Last week, there was a ton of Steam Deck coverage over here focused on the Steam Deck OLED. I wrote about the best accessories, the best games to show off the screen, and also the best indie games to play on your new Steam Deck OLED. With all that happening and the Steam Autumn sale that ended recently, I decided to skip the Steam Deck Weekly last week. It is back today with a review of Tales of Arise: Beyond the Dawn, tons of news, many Steam Deck Verified games, and more.
Steam Deck Game Impressions & Reviews
Tales of Arise: Beyond the Dawn DLC Steam Deck Review
Tales of Arise: Beyond the Dawn is one of the weirdest DLC releases I’ve seen in a long time. Not in its quality, but its timing, how you access it, and what carries over. When Tales of Arise was released back in 2021, it was a fantastic entry in the series, and was only second to Tales of Berseria in quality. I enjoyed it a lot on PS5, and even bought a lot of its cosmetic DLC back then. Fast forward to last month, Tales of Arise: Beyond the Dawn was released as a big expansion for the base game, but it feels like it should’ve been released early last year rather than now. Either way, I took this chance to play the expansion, and also the base game on Steam Deck. I wanted to wait for SteamOS 3.5 to hit as well to see if it made any difference. In this Tales of Arise: Beyond the Dawn DLC review, I’m going to cover whether the DLC is worth grabbing now, the state of Tales of Arise on Steam Deck, and more. Note that there will be no spoilers for Tales of Arise or Beyond the Dawn in this review.
When I mentioned Tales of Arise: Beyond the Dawn being one of the weirdest DLC releases, the fact that it does not pick up anything from the base game of note barring giving you some bonuses depending on your main story save progression makes me think this was planned to be either a sequel or a standalone expansion before it was brought over to the base game as paid DLC. This aspect worked out better for me as I never finished Tales of Arise on PC and had about 20 hours played on my last save. Thanks to that, I jumped straight into the expansion since I beat the game on PS5.
Tales of Arise: Beyond the Dawn’s story focuses on Nazamil as the main newcomer, but there is a lot of banter between the lovely cast from the base game. The story here ranges from being at par with the base game, to having a bit too much padding through side quests. I loved Tales of Arise and was happy to dig deeper into the world, but this definitely isn’t of the same quality as Xenoblade Chronicles 3’s Future Redeemed release. What I found really surprising, is how nothing from the main story in terms of levels or skills carried over. You begin with preset characters and have to unlock skills again. Like I said before, this was good for me on another platform, but had I played Tales of Arise: Beyond the Dawn on PS5, I’d have hoped my save and party setup all carried over.
So while the story is new, and I love the characters and their new interactions, the actual new gameplay content in this DLC pack is lacking. Even the dungeons are all familiar if you played the base game to completion, and there are no new artes (skills). This long after the base game is out, I expected more from the team. The bundle with the base game and Tales of Arise: Beyond the Dawn together is absolutely worth it, but I feel like longtime fans who supported the game before are getting the short end of the stick here.
On Steam Deck, Tales of Arise and Beyond the Dawn both run very well out of the box. Tales of Arise is Steam Deck Verified, and has always been a game I wanted to revisit on a powerful handheld. 40hz seems to be the sweet spot for great visuals and stable gameplay. I don’t recommend attempting 60fps here unless you’re ok turning down a lot of things including resolution. I also tested Tales of Arise: Beyond the Dawn on Xbox Series X, and my only complaint there remains the visual pop in being too much. Tales of Arise and Beyond the Dawn both look stunning on the Xbox. On the Steam Deck’s screen, I have no complaints, but don’t bother getting Tales of Arise for Steam Deck if you want to play docked and have access to another console.
Having now played Tales of Arise: Beyond the Dawn and thinking back on Tales of Arise itself, it remains just one step below Tales of Berseria even today, and a super fun action RPG experience despite the few issues I have with both the base game and the expansion. If you didn’t enjoy Tales of Arise, this expansion will not change your mind. It is very much one for the fans, and does a lot good for those who enjoyed the base game. It just should’ve been priced a bit better, or had the new costumes included.
If you’re new to the world of Tales of Arise, the bundle of Tales of Arise with Beyond the Dawn is an essential. If you already have Tales of Arise and beat it back in 2021 or last year, this DLC is very good if you’re dying to spend more time in the world and with the characters. I like the cast a lot, and while this DLC feels a bit too disjointed as a part of the full package, it is still a good time. I wish the new costumes were included in the asking price though because the $30 for Beyond the Dawn was already a bit much. Having those additional paid DLC costumes included would make this an easier recommendation.
