If you really want a fresh experience and don’t wanna spend more time modding than actually playing, I cannot recommend more strongly Wabbajack. It’s a fully automated modlist installer with a huge gallery of available lists.

Some of the available modlists are foundational, giving you just the essentials (Engine tweaks, HD assets, community bug fixes, etc.), and some are total conversions, turning the game into a fully-realized modern third-person action game, with controls, animations, and graphics as good as any modern game.

It does everything for you, from installing Mod Organizer 2 to creating game launch shortcuts, and everything in between. All you have to do is log into Nexus (and whatever other mod sites your modlist of choice might use). It’s worth getting Nexus Premium at least temporarily to speed up the process.

Here is the Skyrim Special Edition modlist gallery.

My old job doing systems design for a predatory mobile game. I quit that job, moved half a state away, and got a job that pays half as much in a company with integrity. Best decision of my life.

The toys-to-life trend ended, as it wasn’t making enough money. The games remain playable, but they have no support and are old enough they they require hardware that I no longer have.

My little one just past toddlerhood has a few games they love to watch me play on my Steam Deck. These aren’t all Verified, but they all run perfectly out of the box. Use ProtonDB for a more accurate idea of a game’s Deck compatibility (Verified status has failed me in the past).

• Donut County (already mentioned, but a great one worth mentioning twice)

• Everything (one you unlock all the powers, it becomes a sandbox game where you can do things like gather a large group of caterpillars, make them dance, and turn them into streetlights (which can still dance), or turn an entire planet into a planet-sized space caterpillar, or turn a dust mite into a microscopic building, etc. In my save, about 20% of all matter in the universe is caterpillars.)

• LEGO Worlds (basically LEGO Minecraft with less survival, more control, and smaller worlds that can be swapped between at any time. Can be very fun for little ones to use the free DLC vehicles to blast holes all over a world, make tunnels, etc.)

• Tchia (Zelda BotW mechanics with very little combat (and the only combat is with enchanted scraps of cloth) and the ability to jump into and control any creature (dolphins, birds, cats). It’s got some nice family-friendly options, like infinite special meter, no death, and family mode for cutscenes (though there isn’t anything too bad, regardless))

• Webbed (a 2D platformer where you play as a spider with Spider-Man-esque movement. Fun for kids unafraid of spiders to make big, climbable webs, and maybe good to help kids become less afraid of spiders, as it’s pretty cute)

Toys-to-life video games. I went on a Skylanders spending spree less than a year before it officially died. $5-$15 figurines got sold at garage sales for $0.25-$3 each.

I had tons of fun getting into it and I was young enough that I could afford to waste the money, so I regret nothing.

This is the right answer. Hatred just breeds more hatred. If you approach with love and understanding (or at least a desire to understand), you’ll have a much better chance of changing hearts and minds. Try to meet in the middle and you might be able to point them in the right direction.

Oh, console/PC without a doubt. Mobile development, at least in my experience, is a constant struggle for relevance and a nonstop sense of urgency. Creativity is only allowed if it answers the question “how can we better trick players into giving us their money?”

Console/PC development, however, is focused on making a good product that will last. Nobody ever asks “how much money will this feature make us?” At worst, the question is “how much will this feature drive engagement?”

I’ve only worked for major companies, so my experiences don’t reflect what it’s like at indies.

I wasn’t upset to begin with. Was it not obvious that I was making a semantics joke? I mean, sure, the post I was replying to could be perceived as racist, since it was itself a reply to someone calling out racism, but it was clearly directed at wealth horders, not white people.

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Yeah, that’s not gonna happen. It’s launching against a highly anticipated sequel to an established IP (Dragon’s Dogma 2) with a lot of crossover in its target demographic. And DD2 is multi-platform, while RotR is PS-exclusive.

I hate to say it, 'cause the game does look legitimately good and I want it to succeed, but I’d be surprised if it hits even half is sales target. I really think they’ve shot themselves in the foot by releasing the same day as Dragon’s Dogma 2.

I definitely would’ve bought it day one if it was on PC and wasn’t competing with DD2. But as it is, I might never play it, since by the time I’m done with DD2 and/or RotR comes to PC, I’ll have moved on to something shinier.

AI art is very easy to learn, but has a lot of intricacies and extra functions that can take a while to learn and master. The only free and open source one, Stable Diffusion, has a lot of resources online. Here’s a beginner’s guide to get you started.

I recommend running locally if you have the hardware for it. You generally need at least 8GB of VRAM for reasonably fast generation, though I’ve heard of people being fine with as little as 4GB. Check out Civitai for additional resources.

Ooh, I like this. No more accidentally waking my Deck because I nudged my Switch Pro Controller.

There’ve been a few great games to recently release out of Early Access, so these:

• Secrets of Grindea, a SNES-style action RPG with tongue-in-cheek writing and open character progression

• Spiritfall, a platform fighter roguelite

• Spell Disk, a roguelite with an interesting, intricate spell chain system

I’m not sure if it’s the same with a Steam Controller, but for Xbox controllers, you have to ‘forget’ your controller in Bluetooth settings then reconnect it every time you restart the console to get wake on Bluetooth to work. An annoyance, certainly, but you shouldn’t have to restart your console very often, except for OS updates.

Or you can switch your SteamOS branch from Stable to Beta. That bug is fixed in the Beta branch.

Really interesting stuff. Just goes to show how one person really can make a difference.

So excited for this! I bought into the beta about a decade ago and have been reading the dev logs on secretsofgrindea.com every so often since then.

It’s a top-notch classic-style isometric RPG with tongue-in-cheek writing, great character building, and a roguelike mode.

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I played a little bit on my Steam Deck during my lunch break at work. 1.0 massively improved controller and Linux support, so it runs on the Deck perfectly out of the box now!

The one thing it’s missing is a way to turn in place. Makes precision aiming very difficult with a controller.

Seriously. I’m fairly active in checking Steam Early Access, but I’d never heard of Palworld until the day of its release.

As for Helldivers, I had no idea there was a sequel in the works, though I’d heard off-hand that the first was pretty good (but still not my kinda game, anyway).

Maybe it’s because I have adblockers on everything I can and don’t use social media outside of Lemmy. Actually, that’s almost definitely it.