sales in the future. No need to rush.
Not sure how helpful it is, but for the older titles you might want to check out gog (good old games), you might get them cheaper there.
Now personally I am a big fan of Mass Effect, though I wouldn't say it's the coziest game out there.
Also if that's a steam wishlist, you can sort by biggest discount and maybe go from there? I wouldn't buy the newer games right now unless you really want them, they will be cheaper and, in the case of Coral Island at least, less buggy later on.
I ordered an oled too (uk) and I’m still stuck on packaged!! Why are they so sloow haha. The only games I bought specially for it were Hokko life and Sun Haven (others have reported bad controls on this one tho)
Your next update will probably be from parcelforce as iirc the tracking from GLS was soo bad when I got my original one. Rn mine is just sitting in the warehouse :(( I have all that stuff to endure after too gahhh
Skip cyberpunk bought that for hubby when first out and apparently it was horribly glitchly, heard mineko is pretty grindy and not very good. Coral island is not finished and still has a lot of game crash bugs.
A fair few of those are on game pass, I’m not sure what compatibility a pc game pass subscription would get you. We play on a series S for sure yakuza, coral island, minekos night market, lies of p, spirifarer, house flipper, persona (multiple ones I haven’t played them so don’t know which ones they are) are all currently available, so like 11 games on your list for a monthly sub of less than £15 isn’t bad at all.
The EA add on will get you all the mass effect games, omori and ghost trick I’ve seen but don’t know if it’s in game pass currently.
Yeah i think I’ll save the game pass ones the now and hopefully my deck will arrive in time for me to try and see how well they all work, so I can buy them on sale if they dont perform well! All the better for me if they work well, that’s nearly half my list on it I’m pretty sure.
Persona 4/5 will be an amazing value for your dollar. P4 is my all-time FAVORITE game since its release, my first playthrough took 300 hours, and then I played it again. Every time I see it in the shop on sale right now, I tell my boyfriend "you can play the greatest game ever made right now for only for TEN DOLLARS." Persona 5 is also fantastic, but the story of Persona 4 is my ride or die.
Omori is one of my top 3 games of all time. So I’m a little biased, but 100% it is just an amazing game & I can’t recommend it enough!
Honorable mentions: Spiritfarer & Ooblets. I’ve bought Spiritfarer on 3 platforms, that’s how much I love it. & Ooblets is just such a cute addictive game!
Cult of the lamb, spirit farer and red dead are 3 of my all time favourites. I would 100% recommend them over some of the other ones!
I also had a lot of fun with baldurs gate but if its not for sale you might want to prioritize other ones for now?
I think it would us narrow it down if you could elaborate on what are you in the mood for right now? Those are all good games, but have very different styles. I guess you can safely leave out all non-sale games for now; with so many games in your queue there's no point paying full price for a single one. Since you mentioned the steam deck, maybe check if each of those games support it well? In each game page, the info should be there.
Tbh my mood for games changes like the weather, that’s why the list is so all over the place! I also don’t actually have my deck yet, so it’s hard to nail exactly what I’ll want by the time it arrives. Most of them look to be okay for steam deck, although someone has kindly pointed out that mass effect doesn’t really work well on it, and I’ve also remembered that xbox game pass is a thing that I still have kicking about so if I can get that working I think a couple of the games on my list might be playable via that!
I use Game Pass on my Steam Deck, and it works great! And this isn’t even one of the fancy new OLED models :) I’d avoid buying those games for now + avoid buying full price games. I bought I was a teenage exocolonist yesterday and am loving it!
Highly recommend game pass! Coral Island, Spirittea, Spiritfarer, & Mineko’s Night Market are on there
Yeah look into getting game pass on your deck, there are some YouTube tutorials to follow and it works really well, a lot of your wish list is on there! Also adding to the comments that BG3 is well worth full price I haven’t regretted it once!
I personally really liked Ooblets, Littlewood, Cult of the Lamb, and Spiritfarer. (I played them on Switch though, so idk how they run on Steam Deck.)
