I Tried Out 24 Tactical RPGs On The Steam Deck

[@Seanbo88]

Bro put his game clips in alphabetical order AND gave us chapter markers?? Give this man an award!

[@hardyharharv]

Fr!

[@lonr373]

Yeah not enough is said about this. Mad props to this creator 💪

[@PhilosopherJEB]

This was absolutely one of the best, most concise quick breakdowns of performance and playability in a genre I’d been stoked to try on my steam deck. It’s shocking how few people are doing what you’re doing, but you did it excellently with nothing but great information. Thanks for the all-killer, no-filler content! If I could like and subscribe twice, I would! 👍

[@johnmacdonald3855]

I got XCOM 2 working with the controller by setting the control scheme to “controller with mouse trackpad” before launching the game, then go into the options and it shouldn’t be greyed out anymore. Or try just setting as a controller, and if you hold the steam button the right trackpad becomes a forced mouse to navigate the UI to change it.

[@maddmugsy]

Wasteland 3 is supposedly Linux-native, and for some reason, there's an issue with cloud saves between linux and windows versions. You can force it to use Proton in the compatibility settings for the game, and that _should_ fix it. At least this process worked for me with another game. If the regular Proton doesn't do the trick, the Proton Experimental might.

[@McLort]

I can confirm choosing Proton for Wasteland 3 does make the PC cloud saves appear instantly.

[@dissposablehero]

I've had no issue with this fix. Runs well on proton. Set to high, native res and change the screen to 40hz. Runs well and lasts longer on battery.

[@hueypautonoman]

Linux gamer here. It's a common thing with native Linux games. Some devs make their saves incompatible with the Windows version. I don't know why since other devs make them compatible just fine. In most cases, there's a way to manipulate the files to make them work, but yeah, switching to proton is probably just an easier method for a Windows user.

[@Moskeeto]

13:10 That issue is most likely because you're loading in a keyboard/mouse controller layout. When there's no gamepad inputs in the layout, the Deck doesn't create a virtual Xbox controller for games to see. So the game most likely didn't see it as an option to enable. Your best bet is most likely to try the "gamepad with mouse trackpad" template before launching the game so you can navigate the menus with the trackpad as a mouse to enable controller support. This is just a guess on my end since I don't own this game but I have been using Steam Input since the beginning so I'm very aware of many of the quirks and issues with controller gaming on PC.

[@pizzawolf1328]

@@pcworld XCOM 2 works great with the Steam controller, so I'm surprised that it wasn't working with the Steam Deck!

[@Sharp1200]

This man put Nephilim Saga on this list, he's a real fan of the genre confirmed

[@alexpernin9906]

Thanks for including Chaos Gate Daemonhunters. I'm very excited to play it on my Deck but have been holding off for a performance fix. Hopefully the developers will release a patch soon!

[@brandonbrann4043]

Now you can try Tactics Ogre: Reborn. It is amazing on Steam Deck.

[@Chucklefish]

Thanks for including Wargroove! ⚔

[@shaunlindsey7305]

Battle Brothers needs to be on this list. It's amazing on the deck.

[@itsanniedee]

I really enjoy these sorts of genre break downs and would love to see one for city builders/simulation titles.

[@anonymous_coward]

Valkyria Chronicles 4 supports 1280x800 for everything. To make it work you need to scroll down in the graphics settings until you find the option "Keep Widescreen" then set that to "Off".

[@JonBear]

Great video! Made a list of a few games to try once I get the deck. Been playing advance wars and fire emblem on handhelds since forever so you really spoke to me with this video

[@Ravenlock]

Absolutely love this. Found some games I haven't heard of, remembered some I'd forgotten, and got excited to check them out on the Deck. Definite yes to more breakdowns like this, please, and subscribing because of this vid.

[@GhostOfLorelei]

Thanks!

[@SummerCampV]

Others have given good advice on what to try for XCOM 2. I also fought this issue for a bit, and what fixed it for me was going to the game's Developer settings and Clearing the selected controller layout. It then defaulted to the built in controller scheme.

