That’s very true! I haven’t actually tried Guild Wars 2 on the Steam Deck yet myself, personally - the last time I looked, I recall that a fair few keybinds need to be set before it’s playable and that seemed a bit too overwhelming to me at the time. Have you tried it? What’s it like? c:

It really depends! Sometimes we’re playing through story together (if there’s new stuff out we haven’t done yet), sometimes we’ll be doing fractals (so technically endgame PvE), sometimes we’ll go achievement hunting together or maybe farm if there’s something we particularly need for something.

I’ve been considering trying PvP and/or WvW again, but I’m a little scared because I very much consider myself to be a casual player and I’m afraid I’d be holding my team back with my inexperience. :c

Overwatch 2… :(

The last few games I’ve played with people have been Guild Wars 2, Overwatch 2, Gunfire Reborn & Tower Unite. c:

If we’re also counting browser games, Gartic Phone and Board Game Online.

Now that’s a blast from the past I’d completely forgotten about…!

The ones I remember most vividly were the Disney handhelds (for me, most notably Aladdin, The Lion King, Pocahontas & The Little Mermaid) but I have very fond memories of playing them!

Knowing how game difficulty has changed over the years, I do question whether I’d be able to complete the games with ease now… feels like a lot of the games I played as a kid (like Sonic Adventure 2: Battle) were actually quite hard, or at least I’ve struggled as an adult trying to replay them!

If you’re a fan of Stardew Valley and games like that, might I suggest Disney Dreamlight Valley? While there is a story (and there are extra character-specific quests you can do), you don’t have to do them (or indeed anything). You’re free to do what you like.

It’s currently my go-to game when I want to play something but I’m just not sure what. Running around collecting materials to craft new items to decorate my Valley (or even just seeing what my residents are doing) brings me joy and whiles away the hours before I know what’s happening!

Another suggestion would be Slime Rancher, which is another low stakes (potentially no stakes, you can turn off the one ‘enemy’ in the game that might disrupt your cosy experience - the Tarr slimes) game which has you running (and renovating) a slime ranch (funnily enough). The slimes are adorable, the music is very chill, and the world is so colourful I often enjoy just roaming around enjoying the scenery.

Seconding Guild Wars 2! One of my favourite things about it is how when it comes to levelling, it supports whatever you want to do. If you literally just want to run around killing things and participating in dynamic events, you get experience for that. If you want to forego combat and just run around exploring the world and seeing what you can find, you get experience for that. If you want less freedom and would prefer a more structured story, guess what, you get experience for that. If you don’t want combat or story, and instead would prefer to be a humble craftsman… yep, you get experience for that, too. (I accidentally leveled an alt to 80 just through crafting!)

The combat is a huge selling point for Guild Wars 2 in my opinion, as it spares you the dreaded ‘hotbar bloat’ of similar MMOs by keeping it simple. Every class/profession gets 5 main skills, 1 healing skill, 3 utility skills and an ‘ultimate’ skill. On top of that, a few of them may get a few extra buttons (e.g. for directing pets or swapping stances) but that’s about it. Additionally, a lot of the content can be completed with any gear and more or less any build; you don’t have to worry about minmaxing or being optimal if you don’t want to.

Thanks for sharing! This loosely reminds me of ‘I Hit It With My Axe’ (a very, very old series where porn stars played D&D together for the first time). I loved these queens in Drag Race so seeing them playing one of my favourite tabletop games is sure to be a real treat c: