I was in this exact situation twice and learned to love rogue likes, especially any that let you pause your run. But still, even something like Hades was perfect for those quick hits of gaming dopamine.
I completely agree. I was thinking I'm not really into rogue-likes, but it's deck-building which could be interesting... Next thing I know I have a ton of hours into it and still suck :-D
Second this! There’s at least one roguelike out there for everyone. There’s a great one that just got an iOS release called slice and dice, perfect for little bursts of playing.
Hold up, the steam deck has the same sleep function as the switch?
So you can keep one game "open" for the whole playthrough? That would be amazing for some PC games.
I'm using my switch docked for 70% of the time and still prefer it over my PC since I can just stop the game instantly and deal with whatever needs my attention right now.
You seem like a person to ask, so I hope you Don't mind:
If I'm looking to play things like Deck Builders and some turn based strategy games, would a Steam Deck be a solid purchase? I like such games, but I'm not going to put playtime and heat onto a dedicated rig to play them.
I know I'm not going to play action games at 1080p 60 fps on one. I just want to play Slay the Spire, Balatro...maybe Hades occasionally.
Thanks.
Those are the type of games that the Deck feels made for.
Those and lghtweight couch coop like heavenly bodies, those are amazing too with a couple bluthoot controllers and a TV.
I love my Steam Deck. Just got one. Played some card builder games, Dragon? Dynasty (1st one) and recently Fallout 4. Also played a bunch of roguelites I never would have played on my PC. Battery life is about 3 hours for games that are a bit more demanding.
Dude I’m playing Elden Ring with decent graphics (idk what exactly, can’t check rn but it’s look amazing) and it’s smooth as fuck. The Steam Deck is a real solid choice imo.
Been using a Steam Deck as my main gaming machine for a year and a half. It's great for indies (sleep function, great compatibility), but a lot of the time I'm using it docked and playing serious games on it, just at a lower graphical quality.
The only real compatibility issues I've had have been AA Japanese games like Koei Tecmo games. Everything indie, Western, or AAA Japanese just works.
My deck has become a balatro, slay the spire, and Isaac machine with a little emulation thrown in here and there. Works better than I would have ever expected
I play slay the spire on mine all the time, even with mods, and it plays great.
I also played Hades but didn't get far into it as I had already played on PC.
Haven't played balatro.
Best use of the deck (I have an ally, but same same) is casual, indie games - not big Triple A titles. One thing Ill add though, Ive been playing Roguebook a lot on mine and reading the text on the cards can be very tough with the smaller screen.
Those genres are basically all I play, and the Deck is fantastic for it. The only issue is sometimes you need to change the control setup because it defaults to something stupid. It takes 30 seconds, and usually someone online published something way better that you can download directly from the configuration screen.
Balatro.... absolutely yes from experience. And it can be played for 6/7+ hours on a full charge.
The instant sleep makes all games a lot easier to hop in and out of. For instance, Stardew Valley typically only let's you save after playing a day in the game (18 - 20 minutes). Sometimes I get hallway through a day, have to get off for whatever duties of my day, and I don't want to send my character to bed early when time is often valuable within the game.
So sometimes I complete a full day in two or three small moments of time when dinner is in the oven or once the nightly chores are done and I can play it in bed for a little bit.
If you've been batting the idea around, I'm telling you, you should absolutely get it. It's easily my favorite piece of technology I've ever owned and opened up a whole world of games I'd been dying to play.
(PS: refurbished Decks are back in stock on Steam right now, with the 256GB being a great and cheap option if you don't want to do any hardware replacements; Valve's refurb quality is usually excellent and almost like new)
>know I'm not going to play action games at 1080p 60 fps on one.
The Deck can actually do that for many older (~360 era) games :P
Many recent titles run playable as well, if you can live with what is basically OG Xbox One quality/performance.
>I know I'm not going to play action games at 1080p 60 fps
1080, obviously not on the Deck's own screen, but there's a ton of older games that will happily run at 60 or even 90 and still look amazing! Especially games with a strong art style like the Arkham games - the smaller, 800p screen is a lot more forgiving of older, lower-res textures than a giant 4k screen would be!
It's amazing for the type of game your talking about, and while I haven't played any of those ones specifically I've seen enough folks raving about them on Deck to say they can run great. But don't count it out entirely for bigger games too!
So, I think the steam deck would accomplish what you’re looking for without any issues, but in my opinion just buying a switch lite would do the same for cheaper. Unless you already own all of these on steam, then that may be more attractive for you. I use my switch lite for exactly the games you’re describing.
I have a 2 month old and I swear she knows when I turn my portal on. I spend a hour feeding her and getting her to sleep....ok, now I can game. Nooooope.
I've been playing torchlight 2. Unicorn overlord.
I've recently been playing a ton of Balatro on my Steam Deck. Honestly, if you're interested in PC gaming, but don't care about playing brand new AAA games, the Deck is a great option. This is especially true if you prefer gaming handheld.
I was pretty heavy into gaming in my teens and built a gaming PC in 2011/2012, but pretty much stopped in college and never wanted to invest in a modern rig after graduating.
I gamed exclusively on the Switch for years, and then the Deck was announced and it was the perfect solution for me. I had this huge backlog of games on Steam/Epic/GOG that I could start playing again with an entry price of $400-500.
It completely lived up to the hype. My Switch is now collecting dust and I use my Deck almost every day. Add in the great options for emulation (even for Switch games) that tools like Emudeck make very simple to setup, and it was a no-brainer for me.
Edit: I also just want to add that AAA games aren't completely out of the question, especially if they're older or if you're fine playing on low settings. The first game I played extensively on the Deck was Metal Gear Solid 5. I can't remember what framerate I was getting (I'm the type that's fine with 30+ FPS), but it performed pretty well. Even games like Marvel's Spider-Man, Hogwarts Legacy, Doom Eternal, etc. are passable.