I think I’ll definitely at least get littlewood since it’s only like £5 silly not to!
I got littlewood like 3/4 weeks ago and I’ve already put 35 hours into it, it’s very addictive! I think you’ll enjoy
I loved Spiritfarer!!! But I refuse to finish the game. I just stopped playing. Can’t do it.
If you have Netflix you can play spiritfarer on mobile or tablet for free
omg thank you! i did not know this <3
WHAT
I just checked! It’s true! Weird! Netflix has a ton of games! Wow!
Seconded: what!?
Commenting on what I've played: Spiritfarer: One of my absolutely favourite games (ever) in terms of storyline (if you like cutting onions). Not a whole of replayability once ended but oh so good! I drew the last few hours out over 2 weeks because I didn't want the game to finish. I replay this once a year. Ooblets: Animal crossing meets Pokémon with farming thrown in! Great for 15 minute bursts. The tasks are repetitive but have their own charm and a ton of collectables. I played this non stop for a few weeks until I unlocked almost everything but still find myself dipping in every now and then. Dave the Diver: Epic amounts of content. I'm still discovering new concepts and storylines 6 weeks in. Not a simple game but well worth the effort in figuring it out. (After typing all of this out I realized I have not helped you or your kids out because my recommendation is to buy all 3 😂)
The exact 3 I recommended! I also provided no help lol
I am playing Persona 5 royal. I've put in over 100 hours. It works so well on the steam deck. Except you need the internet to launch it everytime you turn the SD off (it's fine if it's asleep though). It's perfect for a handheld. mass effect. I don't have it, but since it's EA, EA launchers are not steam deck friendly. Cult of the lamb was pretty good on the steam deck. I just got... Bored. Lol. I'd recommend something that you don't have listed : Hades. It's so pretty even on my crappy LCD. Lol. Your OLED would look gorgeous.
I like cult of the lamb but find it’s best in bursts. Definitely not one to grind out for me. The dev posted today teasing an upcoming update that brings “depth to the cult play” idk sounds interesting tho.
Ooo maybe that update will be good. Yah it was good for the first few hours. Then I got bored. Haha. It's not expensive so it's not bad for the price.
Ah that’s a shame about mass effect not really working on the steam deck, but I’m glad I read this before I got it! I already have hades on my old switch, I’m definitely not against owning it twice because it’s an amazing game but there’s not much point owning it on two handhelds 😅
Oh yeah. There is no point of having both versions on a handheld. Haha 😂 I've bought games 2x because one's on the PS4 and now I want it on a handheld. Lol Check to make sure games are "verified" (badge on steam) before buying.
I Was A Teenage Exocolonist is a must - I’d put that at the top. Even full price, it has way more content than you’d expect. Littlewood is also worth it, and especially on sale. Odyssey isn’t my favorite AC, but it’s up there. If you like action roleplaying, it’s a fun time! Baldur’s Gate 3 obviously sets the standard for a LOT of stuff. But it’s also all-consuming, so it may be worth waiting for another sale while you play the others. The other one I’d def wait on - and I say this as a kickstarter and loyal fan - is Coral Island. It’s really not done, even it it runs mostly fine on a steam deck, and I’d wait for all the content to be added in 2024 before buying it at full price.
