It was definitely not the smartest move of mine to play Batora on the Steam Deck. At the beginning, I had too many problems with the interface and the distant camera on the small screen. But this is a personal fault that I can't hold against the game.

What I do criticize, however, is the lack of courage to break out of the known boundaries of its genre a little. For me, Batora is a prime example of a "solid game" that doesn't want to and won't make a big impression. Too many story and gameplay elements I have somehow already experienced before and surprises were in short supply. But what was there was largely fun and varied. The challenge is also balanced by the different types of magic and enemy types.

Good
- Talented voice acting
- Beautiful artworks
- Good story progression
- Gameplay matches the story (no cheap filters to make the game unnecessarily long)
- Easy achievement

Bad
- It still has bugs, and it randomly freezes briefly on Steam Deck though already being verified and set to low settings.
- The protagonist has a lot of unnecessary lines. She is quirky but in an annoying way. I don't think she is well suited in this game at all. (Maybe it could be better with a more serious and mature protagonist)
- Lots of cutscene that is rather short and doesn't seem to serve any useful purpose besides showing off the dev's artwork and animation

- The graphics, music / sound design, and story are fine. Nothing amazing and nothing terrible, just maybe kind of… boring? You’re the chosen one, transported from your planet with your friend (who you are trying to save) and you end up becoming a demigod in the process from two gods, Sun and Moon. Overall just feels pretty generic.

- The combat and “decisions matter” are what interested in in trying this game out. Regarding combat, there’s stance switching from melee to ranged mode, with extra abilities you unlock over time. Unfortunately, most of the combat is fairly easy if you’ve played ARPGs before, but I did like what they were going for and is probably the most polished part of the game. There were a few interesting puzzles to solve along the way as well.

Your decisions mattering are probably the biggest letdown in the game. There are a few key moments where you can make decisions and affect the story, but outside of that the game is pretty linear. I guess I had expectations that I would be making more decisions that influenced outcomes more. Interesting idea but not executed well.

- My biggest gripe is the writing. Extremely juvenile and I guess that makes sense once I looked up that this is a PEGI 12 game. The game constantly switches tone from serious to lighthearted in a clunky way that’s offputting to me. The voice actors did a great job though.

- Ultimately I can’t recommend unless you’re actually 12. Outside of a few interesting mechanics and game design decisions, most everything you’ll find here can be found elsewhere equally as good.