[@AlexisLopez]

Could you make these games on steam deck videos (like the RPG one) into their own playlists? When trying to reference back to the RPG video to send to a friend it was a bit difficult to find. Fantastic series so far! Having these Steam deck videos as their own playlists would be much appreciated, thanks!

[@kenthekat9615]

Another great video from the crew at PCWorld!

[@stevengrice1807]

I have heard that xcom 2 joystick support is selectable if you start in via steam in desktop mode. Then after selection works even in game mode.

[@chrisward000]

Yes, that’s how I got it to work.

[@azadirany6412]

Hey what about total war series!?

[@pcworld]

Haven't tried it on the Deck. -Adam

[@tomoprime217]

you got the Disgaea video out! Thanks so much ! 👍🏻

[@LuisVelazquezLV3]

how in the actual heck did you miss DOS2/Divinity Original Sin 2?

[@Tugennov]

I love this as I'm thinking of starting a game in this genre. Thank you!

[@papiagua]

Shadowrun great and honestly the absolute cream of the crop is X-Com. They are the gold standard of Turn-based Tactics games. One of my favorite games of all time is FFTactics for reference. You really can't go wrong with X-com and almost all of these games use them as a basis for their game play.

[@GodsPoetryProductions]

I can't read the text on BattleTech. Lol

[@chicoriver8606]

Thank you Sir. You play a few games that wasn't in my radar and they look pretty good. I think most of those games will be good to play it at 30 to 40hz to save some battery. I salute you for your hard work and for the different approach to play those games on the Deck.👍

[@chicoriver8606]

@@pcworld A few of them. I didn't know anything about Otherecide looks great. Also battle tech, super robot wars, warhammer chaos gate and chimera squad. You should try persona 4 Golden deluxe edition. I think next week I'll try persona 4 arena ultimax that is a fighting game and I have been playing monster hunter world.

[@BlackTearsYT]

To play XCOM 2 on the Steam Deck with full controller support, you have to change the layout in the settings. Change the layout to generic gamepad with touchpad as mouse. From here launch the game. You will be able to control the mouse cursor with the touchpad on the right, but the click won't work. You'll have to use the touch screen for clicks. So use the right touchpad to put the cursor over what you want to click, then tap on the screen to click. Go to the settings in XCOM 2 and now you will be able to switch the control scheme from mouse to controller. Once you've done that, you're all set. Works with the Steam Deck controls with full button prompts and everything. Just make sure to use this specific layout and follow these instructions and you're good to go.

[@sugarhigh4242]

For xcom2 you might be running the native Linux version, which often have control issues. Check the compatibility settings and make sure it's using Proton

[@thekbob6369]

You should try Troubleshooter: Abandoned Children, please!

[@maxducoudray]

Great video. This genre and emulation are the two #1 things I'm looking forward to when I get my turn in the Steam Deck queue (Q3, baby!). I would love to see more of these genre overviews for Steam Deck.

[@wazman77show]

This was very helpful! I also have run into control issues on the steam deck and it’s very disheartening spending X amount of time downloading a game to instantly find out the controls don’t feel good or they just don’t work at all.

[@Tarvios]

As a huge fan of XCOM I bought it for Android and it perfoms well on my smartphone. I will try it on the SD soon :) Thanks, you tested a lot of games I already own and it's good to see that most are working well.

[@HelicopterRidesForCommunists]

I had the wasteland 3 cloud save bug. Try changing which proton version you use after booting it up on your pc and making a new cloud save.

[@Lucascraft]

I just found this video... I know it's a bit old at this point, but what about a few other TRPGs? Pathway? Banner Saga 2 and 3? King Arthur? Triangle Strategy?

[@Superdupper07]

Hi,if possible can you also review the ys series that works on a steam deck. I am thinking about buying a steam deck,but only when I know for sure those games will work without hiccups. It would be greatly appreciated. Greetz Ron

[@fa-ajn9881]

I agree, was super pumped to play xcom but it's just too tedious with the track pad and the little buttons.

