Steam

The Forsaken Hollows DLC is now live in Elden Ring Nightreign, and you'll first have to unlock the new content before you can enjoy it. Fortunately, the process isn't complicated, but it will take a fair amount of time if you're just a beginner. If you have already been playing Nightreign since launch, chances are that you'll automatically meet the prerequisites for unlocking the content. How to start the Forsaken Hollows DLC in Elden Ring Nightreign There are two tasks you must complete to gain access to the contents offered by the DLC. Unlock the two new Nightfarers in the form of Scholar and Undertaker.Unlock the new boss. The first task requires you to defeat two different Nightlord expeditions. The first one has to be Tricephalos, while the second one can be any, as per your preference. Once you complete the two Nightlord expeditions, head to the Small Jar Merchant. You'll find him in the east wing of the Roundtable Hold. Speak with him, and you should be able to unlock the new DLC Nightfarers. Image via FromSoftware Once done, the next task is to begin the new Shifting Earth event titled 'The Great Hollow'. This expedition features the new Balancers boss. Head to the chapel that opens up behind the Small Jar Merchant, and you will get to challenge the new Shifting Earth event. However, be careful since all the post-release update content from The Forsaken Hollows DLC will appear in Deep of Night. This will also be applicable for undertaking all the base game expeditions. That said, the conditions will appear in Deep of Night only if you matchmake with three players who own the DLC. If you already own the Digital Deluxe Edition of the game, you'll automatically receive The Forsaken Hollows DLC at no extra cost. Alternatively, the new DLC is available as a standalone purchase. Ownership is a must if you want to enjoy all the content offered by the latest expansion. The post How to unlock The Forsaken Hollows DLC in Elden Ring Nightreign appeared first on Destructoid. View the full article

Riolu's evolved species will get a further temporary evolution with this. View the full article

The previous patch had a couple of bugs that caused the game to get stuck in late-game stages. View the full article

I love a silent protagonist. They speak with their actions. In Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, Samus Aran speaks with her arm cannon. Although the galaxy-famous bounty hunter does not speak, she indeed has a voice actress, and it's one that you may recognize from various recent roles. It's no longer Jennifer Hale, who voiced Samus in previous games, but someone new. The full voice cast list of the game is not very long at all, and several actors are mainly motion capture artists who also voiced the characters while filming for the Nintendo Switch game. And it starts and ends with Samus and her actress, even if she only screams or grunts. If you're okay with some potential spoilers, or you just don't care, continue reading on below to see who voices Samus along with the other characters in Metroid Prime 4: Beyond. All voice actors in Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Image via Nintendo CharacterVoice ActorYou may know them from...Samus AranErin Yvette (Motion: Krystle Martin)Dispatch - Blonde Blazer Hades II - Dora, Scylla The Wolf Among Us - Snow WhiteSyluxLaith WallschlegerParadise (TV series) - Symanski American Sports Story - Rob GronkowskiReger TokabiKalani Queypo (Motion: Kevin Clayette)Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty - Shank Indiana Jones and the Great Circle - Peruvian Porter The New World (movie) - ParahuntEzra DukeJason Kelley (Motion: Keith Jefferson)Doom: The Dark Ages - Doomslayer Mayor of Kingstown (TV series) - Tim Weaver ****** May Cry (TV series) - BruceMyles MackenzieDavid GoldsteinHyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment - Vence Final Fantasy VII Remake: Episode Intergrade - Billy BobNora ArmstrongJennifer Sun BellVarious voice roles in The Outer Worlds 2, Silent Hill f, Ghost of Yotei, K-Pop ****** Hunters, and moreVUE-995Richard DortonGodzilla: King of The Monsters - King Ghidorah (motion) Evolve - Various (motion) God of War - Various (motion)Chatoyant VooloonErin HolmesSound designer on various games like No Rest for the Wicked, League of Legends, and more The post Metroid Prime 4 voice actors – Full voice cast list appeared first on Destructoid. View the full article

