My girlfriend isn’t a gamer but she loves playing games when she decides to try them, she loved Hogwarts Legacy, YuGiOh Master Deck and Dragonball Z Kakarot but she played them because she knew the franchises and liked them. We’re also playing it takes two together and she loves it.

My hunch is she’d never buy herself a steamdeck but she’d enjoy one if she had it. So I’m thinking about getting her one for Christmas (alongside some other presents she 100% wants just in case I’m wrong…)

She also loves The Sims 4, and played a lot of Age of Empires and Theme Hospital growing up.

So I have four questions:

  1. What games do you think could be a contender given what she liked playing above?

  2. She doesn’t have a steam account so I was thinking about making her one myself using another email, buying games on there that she’d like and changing the email over once I gift it to her, are there any flaws in that plan?

  3. Is it simple to add emulators?

  4. What’s the return window like if she really doesn’t like it? Haha

  • Prudent-Moment6608@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    Games wise, you have described exactly what my wife loves played (huuuuge fan of sims 4 and Harry Potter).

    Her new favourite game is called house flipper (she found out about it through TikTok).

    She (through my steam account) owns the base game and every single dlc and has about 200 hours into it through steam.

    I suggest you buy:

    -all 3 games -a dock in case she likes using a bigger screen during longer gaming sessions. -if you go with the dock, grab her a controller unless she likes using a kb and mouse (in which case grab her both).

  • littlebethyblue@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    Two Point Hospital! It’s based off of Theme Hospital I think, my BFF got me into it and it’s an entertaining game.

    It’s gonna depend on how complicated she likes things, if she prefers something attached to a whole franchise, etc.

    I don’t know about the technical details re: the email address, but it probably would be best for her to set it up with hers, it’s going to take a while for the games to download anyway.

    It’s very simple to add emulators, a bit more complicated to set games up and get them downloaded to the right folder unless you attach a keyboard/mouse.

    I would honestly probably talk to her about it? It’s a big purchase to make as a surprise.

  • RaspberryAlienJedi@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago
    1. Maybe try r/CozyGamers
    2. No flaws in the plan, except that sometimes with new accounts the system may flag as spam or similar and sometimes you even need to send an ID to prove identity. This may or may not matter to you, as that account will forever have that data about you somewhere on their support system. Think if you break up in the future and it’s now her account. Just something to think about. Also maybe it would be better to give her a gift card and let her pick the games she wants? You may end up spending money on games she doesn’t like at the end of the day. Maybe if you had a list of games she’d want… The steam wishlist would work too.
  • Mammoth321@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    I think your gf likes simulation games.
    Sims4 base is free on steam by the way. The only issue is, that there’s an EA launcher. Yesterday I turned it on for the first time in a while and it didn’t launch. I had to go to the desktop mode, and then it was able to lauch.

    She’d be very happy to know it’s relatively easy to add custom content to the steam deck (after finding the correct path). it’s not as easy to find compared to windows but it’s not too bad (i think it’s been posted a few times).

    If she has DLCs for Sims4, she just needs to link her steam account to the EA account. I had to do this once (since I previously bought the DLCS and base game off of origin which is now changed to EA launcher)… and my previous Origin DLC transferred over.

    I like the Rune Factory series (people like #4) the most. It’s farming with some fighting.

    Stardew valley (farming game) is popular too. and it’s cheap.

    I didn’t play age of the emprior but I liked CIVI5. i haven’t played civi6

    ​

    Also consider that there are a few simulation games that are coming out next year - Life by you and Inzoi. I think that the LBY is creator mentioned he’s not going to make the game specifically for the steam deck and says that running the game on lowest settings might not be a good experience. This is why I’m going to upgrade my graphics card.

    Inzoi trailer just came out… and the graphics look insane. the youtubers were given high level pcs to play it.

  • diredesire@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    Baba is you, escape simulator if you like escape rooms, Superliminal

    Hollow Knight, Celeste, Ori series

    A short hike - so cute, good humor, really lovely on Deck