[@stacksmasher]

Tip for the WarHammer issues is to bump the VRAM up from 1Gb to 2Gb. There are videos showing how to do this and it is a very simple fix! Enjoy!

[@IvanoForgione]

my only concern is text readability every time there's no in-game option to regulate size, I wish they introduced a magnifier wirh touch control (possibly)

[@gammawolf2563]

Steam key + L1 I think is the macro for magnifier

[@IvanoForgione]

@@gammawolf2563 yeah, I found that out eventually 😅

[@m3anmug]

I got Gears Tactics on sale and no matter what settings i change it is blurry as crap every time i move the camera. Anyone know how to fix that?

[@silenceburns1336]

I'm not surprised that 4 years later, BattleTech is still stressing graphical capabilities. I haven't had a game push a setup like that one has. My old desktop setup has a liquid cooled 970 that in thousands of hours of use rarely rose above 50°C, but that game was constant between 70-90. Can't imagine what time did to standard fan cooled cards. Stoked to see it runs on the Deck. Hurry up "after q3."

[@skeletorusgaming689]

Some good games here. Since watching a bunch of tip videos on controller configuration and using the steam input making a layout that suits you is so easy. Only problem is spending the time setting this up but I usually grap a community on and then tweak those a little. Virtual radial menus and mode shifting is so good

[@xkernalsandersx]

Why did this video come up for Men of War Assault Squad 2...and it's not even on the list?

[@schillelagh]

Fell Seal is another solid addition that’s not on this list. Steam Deck verified too!

[@khmergodhobbies]

your steamdeck types of games overviews are bangers. thank you

[@beardyhat9547]

The biggest problem with Battletech on the Deck: I can't get mods to work. I spent a long period just trying to get BEX to load, but with all the proprietary community tools, I just couldn't get the mods working. Unfortunately, this drove me back to using my laptop for Battletech, just so I can use the mods I want.

[@sondremoerkeseth909]

I installed BEX on the deck last week, and I had no problems. It was a little bit tricky to get the Community Asset Bundle and ModTek to run, but I added them as non-steam games and ran them with Steamplay and Proton 7.0 compatibility. Since I am somewhat new to Linux, finding the right folders was a little tricky with the Community Asset Bundle installer. Once I got the forward / and backslash \ figured out it worked fine. The path was in Z:\home\deck\.local tree to get to the Battletech mods folder.

[@havok4103]

I'm a huge fan of shadow run (especially snes) It was the first game i tried on the deck. Ill have to give war hammer a try.

[@soyogen22]

This is an amazing compendium. Well done dude! Someone else mentioned and I will 2nd, Battle Brothers as a wonderful and very playable tactical RPG game for the Deck

[@s01itarygaming]

Symphony of War is a highly underrated game IMO! The story and missions do kind of fall off towards the end, but it's a heck of a lot of fun!

[@diverspudph]

Super helpful as this is the genre and the games I look foward to playing on the Steam Deck. Thank you!

[@dbsasuke]

Why didn't you try Xcom Enemy Unk?

[@rafindeed]

Btw, they fixed the xcom2 controller bug and it works flawlessly. Highly recommend

[@guillaumebackelandt7381]

If there's any fan of the Heroes of Might and Magic franchise in this comment section, I highly recommend Songs of Conquest, it's basically modern HoMM in gorgeous pixel art with smart additions to the systems, a short (for now, it's in early access) campaign, skirmish modes, lots of maps and included community made ones directly in the game menus, might be better played on external screen, but it runs perfectly on the Deck.

[@davidlinajescarrion1086]

nice video, what about the same themed video using the new Asus x13 flow

[@Malvok]

Nice video. I'd say that my experience with Chaosgate with a 3080 has been great with no performance issues at all.

[@aaroncampbell5510]

Can you try starship troopers terrain command. I'm curious how it runs on the deck

[@aaroncampbell5510]

@@pcworld appreciate it. I was going to get the deck and solely use for strategy games.... maybe some indies. It seems that most people aren't having a good experience with these games on the deck tho. I think I should get something more powerful probably

[@derptyderp5287]

If you haven't already tried it, Massive Chalice is worth a playthrough... It's not the best game ever and will get repetative, but it's got its charm and would likely run very well on the Deck (what with being very old and graphically very simple.) Just checked SteamDB for the price and saw it's usually £15, which is waaay too much to pay for it, but it's currently on sale at under £4, I can recommend giving it a shot at that price.

