Thumper is the best rhythm game I’ve ever played, and it was made by two ex-harmonix employees who were disappointed by the direction of rock band and similar titles. It throws away all the wish fulfillment and commercial stuff and the result is amazing.
There’s not much they can do. If it’s all reverse engineered and requires as copy of the original rom for assets, the legal precedent is pretty much set. It’s why the Mario 64 PC port is still up.
I’m thinking this too… like what’s even the point of using denuvo if it’s not applied day one? The whole point is to delay piracy so they sell more copies during launch week (in theory), so waiting until after day one completely ruins that since you can just pirate the easily cracked launch version.
12 Minutes. It sucks because I was really looking forward to it - it’s published by Annapurna which has an amazing track record, and the trailer and concept looked really interesting. But it just kind of devolves into a really basic point and click game with one location where you just have to try every combination of things until something works. And the story itself is just a trainwreck. I wasn’t left satisfied or with any interesting thoughts, I was mostly just confused as to what the hell I was supposed to get out of it.
If you want a good time loop game published by Annapurna, just play Outer Wilds.
Inside and Naissancee have a lot of moments that just gave me a huge sense of awe. They have some really haunting, yet beautiful scenes.
Thumper just makes me constantly question how the hell the devs made the game look that way.
Half Life Alyx is weird because it didn’t so much blow me away with the huge things as it did with the small things. There’s so many small objects and details everywhere that stand up even when you’re physically shoving your face into them.
I don’t have a steam deck, but I use Linux and often play games from the epic store through the heroic launcher. I haven’t had an issue with a game not working. Worst case scenario, I just had to switch proton versions, which heroic makes really easy.
Haven’t played observer, but the aesthetic and horror aspect remind me of SOMA.
If you want something more action focused with a cyberpunk aesthetic, I can’t recommend Distance enough. (If you need a pitch: racing game with horror and your car can fly). I also just started playing Severed Steel and I’m enjoying it a lot so far.
I will also concur with the other person who recommended Outer Wilds. Don’t look up anything about it, go in as blind as possible, and try to see it through to the end. You will not regret it.