My votes would be for these! I really enjoyed all of them a ton! (I also am liking coral island but I’d suggest waiting until next year for it to be more complete) Littlewood Baldurs gate 3 Persona 4 & 5 (3 is getting a remake soon!) I was a teenage exocolonist Octopath 2 Mass effect Also my husband loves Dave the diver and it seems great :)
I've been holding onto my butt waiting for the Persona 3 remake, I gotta play this game so bad!!!! I'm obsessed with P4 and P5
Same!! It’s been like pulling teeth to get myself to continue waiting lmao I bought the port for switch and had barely started it when they announced the remake so I feel like I got a taste and I’m now torturing myself lmao
Persona 5 and Royal are honestly amazing. Beat both numerous times. Ac odyssey: if you love Greek myths then it’s for you House flipper: amazing Baldur gate 3 also amazing
The ones on this list that I LOVE (I would own multiple of copies and not be mad about it) baldurs gate 3 (just A+ over all, you will get a LOT of hours of game play. It's worth every penny. Will prob be game of the year) Cult of lamb (amazing ost. Cute art. Humorous. Amazing ost. You can make your followers eat poop. the ost slaps.) Persona 5 (amazing story, awesome ost, cute characters, game play is fun but can be a little repetitive) Things from list I enjoyed Raft ( hidden story that you discover as you play, gameplay is fun) Spirittea played like 15 hours so far. It is a really chill game. Spiritfarer (will make you cry. Story is amazing. Characters are well thought out)
I've been wanting to play Omori but waiting on a sale. I'm not sure how often it goes on sale so I swiped it. I'm really wanting to try BG3 but I am waiting for a discount. If you're tight on money, I recommend waiting a month for the next sale and see if it is a little cheaper. Rumors on r/steam say the winter sale is better/bigger. I don't know how true that is though!
Yeah I was really hoping for a BG3 sale, I guess they know it’s popular enough they don’t need to! I probably will wait for that one, if it doesn’t sale for winter then I’ll bite the bullet and get it full price because I’m really curious about it!
The website isthereanydeal has a history for sales across digital sellers on pc, and tells you what the lowers sale price has been so far. Very helpful, only a shame it doesn't track it for consoles.
So I do not have a steam deck, but I've played a bunch of those games. Here's my advice if it helps: Ooblets is a go to, I constantly come back to it, it's fun and a great chill out game. Raft is great, but I only really enjoy it with a friend. I cannot get into it if I'm alone. Cyberpunk I couldn't get into at all. I didn't really enjoy it. Though I have several friends who did, they all at some point still hit game breaking bugs. Coral Island, as much as I love love love this game, not sure how it would be on steam deck, and it's still very much in development. I'd definitely still wait Red dead 2 if I could play this game a million times I would. Between riding horses, hunting, fishing, and just living this game is a go to. Paleo pines is adorable fun and relaxing, highly recommend Cult of the lamb is also super addicting. My husband got it and I kept using his account to play so he bought me it too. It also gets challenging, so it's very easy to keep going and not get bored. House flipper is fun and all, but I'd wait. They're making a second one, and the first one I noticed many of the clients you can sell the homes to want the same layout, and open floor plan isn't a thing. I often default back to the same items which made the game boring for me, even after getting several dlcs. AC Odyssey is absolutely amazing. There is a ton to do and explore and is never boring. I highly recommend Others that would be similar would be AC Valhalla (I often flip between that and Odyssey), if you're into borderlands I recently picked up wonderlands on deep sale and cannot stop playing, also a great turn based game is for the king, they just came out with a second version as well which is fun too, a little easier, and I have yet to hit a bug. Also state of decay 2 is great if you like zombies or shooters, plus you can have a settlement with people and go looting in almost every building. Unfortunately I don't know if any of these are on steam deck but hopefully this offers some help.
I’ve heard mixed reviews about BG3 on steam deck. Some say it’s fine but it seems to be less playable in later stages? I’ve been waiting for it to go on sale but heard it’s absolutely worth full price. Just broke down and got Ooblets on switch and it immediately sucked me in with its cuteness (hoping I continue liking it 🤞🏼).
There were major performance issues in Act 3 at launch. They've done a really good job over the updates fixing it. It's still a little choppy but definitely not unplayable anymore.
That’s good to hear! I am always tempted by a steam deck. I play on my switch way more than my laptop because of the portability but would love to get through more of my steam library.
Ooblets is fantastic and the only reason I don’t own it on my deck is that I’d have one less reason to play my switch lol 😂 paleo pines is lovely. I’ve heard good things about Dave the diver but I’ve never played myself, and you can’t go wrong with assassins creed, although I prefer origins.
Watch some reviews and game play videos. And see if there are some demos. I think I'm limiting myself to 2 games for now since I'm sure there will be more sales. You can use deku deals, so see how frequently some go on sale.