[@JustinFike]

I love this style of genre breakdown! I'd love to see one on rpgs next as curling up in bed with a 50+ hour narrative monster sounds glorious.

[@0080ff]

Whats that framerate widget on the left corner?

[@BrendonLee]

I'd like to add Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark to the list. It's practically a carbon copy of FF Tactics with different artwork. You can tell the devs are huge fans of the series and anyone who has played it before will feel right at home.

[@lxsaglr8704]

Steam deck really shines with turn based rpgs. That's how I use mine. AAA I play on PC. Here are my recommendations: Octopath Traveler 2 Live a Live Sea of Stars Persona 5 Royal and Tactica Triangle Strategy Chained Echoes Wandering Sword East Ward Star Ocean Second Story R

[@GamerGalahDownUnder]

Can you do these types of vids with the Aya neo next?

[@antytrend]

Thanks for getting to the point

[@jelipebands1700]

Adam you take the meaning of “you play to many video games” to a whole new level!!!

[@411sponge72]

I was disappointed to hear warhammer doesn't play well on the stream deck. I know this video is around a year old so I'm curious if any of you played it recently? Any better in performance?

[@carlbolduc]

Banner Saga randomly crashes after fights. When t happens, you lose your progress. It happened to me twice early in the game, so I stream it now instead of playing it directly from the deck.

[@cagethelonewolf]

It definitely takes a few days to get used to it. If your hands don't prefectly fit all the buttons you'll have a rough time. For fast pace games like ultra kill I only need up using the bottom right top left back buttons and like to avoid r1 r2 as they aren't as easy to press

[@Niver0]

Atom RPG?

[@wund33k]

works awesome, I'm 6h in.

[@tabulaluden]

Thank you bro! You helped me decide on a couple sales.

[@totalvoid6234]

Would be good after each of these to hear a recommended framerate cap. It won't be all that tested ith just a short playtime on eachbut would give a nice idea as to how they'd play.

[@mmgbtv]

My favorite genre, thanks! Just bought and installing Otherside now. Update: audio for Otherside is extremely low. Which version of Proton were you using?

[@mmgbtv]

@@pcworld I appreciate the reply!

[@JiaNaDaRen15]

Great video! I'm very curious if Phantom Doctrine is playable on the steamdeck. I'm sure it runs fine but I'm not sure if it will be controller friendly...

[@randallorndorff]

I think there’s already lots of discussions on xcom2 controls on steam deck. It would have been a good idea to check those out.

[@joosh1769]

Great video! But I'd like to add my current addiction: Fell Seal: Arbiters Mark. Extremely similar to Final Fantasy Tactics and it runs like a dream on steam deck. Only issue I've ran into is sometimes the controller inputs don't respond, but anytime that happened, closing the game and reopening fixed it.

[@mumbrle]

there's also a problem with cloud saves, developer messed up and never addressed it. Otherwise, it's a really great game

[@Grimgrin666]

I was wondering if you have by chance been able to test Divinity Original Sin 2 or Baldur's Gate 3.

[@Ghoulbum]

Thank you for some game ideas. I have a few of these, but I didn't have some others and after watching this they are at least on my wishlist now.

[@yogiwp_]

Dang that XCOM2 is a huge bummer. Wondering how things like Civilizations or other TBS fare on the Deck?

[@samuraidiem1767]

Which steam deck did you have?

[@Gvaz]

This is the exact content I wanted

[@treepizzle]

Wow. Great video!

[@Damalycus]

Great review. I hope it gets more views.

[@Fredum]

Thanks for the video!

[@dadgamer6717]

thanks some nice games there i have but haven't played or look interesting! i'm currently playing panzer corps 2 and xcom chimera (on a normal pc but thinking of getting a steam deck for my son!)

