On Tue, 01 Mar 2022 19:31:39 -0500, Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

Who says Valve doesn't make (or give away) games?

Now free on Steam:
Aperture Desk Job >https://store.steampowered.com/app/1902490/Aperture_Desk_Job/

Having played it, I have to say I'm rather disappointed. My initial
assumptions were correct: this game is designed to promote the
SteamDeck; it is, in essence, a 30-minute tutorial about the Steam
Decks controls that only purports to be a game.

But even taking that into account, it's really not very fun. It's
extremely linear and the humor is off; it's not a funny game. At most
it got a few smiles out of me during the transitions between chapters
- when it showed off the rise-n-fall of a mantis civilization - but
otherwise is was tame at best and unamusing at worst. The voice-acting
was flat and dialogue was trite. Given Valve's previous efforts, this
was really a very sub-par effort; I've seen much better work made by
amateurs using the Source Filmmaker tool.

Playing through the whole thing takes, as mentioned, about 30 minutes.
It is extremely linear and its gameplay consists almost entirely of
pushing specific buttons when prompted; it's sort of an extended (and
very slow) quick-time event. It requires a gamepad (or a SteamDeck),
although there is one instance when you need to wiggle your mouse, and
another where you need to type something in on the keyboard
(presumably to show off the touchpad and keypad features on the
'deck).

Given that this game was designed to showcase some of the Steam Deck's features, it actually made me less interested in the device, just
because I found the controls so inaccurate compared to the usual
mouse-keyboard combo. At first I thought it might be my setup, but I
tried a different controller (initially I was using a cheap knock-off
PS3 gamepad) but still found the controls cumbersome. In fairness, I
dislike gamepads generally and have issue with them regardless of game
or platform; I know my bias. Still, if this is the direction Valve
wants PC gaming to go, then I am not onboard with it.

I get that "Aperture Desk Job" is just a little tech-demo/tutorial,
and free to boot. Arguably I should be less critical of it given these limitations. Still, it was such a disappointing release given Valve's
previous releases. I expected more from them. "Desk Job" was barely
worth the time it took to download, much less play.

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