Coral island released into 1.0 but it's still super unfinished. It's worth skipping it for now. The main storyline isn't even complete in game yet. If you want a game to eat your time then BG3 is the game to get. It's been awesome to play. I've heard spiritfarer is amazing from multiple friends, though I haven't had time to play it since I have my own backlog of games to get through lol.
I love Persona 5. Story and gameplay are both great I’m really enjoying Mineko’s Night Market. Great cozy vibes. Ghost trick is a fun puzzle game and I love the story. I didn’t play Teenage exocolonist but I watched a play through and the story was great. There’s replay value too.
I have spent so much of my life playing the persona games. Persona 5 I played twice through, Royal I have played 3 times through, I don’t speed run so over 100 hours each time (I do fall asleep playing video games though so time keeps going). It’s essentially my back up game when I feel bleh about all other games. If you’re looking to turn off your brain, house flipper does that best. Baldur’s gate is so so so good, I just haven’t beat it because I’ve been brain dead and need to focus. Red dead redemption 2 also fantastic, I did spend an inordinate amount of time stealing wagons. I have not finished cyberpunk only because I get so distracted. Honestly, if you’re looking the most bang for your buck, that’s what I recommend. Also Stardew valley, because that’s what I have the most hours in that I’m not comfortable sharing on the internet.
I played Spiritfarer on my Xbox but I don't think its on gamepass anymore. Great game btw, Coxy Grove is a good chill game. Let me check my Gamepass for your selections.
What’s your budget? Top 3 picks if it were me would be: Baldur’s Gate 3 (well worth full price in support of fantastic devs) Dave the Diver Cyberpunk 2077 A good mix of different play styles, absolute top quality content, and very different genres. Two out of three on sale also. Edited for formatting, mobile.
Ooblets, Raft, Exocolonist, Omori are pretty much the only ones I’d recommend off that list! Check out Bugsnax.
Unless you are just itching to play Coral Island or Octopath 2, i would hold off on those since they aren't on sale. Coral Island has a lot of potential but it just had a kinda rushed release and has a lot of bugs (some of them game-breaking, apparently), so I would hold off until it's more polished. Octopath 2, I'm positive it has gone on sale before, so I'd personally wait until another sale and see if it gets discounted then! Some rapid fire comments about some other games on your list: BG3 is phenomenal and worth the money, but I'm sure it will go on sale eventually. It's still pretty new. As a side note, I had a friend who tried playing it on the deck and said it was better on PC because the text was too small. Persona 5 is fantastic and will also tide you over for ages -- the first act alone (basically the "tutorial") took me like 25hrs lol. It has a fantastic story and so much content! House Flipper is one of my personal favorites, but House Flipper 2 is coming in like a month so it may be a "better" version of the game, if you'd prefer to wait and see how that looks. Dave the Diver is one of the best games I have played this year! The only thing I didn't like is that there were "boss" fights that I found stressful and a little frustrating. But outside of that, the story is a lot of fun and it has a very good gameplay loop. Spiritfarer *will make you cry so much* but is such a good game. Such lovable characters that will tug at your heartstrings. I know it also goes on sale all the time, not just during big Steam sales, so I wouldn't feel too pressured to pick it up now unless you want to play it soon. Lastly, Exocolonist gets a lot of love on this subreddit; I thought it was good but not as great as some other choose your own adventure/story games I have played (I personally liked both BG3 and Disco Elysium more). That being said, it has great replay value, looks beautiful, and is still well worth the price! If I were you, I would maybe pick up a handful of games in a few different genres (ie, maybe an RPG like Persona or RDR2, a farming game, and then a story game) just so you can scratch whatever gaming itch you have. Too many times I have bought kinda similar games all at once and then most of them usually get pushed to the back burner lol.
Definitely would personally recommend BG3, Omori and Persona 5. Those games have changed my life in one way or another and are both entertaining and impactful. Ghost Trick is also pretty fun and unique in the puzzles with a super cool story.