[@nathanaelink]

Id love for someone to try and assemble a list of games that offer a novel experience for switching between playing on deck on the go then later on a high end pc. I know that’s a weird category but it’s coming from my experience with dragons dogma where it plays well on the deck but when i’m home I have mods and reshade enabled so I get a really novel experience of the game at home. It’s like I’m making meaningful progress on the deck but then on pc i get a whole new window into the game and the world.

[@GavinKimpson]

Xcom 2 works fine on the Steam Deck - I'm not sure when you did the video but I'm playing Xcom 2 now with zero issues with the controls but there are many alternatives you can download. The only downside is Xcom 2 drains battery life fast... You also missed out Xcom Enemy Unknown - an older game so runs really well and battery life its goes on forever I'd recommend adding this to your list

[@cloudboysmusic5223]

60 fps?

[@Damalycus]

By the way. How do you find steam deck's speaker setup? How good is the sound? Like your average smartphone or beefier?

[@aspikbardamu6040]

Extremely and suprisingly good - like a very good speaker

[@nothingkillsthegrimace3543]

Love this video, you covered almost every tactical RPG I could think of! Great stuff!

[@danielkuttel7867]

I played wasteland 3 around 40 hours. Its a good game, but your frustration was not only your feeling. The difficulty is very inconsistent and sometimes unfair. I died so many times because the levels are try and error.

[@DemonIced]

Hi there! Thank you so much for this video, so informative! I’m currently trying Othercide, but seem to get 15 FPS out of the box (at least during the tutorial). And that’s not even on max settings. Did you have to do anything to optimize its performance or use a specific Proton? Thank you again!

[@DemonIced]

@@pcworld Thank you for your answer! I’m on experimental now it seems to work well!

[@nixvburg7736]

Thanks for the breakdowns.

[@angelodv1503]

Try fir the king if its available

[@dukenukem7043]

im surprised u didn't put digimon in there

[@Nevik53]

I have been greatly enjoying these. Made me think about games that I missed when they released and gets me excited to use my steam deck

[@OptimisticKaiju]

Thanks for this video! I found some new titles to sink time into here :)

[@obake6290]

I enjoy these videos. I liked this and the RPG one from a while back. Haven't yet checked to see if you've done others. For a couple other games in the genre: Langrisser 1&2 remake - These run perfectly. Personally I really disliked my short time with the games and will not be continuing, but if you enjoy old-school titles like this then it's a great fit. Disgaea 2 - Now to be fair, I have not tried this on Deck. I played it on my Linux PC a while back and it worked pretty well aside from some graphical issues. If those have been resolved it should be a great experience. Disgaea 4 - While there are some reports on ProtonDB that the game now works with Proton Experimental, that was not my experience. I did get the game to launch once, but it crashed before I was able to get into a stage.

[@barrywmusic]

I just played through all of South park stick of truth, played flawlessly!

[@DaxanDaxter]

I expected him to shoot 24 different RPGs on a steamdeck to see which one damages it more

[@NarutoUsomaki1]

Please more of this!

[@NarutoUsomaki1]

@@pcworld Great, thank you!

[@joseaca1010]

Looks like the Steam Deck is a turn based strategy machine

[@Breeffeehey]

How about the Dungeon of Naheulbeuk on the Steam Deck?

[@Breeffeehey]

@@pcworld It's a D&D variant game that looks like a lot of the ones I saw in this video. Played it, love it, have to give more time to it (I have fallen for Final Fantasy XI again, and CrossCode). It's based on the French Comedy MP3 Audio Saga of the same name, and is a French game, but has English options for interface and audio. Someone who doesn't know about it might have more fun out of it, but as I know too much the MP3 Saga, some French voices have been changed, and the story kind of follow the Audio Saga Storyline... but is still an interesting game! Curious to see how it is on the Steam Deck

[@chrisp2588]

I bought Battletech on the Deck but refunded it. I found that it was too visually cluttered and my old busted eyes had trouble even making out the enemy mechs.

[@Tongobongo2034]

I'm really hoping that they can fix Daemonhunters