#42: Steam’s big Spring Sale has started

In today's overkill digest newsletter, we talk even more about the death of Yuzu, the new Steam Sale, and more.

Welcome to a new edition of the overkill digest newsletter, your go-to source (well, I hope so at least) for everything handheld devices.

It's been a slow week after the last two weeks' madness due to Nintendo going after Yuzu. We are still feeling some aftershocks, but emulation is a hydra, and the first alternatives to Yuzu are popping up.

So, let's get to it!

Big this week

The Steam Spring Sale has started. Thousands of games are currently discounted during Valve's Spring Sale, including Sea of Stars, Death Stranding, Palworld, and many, many, maaaaany more. As usual, Chris sat down (I helped!) and uncovered the best Steam Deck-compatible games under $10. Some bangers like Skyrim, Tinykin, Celeste, Lethal Company, and more are on that list, so if you are bargain-hunting, check out that post.
Emulation is a hydra. Even though Nintendo might have hurt the emulation community by going after Yuzu and indirectly taking down other projects (Citra, Drastic for Nintendo DS, etc.), more projects have popped up trying to continue where Yuzu left off. One of the more promising projects is Suyu ("Sue you", get it?), which is based on Yuzu's source code but does things a little differently than its predecessor. Whereas Yuzu only required prod.keys, Suyu will also require you to dump your title.keys and firmware from a hacked Switch to run games. While it may not be enough for Nintendo (since they sometimes swing their lawyers in any direction without a proper case), it will help mitigate potential issues. The Suyu devs also clarified that they are doing this for nonprofit (there's no Patreon, for example) and that they absolutely do not condone piracy. I am looking at the project with intrigue.

Quick Links

These are the 100 most-played games on Steam Deck. During the start of the Spring Sale, Valve also released a list of the most-played games on Steam Deck. The Top 5 are Baldur's Gate 3, Vampire Survivors, Dave the Diver, Hogwarts Legacy, and Elden Ring. If you scroll through the whole list, there's no surprise. It's basically a best-of list of the most popular games of the last two years or so. This might be the actual surprise, as it showcases how great the Steam Deck is at running fundamentally every game (if you are willing to accept some visual and/or performance downgrades). Two games in the Top 100 are even marked as Unsupported, so there's that.
Penny's Big Breakaway Steam Deck Settings. A new game means a new guide by Timo.
Final Fantasy 16 for PC release might be close. While we don't have a release date yet, producer Naoki Yoshida said the game is in the last stages of optimization and will probably be released in less than a year.
Steam Deck support for Enshrouded is planned. The team working on Enshrouded (see our Early Access review here) has released their roadmap for this year, and one of the milestones on the list is "Steam Deck Support".
God of War is now on GOG. PlayStation released God of War on GOG, DRM-free and all, and the game is on sale for 50% off. Love to see it.
We're getting a Miyoo Mini Flip. A modern Game Boy Advance SP with analogue sticks? I'll take four, please! (But we might get the A30 first.)
The PS5 Pro may come later this year. Three times faster GPU, Sony's take on DLSS/FSR, and better ray-tracing, all aiming to release for the holiday season 2024. Count me in.