The Promise Mascot Agency: The Art of Kaso-Machi digital artbook features over 400 pages of artwork, developer commentary, and more. View the full article

Destiny 2's Renegades was a good change of pace compared to The Edge of Fate. The Star Wars-inspired expansion is shorter and more dynamic than its predecessor, with fewer main missions and a faster run time. There's quite a bit of both franchises in the campaign, lending a unique tone to the story. The stakes feel real, too, which may be hard to get right when your character is an immortal weapon who has killed pantheons of gods for loot. And if the story is a highlight, the drops from the campaign are nothing to scoff at either. In addition to an arsenal of Star Wars-esque weapons, you unlock your Praxic Blade (your own lightsaber) on the tail end of the campaign, just in time for you to bring it in your final push against Dredgen Bael. Here's what you need to know about Destiny 2's Renegades story. How many missions are in Destiny 2: Renegades? The cutscenes are also pretty great. Screenshot by Destructoid via Bungie Destiny 2's Renegades campaign has five main missions, though the story will also throw you into a few runs of the Lawless Frontier activity. The major story quest, Renegades, has 45 steps, which you can use to gauge how far along you are. Here are the missions in the campaign: All missions in Destiny 2: Renegades You meet Aunor really early. Screenshot by Destructoid The five main missions are: ImperiumFearsome RetainerOut in the ColdThe Long ****Glory Beyond There are a couple of Lawless Frontier activities between Imperium and Fearsome Retainer, another between then and Out in the Cold. A run of Fire and Ice, the Exotic mission that drops your own lightsaber, takes place on step 33 of the main Renegades journey, at which point you're bound to dive into more Lawless Frontier missions before rounding out the final two activities. How long is Destiny 2's Renegades campaign? Kit yourself when heading into the Lawless Frontier. Image via Bungie Unlike The Edge of Fate's drawn-out campaign, Renegades' main story is closer to the usual length for Destiny 2. Expect it to last roughly five to six hours, with some variance on either side depending on your pace. Without hurrying, we finished the Legend campaign in around six hours with a full fireteam, including the usual breaks and more than a few delays due to bugs and server issues. Each Lawless Frontier mission took around 20 minutes, in our experience, and Fire and Ice's labyrinthian structure was the longest single part of the campaign. The post Here’s the Destiny 2 Renegades mission list appeared first on Destructoid. View the full article

Russian gamers are now without Roblox, according to reports coming out of the country where access to the popular kids gaming platform has now been blocked. According to Reuters, Russian media regulation outlet Roskomnadzor released a statement through Russian news agencies, saying that Roblox is full "inappropriate content that can negatively impact the spiritual and moral development of children." Image via Dress To Impress Group "Children in the game are subjected to ******* harassment, intimate photos are tricked out of them, and they are coerced into committing depraved acts and violence," the statement continued, also claiming the game promotes "LGBT propaganda." In Russia, LGBTQ people are often disapproved of and support for their rights is sometimes deemed "extremist" in nature. Roskomnadzor's main function is the monitoring and controlling of mass media in Russia, and has been responsible for censoring several other forms of online content throughout the years, such as Twitter/X, Meta, Google, TikTok, and even Chess.com after the website published articles critical of the country's invasion of Ukraine. Roblox has come under fire in recent years for becoming a game that, the Florida attorney general says, "has become a breeding ground for predators." In October, Roblox put out a statement in response to the AG, saying his "claims about Roblox are false, and the suggestion that illicit image sharing is happening on Roblox demonstrates a lack of understanding of our platform’s functionality." More of a social platform than a game, Roblox allows creators to make and monetize their own mini games and modes within it. It has become immensely popular with children, making it a natural target for predators. Earlier this year, the state of Louisiana also filed a lawsuit against Roblox, saying it has allowed such predators to "thrive," so the company and game continue to remain under heavy scrutiny of late. Destructoid has reached out to Roblox for comment on today's news out of Russia. The post Roblox is reportedly now blocked in Russia, citing ‘LGBT propaganda’ and protecting children from predators appeared first on Destructoid. View the full article

