Certain media suits specific screen sizes. Some TVs now rotate vertically to play TikTok videos, but everyone knows they belong on your smartphone. Conversely, there’s a whole subgenre of online jokes about watching Christopher Nolan on the smallest, worst screens possible because his films need IMAX. I share the old-fashioned view that, though you can watch a movie at home, you haven’t truly seen it unless you’re seeing it in a cinema.

The same is true of video games. Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 is a big third-person shooter with grand detailed landscapes, and therefore it feels wrong to play it on anything other than the biggest screen possible; the same is true of a roaming racing game like Forza 4. This gave me a challenge as I’ve been using a Steam Deck OLED at the moment — Valve’s Windows-game-compatible competitor to the Nintendo Switch — and though it can play both aforementioned games, it’s best suited for smaller, more intimate titles that suit the Deck’s 7.4-inch screen. These are the titles I’ll be highlighting in further editions of this series, and the first is a 2017 top-down twin-stick shooter/brawler from Reikon Games, Ruiner.

Set in the dystopian future of 2091, in the cyberpunk metropolis Rengkok, you play a sword-and-gun-wielding protagonist whose brain has been controlled by various forces and is now on a rescue mission to save his kidnapped brother from the corporation HEAVEN. If you’re even slightly aware of cyberpunk media, the plot and its various twists, will not be a surprise, but that’s fine because this is just a framework to pull you through encounters with various strange enemy kinds, who you slice and shoot to pieces.

Initially, aiming your weapon can be difficult, and it’s challenging how to use your powers. However, once you get used to the controls and start upgrading your abilities, the combat becomes intuitive yet challenging, and you start feeling like a cyber ninja. The combat is fast-paced, bloody, and anarchic, and it’s so satisfying to combine slow-motion, quick darts forward, and shot-gun blasts into a single motion, then finish off your assailant with your katana.

The loot system is shallow but competent — you don’t store weapons, so you’re always picking up the best gun available — but that’s somewhat for the best, as the game wisely keeps your focus on the combat. The level design is relatively simple but has enough diversity to keep you entertained over the roughly 8-hour story, and the whole game is soaking in atmosphere. The music, the environment, the techno soundtrack, the characters you bump into; they all suck you into this Akira and Blade Runner inspired world.

Again, it’s not a complex or lengthy game, but the simplicity is the point. If you want to spend hours exploring a future world, play Cyberpunk 2077 on your PC. But, for a quick 20-minute shoot-up on a Steam Deck, it’s hard to beat Ruiner. Ruiner is available on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch, and it’s currently 80 percent off in the Steam Spring sale.