DeskScapes

Spyware.
I really like other Stardock programs like Fences, but Deskscapes remains in your system tray even after uninstalling. This is unacceptable.

Nightmare app.
doesnt want to uninstall properly, suspending app doesn't work, cant remove it from startup apps as it has hidden itself, closing the app in device monitor to only see it immediately restart. Its borderline malicious at this point.
AVOID.
I dont usually ask for a refund but its happening here.

I love the moving desktop, it has so many choices.

Nice desktops.

Steam sucks and I no longer support them.

This is a far better option for desktop customization... https://store.steampowered.com/app/431960/Wallpaper_Engine/

Don't bother! Effects are pretty basic and not that great.Image quality was impressive, so maybe its good if you just want wallpapers. Although i bet you could find most of them for free elsewhere. Wallpaper Engine is much better and cheaper. Biggest issue with this app is that it was a pain to uninstall. Tried through steam and the uninstall timed out. Tried through Win 11, and it couldn't uninstall as it needed steam. Even though i stopped / terminated the app in task manager it was still running in the task bar. And you cant exit directly through the app. I then found it installs as a windows service, so i had to stop and disable the service. Reboot and then i could uninstall using steam. I even removed the 2 install directories that it creates. Overall trash app!

Quite a great software for live wallpaper. For users who don't want anime wallpapers found on Wallpaper Engine this is a great alternative. But the biggest bummer is their server speed. The wallpaper size is say, 50 Mb and with my 200 Mbps speed it should take seconds to download but the download goes on and on. Once done it's fine but it'd take a lot of time.

this shi sucks go get the other one

DON'T BUY THIS, GO BUY WALLPAPER ENGINE INSTEAD.

Like others I bought this as early access intending to support the developers, I knew it wasn't as good as others that were available. Now as of January 2022 when I try to launch it it gives me this message:

"This beta release of Deskscapes has expired."

Then it opens a link to their webpage telling me to buy DeskScapes again, I've seen companies do similar sort of tactics but never had to deal with it myself. My honest opinion is that this behaviour is scummy and greedy. Especially because I never read any disclaimer stating it would happen. If it was going to happen then why isn't it stated on Steam where I made the purchase, why link me to your site where I have to purchase it again. What if I had bought this on Steam today, would it give me the same grief.

This is why I felt the urge to write this review, so I can warn others not to fall for this bullshit, and to encourage the company to see that this behaviour is not acceptable, that consumers do not agree with this.

TLDR; Scummy sales tactics, making me buy it twice, DON'T BUY, buy Wallpaper Engine on Steam instead.

EDIT: Found a comment on their news section where they have responded to someone else who had this issue. The fix is to uninstall it, restart your PC then reinstall it. I will update my review when they fix this issue or post a news update informing people of this issue and how to resolve it.

I had purchased this product for animated backgrounds. At first I was very pleased with the product, however, there is a limited number of wallpapers to choose from. I did experience a number of freezes and crashes, but attributed this primarily to being in early access. Many of the wallpapers also appears fuzzy, but not terrible.

As of January 1st, i can no longer change my wallpapers, and when launching the program, it redirects me to the company's webpage, asking me to purchase this program again. Very poor experience and I would not recommend this program to anyone else until this issue is resolved.

What the hell Stardock? My Beta release has expired. I didn't pay for a limited time beta release. I paid for early access that helps the developer and allows me to enjoy a product that is not yet done, but looks promising. I tried to start the program this mornig and it now leads to the stardock website asking that I pay again for the next beta release. Hell NO! Not what I agreed to.

Update: After a storm of people complaining, Stardock // fixed // the pay-for-beta issue by allowing Steam users to uninstall the program, restart said PC, and then reinstalling Deskscapes to upgrade to the next beta. It does work. However, this does not change my initial review, because the money grab was evident. You don't have a popup that says the beta has expired, unless you created it that way. Yes, I like Deskscapes. It is simplistic and works great. I no longer have any trust in Stardock, after this incident though, and don't know how long the app will be allowed to continue to work.

I Love Walpaper Engine But I wanted to Try something New Now I have 2 Favorite Wallpaper Engines This allows it to become Screensavers So I will Suggest to Ge this as well I love it Fast and even templates on this build, It is a 2 Thumbs Up.

Small content.."Wallpaper Engine" is waaaaaay better.

I`ve never used Wallpaper Engine, but I checked its workshop. It is good for that people that loves anime (mostly 90% for their workshop is that kind of content). That isn't my case. So...

Why do I need DeskScapes?

Well it has lots, I mean LOTS of nature, abstract, space, seasons/weather, animals and more wallpapers that you can apply.
Those wallpapers can be animated ones or even "dynamic wallpapers". It means that the last ones change depending of the time where you live or if your PC is in light or dark mode.

Features wise: well is kinda easy get lost between many features to configure, but not by too much. It has a real nice UI, a little choppy UX and sometimes (even set on english) some parts of the UI are on spanish. Weird for an American software company.
Also includes a couple of tools that help you to create and publish your own wallpapers on Stardock's servers.

