The main problem you're gonna have with this is explaining to them the difference between gender and sex, how gender is really just a social construct, that sort of thing. Get them on that first, then the suggetsions of some of the other commenters will probably go down a lot easier.

Really wish we didn't need to wait for politicians to die of old age before we could replace them...

• The worlds are largely empty and boring to explore even compared to some much older open world titles
• movement/controls are clunky
• the combat system is incredibly simplistic especially compared to other games and makes combat largely uninteresting and unchallenging
• the weapon durability system is terrible and not only discourages exploration (to save your good weapons), but also prevents more complex combat mechanics from existing at all
• the plots really aren't good at all
• the shrines are repetitive
• the side quests have no good rewards and often aren't worth bothering with. This is due to any substansial rewards (health and stamina) being locked to shrines, main tools being given to you at the start, a lack of proper progression, and other tools like weapons being disposible.
• Because they give you all the tools at the start of the game, there's really no sense of progression making the game feel stale a lot more quickly then it otherwise should

TOTK doesn't really address any of these problems from BOTW. It does address things like enemy variety, and dungeons/bosses (barely), but both games share so many of the same issues I struggled to get through TOTK.

I guess all these free services had to implode one day, I just didn't think they'd all choose the same day...

The hardware on the ally is better but the software is weaker in some key areas (while being stronger in others!). Ally has a much more powerful chip (yes 10w exists, these devices all have 2 hour batter lives in games that need power anyways), it has quiter fans, a better screen, and is available potentially at your local best buy.

For software, anti cheat is still a massive hurdle for Linux so if you play any games that have issues on Linux, tough luck. General game compatibility can also still be a problem with Linux, coming from someone who's been using Linux on their main system for 5 years now. Proton updates can break some games, some games work better with certain versions, need extra fixes, or some won't work at all. New games will also tend to have extra issues, as can game launchers other then steam.

The deck makes up for that by being streamlined in plenty of other ways, so if you want the most console like experience then the steam deck is your option. It has resume on wake, it has a very streamlined ui, gamescope and mangohud built in, etc. If you want the best hardware and want all your games to work even if the interface is worse, then just get an ally.

And yes you can install Linux on the ally or Windows on the deck, I wouldn't bother with that though. Just get the device that best suites your needs.

As someone who thinks BOTW and TOTK have a TON of glaring flaws that modern game journalism refuses to critique, this is disapointing to hear. I fear they're just gonna keep making BOTW clones with different powers and I'm never gonna get a traditional zelda game that isn't a remake again.

Life is Strange games! More story then anything, and the dialog is a bit cringy these days but there's really no other games like it and I highly recommend them.