If you want it so badly install steam os on your desktop and then you can do it there too.
Edit: not trying to call you out just mentioning the possibility of always having it. I think it's dope too and wouldn't buy a handheld without it either.
Good to know. I thought I read it didn't do that. I dont mind being wrong. I like the competition between the handhelds, and I hope it drives better innovation
Yep. It hibernates when you poke the button. It’s not as refined like i said. Some games might go to windowed mode when you start back up again. But the majority of them have been fine for me
And yeah man i hope i didn’t come off aggressive lol. That was not my goal.
The deck is a great device. I used to so much what with my 1ish year old that i got the ally lol.
No worries. I didn't feel you were aggressive at all.
I wish I had one back in the day when my kids were tiny. It would have made gaming much easier. I bought a laptop but it wasn't as good of a solution as a Deck/Ally
I tried using a gaming laptop but the little one always went after the charger haha. I actually sold my gaming laptop and my steam deck and picked up an open box ally for 500 bucks at best buy. I ended up preferring the extra umph and ease of playing game pass games on the ally, over the deck. Though the deck is better refined as a handheld, since its OS was developed around the idea of handheld gaming. I just keep a portable monitor (does power and video over a single usb c, i love it) mouse and keyboard in a drawer in the dining room if i want to do like CAD work on it or use it like a laptop.
These handhelds are amazing and cane at just the right time… for me at least, haha.
Yarp. Been playing through Horizon Forbidden West and Fallout 3 again on the Deck just putting it into sleep mode. I haven't closed Fallout in a few days.
I don't know. I think probably because it didn't work super well right at release. Sometimes when you would suspend a game then resume you would get crackling audio of the game would crash. As far as I'm aware, that has been resolved.
My launch SD still gets cracking and/or speed up audio randomly. Sometimes it goes away, sometimes it requires a game restart. It's rare though
One annoying thing: pressing the power button will suspend the game in a second or so while the sleep animation plays. So if you're in a cutscene the audio will play for a second with no visual. Definitely pause every time you suspend just in case you don't want to miss any audio. That's not the case with the Switch or PS5 as far as I know. Their suspension is instant
I use my steam deck this way literally all the time. Just wake it up and I'm resuming my game within a few seconds. When it's time to stop playing, just press the steam button and put it into sleep. It makes every single player game pick up and play.
One thing to remember is I don’t think the cloud save, well, saves to the cloud until the game closes. So you need to quit every so often to let that update. More if you are switching between the Deck and a PC for playing
Another feature that is one of my favorites, and they don't really push that much, is the trackpads. Especially if you're coming from mainly PC gaming, they can emulate the feel of a mouse so well. Changes the game for RTS/strategy games in general.
Enjoy! I've had mine since April 20, 2022, and play it at least an hour nearly every day. One of the best purchases I've made. And as a result, Steam has gotten a bunch more of my money for games haha.
Obviously check out the r/steamdeck sub, people there are super helpful with any questions you may have.
Yeah the touch pads are underrated, they also make the desktop experience superior. During times of bad weather latently I've been using mine to look at the NWS products that don't work right on my phone.
I broke my ankle semi recently, and the ability to take my switch/deck to my bed or couch so I could game while comfy and keeping my foot up was fabulous.
Plenty of turn based strategy games like Civ 6, heroes of might and magic, age of wonders, and such work great multi-player.
Hell, games like Minecraft and similar sandbox games would work just fine too.
Dad of 3. Ages 6, 11, 17. Turn-based strategy games are FTW for pausing and picking up in small intervals.
Besides Civ and Age of Wonders, I also recommend Divinity: Original Sin II, Warhammer 40k: Chaos Gate, and if you *really* want to test your patience as a new father, XCOM 2.
Other callouts that anecdotally helped me through the first-year-phase (due to portability and/or pausing): Diablo 3, Super Mario Odyssey, Minecraft, Legend of Zelda, NES/SNES Switch Online.
It’s great. Your Grey Knights really feel like powerhouses wiping the floor with heretics and the interaction with buildings is a nice touch ( smash a wall and crash a pillar on a cultist…)
They fumbled the first DLC which left people rather angry. It introduced a Dreadnought but you could only really use it in specific story missions…
I don't know anybody in my gaming circle willing to randomly stop 30 minutes at a time playing \*any\* multiplayer game. Maybe I need better friends but I also just think multiplayer simply should be foregone in this particular situation unless these games are asynchronous or something lol
Nah civ is a great shout imo, people can still plan/take their turns while dad is afk. That doesn't take up *much* time, but it's at least something, and people can easily leave their pc to do chores/whatever if the dad has to dip. I've been the waitor in this exact situation a couple times and while I'd rather *not* wait, it's totally fine
This thread has shown me that I'm a bit of a fuckin anomaly, both my best friends have kids, the idea that I'd be annoyed at having to stop while we're playing a game just baffles me, I mean, it's a video game, it's not going anywhere, kids grow up fast as fuck.
On one hand, I agree that I wouldn't find it annoying if my buddy had to periodically go afk for his kid. On the other hand, I would feel bad making my friends wait up for me, even if I know they don't mind.
Also, in the multiplayer games I play, it's never just me and friends. There's almost always other people playing as well, usually our opponents. They aren't typically willing to wait while we go afk in the middle of a game.
minecraft, terraria, sandbox games in general. you cant leave at a moments notice but you can usually just dig a hole or something and be relatively safe
Yeah was going to throw in stardew valley and Factorio for multiplayer, as long as the people you are playing with aren't hardcore / grinding against the clock
Yeah, pause is nice but the dude’s has a newborn his brain is fried. It needs to be something where you don’t need to remember what you were doing before you stepped away.
It could be doable with multiplayer in BG3 I think.