Also doesn't use too many computing resources and their customer service is real quick response.
I just wish they were more open to post Steam news about updates more often.
[u ]Please don't get confused by my time played while I wrote this review. I've been using this since July 15th of 2021. [/u] There just was a bug on their software that didn't let Steam to track usage hours. Now is fixed and they're really hard pushing updates to fix everything.

Get it now on early access because when DeskScapes leaves it, even on sales, you'll never see this price again.

Very Nice! Add an effect to your desktop background or use a video has never been so easy. There are several effects like rain, snow, warp and many others.

Literally everything about this app is broken. No part of it works, and it is too damn confusing. Waste of time and money.

I like it!

Basically useless, Time for another 24hours of pending

This application doesn't deserve 4 dollars on something that can't even design go use Real paint 2013, but better than this curse cheap apps

pretty cool

Before Reading My review,Keep in mind that Ive bought this During Early Access,So The app itself Might have bugs and problems,So.Some of the bugs might be gone After The final release comes out

So im going to give out my Review on this,and explain what happened during it


The app Itself:

The Workshop+The Wallpaper Editor:
I kinda wanna get the cat out of the bag first,It doesnt have huge library as the wallpaper engine Just to know that if youre into gaming+anime stuff,it doesnt have that much wallpapers,I do think Stardock should aknowledge that too.But dont fear about that,Because The customization As far as ive seen,its Really Newbie Friendly in my perspective.Basically It gives out Quick and Nice Effects Then you have inside built Dreammaker pro,which is kinda slightly more advanced than DeskScapes Quick effect program but less advanced than Wallpaper engines wallapper editor.Its usable In my opinion
(I also Wish the recoloring option could Stack up,Its really cool)
There is also no Interactive wallpapers Like Wallpaper engine has,but i kinda consider those as gimmicky but I'd honestly say dont expect alot from this
Edit:It doesnt support steam workshop though,instead it supports Wincustomize Site which is Normal to every Stardock programs,i dont like that much when it comes to that but its does its job when you want a wallpaper i guess?


Performance:
Compare to wallpaper engine,Its Fairly taking less ram than Wallpaper engine,In most of the cases Though.
Like Ive had comparisons on Wallpapers animated ones vs Deskscapes Animated ones:
Wallpaper Engine(Normal Version):20mb-80mb usage
Wallpaper Engine(Might take more ram version):25mb-100mb usage
DeskScapes: 6mb-60mb usage
(It scored like that in my computer but it might depend on your computer differently)

EDIT:It gets into 2-15 Mb depends on your wallpaper after some time passes

EDIT 2:Gpu seems to have way more difference on it compare to other specs,I have gtx 1050 on my pc,and deskscapes uses around 11-16% of the gpu in the lowest settings and 13-18% in highest settings(This depends on the animated wallpaper effects) I used the same thing with lowest settings on wallpaper engine(except its at 30 fps),it seems like it only uses 22-29% of the Gpu

Compatability with Fences:it is Compatable with Fences,It fixes the issue that wallpaper engine shows up the background while you have semi Transparent fences,Which is really great thing to have because i use roll up fences,which i often see the classic windows background while using Fences,it gets annoying but im glad its fixed on deskscapes

NOTE:If you get a problem from lagging on the fences opening,Go to Settings>Performance>Turn off the let Deskscapes turn on the background blurring on fences

Bugs:They have fixed the issue ive experienced most of them,if i experience any other bugs,i'd edit this thing,I think there are couple bugs that is written on discuissions

Conclusion:I honestly think that Its not good as wallpaper engine,but it does its job really nicely,its simple+Friendly Version of wallpaper engine Except it has lack of Wallpaper Library

PROS:
Its Performance Friendly(Only uses 25-35 Mb at start then drops into less than 10mb)
Fences Works Perfect on it
Wallpaper editing Might need Photoshop in few cases but does the job
Has Easy to Apply Effects like how those Video editors have prebuilt
Its cheaper than Wallpaper engine(It costs 3x less than here,but i know its only $ less than wallpaper engine)

CONS:
it has lack of wallpaper editing
Since its Early Access software,Its buggy(They fixed ALOT of Bugs Since I reviewed it)
Lack Of Gaming+Anime Related Wallpapers
Even though it has easy to apply effects,i'd kinda want to get couple more for Different types of Wallpapers

Would i use this Program?

Actually....Yea,Even though i use Fences and i wanted animated wallpaper that isnt buggy with it,DeskScapes has fun Way to Make Animated wallpapers While Wallpaper engine is really complex.It has its own charm
And i really liked it

Would i reccomend it?

Kinda,I'd reccomend wallapaper engine if you Just wanna straight up get wallpapers From Library and i'd reccomend DeskScapes if you wanna have fun building your own Wallpaper

I Will Probably Edit the Review After Few months of experience on it!

Edit 1:I will probably Remove the installation Pogress from the Review Later because Developers of the Deskscapes devs told me that they are about to fix the issue,so im hoping that issue would be fixed! I have few of their products for months,so i know installation bug will be fixed later on!
Also Another news is that,after some time and dont change the animated wallpaper,it drops into 4-5 Mb's of usage,which is incredible!

Edit 2:They released new update to the fences,which i know,they fixed the issue on the fences as far as i see it,Program flickers are gone! I also removed the installation pogress from the review,yet they seem to fix the most of the issues