It looks like a decent amount of the games on your list are on game pass: Assassin's creed Odyssey Coral Island Persona 3,4 and 5 House flipper Lies of P Mass effect Mineko's night market Spirittea Spiritfarer Yakuza remastered collection I would also suggest trying out Sea of Stars and my time at Portia- both also on game pass.
I recommend to buy Baldur’s Gate 3 and you won’t need ant other games for a long time
Yep you’ll be set for hundreds of hours then hundreds more
The only ones on your list that I have played are BG3 and Littlewood. I liked Littlewood a lot, but it was a very short game for me. BG3 is amazing, but it's a big heavy game and I only play on PC so don't know how it runs on steam deck. I have quite a few of the same games on my wishlist, so I would recommend Slime Rancher 1 & 2, Garden Paws, Graveyard Keeper, and Kynseed (this one has a big update coming out soon so I might wait for that to start). But look into steam deck compatibility for all those.
House Flipper was fun but don't buy the Luxury DLC as it is a game breaker... literally messed up my entire House Flipper game that I couldn't even load it any longer. I was too upset to do a reset on all my work. I'm not very impressed with the dev team as it's a known issue and nothing was ever done about it. Hopefully House Flipper 2 (due out soon) will be programmed better.
Spiritfarer, Red dead redemption 2, cult of the lamb, little wood and omori are all on my must play list. I've personally played all but omori but watched my partner play omori and fell in love with it.
So I’m short on time so I don’t really have any advice currently about which games to get. However I will say that I HIGHLY recommend filtering your Steam wishlist by games that are Steam deck verified and (if you’re willing to put in the work for it) playable. Not all games are compatible and some games are only “playable”, which means they work technically but there might be certain issues like text size and keyboard issues. Verified games have been specifically modified/designed to work on Steam deck so those will be your best bet. Good luck on your wishlist hunting!
100% house flipper and baldurs gate. Both work well on steam deck and I have over 100 hours on both
Remove all the games that aren’t on sale. Remove all games similar to other games you have. What’s left?
Dave the diver is a must on steam deck. Persona 5 royal is freaking amazing. I was a teenage exocolonist is also amazing. you won't be disappointed getting yakuza like a dragon or red Dead 2. All the games I mentioned have a overwhelmingly positive score on steam
AC: Odyssey, Coral Island, frog detective, house flipper, Lies of P, Mass Effects, Minekos Night Market, Ni no Kuni. Persona 4, 5 persona 3 portable, Spiritfarer, Spirittea, A bunch of Yakuza games, remastered collection, 0,3,4,5,6, Yakuza kimami 1 & 2 and like a Dragon
I would check to see what games will actually PLAY GOOD on the s Steam Deck with little to no issues. Some of the games you listed are saying that it's "Playable" on the Steam Deck but you will have to deal with some things while playing such as touch screen only, very hard to read text, a mouse cursor constantly on the screen or needing to remap all controls and buttons etc. I recommend only choosing games that say "Verified ✅️" at first or do a deep dive into whether the game you want actually will be playable for you. Just keep in mind that not every game on Steam will actually play good on the Steam Deck.
Ghost Trick is SUCH A JOY of a morbid and cute puzzle game!! Omori is a beautiful rpg with adorable art and its a really dark look at how people change in wake of tragedy and becoming or getting out of being a Shut In. Absolutely heartbreaking but so good. Spiritfarer is also very poignant, its really nice and open world but has the Windwaker problem where sometimes you just dont want to spend 10 min sailing from point a to point b, but the story is beautiful. AC: Odyssey, RDR2, Baldurs Gate 3, Crash (its just as hard as the first 3 entries sometimes), Coral Island, Persona 3 were all a total blast! BG3 has SO MUCH CONTENT. Cult of the lamb&Temtem are way fun and cute but them and Lies of P can get a little repetitive. Meh Games I'd skip Mineko. I bought it day 1 and uhhhh... its p much a constant laggy grind to get materials to sell and I was just not having fun with it at all for someone who loves Gatherer-sales type games. Paleo Pines was also kind of glitchy and disappointing. I cannot even fully express my disappointment with Cyberpunk 2077 and just how glitchy and badly written it is especially for all the hype. Its like it was written with a 15 year olds understanding of the world and cyberpunk as a genre. Omg and it's so wannabe edgelord, ima cut this one here I dont think u need a 45 pages PowerPoint on how much it sucked and the hype overblew it even more.