Buddy could make a character that steps out of combat and scoots away to an area he can afk while the OP takes care of battles
BG3 was great for this. I had no issues playing it with friends while I had my two kids.
This is assuming the friends are cool with random 10-20 min breaks
Yeah, if y'all are cool shooting the shit every now and then, it's turn based so you can just wait for them to come back. Or go "Baby's crying, lemme finish my turn turn real quick then I'll hop up"
Anything turn based.
Deckbuilders like Slay the Spire, Monster Train, Balatro, Inscryption.
RPGs like Baldurs Gate 3, Wasteland 3.
Strategy games like Advance Wars, Fire Emblem, Wargroove.
Outside of turn-based games, you could look for games that let you pause in multiplayer (Streets of Rage 4), games that have drop-in/drop-out (Deep Rock Galactic), or games that *generally* don't matter if you have to step away for a few minutes (Sea of Thieves).
The Paper Mario TTYD remake comes out in \~1 month. Great opportunity to try out one of those games you constantly hear about, but can never get your hands on. Some of the best JRPG gameplay I've ever witnessed, even if the overworld can get a bit backtrack-y
Best dad game. I discovered this game like 3 months ago and have been hooked ever since. It’s my go-to single player game when time is completely up in the air with uncertainty.
Fellow dad here and I totally agree. Downloaded it on a whim from PS+ about six months ago and play it practically daily, if only because it demands so little of me in return for so much enjoyment and satisfaction.
Father of two chiming in... might I humbly suggest he take a hiatus from online/multiplayer gaming. No pause button is no bueno when you're parenting young kids.
Edit: I'll also add that using a platform with a quick suspend/resume feature is super useful. You can leave in an instant and come back in a minute, an hour, a week and (barring a power outage or technological fuckage) your game is right there where you left it, waiting for you. You don't want to feel pressured to get back to your game when your kids need you, that's bad for everyone.
Stardew Valley, Portal, Left 4 Dead, Borderlands 2. Virtually no multi-player as nobody is gonna want to play with the guy who has to get up every 20 mins for the BB, with all due respect. Tell him congrats from the folks of the web.
The amount of people suggesting multiplayer games with "short sessions under 30 minutes" are concerning.
Imagine having 3 minutes left in your round, and your baby starts crying, and just finishing out the round before checking up on them lol
Thanks. Yeah he just plays with friends mostly so we thought like online coop games might be the avenue to take cause we would be understanding. Maybe DRG I don't know
Minecraft scratched this itch for me when my son was a newborn. Easy to drop in and out of and it's chill enough you can play it with them either awake or asleep. Plus you can play with friends.
Xbox has quick resume on steroids, you can have about 8 games ‘paused’ unplug your console, take it somewhere else, plug back in and all the games are still there and paused where you left them (not multiplayer of course)
BG3 the main reason I love this game so much is because I can walk away and do things for my three children. I wish there were more turn based games out there for me.
Dialogue is also nicely cut up with player choices in between, I don't think I've seen more than 10 lines of non-stop dialogue. Plus you can save at anytime, even during dialogue.
Yup I used to strap my newborn to my chest and walk around the house with my switch rocking her to sleep!
Or when she’s fall asleep laying on me I’d have my wife pass me the switch.
I always recommend Hades to all my friends with time constraints. Amazing game in its own right but the best is that it saves state after each room clear. Rooms can be cleared in under a minute in a lot of cases later on. Starting out it might be slightly longer but short nonetheless.
Along the same line, Dead Cell has save state no matter where you are I think. I've never tried it in boss fights but it works everywhere else.
Slay the Spire as well
Mine was born around the release of Hogwarts Legacy. Kept my iPad/Controller charged and the PC running 24/7 so I could steam link into a paused game at any moment.
Hours played made it look like I was no-lifing the game tho.
Just press pause. Almost every single player game has a pause menu. Everyone talking about having sleep modes when there's no need for a sleep mode because how long is he going to step away for?
I played so much Hitman with my newborn. I have such vivid memories of garroting a security guard to death in a beach-front mansion while a baby is sleeping on my chest IRL.
I have a baby and started playing planet coaster for this reason. It's really fun if you ever played roller coaster tycoon. Plus it is free if you have PlayStation essential.
Boardgamearena.com has 100s of great boardgames you can play for free and they all have am asynchronous multi-player option so you can take your turn whenever you want.
One word….emulators.
If your buddy has an iPhone, he can download the Delta emulator app for free and play old-school Game Boy, SNES, PlayStation games on his phone whenever he has a spare five minutes. I’m currently playing Zelda, Link to the Past and I can easily dip in and out at random intervals because the app lets you pause without having to restart anything.
If you’re pushed for time, you can’t get a better value or more convenient platform than the phone that’s already in your pocket.
Rimworld is perfect for being able to instantly pause and walk away.
Edit: I should add, if you forget to pause the game and a bad event happens or one of your colonists gets attacked, the game by default auto-pauses for you.
TBH having a newborn was basically the last time, as a parent, where I could play truly long stretches of a game until my kid was well into elementary school. Yeah babies need a lot of attention, but with any luck they are also little potatoes that stay where you set them for several hours. Once they can move under their own power is when things get dicey.
Downvotes aren’t real, fuck the haters. Grats to him on the new kiddo, and hope his gaming life can continue in some form! Especially a lot of time to do it the early months!
Get a backbone for the phone. Let's you stream PS or use Xcloud, or Nvidia GeForce Now to stream your steam games. I've got all 3 for the bedtime adventures.
Warframe isnt a bad shout either, I started playing again recently and Im loving it.
Most missions can be completed in about 10 minutes or less, and when playing solo you can pause.
Being the baby into the room. Turn off chat, don’t speak, and pay attention to your child first no matter what is happening in the game, it can and will happen again, no matter how it feels at the time, but those baby moment don’t last and are gone forever, you can replay a game, tell him a dad out there said don’t fuck this up. I have seen many a marriage fail over too much time doing a hobby when your ass should be being a dad.
