Steam

Steam End Of Year Review: 2023

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It’s that time of the year again, where The GabeN sits us down and tells us about the multitude of ways we collectively wasted our time throughout 2023. Apparently I’ve been really busy, especially on Achievements. So, how did I manage to have fun this year? Let’s find out!

I have a hard time wrapping my head around this one. How can you be on Steam and only play 4 games? I’m guessing these must be people that only play TF2/Counterstrike and a couple of others. Me though? Apparently I’m full of variety. I played a total of 118 different games over the span of 119 days, meaning I’m not afraid to try something new. Among those 118 games I managed to finish 9 of them, a story for another end of the year thread! 😛 I was two achievements short of getting 400. I’ve set a pretty high bar for myself on Achievements, not sure if I’ll be able to hurdle over it in 2024. 😛

Surprisingly I played a lot of newer titles this year. They were indies for the most part, some I fell in love with during NextFest! Such as; Whisker Squadron Survivor, and Gal Guardians just to name a couple.

For me this was the year of Metroidvanias and Roguelikes. I finished one of the Shantae games, and I progressed further in a multitude of others like Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night and Dust: an Elysian Tail. While I’ve also been playing Whisker Squadron Survivor and Hades. There was also some looting to be had in different variations of the Borderland’s and a tiny bit of electronic warfare of the Cyber and Mech varieties. With my collection of entertainment I’m never allowed to be bored. 😛

One quarter of my overall fun time was done on my Steam Deck with 0% regrets. Every long lunch break it was there for me whenever I needed to kill a bit of time, sometimes literally. Even managed to complete a few games on it that I probably wouldn’t have been able to finish elsewhere, thanks to cloud saving and being able to pick up where I left off after sleep mode. Some of the games I finished on Deck were the first Commander Keen Episode, Shantae: Half Genie Hero and Okami as some examples. After over a year of having the Steam Deck I can honestly say I’m quite happy with my purchase.

In conclusion: This was an amazing year to finish games both of past and present, and discovering new adventures. May the distractions I have in 2024 be just as incredible as previous years.

Feeling Cosmic

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Today I decided to tackle the 2nd Episode of Cosmo’s Cosmic Adventure! Another fun one for my Steam Deck

There was a lot of dying on the 2nd level (I’m a snob for trying to get as many stars as possible), but I did make it safely through the wild mushroom jungle. Maybe now that I have it on Steam Deck I’ll finally have some patience to finish it! I’ve already made it farther in Jazz Jackrabbit and Commander Keen than ever, so it only makes sense to add this gem to the roster.

This Demo Is Batty!

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Been playing more of the Grim Guardians: Demon Purge Demo, it’s a fun challenge! So far I’ve managed to unlock a new technique that combines both characters, also I defeated the BAT BOSS. This really does a good job nailing the Castlevania aesthetic.

If you like Metroidvanias I recommend giving it a try!

The Overlord’s Steam Replay 2022!

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As we draw closer to the end of the year; Lord Gaben has given us PC Players the gift of Replay! So that we may look back at all the time we wasted throughout the year on fun entertainment. Here are my stats:

This was a good year for buying new games. We had Stray, Freedom Planet 2, Neon White to name a few. It was actually an excellent year for new indie releases! I’m kinda impressed with my amount of controller usage – I was expecting it to at least be a couple percent more.

I’m kinda surprised at how low these averages really are. 21 achievements in an entire year? Especially when there are some games that just throw achievements at you like an ice storm.

With the release of the Steam Deck, it gave me a more accessible way to play on the go. Thanks to my Steam Deck I’ve actually been able to make progress in some of my library, like Okami and Dust: An Elysian Tail. This device has been a welcome addition to my family of gaming swag, and proves to me how versatile it is on a daily basis. I regret nothing.

According to Lord Gaben, my busiest month for screwing off is September. I got my Steam Deck just before then, so we can see that I have an easier time open my games to goof around now. Thanks, Gabe!

Here’s to a fun year of gaming! Bring on the next!

The Third Season Of Gaben Is Underway

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The Steam Autumn Sale is currently in full swing at the time of writing this. I haven’t purchased anything yet, but I’m thinking about it… as is tradition. 😛 I’m giving myself until the weekend to get something, if not there’s always the upcoming Winter Sale.

Ok… I Did It.

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I was showing the specs of the upcoming Steam Deck to a friend of mine the other day, when I happened to notice the pre-order date had been extended (despite ending in July according to the official site). I’ve been reading up on the hardware, and admire Valve’s dedication, and even working alongside AMD for this project. I decided since the actual money doesn’t go out until these are ready I said to myself “screw it!” I’ll get in line to pre-order one of these (512GB model for obvious reasons)! I know I would be able to utilize it accordingly, and it would be an absolute bonus if I got my hands on it before a holiday trip next year! It will be interesting to see how many units sell, and if it helps add to the Linux Gaming Marketshare.

The Steam Boy Is The Steam Deck

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I. Fucking. Want. This.

They have the Steam Deck in three different storage sizes, and for the most part the hardware is pretty solid. It also has an optional dock that you can purchase, similar to the Nintendo Switch.

I’m not going to pre-order, but I do want to see where this goes. I don’t see this replacing my gaming laptop or Linux Surface, but it would be nice to have a tiny gaming handheld for long car trips and other situations where I’m forced to sit down and do nothing…

Watch Out For This Source Engine Exploit

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If for any reason you find yourself playing a multiplayer Source Engine game DO NOT accept any invites from strangers.

Secret Club are a not-for-profit reverse engineering group who’ve found a number of exploits with Valve’s software, which they explain in a series of posts on Twitter. Each of these exploits are remote code execution flaws, which Secret Club told me via email gives a hacker “full control over the victim’s system, which can be used to steal passwords, banking information, and more.”

If what is being reported in the article is true then Valve has been aware of this exploit for two years. This is a serious exploit to have open in the wild, and hopefully the exposure encourages them to get off their duffs to 86 it from their code! Be very careful when playing Source games until this gets resolved.

It’s ironic reading this a day after playing around in GMod with Yutram! Fortunately, it was just the both of us goofing around on maps that would probably be unappealing to twelve year olds Fortnite enthusiasts.