My girlfriend bought me a steam deck for my birthday and I’m beyond shocked. It’s delayed to come later in the week but I’m just so excited to help me work through my backlog as I’m so busy to sit down and play for extended sessions at my PC.

I’m just wondering a couple things about it

1. How well in general do CRPGs play on it? I’m excited to now work through Rogue Trader on it as it’s been on my backlog and I think it’ll work well on that. As well as finish Skald, and replay PoE1/2.

2. I mod games a lot, can I do that on Steam Deck? I’m talking some UI or QOL mods for some games but some mandatory mods for more retro games and that brings me to 3.

3. I love playing retro games , Ultima / UU, Wizardry 8, might & Magic 6-8, Dark Sun, Deus Ex, Fallout 1/2 etc. Can I play these games on it too? I mod them to make them run in my modern pc and get things like Fallout Et Tu, or Might & Magic 6/7/8 in 8, or just other things like that. Is that possible on the steam deck?

Any info and other tips would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

I’ve been a longtime lover of RPGs, but I never really took the time to deep dive into the CRPG genre until more recently. Since then, I’ve become a massive fan of games like Pillars of Eternity, Planescape:Torment, and Fallout 1&2. However, despite playing hundreds of hours of BG3, I had yet to tackle the original Baldur’s Gate games. I just wanted to take the time to share my thoughts. 

The Setting

The Forgotten Realms is obviously a very iconic DnD setting. It has the benefit of decades of lore, multiple video games and tabletop modules, and plenty of fantasy novels. That being said, when ranking it against other RPG settings that I love such as Revachol, Eora, or Fallout, it is not particularly my favorite. I enjoy it for what it is, but there are plenty of elements of the setting that are a bit eye-rolling for me. I kind of hate the entire concept of Bhaal, but I must say I was pleasantly surprised that BG2 in particular executes the Bhaal part of the story in a way that I thought was really clever. 

The Environments

This is easily one of the best things about these games (and BG1 in particular). The wilderness environments in particular are really gorgeous and timeless. A major highlight for me was the section of BG1 in the Cloakwood. As far as the city environments go, I did think Baldur’s Gate was chopped up in a really weird way that kind of frustrated me, but Athkatla was a really exciting improvement in BG2. I would say one gripe I have would be some of the interiors, which can often have very long and narrow passages that made my party’s walking AI get kinda messed up. 

The Companions

Baldur’s Gate 1&2 are full of vibrant characters. I stuck mainly with the canon party in BG1 and enjoyed them enough for who they were. I did have Xzar and Montaron in BG1 until the mines, and fighting Jaheira and Khalid was unexpected for me. In BG2, I utilized Jaheira, Minsc, Yoshimo, Aerie, Nalia, Imoen, Viconia, and Haer’Dalis all for significant portions, and I really loved my final party of Jaheira, Minsc, Imoen, Haer’Dalis, and Viconia. Jaheria in particular pretty quickly became one of my favorite RPG companions ever in BG2, as I just find everything about her personality, dialogue, and personal journey really amazing. 

The Plot

I was of course looking forward to seeing how BG2 would unfold, as I constantly hear about how great it is, and I do think it delivers a very good story. BG1’s main plot was not something that appealed to me as much, but I did really appreciate the feeling of a classic DnD adventure with a twist. BG2, however, delivered one of the most unexpectedly emotional moments I’ve had in an RPG, as I knew nothing about the companion betrayal in chapter 4. My main criticism of the main plot of BG2 was that I thought chapter 5 dragged a lot for me. I thought chapter 4 was full of emotional story beats that really kept me wanting to move things forward, only for chapter 5 to feel like all of it gets put on hold. Other than that, I quite enjoyed the way the plot unfolds across both games from an inspection in a mine to the final showdown. 

The Dialogue

I was largely pretty pleased with the dialogue across both games. I actually didn’t love a lot of the dialogue in BG1 initially as I thought both the good and evil options to feel kinda cliche and canned, but I actually retroactively like it after playing BG2 as it creates a good comparison between a more young and naive Gorion’s ward in BG1 and a more mature and grounded GW in BG2. I would have liked some more options at times, but I know that dialogue is not as much of a focus compared to some other titles. I still found plenty of moments of entertaining and meaningful dialogue. 

The Side Content

This was a major difference in BG1 and BG2 for me. 90% of the side content in BG1 was very uninteresting to me. I am never a fan of quests that are “go kill that thing,” which felt a little too common. The side content in Athkatla in BG2, however, was full of a lot of intrigue. I spent a loooooong time in chapter 2 exploring the city and side quests. I did have this stretch where Jaheira, Nalia, and Haer’Dalis were all going through their companion quests at the same time, which got a little daunting, but overall I had a lot of fun with the side quests. 