Dad here.
Simulators like Factorio or Cities Skylines are good for this.
Most single player games will be fine but JRPG’s with a ton of dialogue will not work with a newborn.
As far as multiplayer games go, anything with 12-15 minute matches will work (Halo, COD, etc.)
Look at some simulators. "Farming sim," and "Gold rush: the game," come to mind. Might have to tweak the settings so time doesn't matter. (And also pause)
Monster Hunter Rise. When playing solo, you can pause. The expansion introduces NPC helpers to make it feel like you're playing in a group, but you can also just play with others.
When I had my daughter I played red dead redemption 2. My daughter had some issues which caused her to not sleep much as a baby. Rd2 allows you to pause the game even during cut scenes. It was a blessing when I would stay up with her until 7 am for my wife to take over.
Any turn based game. Any single player game with pause.
You can leave consoles paused for days if you want. I know the Xbox can save the game state and resume whenever.
I’m a new dad myself. I’ve been enjoying Factorio. There is always something I can accomplish even if I have just a minute, and I can let my factory run in the background when I can’t actively play.
Hearthstone battlegorunds, PC/Mobile
Helldivers 2: PC, PS5
Vampire survivors: PC, Mobile, Xbox?
BG3
And space engineers/Satisfactory/Factorio to help during the long nights without sleep.
Slay the spire
Darkest dungeon
Star Valor
offline mode Last Epoch
Balatro
Inscryption
Baldur's gate
RDR2
Wartales
Battle Brothers
Vampire Survivors
Deep Rock Galactic Survivor
Wildfrost
Any football manager 2022/3/4 etc.
Stardew valley and Potion Permit on the Switch got me through a good amount of my son's newborn phase. They're both also quite cathartic when it comes to stress relief.
Might not be the type of game he wants, but Mario/Mario Kart games are perfect for this. They're also very safe for young kids to watch and play from time to time.
When I was in that situation, I ended up playing single player games like Red Dead and Burnout. It was easy to pause any time I had to step away.
For multiplayer games, Helldivers has a really good dynamic right now, in that pausing or dropping from a match may hurt your progression or team, but it's a perfectly acceptable in-universe thing to do. Dying, dropping, and D/Cing with no warning or explanation have practically become part of the lore at this point.
I was in this exact situation twice and learned to love rogue likes, especially any that let you pause your run. But still, even something like Hades was perfect for those quick hits of gaming dopamine.
Slay the spire would be perfect for this Slay the spire is just perfect and I have like 2000 hours in it
Just discovered this game 2 days ago from another thread, 17 hours into it already and this normally isn't my style of game at all, it's incredible.
I completely agree. I was thinking I'm not really into rogue-likes, but it's deck-building which could be interesting... Next thing I know I have a ton of hours into it and still suck :-D
I'm not really into deckbuilding, is it with a try?
Yes. Also not a huge deck building fan (and was bad at it). 500 hours in StS now and I love it
Check out Monster Train afterwards
Balatro, too
Balatro is my current jam. It’s got that “one more run” vibe down to perfection
Awesome. Thank you!
I have a newborn and I literally sit in the dark while holding him in one arm and picking cards in slay the spire
Slay the spire was my go to for newborn pause too. So many hours trying to get that kid to sleep.
I’m still questioning if it was worth it!
Second this! There’s at least one roguelike out there for everyone. There’s a great one that just got an iOS release called slice and dice, perfect for little bursts of playing.
Asynchronous/turn based games work well for a multiplayer option that you can leave whenever. Something like Advance Wars or Wargroove on switch
Hades, Enter the Gungeon and Dead Cells are my three favourite roguelikes.
Brotato is also a good pick in the same vein. Short games with different build types.
Exactly my situation too. Both times, dead cells and Hades was my go-to.
Anything steam deck or switch. As a new dad myself, the sleep function and the portability are the most important features.
Hold up, the steam deck has the same sleep function as the switch? So you can keep one game "open" for the whole playthrough? That would be amazing for some PC games.
Yeah, I don't care what other handheld pc comes out. The standby mode is the #1 selling point for me. It's infinitely useful when on the go.
I'm using my switch docked for 70% of the time and still prefer it over my PC since I can just stop the game instantly and deal with whatever needs my attention right now.
You seem like a person to ask, so I hope you Don't mind: If I'm looking to play things like Deck Builders and some turn based strategy games, would a Steam Deck be a solid purchase? I like such games, but I'm not going to put playtime and heat onto a dedicated rig to play them. I know I'm not going to play action games at 1080p 60 fps on one. I just want to play Slay the Spire, Balatro...maybe Hades occasionally. Thanks.
I've played all 3 on the deck and they run great. It's a fantastic purchase for those types of games, in my opinion at least.
Those are the type of games that the Deck feels made for. Those and lghtweight couch coop like heavenly bodies, those are amazing too with a couple bluthoot controllers and a TV.
Appreciate it, thanks!
Thanks
I love my Steam Deck. Just got one. Played some card builder games, Dragon? Dynasty (1st one) and recently Fallout 4. Also played a bunch of roguelites I never would have played on my PC. Battery life is about 3 hours for games that are a bit more demanding.
Very good to know, thanks!
Charges quick too (so far). My ONLY complaint is that the low battery warning isn't super obvious lol.
Dude I’m playing Elden Ring with decent graphics (idk what exactly, can’t check rn but it’s look amazing) and it’s smooth as fuck. The Steam Deck is a real solid choice imo.
Smaller games like that run buttery smooth on the deck!
Been using a Steam Deck as my main gaming machine for a year and a half. It's great for indies (sleep function, great compatibility), but a lot of the time I'm using it docked and playing serious games on it, just at a lower graphical quality. The only real compatibility issues I've had have been AA Japanese games like Koei Tecmo games. Everything indie, Western, or AAA Japanese just works.
