The Talos Principle. It’s actually my first time playing the game despite having learned about it near launch and having seen some footage and just wondering at this mysterious puzzle-solving adventure set in such beautiful locations… And it’s every bit wonderful, much more than I had expected. And there’s so much reading, too! I actually love that part and how it’s executed, because it allows me to choose whether to go lore-learning, puzzle-solving or secrets-hunting. The latter is especially amazing here: I love spending days on trying to get to something only to learn that the solution lies in a different direction and turns out to be much simpler. I wonder if that’s intended or it’s just me.
Half-Life. A while ago I tried playing THE FINALS with gyro only and quickly found out that I gravitate towards the dual-trackpad control scheme, allowing me to achieve more and do less. However, a fast-paced online shooter that is also as demanding wasn’t the perfect choice for every time I grabbed the deck, so I tried finally beating Half-Life on Hard - and got humbled. I had thought I was kinda good with gyro, but apparently not. All the better, as it led to me mixing mouse input on the right trackpad combined with gyro as opposed to committing to gyro entirely, the latter doesn’t being that much comfortable or precise on a Steam Deck, essentially rotating your controller with your screen.
I will probably pick up THE FINALS on the Steam Deck again, too, with S11 introducing bot matches. Could be a great and fun way to practice or warm up before joining someone’s team and contributing a fraction of a fraction of what I can with mouse and keyboard at least semi-predictably.
For competitive or fast paced shooters, I really like to combine gyro with flickstick, where the right Thumbstick exists only to instantly turn your character to face any direction, and then they gyro is used for any aiming beyond that. It’s especially nice for horde shooter type games where you have to constantly turn around and shoot at enemies behind you.
I recommending doing a mode shift with the right bumper (that opens the weapon selection wheel) to revert the Thumbstick to a regular stick when held, which makes swapping weapons easier.
Steam Deck.
The Talos Principle. It’s actually my first time playing the game despite having learned about it near launch and having seen some footage and just wondering at this mysterious puzzle-solving adventure set in such beautiful locations… And it’s every bit wonderful, much more than I had expected. And there’s so much reading, too! I actually love that part and how it’s executed, because it allows me to choose whether to go lore-learning, puzzle-solving or secrets-hunting. The latter is especially amazing here: I love spending days on trying to get to something only to learn that the solution lies in a different direction and turns out to be much simpler. I wonder if that’s intended or it’s just me.
Half-Life. A while ago I tried playing THE FINALS with gyro only and quickly found out that I gravitate towards the dual-trackpad control scheme, allowing me to achieve more and do less. However, a fast-paced online shooter that is also as demanding wasn’t the perfect choice for every time I grabbed the deck, so I tried finally beating Half-Life on Hard - and got humbled. I had thought I was kinda good with gyro, but apparently not. All the better, as it led to me mixing mouse input on the right trackpad combined with gyro as opposed to committing to gyro entirely, the latter doesn’t being that much comfortable or precise on a Steam Deck, essentially rotating your controller with your screen.
I will probably pick up THE FINALS on the Steam Deck again, too, with S11 introducing bot matches. Could be a great and fun way to practice or warm up before joining someone’s team and contributing a fraction of a fraction of what I can with mouse and keyboard at least semi-predictably.
For competitive or fast paced shooters, I really like to combine gyro with flickstick, where the right Thumbstick exists only to instantly turn your character to face any direction, and then they gyro is used for any aiming beyond that. It’s especially nice for horde shooter type games where you have to constantly turn around and shoot at enemies behind you.
Given how trigger-happy THE FINALS is with the ban hammer towards gyro players, I really doubt I’d be taking my chances with flickstick in that game.
But I’ve been thinking about for a while for singleplayer games, yeah. Thinking about the new DOOM trilogy for this.
Yes, Doom 2016+ are great games for it.
I recommending doing a mode shift with the right bumper (that opens the weapon selection wheel) to revert the Thumbstick to a regular stick when held, which makes swapping weapons easier.
Solid advice, thanks!