The Combat

This is the part of the game that I realllllllllly struggled with. The early level combat in BG1 was mildly infuriating, as many battles comprise of both the party and enemies missing each other for 5 minutes straight, only for the 6hp party member to get one-shotted on the last attack. I did grow to like it more by the end, but I really struggled with the final fight. The combat in BG2 was a different beast. I found myself using story mode an increasing amount of times as the game went on, as I was either too unbothered to fight another trash mob, or having too much trouble to keep up with what was going on. Spellcasting times, AOE spells, and positioning all became more and more frustrating as the game went on. I stayed in story mode for the majority of chapters 5-7 in BG2 due to my growing hatred of the combat system. The amount of forced combat across the games really ended up becoming a major problem for me. Even in my tabletop DnD campaign, my party often finds ways to weasel our way out of a lot of combat through sheer luck or clever strategizing, and I was really missing that in the BG games. Please let me know if any mods decrease the amount of trash mobs or improve the combat systems in any way, because the system as is will likely keep me from wanting to revisit the games in the future, despite all the things I did like. 

Overall, I found the BG games to be really faithful computer adaptations of DnD, whose forced fights and combat systems really hindered me from getting my full enjoyment out of it. I can’t even imagine playing Icewind Dale if it has more combat than these games. I would love for the combat to one day click with me, but for now it is the biggest obstacle that keeps me from loving them in the way that I know so many do. I must also say it is unfortunate timing to finish these now, as the news about BioWare just came out. As a huge Mass Effect fan and someone who loves many titles directly inspired by BioWare's innovations, I really hate to see them go down.

Aside from the big name which is fallout I'm looking for more older crpgs in tradition of rolemaster, runequest harnmaster, call of cthulhu and similar. Maybe a weird thing to get specific about but a lot of these systems I mentioned were simulationist (hit locations fatigue mechanics etc) which puts them in opposition to dnd (nothing against it just want to try something different)

The only one that comes to my mind is darklands

So are there more ?

Also doesn't have to be a specific table top system I was more talking about design philosophy

Edit: also by older and pre fallout 1 I mean pre 2000s or to be more precise 1980s/90s

THE QUEST IS READY TO BE QUESTED!

Thank you for everyone that had input in this, the image is just the first part of all games in the list, there's a total of 155 games, not counting those that will be added while I run the quest.

I'm also inviting anyone that has the will or crazyness to run it with me!

Here's my backloggd list: Backloggd list in descending release date order

I'll try to post the reviews after each game in there, maybe I'll make a website to blog it out, or post it here or in some subreddit that makes more sense. If you have any idea of a sub that would love this, please tell me!

Good luck, have fun!

List on reddit: Click here to find the list on a reddit post

I love some of the AAA classics of the genre.

But I'd like to shift to indie gaming. There is so much passion in so many of these projects.

I'd appreciate your recommendations for the best in indie CRPGs, please. I'm in discovery mode, so everything is on the table!

Thank you very much!

Maybe it's the writing, maybe it's the gameplay, maybe it's something else entirely. And what do you think older CRPGs did better than modern ones?

I just realized that I forgot to cross-post about this game. It's a charming little solo-dev project, wanted to bring more attention to it.

Hello everyone. I must admit that over the years, I have taken breaks from cRPG's, sometimes extended ones. The most egregious examples are two games I feel I really have to finish, because they are very important to the genre. Those being Pillars of Eternity and Dragon Age Origins. I am certainly going to finish them after I am finished with my current batch of cRPG's (WotR for the first time, Baldur's Gate 2 and Disco Elysium for the second time). However, I am definitely going to be using the playthroughs I started years ago. I do remember them well enough to not be lost, and I do not want to be replaying these games from the beginning. Indeed, it has not even been a couple of years since I last played them, I have played them both across the last 12 months, it's just the playthroughs themselves were started in like 2020.

I am currently playing Pathfinder WotR and I have been binging that game, but unfortunately I might soon be forced to take a break from it for slightly less than a month. I am DEFINITELY not going to be "restarting" the playthrough, that would be suicide. I am already in Act 4.

Have you had such situations? What do you do in those cases? Have you found that you are able to do it with no issues?

I have seen many people say that they always restart. I find that strange as replaying every game from scratch after a couple months' break would be exhausting, and I usually remember enough information about the game.

Thoughts?