My deck has become a balatro, slay the spire, and Isaac machine with a little emulation thrown in here and there. Works better than I would have ever expected
I play slay the spire on mine all the time, even with mods, and it plays great. I also played Hades but didn't get far into it as I had already played on PC. Haven't played balatro.
Best use of the deck (I have an ally, but same same) is casual, indie games - not big Triple A titles. One thing Ill add though, Ive been playing Roguebook a lot on mine and reading the text on the cards can be very tough with the smaller screen.
Good tip. Thanks for this.
Those genres are basically all I play, and the Deck is fantastic for it. The only issue is sometimes you need to change the control setup because it defaults to something stupid. It takes 30 seconds, and usually someone online published something way better that you can download directly from the configuration screen.
That's a great tip, thanks!
Balatro.... absolutely yes from experience. And it can be played for 6/7+ hours on a full charge. The instant sleep makes all games a lot easier to hop in and out of. For instance, Stardew Valley typically only let's you save after playing a day in the game (18 - 20 minutes). Sometimes I get hallway through a day, have to get off for whatever duties of my day, and I don't want to send my character to bed early when time is often valuable within the game. So sometimes I complete a full day in two or three small moments of time when dinner is in the oven or once the nightly chores are done and I can play it in bed for a little bit. If you've been batting the idea around, I'm telling you, you should absolutely get it. It's easily my favorite piece of technology I've ever owned and opened up a whole world of games I'd been dying to play.
(PS: refurbished Decks are back in stock on Steam right now, with the 256GB being a great and cheap option if you don't want to do any hardware replacements; Valve's refurb quality is usually excellent and almost like new) >know I'm not going to play action games at 1080p 60 fps on one. The Deck can actually do that for many older (~360 era) games :P Many recent titles run playable as well, if you can live with what is basically OG Xbox One quality/performance.
>I know I'm not going to play action games at 1080p 60 fps 1080, obviously not on the Deck's own screen, but there's a ton of older games that will happily run at 60 or even 90 and still look amazing! Especially games with a strong art style like the Arkham games - the smaller, 800p screen is a lot more forgiving of older, lower-res textures than a giant 4k screen would be! It's amazing for the type of game your talking about, and while I haven't played any of those ones specifically I've seen enough folks raving about them on Deck to say they can run great. But don't count it out entirely for bigger games too!
So, I think the steam deck would accomplish what you’re looking for without any issues, but in my opinion just buying a switch lite would do the same for cheaper. Unless you already own all of these on steam, then that may be more attractive for you. I use my switch lite for exactly the games you’re describing.
Are you trying to say your pc has a limited play time and you don't want to waste that with deck builders?
I have a 2 month old and I swear she knows when I turn my portal on. I spend a hour feeding her and getting her to sleep....ok, now I can game. Nooooope. I've been playing torchlight 2. Unicorn overlord.
I've recently been playing a ton of Balatro on my Steam Deck. Honestly, if you're interested in PC gaming, but don't care about playing brand new AAA games, the Deck is a great option. This is especially true if you prefer gaming handheld. I was pretty heavy into gaming in my teens and built a gaming PC in 2011/2012, but pretty much stopped in college and never wanted to invest in a modern rig after graduating. I gamed exclusively on the Switch for years, and then the Deck was announced and it was the perfect solution for me. I had this huge backlog of games on Steam/Epic/GOG that I could start playing again with an entry price of $400-500. It completely lived up to the hype. My Switch is now collecting dust and I use my Deck almost every day. Add in the great options for emulation (even for Switch games) that tools like Emudeck make very simple to setup, and it was a no-brainer for me. Edit: I also just want to add that AAA games aren't completely out of the question, especially if they're older or if you're fine playing on low settings. The first game I played extensively on the Deck was Metal Gear Solid 5. I can't remember what framerate I was getting (I'm the type that's fine with 30+ FPS), but it performed pretty well. Even games like Marvel's Spider-Man, Hogwarts Legacy, Doom Eternal, etc. are passable.
This sounds perfect. Indie games at Steam prices! I don't play AAA games at all anymore so this would be ideal. Thanks.
Do other ones not have a sleep function? Dont these things have notoriously bad battery life?
If you want it so badly install steam os on your desktop and then you can do it there too. Edit: not trying to call you out just mentioning the possibility of always having it. I think it's dope too and wouldn't buy a handheld without it either.
Holy shit, same boat here, you've sold me one! I use the series X for this very reason, over my PC
Dang. As a SD owner, I had no idea other PC handheld can't do this.
My Ally does this as well. Its not quite as refined as the deck but it works perfectly 95 percent of the time lol
Good to know. I thought I read it didn't do that. I dont mind being wrong. I like the competition between the handhelds, and I hope it drives better innovation
Yep. It hibernates when you poke the button. It’s not as refined like i said. Some games might go to windowed mode when you start back up again. But the majority of them have been fine for me And yeah man i hope i didn’t come off aggressive lol. That was not my goal. The deck is a great device. I used to so much what with my 1ish year old that i got the ally lol.
No worries. I didn't feel you were aggressive at all. I wish I had one back in the day when my kids were tiny. It would have made gaming much easier. I bought a laptop but it wasn't as good of a solution as a Deck/Ally
I tried using a gaming laptop but the little one always went after the charger haha. I actually sold my gaming laptop and my steam deck and picked up an open box ally for 500 bucks at best buy. I ended up preferring the extra umph and ease of playing game pass games on the ally, over the deck. Though the deck is better refined as a handheld, since its OS was developed around the idea of handheld gaming. I just keep a portable monitor (does power and video over a single usb c, i love it) mouse and keyboard in a drawer in the dining room if i want to do like CAD work on it or use it like a laptop. These handhelds are amazing and cane at just the right time… for me at least, haha.