As I said yesterday, ****** Friday is cactus, Cyber Monday has come and gone, and yet the shelves are still groaning under the weight of tasty discounts. It's that weird, magical pocket of the year when retailers refuse to give up the ghost, and anybody with a wishlist can quietly scoop up wins before stockists remember to raise prices again. If you have even a hint of FOMO, now is the time. Go get amongst it. Contents RetroNintendoXboxPlayStationPCPC GearLEGOThis Day in Gaming In ye olde gamer news, I'm using Elika's sun magic to light a 16-candle cake baked for Prince of Persia (2008), a stylish reboot that basically paired a ******, parkouring Nolan North playing Nolan North with a magical partner in a corrupted kingdom. I didn't dislike it at launch, but I also didn't adore it. I dug the painterly world and the smooth, lyrical flow of the acrobatics, but Elika's death-nullifying rescue mechanic was not to my masochistic tastes. It turned tension into routine and stripped the platforming of the razor-edge stakes the series was once famous for. And while the one-on-one duels had flair, the whole experiment proved to be an evolutionary dead end. Just a beautiful ****-de-sac Ubisoft explored with gusto before quietly reversing out of. Aussie birthdays for notable games. - Heretic II (PC) 1998. eBay - Prince of Persia (PS3,X360) 2008. eBay - Animal Crossing: City Folk (Wii) 2008. eBay - Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix (PS3) 2014. Get Nice Savings for Nintendo Switch A tidy spread of Switch discounts still going strong. Plenty of family friendly options and evergreen favourites holding nice reductions. Let's Sing 2026 + Mic (-41%) - A$59Persona 5 Tactica (-63%) - A$34.60Katamari Damacy Reroll (-75%) - A$7.40The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (-13%) - A$69.90Lego City Undercover (-56%) - A$39.80Immortals Fenyx Rising (-38%) - A$37.40Epic Mickey: Rebrushed (-35%) - A$65Dragon Ball Fighterz (-45%) - A$49.10 Expiring recent deals Metroid Prime 4: Beyond (-23%) - A$69Metroid Prime 4: Beyond NS2 (-24%) - A$84Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds (-44%) – A$60Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (-13%) – A$78NBA 2K26 (-59%) – A$49EA Sports FC 26 (-51%) – A$45Sonic Origins Plus (-48%) - A$32.90It Takes Two (-35%) - A$39 Or gift a Nintendo eShop Card. Switch Console Prices How much to Switch it up? [/url] Back to top Exciting Bargains for Xbox Still some very healthy cuts across action heavy favourites, sports picks and big hitters from last year. Assassin's Creed Mirage (-70%) - A$24Call of Duty: ****** Ops 6 (-74%) - A$29Tekken 7 (-48%) - A$36.60Yakuza: Like a Dragon (-52%) - A$14.90Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4 (-47%) - A$39.90WWE 