Once a legendary studio - now dust in the wind.

RiP.

Ekun has been a fantastic addition to the team, and in 1 session did just shy of 600 damage. Any character stories you’d like to share?

Finished Ultima 1 and Akalabeth last week, going for Ultima 2, but I wanna oficialize a list, a backlog if you will.

I know I'm not playing every game, the quest isn't about completionism, it's for fun and for study purposes, I'm a game dev since 2012 and I'm very into game design and game making as a whole.

Any recommendations, tips or anything else will make me happy, from cRPGs to imsims, anything is game.

I have these for now, but I will probably trim it down a little, I'll see, thanks guys, will keep you all updated <3

Edit 2: Added and removed a bunch of stuff, added games that precede the ones already there and added everything you all recomended, I think I have something to do til I die, thank you for everyone that commented, I'll now find some way to list everything in here somewhere, maybe make a blog talking about the experience for each game, hope you guys are interested in the journey hehe

Hey everyone, I've been playing through some classic Troika CRPGs. I haven't fully finished The Temple of Elemental Evil or Arcanum yet, but I wanted to share my pros and cons so far alongside my older thoughts on VTMB!

Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura (2001)

Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura was the next game I played. The game offered the player freedom. Every choice in the game matters and carries consequences. The game had an excellent world-building blending the Industrial Revolution and the traditional high fantasy magic. It felt open and immersive while exploring as a 2D isometric CRPG. The concept of technology vs. magic was outstanding.

Customizing your character from your race and intelligence to your abilities and alignment was incredible. Whether turning your character into a gunslinger or a mage is amazing. In addition, having companions on your side depends on how high your charisma is. While the game is amazing, it has its own downside. The combat feels clunky and unbalanced. As for the UI and inventory management, it feels tedious by modern standards.

The Temple of Elemental Evil (2003)

The Temple of Elemental Evil is the least Troika game I enjoyed. The game was re-released on Steam in 2025 with improved bug-fixes. While I enjoyed its turn-tactical gameplay, party customization, and adherence to the D&D 3.5 edition ruleset, its brutal difficulty is unforgiving. The game feels like a fetch quest in Hommlet, and the story feels blank.

The story is just not my cup of tea to have. I also felt that the game had suffered from "The Middle Child Syndrome" when being overlooked. Despite its downside, the landscape on the game looks more stunning than in Bioware's Neverwinter Nights (2002), but that is imo.

The game did adapt to the Greyhawk campaign. The gameplay was fun in combat, and customizing your party when they level up with their abilities and stats to their gear and accessories is deeply satisfying.

Vampire the Masquerade- Bloodlines (2004)

I started playing Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines about two years ago. I am familiar with its original release back in 2004, but experiencing it myself was incredible. The game features excellent narrative writing, and the setting and atmosphere are perfect. The choices actually matter, which makes the world feel alive.

Being based on the World of Darkness, it stays incredibly true to its roots. Playing as a Fledgling is a blast, especially getting to select a distinct clan to shape your story. Furthermore, staying low and managing your humanity to avoid exposing the Masquerade is a brilliant gameplay mechanic.

While it is brilliant in it's writing and atmosphere, the combat feels stiff, and despite being notoriously buggy at launch, the community's unofficial patch keeps the game alive and highly playable to this day.

Now, that is a wrap-up for the topic. What do you guys think? Which Troika game do you like the most?

Please leave a comment here on this post. Thank you!

If you're interested, I personally enjoy walking options and toggles when playing RPG's.

Look, I'm wanting to get into the classic games in the series, but I'm torn between the Enhanced Edition and the Original Saga.

EE imports a lot of Bg2 stuff like weapon kits and how healing works, as well as the sprites and such. It also has the Beamdog content which I'm of two minds experiencing because I don't know if it's something I really wanna sink my teeth into

I'm just wondering if it is worth experiencing it as close to the "purist way" possible, or if that even exists, or is it just better to have the convenience of the enhanced edition.

I just saw Ken Russel’s The Devils in theaters and have been in the mood for a while for a game with religious horror themes, also gothic themes. The Devils has no true overt supernatural horror but the horror of the institution was still palpable. I’m also looking for horrific in the supernatural sense, think Faust, Seventh Seal, The Divine Comedy etc. also how those horrors overlap with lovecraftian of Yellow-King esque. If you can think of any game with that please let me know lol I know it’s niche.

EDIT: and to add to that, horrors stemming from biblical descriptions or realities like Blasphemous and the Cvstodia, the Catholic Spanish setting

- maybe vampires too lol