desktop

Desktop Survivors 98 is more than just a retro Windows nostalgia trip

desktop, gaming, microsoft, retro, survivors, Vamprie Survivors, Windows, windows 95, windows 98 / Kelly Newman / May 23, 2025

If that kind of nostalgia were all there was to Desktop Survivors 98, it would probably not be worth much more than a 15-minute demo. But the underlying game actually takes the developing Survivors-like genre in some interesting directions.

As usual for the genre, the gameplay here centers around navigating through throngs of encroaching enemies (and their projectiles), all while herding those enemies together so your auto-firing weapons can take them out. Defeated enemies drop gems that are crucial to gaining new weapons and powers that also lean heavily on nostalgic computing gags—I particularly liked one weapon based on the “flower box” screensaver and another based on the “bouncing cards” at the end of a successful Solitaire game.

Theming aside, the main element that sets Desktop Survivors apart from its predecessors in the genre is the mouse-based controls. Your old-school mouse pointer is your character here, meaning you get to precisely dodge and dart around the screen with all the speed and accuracy you’d expect from such a flexible input device.

Once you move through these dungeons with a mouse, you won’t want to go back to a joystick.

While there is a serviceable Steam Deck mode designed for analog stick-based movements, it’s a hard control paradigm to return to after experiencing the freedom and speed of mouse movements. Decades of mouse use have likely been preparing you for just this moment, training you to weave your pointer through the tight, quickly closing spaces between enemies without really having to think about it.

More of the same?

Desktop Survivors also sets itself apart by taking place on a series of single-screen battlefields rather than smoothly scrolling maps. These rooms don’t feature any significant obstacles or walls to block your movements, either, making each enemy room play kind of similarly to the ones you’ve seen before it. This also makes it a little easier to avoid many enemies simply by scrubbing your mouse pointer in a wide circle, causing the enemy horde to bunch up in comical blobs.

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Framework’s first desktop is a strange—but unique—mini ITX gaming PC

In Framework’s first-party case, the PC starts at $1,099, which gets you a Ryzen AI Max 385 (that’s an 8-core CPU and 32 GPU cores) and 32GB of RAM. A fully loaded 128GB with a Ryzen AI Max+ 395 configuration (16 CPU cores, 40 GPU cores) will run you $1,999. There’s also an in-between build with the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 chip and 64GB of RAM for $1,599. If you just want the mini ITX board to put in a case of your choosing, that starts at $799.

None of these are impulse buys, exactly, but they’re priced a bit better than a gaming-focused mini PC like the Asus ROG NUC, which starts at nearly $1,300 as of this writing and comes with half as much RAM. It’s also priced well compared to what you can get out of a DIY mini ITX PC based on integrated graphics—the Ryzen 7 8700G, an AM5 ITX motherboard, and 32GB of DDR5 can all be had for around $500 collectively before you add a case, power supply, or SSD, but for considerably slower performance.

The volume of the Framework Desktop’s first-party case is just 4.5 liters—for reference, the SSUPD Meshroom S is 14.9 liters, a fairly middle-of-the-road volume for an ITX case that can fit a full-size GPU. An Xbox Series X is about 6.9 liters, and the Xbox Series S is 4.4 liters. Apple’s Mac Studio is about 3.7 liters. The Framework Desktop isn’t breaking records, but it’s definitely tiny.

Despite the non-upgradeability of the main components, Framework has tried to stick to existing standards where it can by using a flex ATX power supply, ATX headers on the motherboard, regular 120 mm fans that can be changed out, and of course the mini ITX form factor itself. Credit: Framework

So the pitch for the system is easy: You get a reasonably powerful 1440p-capable gaming and workstation PC inside a case the size of a small game console. “If the Series S could run Windows, I’d buy it in a second” is a thought that has occurred to me, so I can see the appeal, even though it costs at least three times as much.

But it does feel like a strange fit for Framework, given that it’s so much less upgradeable than most PCs. The CPU and GPU are one piece of silicon, and they’re soldered to the motherboard. The RAM is also soldered down and not upgradeable once you’ve bought it, setting it apart from nearly every other board Framework sells.