2K25 (-76%) - A$29 Expiring recent deals Battlefield 6 (-37%) – A$69EA Sports FC 26 (-55%) – A$49NBA 2K26 (-63%) – A$44Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora (-49%) - A$19Split Fiction (-36%) – A$45Assassin's Creed Mirage (-70%) - A$24Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 plus 4 (-51%) - A$37Call of Duty: ****** Ops 6 (-74%) - A$29 Or just invest in an Xbox Card. Xbox Console Prices How many bucks for a 'Box? [/url] Back to top Pure Scores for PlayStation A chunky run of heavy hitters and new releases with real dollar drops still live. Astro Bot (-42%) - A$64Tekken 8 (-54%) - A$39Lego Horizon Adventures (-68%) - A$19Visions of Mana (-51%) - A$49Tales of Arise (-69%) - A$30.80 Expiring recent deals EA Sports FC 26 (-55%) – A$49Ghost of Yōtei (-25%) – A$94Ghost of Tsushima DC (-43%) – A$54Death Stranding 2 (-54%) – A$57Battlefield 6 (-37%) – A$69Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown (-60%) - A$40.20Gran Turismo 7 (-60%) - A$44Assassin's Creed Mirage (-65%) - A$28 Or purchase a PS Store Card. What you'll pay to 'Station. [/url] Back to top Purchase Cheap for PC Steam has blown the doors off again with deep cuts on indie darlings and recent blockbusters. 40K Space Marine 2 (-60%) - A$35.90Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (-85%) - A$14.90Cyberpunk 2077 (-65%) - A$31.40Death's Door (-80%) - A$5.90Gris (-80%) - A$4.30Broforce (-80%) - A$4.30 Expiring recent deals Metaphor: ReFantazio (-55%) - A$51.70Humble Bundle Dec 2025 (-93%) - A$20.90Persona 3 Reload (-61%) - A$39.40Hogwarts Legacy (-86%) - A$12.30Doom: The Dark Ages (-58%) - A$50.90The Witcher 3 Complete (-80%) - A$15.70 Or just get a Steam Wallet Card PC Hardware Prices Slay your pile of shame. [/url] Legit LEGO Deals Just like I did last holiday season, I'm getting festive with the LEGO section. In Mathew Manor, my sons and I are again racing this year's batch of LEGO Advent Calendars. Basically, we open the City, Harry Potter, Minecraft, and Star Wars on the daily and compare the mini-prizes for "Awesomeness" and "Actual Xmas-ness". 2024's winner was the Lego Marvel one, but, weirdly, there's no 2025 equivalent. So it's anybody's race this year. Here are the cheapest prices for the four calendars we're using. Score them yourself or just live vicariously through our unboxings. LEGO CIty Advent 2025 - A$59.95 $45LEGO Harry Potter Advent 2025 - A$59.95 $45LEGO Minecraft Advent 2025 - A$59.95 $45LEGO Star Wars Advent 2025 - A$59.95 $45 Adam Mathew is a passionate connoisseur, a lifelong game critic, and an Aussie deals wrangler who genuinely wants to hook you up with stuff that's worth playing (but also cheap). He plays practically everything, sometimes on YouTube. View the full article

