![]() ![]() Quite a few games give you choices in this way, so you can go with whatever feels more natural. Blackwell also encourages you to use the X button to examine and A to pick up an item. I’ve yet to master the art of clicking this way without also moving the cursor a bit, though, so it’s perhaps just as well that the Deck triggers work for that too. If you’re used to laptop trackpads, you’ll quickly feel right at home, swiping to move the mouse cursor and pushing to click. I admit I was sceptical when I fired up The Blackwell Legacy, especially as I haven’t even used laptops much in the past, but by the time I was ten minutes in and gotten Rosa to the dog park, I’d pretty much got the hang of it and soon forgot about everything but solving the mystery. But they’re surprisingly effective once you get used to their speediness, and worlds better than trying to use a thumbstick. ![]() They don’t look like much, and definitely can’t match a good laptop trackpad, especially when it comes to pixel hunting, given how quickly they whisk the cursor around by default, making it a bit more finicky to hit (or find) small targets. Instead, look below the thumbsticks and you’ll see a small trackpad on either side, about an inch square, ready to take on cursor-driving duties for lefties and righties alike. But don’t go in thinking (as I did) that you’ll be point-and-tapping your way to success the device is just too big and unwieldy to use one-handed for long. The Deck does come with a touchscreen that you can interact with directly, and this comes in handy for games that occasionally need you to type something. The clever part lies in how it deals with games (such as most point-and-click adventures) that are designed for mouse and keyboard alone. It has all the usual gamepad controls, such as thumbsticks, shoulder buttons and a d-pad, so titles with controller support make the jump fairly easily. And the reality is indeed (nearly) as seamless as that, which is nothing short of a software engineering marvel. No complex setup, no need to buy your games over again, just download and play. The pitch is pretty simple: Valve’s Steam Deck is a tiny but full-featured PC you can take with you to play your Steam games anytime, anywhere, either handheld or (with the aid of an add-on docking accessory sold separately) even on your big-screen TV with your favourite controller. There are a few minor speed bumps to be aware of, but after six months playing a variety of games, I find that adventure gaming on my Steam Deck feels wonderfully liberating. That’s great, but what does it mean for adventure and puzzle fans? Can we finally play Backbone on the bus, Thimbleweed Park on the train, or Chicory on the couch? Yes, yes we can. ![]() If you’ve been on Steam or glanced at a tech news article sometime in the past year, you may have heard of it, usually alongside a reviewer raving about its ability to put high-profile action games in the palm of your hand. Initially just for enthusiasts with deep pockets, Valve has now entered the fray with its much more affordable Steam Deck. If that’s you nodding and sighing resignedly, good news: lately we’ve started to see full-on gaming PCs shrink all the way down to console size. And switching to a new platform would mean buying (or re-buying) a whole new set of games, when you already have enough in your Steam library to keep yourself entertained pretty much forever. Except your desktop’s tethered to your desk and your laptop’s not exactly bus-friendly. But then you look over at your friends with their Nintendo Switches and strangers on the train whiling away the time playing games on their phones, and you wish you could join them. You’ve got yourself a PC, you’ve been gleefully taking advantage of all the sales on Steam, GOG and other online stores, and now you’ve got a boatload of great games to play. ![]()
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