I’ve got a bit of a theme this week. Games that are pretty good actually, but really need some work to be ideal on Steam Deck, but are games that should be perfect for Steam Deck. Intrigued? Then read on…
Yaoling: Mythical Journey
The Pokémon clone has been around as long as Pokémon themselves. (No I’m not going into a Digimon debate here). Often with varying degrees of quality and success. Some more blatant than others.
Yaoling: Mythical Journey is thankfully one of the better versions, that feels more inspired by, than direct clone. You still have the world exploration and the creature collecting, but the big difference comes in the battles themselves.
They are closer to auto-battles with some time-paused sections added in. Essentially, you choose your squad of creatures and send them into battle. Once placed on the field they will auto battle the ‘enemy’. However you can pause time and select a various charms, that in turn can do extra damage, buffs, debuffs, that sort of thing.
It is a really interesting battle system, that makes you really think about what creatures you carry and how you build them up, plus what charms you use at what points. It is a refreshing change from the standard turn-based systems you tend to get.
There are other things that really add to the experience to, such as a traditional eastern art-style that really sets it apart from the usual anime styles you’d come to expect. The creature designs whilst fantastical still are somewhat more reserved in design which works wonderfully.
How you interact with them to help build your village up and continue to discover new things just blends the whole experience superbly. However, at the moment, if you want to play on the Steam Deck, it is a slightly frustrating experience as there is no controller support. Though the developers have said it is being worked on and whilst the game is in early access I can wait before going back in.
It also needs some accessibility options adding. At the very least larger font options and/or a dark mode, as it is just too difficult to real text, whether that be dialog, prompts, descriptions. It is all just too small and washed out for someone with vision issues.
That being said, the overall game is definitely one to keep and eye on and if you are playing on a desktop, you will have a great time.
The Last Alchemist
What a lovely colourful and joyful adventure The Last Alchemist is. From the very opening to the next few hours, I found myself having the loveliest time.
The game itself is nothing much more than a simple story holding together a series of tasks, but it does what it does really well and I couldn’t help but smile during my time with it.
You will mix exploration with crafting, alchemy, discovery, puzzle solving and more. All whilst meeting wonderous creatures called Agari, who are this strange mushroom civilization who you must interact and work with to go on your adventure.
You see, they are the whole vital thing to the world, they are the economy, they run production and much more. Working with them to grow and expand is vital as they will act pretty much as your guide.
Look, everything in the game you may have seen before and in all honesty it is doing nothing new to break and new ground. However, that The Last Alchemist does well is tie all these elements together to give a fun and relaxing adventure that can be played at a slow pace.
However, the issues that are the theme this week. No controller support! Which for a game like this is criminal in my opinion. This is the perfect laying on the sofa with a Steam Deck in hand game. Whilst yes you can customise the controls, it never feels optimised and needs baked in controller support.
Yet that isn’t the biggest issue. No instead that is the save system! There is a single save slot, which you have to manually trigger by going to bed to end the day. Thyere is no auto-save checkpointing, do quick save, nothing. Which again is poor from an accessibility point of view, but also a respecting your time point too.
If a game like this is built around being relaxing and encouraging you to explore, then I shouldn’t be forced to have to return home and go to bed just to save. The map might not be huge, but I should be able to save at any point I want. Just because of the type of game this is.
It is a shame because those two things aside, I think The Last Alchemist could have been a bit of a sleeper hit, but the frustrations with saving and lack of controller support stop it being an instant recommendation without some pretty big caveats. Yet despite those issues, I lost so so so much time to the game, because of the charm it has.