Rockstar's Red Dead Redemption 2 is already a beautiful game. Considering it's already seven years old, RDR2 is especially impressive because it looks better than many current games on the market. Still, thanks to mods, the iconic Western can look even better, believe it or not, and the latest video of the game with "ultra graphics" makes RDR2 look better than it ever has before. View the full article

Obsidian Entertainment and Xbox Game Studios have detailed a new anniversary update coming to Avowed in February 2026. View the full article

There was a spot of skycontroversy earlier this year when former Skyblivion world designer Dee Keyes took issue with the mega-mod's planned launch in 2025. Keyes was critical of project management over "crunching" in pursuit of what he called "a pointless and unachievable release date." And it turns out he was right, at least about the 2025 release target being unachievable, because the launch has now been pushed to sometime in 2026... Read more.View the full article

"After a full review they determined that while the content is heavy, nothing in the game warrants removal from their store"View the full article

Xbox Game Pass subscribers have had a great year, with hundreds of awesome games available, epic day-one releases like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and new games releasing every week. It's one of the highest-valued service available for a reason, despite recent changes to its membership plans. View the full article

Expedition 18 Relics has returned to No Man's Sky, and you can complete the community event once again. If you missed out on completing the Relics expedition when it arrived earlier this year, now's your chance. There are several tasks to complete, and this guide will list them all. Table of contentsHow to begin Expedition 18 Redux in No Man's SkyHow to complete Relics (Expedition 18 Redux) in No Man's SkyPhase 1Phase 2Phase 3Phase 4Phase 5How to begin Expedition 18 Redux in No Man's Sky The process of beginning the Relics expedition is the same as the previous ones. To start the expedition, you'll need to access the Anomaly.First, summon the Anomaly after getting your ship to space. Take your spaceship inside and exit the cockpit. Find the expedition terminal right beside the main entrance. You can first check the tasks and the main rewards of the Relics expedition.Once ready, you can begin the expedition. Screenshot by Destructoid How to complete Relics (Expedition 18 Redux) in No Man's Sky The Relics expedition is divided into five phases, followed by a final phase. The table below has information on all five phases and their tasks. Most of them are pretty straightforward, and the game will often pinpoint what needs to be done. Phase 1TaskHow to CompleteEchoes of the PastLocate your starshipExhibition AdmissionCollect ancient artifactsThe Dig: IReport to the GPS Field OfficeJunior Field AgentCollect a complete fossilDo Not DisturbDefeat an ancient guardianAncient AvianReassemble an avian skeletonRock HoundDiscover 6 mineralsPhase 2TaskHow to CompleteThe Dig: IIReport to the second GPS digAssociated Field AgentCollect a complete fossilBygone BipedReassemble a biped skeletonDescendantsDiscover 6 creaturesUprootingEliminate 6 hazardous floraDomestic RelativesAdopt 1 companionBytesizedAnalyse 3 recovered dataPhase 3TaskHow to CompleteThe Dig: IIIReport to the third GPS digSenior Field AgentCollect a complete fossilFormer Four LegsReassemble a quadruped skeletonSnapshot in TimeTake a photo of 3 ground creaturesWading InLand 7 fishRelease PalaeobotanyDiscover 10 planetsAn Arm for a LegExchange fossils with a collectorPhase 4TaskHow to CompleteThe Dig: IVReport to the fourth GPS digPrinciple Field AgentCollect a complete fossilReassmbled ReptileReassemble a reptilian skeletonDeeper UndergroundExcavate 2600 units of terrainThe ArchaeologistExcavate 55 ancient bonesHearty StockWhip up a delicious bone brothBone AppetitServe up a bone to CronusPhase 5TaskHow to CompleteThe Dig: VReport to the final GPS digMaster of BonesCollect a complete fossilFixed ForerunnerReassemble a protoform skeletonNose in the DirtSearch 10 drug samplesWritten in StoneInvestigate 3 Memory StonesStone GhostsDefeat 3 ancient guardiansRags and BonesSell 2,500,000 units worth of fossils To complete the final phase, you'll need to finish all five prior sections. If any of the tasks are hard to complete, I will update the extra information in this guide. The post No Man’s Sky Expedition 18 Redux (Relics) guide and how to start it appeared first on Destructoid. View the full article

Skyrimoverhaul mod Skyblivion has been 13 years in the making, and the latest update confirms that the wait isn't over yet. As its name would suggest, Skyblivion reconstructs Oblivion within Skyrim's engine, a massive undertaking meant to upgrade the game with better graphics and various improvements. Bethesda's surprise release of Oblivion Remastered ended up beating it to the punch, but the project could still have a lot to offer. View the full article

Octopath Traveler 0's Metascore is just below Octopath Traveler 2'sView the full article