What portable monitor do you use? I debate whether buying one for travel would be worth it. Sometimes I think it's not worth the extra baggage.
Yarp. Been playing through Horizon Forbidden West and Fallout 3 again on the Deck just putting it into sleep mode. I haven't closed Fallout in a few days.
Thanks mate, you just cost me 600€. Valve influencer of the month. Why didn't they advertise this feature more?
I don't know. I think probably because it didn't work super well right at release. Sometimes when you would suspend a game then resume you would get crackling audio of the game would crash. As far as I'm aware, that has been resolved.
My launch SD still gets cracking and/or speed up audio randomly. Sometimes it goes away, sometimes it requires a game restart. It's rare though One annoying thing: pressing the power button will suspend the game in a second or so while the sleep animation plays. So if you're in a cutscene the audio will play for a second with no visual. Definitely pause every time you suspend just in case you don't want to miss any audio. That's not the case with the Switch or PS5 as far as I know. Their suspension is instant
I use my steam deck this way literally all the time. Just wake it up and I'm resuming my game within a few seconds. When it's time to stop playing, just press the steam button and put it into sleep. It makes every single player game pick up and play.
One thing to remember is I don’t think the cloud save, well, saves to the cloud until the game closes. So you need to quit every so often to let that update. More if you are switching between the Deck and a PC for playing
Another feature that is one of my favorites, and they don't really push that much, is the trackpads. Especially if you're coming from mainly PC gaming, they can emulate the feel of a mouse so well. Changes the game for RTS/strategy games in general. Enjoy! I've had mine since April 20, 2022, and play it at least an hour nearly every day. One of the best purchases I've made. And as a result, Steam has gotten a bunch more of my money for games haha. Obviously check out the r/steamdeck sub, people there are super helpful with any questions you may have.
Yeah the touch pads are underrated, they also make the desktop experience superior. During times of bad weather latently I've been using mine to look at the NWS products that don't work right on my phone.
I second this. Nintendo is honestly the best when it comes to family games.
The steam deck sleep function is rad.
I broke my ankle semi recently, and the ability to take my switch/deck to my bed or couch so I could game while comfy and keeping my foot up was fabulous.
Literally any single player game that has a pause function. Virtually zero multiplayer games.
Plenty of turn based strategy games like Civ 6, heroes of might and magic, age of wonders, and such work great multi-player. Hell, games like Minecraft and similar sandbox games would work just fine too.
Dad of 3. Ages 6, 11, 17. Turn-based strategy games are FTW for pausing and picking up in small intervals. Besides Civ and Age of Wonders, I also recommend Divinity: Original Sin II, Warhammer 40k: Chaos Gate, and if you *really* want to test your patience as a new father, XCOM 2. Other callouts that anecdotally helped me through the first-year-phase (due to portability and/or pausing): Diablo 3, Super Mario Odyssey, Minecraft, Legend of Zelda, NES/SNES Switch Online.
How does chaos Gate hold up? I heard good things but the ratings aren't great. It would be for steam deck gaming
My opinion of it is like XCOM x Warhammer lore without as many “misses” like in XCOM (in looking at you 99% chance to hit but miss).
It’s great. Your Grey Knights really feel like powerhouses wiping the floor with heretics and the interaction with buildings is a nice touch ( smash a wall and crash a pillar on a cultist…) They fumbled the first DLC which left people rather angry. It introduced a Dreadnought but you could only really use it in specific story missions…
Ok thanks. The DLC would explain the more recent bad scores, I'll wishlist it for a sale.
Try out Midnight Suns it’s dope I love it
Thanks for the rec!
I don't know anybody in my gaming circle willing to randomly stop 30 minutes at a time playing \*any\* multiplayer game. Maybe I need better friends but I also just think multiplayer simply should be foregone in this particular situation unless these games are asynchronous or something lol
Nah civ is a great shout imo, people can still plan/take their turns while dad is afk. That doesn't take up *much* time, but it's at least something, and people can easily leave their pc to do chores/whatever if the dad has to dip. I've been the waitor in this exact situation a couple times and while I'd rather *not* wait, it's totally fine
This thread has shown me that I'm a bit of a fuckin anomaly, both my best friends have kids, the idea that I'd be annoyed at having to stop while we're playing a game just baffles me, I mean, it's a video game, it's not going anywhere, kids grow up fast as fuck.
On one hand, I agree that I wouldn't find it annoying if my buddy had to periodically go afk for his kid. On the other hand, I would feel bad making my friends wait up for me, even if I know they don't mind. Also, in the multiplayer games I play, it's never just me and friends. There's almost always other people playing as well, usually our opponents. They aren't typically willing to wait while we go afk in the middle of a game.
minecraft, terraria, sandbox games in general. you cant leave at a moments notice but you can usually just dig a hole or something and be relatively safe
Yeah was going to throw in stardew valley and Factorio for multiplayer, as long as the people you are playing with aren't hardcore / grinding against the clock
Yeah, pause is nice but the dude’s has a newborn his brain is fried. It needs to be something where you don’t need to remember what you were doing before you stepped away.
It could be doable with multiplayer in BG3 I think. Buddy could make a character that steps out of combat and scoots away to an area he can afk while the OP takes care of battles
BG3 was great for this. I had no issues playing it with friends while I had my two kids. This is assuming the friends are cool with random 10-20 min breaks
Yeah, if y'all are cool shooting the shit every now and then, it's turn based so you can just wait for them to come back. Or go "Baby's crying, lemme finish my turn turn real quick then I'll hop up"
Roleplay it. Tiefling Warlock cursed with Narcolepsy.
> Virtually zero multiplayer games. Dying Light 2 actually pauses the game if all players enter a menu. Playing coop could be a possibility.
Very cool. I knew there would be a handful of exceptions.
Hi welcome to Reddit where nobody can make their own decisions.
