Aperture Desk Job reimagines the been-there-done-that genre of walking simulators and puts them in the lightning-spanked, endorphin-gorged world of sitting still behind things. You play as an entry-level nobody on their first day at work — your heart full of hope and your legs full of dreams, eager to climb that corporate ladder. But life’s got other plans, and they all involve chairs. Designed as a free playable short for Valve’s new Steam Deck, Desk Job walks you through the handheld’s controls and features, while not being nearly as boring as that sounds. Lower your expectations: This is not a sequel to Portal. Now get ready to raise them slightly, because it is in the expanded universe of those games. Desk Job puts you squarely in the driver’s seat at Aperture Science. Then quickly removes the driving part and adds a desk in front of the seat.
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Stuff like Astros Playroom not only serve to show off how cool the PS5 could be if it got games, but it lasts as a legitimate game to think back on and maybe return to once and a while. Then you start thinking of other launch games that are technically tech demos like Luigi's mansion, or the iconic Wii Sports. Mario 64 counts right? Or gee, Half-Life Alyx.
I never thought about any of this while playing, it's truly fine for what it is and was never aiming to be the next Wii Sports or whatever. It's well made and packed with fun little details. But the first game you're meant to play on a brand new console is usually such a huge momentous occasion. It's just that this is a slightly interactive short film. And what's worse I'm not really sure this does a great job showing the extent of how versatile the Steam Deck really is. Woulda been kinda sick for this to be a minigame collection simulating tons of different genres you might not immediately think about running on the Steam Deck. There's certainly more scenarios you'll be using the touch screen outside of scribbling your name down, but that's all this tech demo has to show you on that topic. Nothing's given much focus, but they'll spend half of the 30 minute run time on showing off very standard gun controls. Nice that they highlighted gyro controls at least, that should be a standard option across the industry and anyone saying otherwise is stuck in the early 2010's. Feels a tad creatively bankrupt to be making a console as flexible as the Steam Deck and half your tech demo is -hold left trigger to aim and pull right trigger to shoot-
Perhaps it's a bit silly to really go in an criticize something like this. It's a free lil' bonus thing that I can't say I'm really upset with or anything. But it's really one of the most nothing launch title tech demos out there. Which is tragic 'cuz the Steam Deck itself is by far the best modern console by a longshot. Can't say I really needed this game to show me I could press one of the 4 face buttons to have something happen in-game lol.