Over a week is left for The Game Awards 2025 to go live, and there's plenty of exciting reveals to catch, along with rewards to be handed out. The Game Awards 2025 will be streamcast live on Twitch and YouTube for gamers and fans to catch all the action from the comfort of their homes. This guide will help you stay on track with when the event goes live so that you don't miss out on any of the major announcements. The Game Awards 2025 countdown The dates for The Game Awards 2025 were announced previously, along with the nominations. The countdown below will expire once this year's award ceremony begins. It will be taking place on Dec. 11 (Dec. 12 in certain regions). [hurrytimer id="1150524"] The countdown is based on the following timings. 4:30pm PST6:30pm CST7:30pm EST00:30am (Dec. 12) BST1:30am (Dec. 12) CEST The first 30 minutes are expected to be an extension of the main show. We can expect premieres and reveals in the first 30 minutes as well, but the awards will be announced only after the main show begins. The number of categories for this year's awards remains the same. Games like Clair Obscur Expedition 33 and Death Stranding 2 have received multiple nominations, while a few other popular names like ARC Raiders haven't received as many. It will be interesting to find out who ends up as the winner come Dec. 11. More importantly, all eyes will be on the prestigious GOTY award. While Clair Obscur Expedition 33 is undoubtedly the favorite to win that title, there can always be last-minute surprises. In the meantime, you can go through all the nominations to find out if your favorite games have made the cut this year. The voting is also on as of writing, so make sure to cast your vote and help your favorite game win. The post The Game Awards 2025 countdown: Exact start date and time appeared first on Destructoid. View the full article

Nothing Manacles got a huge glow-up in Destiny 2, going off an individual balance pass in tandem with some general buffs to Void. You may have missed this Exotic when it released, but there's still a way to get it. Nothing Manacles released in Season of the Lost, when the main way of getting new Exotics was by running higher-difficulty Lost Sectors. The process has since changed drastically and is now much easier. Here's how you can snag this Exotic for your Warlock. How to unlock Nothing Manacles in Destiny 2 King of add-clear and king of fashion. Screenshot by Destructoid You can get Nothing Manacles by focusing it with Master Rahool in the Tower. If you're looking for your first copy, go to the Novel Decryption tab in the Focused Decoding section of his inventory. This is where you can unlock the Exotic at the cost of one Exotic Engram and one Exotic Cipher. That latter resource is slightly time-gated, but can be obtained from season passes, by exchanging Chronologs, and, of course, the classic way: by completing the Xenology quest from Xûr, who shows up at the Friday reset and flies off on Tuesday. After you've unlocked Nothing Manacles, you can grab it from any suitable source of Exotic Engrams, including Master Rahool. He's the most reliable way to farm this, letting you choose to decode an Exotic Engram into Nothing Manacles as long as you're willing to pay 60,000 Glimmer and two Ascendant Shards. You can continue to use Novel Decryption if you'd rather save your golfballs, though. What Nothing Manacles does (and why it's good) Tie a Void MIRV to Graviton Lance, and that's kind of what Nothing Manacles feels. Screenshot by Destructoid Scatter Charge: Gives you an extra Scatter Grenade charge, enables tracking for its submunitions, and final blows create more projectiles. Nothing Manacles on its own can be quite strong, but it really shines with Chaos Accelerant and Feed the Void equipped. Feed the Void grants an enhanced version of Devour, which should be glued to any Void subclass—especially one based on grenades. Chaos Accelerant, on the other hand, improves the tracking of your Scatter Grenades and grants you an extra grenade charge. With that combination, you're heading into an activity carrying three high-powered, tracking Scatter Grenades. This is one of the best add-clear builds for Warlocks. Think of it as a turbocharged Graviton Lance in your pocket. Damage isn't this build's strongest suit, however, so this mostly excels at taking down smaller enemies. The post How to get Nothing Manacles in Destiny 2 appeared first on Destructoid. View the full article

"If you look at Dickens, Zola, Tolstoy or any of those authors, there's that feeling of all the world is here – that's what you're trying to get in open world games"View the full article

