When the PS5 launched back in late 2020, everyone likely remembers the launch thanks to the the heavy hitters like Marvel’s Spider-Man Miles Morales and the Demon’s Souls remake. Sumo Digital’s Sackboy: A Big Adventure is a game I didn’t play until a few months after getting a PS5, and it is an excellent 3D platformer. Fast forward to today and Sackboy: A Big Adventure has arrived on PC as Sony’s newest conversion. Sackboy: A Big Adventure is one of the games I wanted to try the most on Steam Deck, and I’m happy to report that it is a brilliant experience on Valve’s portable system.
Before I played Sackboy: A Big Adventure on PS5, a few friends of mine compared it to Super Mario 3D World which is one of the best Mario games, so I was intrigued. Having finally played it on PS5, it blew me away. Not only was it well-designed, but it also had great audio design and one of the best blends of licensed and original music.
For this Sackboy: A Big Adventure Steam Deck review, I’ve only played it on my Steam Deck and not tried it on my laptop at all. After a bit of tweaking, Sackboy: A Big Adventure runs at 60fps with very good visuals on Steam Deck. It lacks the amazing DualSense haptics, but is a perfectly fine way to experience Sumo Digital’s lovely platformer on the go.
While I love Sackboy: A Big Adventure on Steam Deck, the conversion has a few issues that also affect how it is on Steam Deck. If the game runs below 60fps, it causes some camera issues. When you go into the settings, there are many graphics options you can use to tweak the experience to your liking. These include shadows, textures, anti-aliasing, render quality (up to 100%), enhancements over the PlayStation version, frame rate limits, and more. The medium or high presets with some tweaking work well and give you 60fps.
One other issue I have is the lack of support for Steam’s Remote Play Together. I was going to invite a friend who doesn’t own the game to play it with me, but that option isn’t available here like it is in other games with local co-op support. Hopefully it can be added in the future.
Sackboy: A Big Adventure is verified on Steam Deck by Valve, and it is absolutely worth your time if you’ve never played it before. If you have, I wouldn’t recommend it at full price. You’re better off waiting for a sale and a few patches (if you play on Windows).
The biggest downside to Sackboy: A Big Adventure on Steam is the price point. While $59.99 is fair for the game, I don’t think charging full price for a 2 year old game brought to PC will work out well in a crowded release season and with bigger Sony games coming to PC soon. It is disappointing that this release didn’t get the push it deserves, but I’m glad to have such an excellent portable version of Sackboy: A Big Adventure on Steam Deck and hope it gives the game more attention following its launch on PS5 and PS4 about two years ago. It deserves to be played by way more people.
Sackboy: A Big Adventure is out now on PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store.
Interested in more Steam Deck features? Check out our other Steam Deck recommendations!