Tales of Arise: Beyond the Dawn DLC Steam Deck review score: 3.5/5
News
There has been a ton of news since I last did the Steam Deck Weekly. I’m going to focus on the highlights from before, and also the recent announcements from this week. My favorite announcement is definitely Dragon’s Dogma 2 getting a confirmed release date. It launches on March 22nd worldwide for Steam and consoles. Watch the new trailer below:
Speaking of new trailers, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth had a new story trailer released with the English dub. After the demo
Capcom also pushed out a huge update for Street Fighter 6 today in addition to releasing the new costumes for all base game characters. Watch the trailer for the new costumes below. These are available for fighter coins right now in-game, and will cost a lot if you want more than a few. Unfortunately for me, I play the game on all three platforms so I likely won’t bother with more than just one or two.
A Dragon Ball FighterZ public beta test is now available on Steam to let players try out the rollback netcode. This is available from now until December 11th, and you can try it using the instructions here.
The excellent Warframe from Digital Extremes is getting cross platform saves (finally), and the developers also teased a new look for the big Whispers in the Walls update coming to the game. More will be revealed at The Game Awards next week, but you can watch a teaser below. Speaking of The Game Awards, if you watch them live on Twitch with a linked account to Warframe, you can receive a built Sevagoth Warframe as a Twitch Drop.
Homeworld 3, the newest entry in the sci-fi RTS series, will release on March 8th, 2024 for PC via Steam. I wasn’t sure whether to include this news since I have no idea if or how Homeworld 3 will run on Steam Deck, but I’m excited to try it, and will be checking it out on Deck as soon as I can. Watch the new trailer below.
PQube Games is bringing the classic dungeon crawlers to Steam and consoles through Class of Heroes 1: Anniversary Edition and Class of Heroes 2G: Remaster Edition. The games will be released separately on Steam (here and here), and also available in a physical bundle for consoles. I love DRPGs and will definitely be playing this on Steam Deck and Switch.
Dwarf Fortress is getting a major free expansion in April 2024 bringing in Adventure Mode. This is the RPG campaign for the main game letting you create a character and play through a simulated world you made in the main Fortress Mode. You can also play in a new generated world.
NIS America is bringing Furyu’s 3DS game The Legend of Legacy to Steam and consoles as The Legend of Legacy HD Remastered, and it launches on March 22nd globally. I liked this on 3DS despite its issues, and will be revisiting it on Steam Deck for sure. Even if you don’t bother getting it, listen to the sublime soundtrack.
Stop motion handmade adventure game about friendship, Harold Halibut, had its release window confirmed for early 2024 with a new trailer. I Hadn’t seen much of this before, but the trailer sold me on the game. Check it out below:
Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader from the amazing developers of the Pathfinder CRPGs got a new combat trailer, and it looks incredible. I can’t wait to see how it plays on Steam Deck.
The final bit of news is more Persona 3 Reload news with a new trailer showcasing more of the new English cast and gameplay. This new behind the scenes video is below. If you missed prior news, Persona 3 Reload is already Steam Deck Verified, and it launches in February on Steam and consoles.
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New Steam Deck Verified & Playable games for the week
Valve definitely has increased the pace of checking games, or at least games I care about. The lists below includes all the new Verified, Playable, and Unsupported games from Valve since the last feature. Hat tip to TouchArcade reader Mor for letting me know about Silent Hope and Disgaea PC.
- Amnesia: The Bunker
- Slime Rancher 2
- From Madness with Love
- Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery EP
- Dream Town Island
- Beat Hazard 3
- Bluey: The Videogame
- Mediterranea Inferno
- Howl
- Gunhead
- Disgaea PC
- Silent Hope
- Inescapable: No Rules, No Rescue
- METAL GEAR & METAL GEAR 2: Solid Snake
Steam Deck Game Sales & Discounts
Not much of note on discount since we just had a Steam Sale end, but I’d recommend Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition and Rabi Ribi from the big discounts on right now.
That’s all for this week’s edition of the Steam Deck Weekly. As usual, you can read all our Steam Deck coverage here. If you have any feedback for this feature or what else you’d like to see us do around the Steam Deck and the OLED model, let us know in the comments below. I hope you all have a great day, and thanks for reading.