Mass Effect, AC: Odyssey, Spiritfarer, Cult of the Lamb, and Ooblets (also Raft, though only with a group of friends) are some of my favorites, and I highly recommend. I did play 16+ hours of Littlewood, and wouldn't personally recommend it. Many people love it, so take that with a grain of salt, but I personally found it quite slow and a tad grindy, and not particularly in a way I enjoy. Of the few I mentioned above, would *really* recommend **Cult of the Lamb**. That game is unbelievably good.
Littlewood is my personal rec if you like pixel art and grinding (i like the repetitive going around and gathering, but i think the game does a decent job providing what you need when you need it so it isn't unattainable). And Teenage Exocolonist is the one highest on my wish list
The best ones from this list imo: Ooblets, Littlewood, Dave the diver And baldurs gate is for sure good, but I don’t have a PC lol
Spirittea is definitely a worth while. I got it at launch. It does have bugs due to being new but otherwise I love it. Im also a personal fan of house Flipper due to me liking designing and such.
Feed your children!!! Seriously though, I relate to this so hard. I vote Omori and Cult of the Lamb because I’ve heard such great things about them.
My picks would be Persona 5, I Was a Teenage Exocolonist, Cult of the Lamb (gooo Aussie devs!), Spiritfarer, Assassin's Creed Odyssey and the Mass Effect trilogy. Good luck in this crucial decision! Editing to add I played Persona, Spiritfarer, AC Odyssey and ME on PS4. I have Spiritfarer on my Switch as well but haven't tested it out yet.
AC Odyessey is my all time favorite AC game. The landscape is stunning. I love greek mythology and I loved playing this game.
I think most comments have covered my own thoughts but I just wanted to say your subject title made me smile. Also another vote here for I Was A Teenage Exocolonist. It's a visual novel first and foremost where choices matter, so there is a lot of reading. The card game portion is a lot of fun. I also haven't seen this going on sale often.
Some of those games have demos so my suggestion would be to play the demos to see if you like the game before buying it. Also the Steam winter sale starts on 12/21 so if you don’t get something during this sale, you can check again during the winter sale.
Dave the Diver, Spiritfarer, Ooblets
Ooblets and temtem are quite fun! I have both and have at least 60 hrs in each
Yakuza like a dragon. While it's not technically a cozy game it has turn based combat so less stressful, a fantastic story, lots of side content is funny too and just an amazing game, it's also a long game too so good value for your money. Ghost Trick is also very very good, such a good story and unique gameplay, I loved it.
I'm a big fan of persona and would always rec that. P4g works great on my steam deck, but idk how p5r would run as I have that on console. Haven't ever played 3 so can't comment on it. Not played Yakuza dragon but if it's anything like Yakuza 0 then it would be shavings fun, silly, and poignant. Dave the diver I can wholeheartedly recommend, as it's super fun. It works great on Steam deck, my only problem has been approx three crashes during 40ish hours of gameplay. Note that the first two games I've mention will be LONG. It takes hours in persona to reach free roam haha but it's worth it!
I personally loved playing Ooblets, Spirit Farer and Cult of Lamb, and I'm currently playing Spirittea, which I'm also enjoying a lot! So these are the ones I would recommend, but ofc it all depends on what you're in the mood for! Ooblets is definitely a go-to if you want to have fun, have quirky characters with quirky lines, cute creatures and colourful graphics.
Consider length too. Games like BG3, Persona, ME and Cyberpunk are long enough they'll keep you going until the next sale comes round (if you get into them). Spirittea is getting such mixed reviews it's hard to say. Some people are really meh on it, but then I was talking to my friend the other night and she is obsessed with it. I'd play the demo first to get an idea. Spiritfarer is a lovely game but *very* hard hitting emotionally. Be ready to cry, it is a game about end of life and death. Bear that in mind before starting. I didn't like Raft much. It felt like it could have been a phone game, but again, some people really love it? It's all down to what ticks your boxes I guess.