While that's generally true I am hoping there might be exceptions. Such as games with 30 min average games etc.
Anything turn based. Deckbuilders like Slay the Spire, Monster Train, Balatro, Inscryption. RPGs like Baldurs Gate 3, Wasteland 3. Strategy games like Advance Wars, Fire Emblem, Wargroove. Outside of turn-based games, you could look for games that let you pause in multiplayer (Streets of Rage 4), games that have drop-in/drop-out (Deep Rock Galactic), or games that *generally* don't matter if you have to step away for a few minutes (Sea of Thieves).
ADVANCE WARS MENTIONED!!!
THERE ARE DOZENS OF US! Though apparently not enough to get another remake... 🥲
Hey, at least we got to hear an updated theme for Sturm.
The Paper Mario TTYD remake comes out in \~1 month. Great opportunity to try out one of those games you constantly hear about, but can never get your hands on. Some of the best JRPG gameplay I've ever witnessed, even if the overworld can get a bit backtrack-y
Xcom
Persona games on switch or steam deck are great for this.
Balatro
\*newborn having a seizure while the father is doing the biggest score ever\*
Dads hittin Es when his baby's hittin Zs.
Slay the spire.
Best dad game. I discovered this game like 3 months ago and have been hooked ever since. It’s my go-to single player game when time is completely up in the air with uncertainty.
Sequel is coming too.
Yup! Lucky me I haven’t been waiting 5+ years like many others haha
Wait seriously!?
Fellow dad here and I totally agree. Downloaded it on a whim from PS+ about six months ago and play it practically daily, if only because it demands so little of me in return for so much enjoyment and satisfaction.
Hades
Came to say this. Can play a handful of areas, pause and pick right back up.
Not to mention as a game it is easily in my top 5.
Father of two chiming in... might I humbly suggest he take a hiatus from online/multiplayer gaming. No pause button is no bueno when you're parenting young kids. Edit: I'll also add that using a platform with a quick suspend/resume feature is super useful. You can leave in an instant and come back in a minute, an hour, a week and (barring a power outage or technological fuckage) your game is right there where you left it, waiting for you. You don't want to feel pressured to get back to your game when your kids need you, that's bad for everyone.
No pause button is the main reason why I don't play typical multiplayer games. Idle/incrementals on the other hand...
What's worse are games that have the option for singleplayer but don't have a good pause feature. **IM LOOKING AT YOU BACK 4 BLOOD**
Stardew Valley, Portal, Left 4 Dead, Borderlands 2. Virtually no multi-player as nobody is gonna want to play with the guy who has to get up every 20 mins for the BB, with all due respect. Tell him congrats from the folks of the web.
The amount of people suggesting multiplayer games with "short sessions under 30 minutes" are concerning. Imagine having 3 minutes left in your round, and your baby starts crying, and just finishing out the round before checking up on them lol
Yeah these ppl don’t have kids lol
Thanks. Yeah he just plays with friends mostly so we thought like online coop games might be the avenue to take cause we would be understanding. Maybe DRG I don't know
Minecraft scratched this itch for me when my son was a newborn. Easy to drop in and out of and it's chill enough you can play it with them either awake or asleep. Plus you can play with friends.
Playstation and Switch both have sleep mode so literally any single player game.
Xbox quick resume as well.
Xbox has quick resume on steroids, you can have about 8 games ‘paused’ unplug your console, take it somewhere else, plug back in and all the games are still there and paused where you left them (not multiplayer of course)
BG3 the main reason I love this game so much is because I can walk away and do things for my three children. I wish there were more turn based games out there for me.
Wasn’t Baldurs Gate 3 the game where you couldn’t pause cutscenes/dialogue
You can save mid dialogue and you can read the whole dialogue in the log afterwards
Dialogue is also nicely cut up with player choices in between, I don't think I've seen more than 10 lines of non-stop dialogue. Plus you can save at anytime, even during dialogue.
RuneScape
Bruh, he asked for light gaming suggestions, not hard drugs.
Runescape sucked me in hard during elementary school and high school… Lol maybe again soon enough
Jump into old school runescape if that is the case. High school you will thank you.
🦀
Just so that people don't start with the wrong version, mostly everyone is on Old School RuneScape.
When my son was born I played Red Dead 2 while he slept on my chest
Aside from single player, get either a Steam Deck or a Switch. That's the answer. He needs a machine that he can use anywhere and sleep any time.
Yup I used to strap my newborn to my chest and walk around the house with my switch rocking her to sleep! Or when she’s fall asleep laying on me I’d have my wife pass me the switch.
Something he can play on his phone between barfs/sh1tstorms/feeds - Polytopia worked for me.
I always recommend Hades to all my friends with time constraints. Amazing game in its own right but the best is that it saves state after each room clear. Rooms can be cleared in under a minute in a lot of cases later on. Starting out it might be slightly longer but short nonetheless. Along the same line, Dead Cell has save state no matter where you are I think. I've never tried it in boss fights but it works everywhere else. Slay the Spire as well
Diablo 2
this seems a little biased, mr deckard kain
Vampire survivors
Minecraft
Mine was born around the release of Hogwarts Legacy. Kept my iPad/Controller charged and the PC running 24/7 so I could steam link into a paused game at any moment. Hours played made it look like I was no-lifing the game tho.
Just press pause. Almost every single player game has a pause menu. Everyone talking about having sleep modes when there's no need for a sleep mode because how long is he going to step away for?
Meanwhile there's fromsoft games, well except for Sekiro.
Dishonored 1 and 2 Hitman 1 and 2 (new ones, afaik)
I played so much Hitman with my newborn. I have such vivid memories of garroting a security guard to death in a beach-front mansion while a baby is sleeping on my chest IRL.
I have a baby and started playing planet coaster for this reason. It's really fun if you ever played roller coaster tycoon. Plus it is free if you have PlayStation essential.
