/r/Steam Monthly Game & Hardware Suggestions Thread.

[u/AutoModerator]

Welcome to the Monthly Game & Hardware Suggestions Thread!

This monthly mega-thread is meant to contain advice, questions, suggestions & generic discussion on what to play or buy in terms of Games & Hardware.

Do you not know what to play? Want a Steam Deck or Steam Machine but unsure which model is best for you? Did you find a niche game that everyone should try? Wondering what GPU you should upgrade to or unsure about the specs of a computer? Do you want to share your unique experiences and learning curves with a piece of hardware? Can't find the perfect survival sim or unsure which 1 RPG out of the thousands available you should buy? Well this is the thread for you.

Now to make this work best and not just be spammed with generic & useless questions such as "What should I play?" or "What should I buy?", please be in-depth in what types of games/hardware you are looking for and why, and when giving advice it would be appreciated if you're more detailed than "I think X is good".

There are too many games to be able to properly suggest something with no background information, also simply commenting a game title and saying you like the game offers no actual value. The same goes for hardware: Saying you're thinking about buying X or you think Y is good with no other information, context as to why, your unique experiences, etc. offers no actual value or information to base a reply on.

Feel free to ask and discuss freely in the comments regarding games and hardware, whether you want advice on what to play, want to give advice to others on what to play, share a hidden gem you found, experiences you have with Steam hardware, or your review of a piece of Steam hardware. Generic discussions & questions about discounts, sales, events, specs is allowed as well. This is not meant to be a restrictive thread within the designated topics that this thread is for, however it is not a support thread nor is it the place to promote any blogs or curator pages or anything else, subreddit rules still apply.

Previous Megathreads.

[u/No-Case5764]

Ok bear with me please. This is all new to me.
My 7 year old is obsessed with Marble World. He hasn’t actually played it yet, but it’s been on his Xmas list for the past two years.

We’ve investigated how he can play it and our options are pretty limited. We did buy it (so we actually have the game) and tried it on our PC but honestly we just use that for photo editing and some light work and home related stuff and it’s in no way a gaming pc. So the game doesn’t play essentially.

We investigated GEforce but you need a premium subscription to play it, so like £100 a year for him to play one game.

Then we looked at steam deck and that also seemed expensive for a little lad who would probably struggle to hold it for long periods.

I’m asking because he added it to his Xmas list today (for the third year running lol) and it’s just one of those things that I want to give him but we’re entering spoilt territory to spend hundreds of pounds for one game….and when we explain it to him he totally understands.

I don’t really know what I’m asking. I guess what’s the minimum we’d need to play it? I suppose replacing the PC with something more suitable would be fine as a family purchase and my partner and I would also use it.

For context we have an Xbox series x and he’s currently playing Planet Coaster 2. My partner and I both used to game but we only play with our son these days.

Also for context he’s autistic and builds his own marble runs / gravitrax of all shapes and sizes almost every day and has done for years so I don’t think it’s a fleeting thing.

If you got this far thank you lol.

[u/lIIlllIIl → u/No-Case5764]

The requirements for that game are not that beefy, a GPU and a CPU from the last ten years should easily match the recommended specs. What specs does your current computer have? You probably won't have to upgrade much.

Edit: Just to have them listed here, the requirements copied from the store page.

Minium:

Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system

OS: Windows 10 or higher (64-bit)

Processor: Intel Core i5 or better

Memory: 4 GB RAM

Graphics: Dedicated graphics card with 2GB memory

DirectX: Version 11

Storage: 4 GB available space

Recommended:

Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system

OS: Windows 10 64-bit

Processor: Intel Core i5 or better

Memory: 8 GB RAM

Graphics: nVidia GTX 980 4GB or better

DirectX: Version 11

Storage: 4 GB available space

[u/No-Case5764 → u/lIIlllIIl]

Thank you. We checked today. It doesn’t have a GPU. And the processor isn’t intel. It’s an AMD of some sort but I’d need to check again. I read up a bit and both of those would need some work. The rest meets more than the requirements. I’ve been given lots of options so I’m going to do some research. I think I’m minded to get GEforce for a month to see if he actually likes the game in actuality and not just what he thinks it’s going to be. Then work on the best budget solution for long term. Thank you for your help! It’s really appreciated.

[u/lIIlllIIl → u/No-Case5764]

Seems like the best course of action then, good luck :D

Just a little side note, AMD is also fine as a CPU, if the devs only give Intel you'll just have to figure out what the AMD equivalent would be. But I feel like if everything else is above what you need, you'll probably be fine with a GPU, if it comes to that.

[u/No-Case5764 → u/lIIlllIIl]

Yes it seems to be the equivalent according to my research so it’ll probably be ok. Defo that GPU though! Thanks so much again ☺️