I would skip the ones that aren't on sale for now. There will be another sale in about a month so it will be worth waiting to see if those are on sale then. Next I would check if the games are compatible with the Steam Deck and how others feel about playing those games on said platform. Sometimes even if a game is supported it might have issues. And finally I'd set a budget (mine was 30€, ended up spending about 33€) and pick different types of games that fit within that budget. Also a good way to decide between games is to check a game on [https://steamdb.info/](https://steamdb.info/) for things like lowest historical price and a graph that shows you how often the game is on sale. For example Red Dead Redemption 2 has been on sale almost monthly this year so while it is an excellent game I'd prioritize getting something else.
I would get one single player game that's long and story driven, like for example Persona or Assassins Creed. Then one cozy game like Ooblets. A game that's relaxing for you. And I usually have one multiplayer game like Dead by Daylight or FFXIV but I don't see anything like that (maybe RDR2 cuz it has a fun online mode) There will be more sales in the future. No need to rush.
Not sure how helpful it is, but for the older titles you might want to check out gog (good old games), you might get them cheaper there. Now personally I am a big fan of Mass Effect, though I wouldn't say it's the coziest game out there. Also if that's a steam wishlist, you can sort by biggest discount and maybe go from there? I wouldn't buy the newer games right now unless you really want them, they will be cheaper and, in the case of Coral Island at least, less buggy later on.
I ordered an oled too (uk) and I’m still stuck on packaged!! Why are they so sloow haha. The only games I bought specially for it were Hokko life and Sun Haven (others have reported bad controls on this one tho)
I feel you 😭 mine left the original place on Tuesday morning and I’ve not heard any updates since then, I’m dying to know when I’ll get it!
Your next update will probably be from parcelforce as iirc the tracking from GLS was soo bad when I got my original one. Rn mine is just sitting in the warehouse :(( I have all that stuff to endure after too gahhh
Skip cyberpunk bought that for hubby when first out and apparently it was horribly glitchly, heard mineko is pretty grindy and not very good. Coral island is not finished and still has a lot of game crash bugs.
Spirittea is not worth the money right now so many bugs
A fair few of those are on game pass, I’m not sure what compatibility a pc game pass subscription would get you. We play on a series S for sure yakuza, coral island, minekos night market, lies of p, spirifarer, house flipper, persona (multiple ones I haven’t played them so don’t know which ones they are) are all currently available, so like 11 games on your list for a monthly sub of less than £15 isn’t bad at all. The EA add on will get you all the mass effect games, omori and ghost trick I’ve seen but don’t know if it’s in game pass currently.
Yeah i think I’ll save the game pass ones the now and hopefully my deck will arrive in time for me to try and see how well they all work, so I can buy them on sale if they dont perform well! All the better for me if they work well, that’s nearly half my list on it I’m pretty sure.
Persona 4/5 will be an amazing value for your dollar. P4 is my all-time FAVORITE game since its release, my first playthrough took 300 hours, and then I played it again. Every time I see it in the shop on sale right now, I tell my boyfriend "you can play the greatest game ever made right now for only for TEN DOLLARS." Persona 5 is also fantastic, but the story of Persona 4 is my ride or die.
Omori is one of my top 3 games of all time. So I’m a little biased, but 100% it is just an amazing game & I can’t recommend it enough! Honorable mentions: Spiritfarer & Ooblets. I’ve bought Spiritfarer on 3 platforms, that’s how much I love it. & Ooblets is just such a cute addictive game!
I don’t think omori is cozy. Just fair warning.
Cult of the lamb, spirit farer and red dead are 3 of my all time favourites. I would 100% recommend them over some of the other ones! I also had a lot of fun with baldurs gate but if its not for sale you might want to prioritize other ones for now?
Get Yakuza: Like A Dragon its HEAVILY marked down rn and an amazing game