look, i'm not trying to defend the game, just conveying my initial impressions about it.

the only thing i am worried about before placing my pre-order would be the future of the game under the Bungie we know today (looking at you Destiny 2).

will this potential rise or flop? future is gonna show..

yes, the extraction shooter approach is quite risky and is a controversial take on a forgotten series which was Marathon.

personally, i'd say that it's on the one side there isn't a lot of exfil fps' that cater to a more casual audience, on the other hand it's got it's niche and specific fanbase

sure, a single player story focused game would've looked epic, but it wouldn't make much profit with the current production value compared to a multiplayer model where new players constantly arrive and old ones staying, leaving and returning.

this is an abacus :)

closing: i decided to go with the 512GB LCD variant as not only it was way cheaper, was the only LCD Deck with an anti glare glass but also at the time, Valve was pulling them off the shelfs once the stock ran out.

as for 450$ i paid in total on Steam, i seriously can't complain, great competitor!

as it comes to the device itself, it's really comfortable to use.

thumbsticks, buttons, bumpers and triggers as well as grip buttons feel really responsive and ergonomic. weight is nice.

the only complaint for me would be the dual touchpads, they are a bit too sensitive when it comes to presses.

now i do have to also mention that Mihoyo's games aren't Linux compatible natively and are not on Steam itself (except Honkai Impact 3rd, which i don't play), so everything was ran using HoyoPlay under Proton/Wine via NonSteamLaunchers.

framerate difference isn't marginal, or in some cases... is worse!

you have to cut some slack though: Deck is Linux, not Windows optimized.

comparing performance of Zenless on both SteamOS and Windows, i could notice very simillar performance on both systems, with Linux having maybe ~4-5fps less.

now. you can dual boot it with Windows using rEFInd which there is a Steam Deck version. and yes, Valve provides you drivers for this thing as well, but your support may vary drastically.

controller support, power and fan controls are heavily limited without third party tools and-

when it comes to Wine compatibilty: with a mainstream gaming UMPC (i guess it counts as one), comes a great community of enthusiasts who made amazing workarounds for Windows games (those outside Steam) as well.

i managed to run Mihoyo's "Zenless Zone Zero" just fine with really playable framerates.

SteamOS proofed to me that Arch has amazing potential when greatly tailored and optimized as well as showing that it isn't that scary at all!

in fact, after last time using it in 2023 iirc, i reinstalled it on my ThinkPad X200s that i use for backpack sized Linux stuff.

abacus > calculator

prime days

i fucked up in the css code for the announcements, instead of width i gave it margin! mobile looks scuffed now.

will fix that in upcoming days dw

It is a call from my kind...