There’s a new block on the block, or at least there will be soon. The Steam Machine, Valve’s new cuboid mini gaming PC disguised as a game console is coming early next year. And that’s exciting! I mean, when was the last time anybody had a shot at squeezing into this market lorded over by Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo for more than two decades? And how will it fare, specifically, against the PlayStation 5? I wish I could say this is a straightforward choice, but it’s just not. The Steam Machine will come with all of the full richness of the Steam game library, and it will have certain capabilities beyond what Sony offers for the PS5 – it is a full-on Linux computer, after all. Yet it’s likely that the PS5 will be the cheaper, more performant machine, and will continue to be home to some huge exclusives, or games that run better simply because developers know exactly what hardware they’re making them for. Optimization matters! But the choice isn’t just about specs and price. The gaming industry is in flux: every month brings more high-profile game industry layoffs; prices have shot up in response to President Trump’s tariffs; and 2025 has seen a lot of high-profile cancellations in series like Perfect Dark and Kingdom Hearts. Picking a game console, now more than ever, is a bet that it’ll give you reasons to keep coming back to it. Unfortunately, there aren’t many of us that can just buy every console we want and pay rent – so hopefully I can help you decide: should you buy a PS5 or a Steam Machine? Specs and Performance We won’t know how well the Steam Machine truly runs until we’ve gotten to put it through its paces, partly because of its custom chipset. But we can sure guess based on what Valve has revealed so far, as well as on our own time spent with the hardware when it was announced. At roughly six inches cubed, things are cramped inside the Steam Machine. Under its ****** plastic facade is a collection of good, but largely laptop-friendly components. The company has been careful not to frame it as a hot rod, making clear, for instance, that it’ll be relying on upscaling to hit its 4K resolution targets. As IGN has written before, the Steam Machine’s custom RDNA 3 GPU is about on par with a mobile RX 7600. For the CPU, Valve went with a slightly older 6-core Zen 4 chip. You know what’s even older? The PS5’s components. But age is just a number, and you’ll find more compute in the PS5’s 8-core Zen 2 CPU and its RDNA 2 GPU than what the 5-year-newer Steam Machine offers. We’ll see how the two stack up when the Steam Machine’s GPU actually hits our test bench, but it would be surprising if it was an even match. The numbers only tell part of the story. Remember, the Steam Machine is console-shaped, but as far as your games are concerned, it’s still just another gaming PC. Very little, if anything, that runs on it will have been created with its specific hardware in mind. Meanwhile, PS5 game developers will have known exactly what hardware they’re programming for (PS5 Pro notwithstanding). That doesn’t mean every PS5 game is perfectly optimized – but it does mean it’s a little more likely to have great-looking AAA games, even as it continues to age. It’s possible, if the Steam Machine sells well enough, that some developers will start to make games with Valve’s hardware in mind, but I wouldn’t count on that happening frequently, if at all. Heck, even on the PS5 it can feel like developers got about 80 percent of the way there before studio execs called it good, released the game, and laid off the team that made it. Now, all of that said, will games look bad on the Steam Machine? Oh my, no; there’s plenty of debate over just how well it’ll perform. Just don’t expect its games to be the absolute cream of the crop. Winner: PS5 Library and Features Deciding will be tricky if you’re looking at what actually runs on these consoles. The PS5 can only play games one generation back, not counting older remasters and the like. Meanwhile, the Steam Machine will be packed with decades of digital games, via Steam, right at launch. You might already have a huge library at your disposal! That’s a huge advantage that can’t be overstated. But what about those sweet PlayStation 5 ‘sclusies? Sony hasn’t quite followed Microsoft down its magnanimous path of making its exclusive games multiplatform, so the PS5 is the only way you’ll play titles like Ghost of Yotei or Death Stranding 2: On the Beach. With more than 80 million PS5s sold, there’s no guarantee that the company will veer meaningfully from that strategy. Then again, some games have jumped to other platforms, like the Spider-Man games; and the list of remaining exclusives isn’t long at all. There’s also approachability to consider: the PS5 is a game console, through and through. When you want to play a game on it, you buy the game, load it, and, generally