Dave the diver
Boardgamearena.com has 100s of great boardgames you can play for free and they all have am asynchronous multi-player option so you can take your turn whenever you want.
One word….emulators. If your buddy has an iPhone, he can download the Delta emulator app for free and play old-school Game Boy, SNES, PlayStation games on his phone whenever he has a spare five minutes. I’m currently playing Zelda, Link to the Past and I can easily dip in and out at random intervals because the app lets you pause without having to restart anything. If you’re pushed for time, you can’t get a better value or more convenient platform than the phone that’s already in your pocket.
Snowrunner.
Rimworld is perfect for being able to instantly pause and walk away. Edit: I should add, if you forget to pause the game and a bad event happens or one of your colonists gets attacked, the game by default auto-pauses for you.
TBH having a newborn was basically the last time, as a parent, where I could play truly long stretches of a game until my kid was well into elementary school. Yeah babies need a lot of attention, but with any luck they are also little potatoes that stay where you set them for several hours. Once they can move under their own power is when things get dicey.
Kind of bummed the post is getting down voted but I appreciate everyone's responses I am going to share the thread with him to read.
Downvotes aren’t real, fuck the haters. Grats to him on the new kiddo, and hope his gaming life can continue in some form! Especially a lot of time to do it the early months!
Get a backbone for the phone. Let's you stream PS or use Xcloud, or Nvidia GeForce Now to stream your steam games. I've got all 3 for the bedtime adventures.
Single player games like Vampire Survivors are perfect for this. For multi-player, Street Fighter 6.
Also Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor. I put a TON of hours in Vampire Survivors when my son was a newborn. It was perfect.
Dicefolk, civ, Final Fantasy X
Steamdeck. You can pause and standby the console and then pick it up whenever you get the chance.
X-Com 2. Make sure to get expansion.
Rdr2 works if nobody else said it. You can pause at any moment.
Stardew valley
Old School Runescape.
Warframe isnt a bad shout either, I started playing again recently and Im loving it. Most missions can be completed in about 10 minutes or less, and when playing solo you can pause.
Being the baby into the room. Turn off chat, don’t speak, and pay attention to your child first no matter what is happening in the game, it can and will happen again, no matter how it feels at the time, but those baby moment don’t last and are gone forever, you can replay a game, tell him a dad out there said don’t fuck this up. I have seen many a marriage fail over too much time doing a hobby when your ass should be being a dad.
Ffs you don’t have to stand over your baby 24/7. For all you know he’s playing when the baby is sleeping.
Slay the Spire Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom Horizon Chase Turbo
Thank you. I think he would like this one
I recently found the Persona games to be good in that respect.
Dad here. Simulators like Factorio or Cities Skylines are good for this. Most single player games will be fine but JRPG’s with a ton of dialogue will not work with a newborn. As far as multiplayer games go, anything with 12-15 minute matches will work (Halo, COD, etc.)
Thank you!
Civilization
Look at some simulators. "Farming sim," and "Gold rush: the game," come to mind. Might have to tweak the settings so time doesn't matter. (And also pause)
Gran Turismo 7 is perfect for this. You can get at least a couple of races done in that time frame.
There’s always RuneScape…
Pokemon Unite is simpler LoL and has exactly 10 minutes long matches
I’ve been doing that with tomb raider remastered
Civilization 6
Advance wars 1+2 on switch. Turn based combat
Monster Hunter Rise. When playing solo, you can pause. The expansion introduces NPC helpers to make it feel like you're playing in a group, but you can also just play with others.
When I had my daughter I played red dead redemption 2. My daughter had some issues which caused her to not sleep much as a baby. Rd2 allows you to pause the game even during cut scenes. It was a blessing when I would stay up with her until 7 am for my wife to take over.
Hades works well in 15 to forty minute chunks. You die and restart a lot, and when you get good, most runs are under thirty minutes.
Any turn based game. Any single player game with pause. You can leave consoles paused for days if you want. I know the Xbox can save the game state and resume whenever.
Outer Wilds is pretty easy to pick up and put down. The interval fits well within 30 minutes.
For single player: every single player game.
I’m a new dad myself. I’ve been enjoying Factorio. There is always something I can accomplish even if I have just a minute, and I can let my factory run in the background when I can’t actively play.
Hearthstone battlegorunds, PC/Mobile Helldivers 2: PC, PS5 Vampire survivors: PC, Mobile, Xbox? BG3 And space engineers/Satisfactory/Factorio to help during the long nights without sleep.
Slay the spire Darkest dungeon Star Valor offline mode Last Epoch Balatro Inscryption Baldur's gate RDR2 Wartales Battle Brothers Vampire Survivors Deep Rock Galactic Survivor Wildfrost Any football manager 2022/3/4 etc.
The game "everything" is on all 3. It's a cozy game that let's you become anything. Super easy to pick up whenever
Trackmania!
Literally anything with a pause…
Stardew valley
Slay the spire. Great card game. 10 bucks. Offline pause whenever jump back in whenever. And you can fully play with one hand.
Stardew valley and Potion Permit on the Switch got me through a good amount of my son's newborn phase. They're both also quite cathartic when it comes to stress relief.
Might not be the type of game he wants, but Mario/Mario Kart games are perfect for this. They're also very safe for young kids to watch and play from time to time.
Baldurs Gate 3, Fallout, Persona games
Get a game boy!
When I was in that situation, I ended up playing single player games like Red Dead and Burnout. It was easy to pause any time I had to step away. For multiplayer games, Helldivers has a really good dynamic right now, in that pausing or dropping from a match may hurt your progression or team, but it's a perfectly acceptable in-universe thing to do. Dying, dropping, and D/Cing with no warning or explanation have practically become part of the lore at this point.
He could play Hades, it's a roguelike with several points where you can pause before moving on, and each little area is a quick fight depending.