Foretales, In Sound Mind & Mystic Academy - Steam Deck Tested | Jul 26
Kia ora Everyone!
What an eventful week, and not all of it in a good way. We’ve settled into a routine of sorts, not that different from life on the boat, just with longer hours at work on Junk Store. The low point came on our way to my parents’ place for dinner. We were about halfway there, picking our way through traffic, when we got rear-ended. No one was hurt, I think we were all just a bit shaken. We weren’t anywhere safe enough to get out, so Eben sorted things with the other driver, and we had details swapped within 20 minutes of it happening. Neither car came off too badly, insurance is all sorted, and now we’re just waiting to get ours in for an assessment and repair.
On the flip side, we’ve just passed one year since we launched Junk Store Pro. We can’t quite believe it’s been a year already, and it’s just over two years since version 1 of Junk Store landed on Decky Loader. It’s been a rollercoaster of highs and lows for both of us, and we’re excited about year two. There’s still plenty we want to get done, and Eben’s vision is far from finished. If you missed it, you can read his full reflection on the past year in One Year of Junk Store Pro.
Current System Setup
- Junk Store Pro: v3.2.0.0 (Stable Channel)
- Junk Store Plugin: v1.1.13 (Main/Default)
- GOG Extension: v0.1.11
- Decky Loader: v3.2.8-pre1 (Pre-release)
- Proton: GE-Proton 11.1
- SteamOS: v3.8.16 (Stable)
This Week’s Featured Games View Full List →
Epic Games Giveaway
This week featuring Foretales.
Oooh, I was looking forward to testing this one and it did not disappoint! It's a bit different from your usual deckbuilder, where you tend to use what you've got to battle your way forward and progress by winning fights. In Foretales the story is built into the cards, so getting anywhere means engaging with them in the right way to pull all the pieces together. There's still a fighting element, but you can just as easily buy someone off or intimidate them into backing down. It took up my whole morning and I'll definitely be carrying on with this one!
View compatibility details →Amazon Prime Gaming
This week featuring In Sound Mind, Mystic Academy: Escape Room.
Another puzzle game, and it had me from its dark, creepy start. You begin in the basement of what looks like a derelict apartment building and have to work your way through darkened hallways and rooms to reach the higher floors. I had a fun testing session with this one, though I kept it short because I already own it on Epic and I'll carry on over there instead (I'm an achievement hunter when a game offers them). This is what I thought Luto was going to be like last week. There's still something about that one that can't quite hold my attention, but this game had me from the start.
View compatibility details →
Ha, I mistakenly tested this one first, and yes, I very nearly lost an hour to it! This one plays on the Harry Potter wizarding theme, which is a change from the others in the series. They're usually darker, especially Tested on Humans: Escape Room, which was a bit weird and creepy. This is another puzzle filled escape room, just with a magical spin on it.
View compatibility details →Looking Forward
Next up on the free games front:
Epic Games: Epic’s giving away two games next week: OTXO, a top down shooter that looks intriguing, and Sol Cesto, a dungeon crawler that looks like it could be a good bit of fun.
Amazon Prime Gaming: Two GOG codes next week. Weakless looks like it could be along the same lines as Figment, which I really enjoyed playing. Then there’s Zoria: Age of Shattering, one Eben and I could both keen on, though unfortunately it’s singleplayer only. It looks to be in the same vein as Divinity: Original Sin 2 (which I loved) and Baldur’s Gate 3, so I’m really looking forward to putting it through its paces. If you can’t wait, there’s a demo available. We’ll get both tested once they’re live.
For game-specific issues, feedback, or just a chat, you'll still find us on Discord or Reddit.
As always we hope you’re having an awesome weekend,
Annie & Eben (aka The Junk Store Team)