speaking, play it – so long as it doesn’t require you to log into an account before you can play. (He wrote, while looking askance at Star Wars Outlaws.) That’s mostly how it works with SteamOS, too, but you’ll still have to fiddle with settings in some games, particularly those Valve hasn’t already given a Steam Machine verified badge. There’s also a very real difference to consider in terms of physical size and hardware features. The Steam Machine is tiny, like a Very Serious take on the GameCube (a GabeCube, you might say), while the PS5 is a behemoth that looks a bit like a ******-and-white vampire when it’s sitting upright. Just finding somewhere to put the dang thing is a real challenge. But on the flipside, you can get a PS5 with a disc drive, meaning you can fill your shelves with physical game cases if that’s your thing. (No judgement, friend, I used to be you.) Sure, Valve could have stuck a disc drive on top of the Steam Machine, but in a world where physical PC games have all but vanished, what would have been the point? To play Blu-ray movies? Actually, that would be rad. Outside of their games libraries, size, and plug-and-playability, the PS5 and Steam Machine are almost bizarro versions of each other. Both systems have touch pad features on their controllers, and both have a handheld story to tell, via the game streaming-only PS Portal and the standalone (but also streaming-capable) Steam Deck. The latter is a standalone system that starts at $400, the PS Portal only streams games and is half the price. That’s not to mention VR – a similar dynamic plays out between the Steam Frame and PSVR 2. Winner: Tie Price Price is where the PS5’s biggest advantage may lie. Even after tariff-induced price hikes, it starts at $499 for the digital edition, which is much cheaper than the $700-$800 that the Steam Machine could cost. The same goes for the $200 PS Portal and $400 Steam Deck, or the $400 PSVR 2 and the Steam Frame, which could easily cost $500 or more. But there’s more to consider, like the size of your Steam library and the depth of your restraint. If you’ve already got enough compatible games, you could easily get a Steam Machine, then avoid buying any new games for a while to let your wallet cool off. Meanwhile, the PS5 is limited to its own library, plus PS4 games and remakes of older titles. Even if you have a healthy PS4 library, the PS5’s identity is all wrapped up in what a power plant it is. You’ll want some new games that show that off. And it doesn’t take much – one Ghost of Yotei here and a Death Stranding 2 there – before the price differential starts to become a wash. Assuming a $700 Steam Machine price point, the calculus swings a bit back toward Sony if you buy a disc edition. A lot of PS5 games have come out in the five years since the console landed, and you can get some great secondhand hard copy deals on some of the best PS5 games out there. If Valve just says “to hell with it” and charges $500, though? The Steam Machine is practically a no-brainer from a price perspective. But that’s probably not going to happen. There’s a lot of “if this, then that” that goes into whether the PS5 is a better deal than the Steam Machine, so for right now, this one is a tie that could tip either way depending on how much Valve asks for its new gaming PC. Winner: Tie The Winner Is… the PS5 (For Now) Sony gets the edge here, but just barely. It’s a more powerful system for one thing, and as this console generation wanes, it will probably age better than the Steam Machine, at least when it comes to AAA games, purely because of console optimization – when developers know the hardware they’re aiming for, their games tend to play and look better. But the delta between the performance of the Steam Machine and the PS5 is still unknown at this point. And even if it’s about where we think it is, it may not be a meaningful difference for all but the most pixel-peeping among us. The rest won’t notice a difference unless you stick visuals from both systems right in front of them. And even then, most won’t care. In every other area, the two consoles come up about even, although that depends on certain things. If you have a huge and growing Steam library already, then the Steam Machine could be the obvious choice, even if Valve charges $200 more for it than Sony does for the PS5. If your Steam library is lacking or nonexistant, the PS5 might be the better bang for your buck. Wes is a freelance writer (Freelance Wes, they call him) who has covered technology, gaming, and entertainment steadily since 2020 at Gizmodo, Tom's Hardware, Hardcore Gamer, and most recently, The Verge. Inside of him there are two wolves: one that thinks it wouldn't be so bad to start collecting game consoles again, and the other who also thinks this, but more strongly. View the full article

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