"Elden Ring" and Valve's Steam Deck launched on the same day, so gamers were left with two major options to choose from. But why not tackle both?
If you recently got your own Deck and "Elden Ring" on PC, then you'd be pleased to know that FromSoftware's first open-world "Soulsborne" title runs quite well on the new Valve handheld on default settings, as reported by TechRadar. Furthermore, the game also supports cloud saves, so you can switch to playing it on your PC without too much of a hassle.
Here is a video of "Elden Ring" on the Steam Deck, courtesy of IGN's YouTube channel:
As you can see, the game seems to run well enough on the new handheld PC, while also still looking great on the relatively small 800p screen. However, this doesn't discount that there are still some performance hiccups, which could be problematic since it has earned a "Deck Verified" status, writes PCGamer.
Deck Verified means that a specific Steam game could run on the Steam Deck out of the box with no further tweaks needed. But suppose you crank the graphics up to High on the latest version of Proton (the Microsoft compatibility layer that allows Valve's Linux-based SteamOS to run games like on Windows). In that case, you'd see a lot of stuttering, as evidenced in this gameplay video by PCGamer:
The game chugs to as low as 11 FPS at these settings, even when performing a basic camera turn. Furthermore, PCGamer's testing showed that the slowdowns often happen wherever a new area needs to be loaded or whenever tons of particle effects or things are spawning in at the same time.
Nevertheless, you will be able to play "Elden Ring" on Steam Deck if you're willing to accept a few compromises.
FromSoftware's latest "Soulsborne" is now out on the PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
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'Elden Ring' On Steam Deck Vs PC
To say that "Elden Ring" runs like crap on the PC right now is a massive understatement because it is. It seems like FromSoftware dropped the ball a little bit with the game's PC port, with many players reporting some serious performance issues even on powerful rigs.
According to the YouTube channel Worth A Buy, the game's PC port is "terrible." He even goes as far as to call it "absolutely dreadful" despite the rows of near-perfect to perfect reviews it has gotten from critics so far:
FromSoftware parent company Bandai Namco was then quick to do damage control, especially as the game has received mixed reviews on Steam as of late. According to a note posted on the release date, the company acknowledged the myriad of PC performance issues plaguing the game, promising that "improvements are on the way," as reported by Polygon.
As for why the game runs well enough on the Steam Deck (which is basically a handheld gaming PC) compared to how problematic it is on desktops, there's no definitive answer as of the moment.
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Story posted on GameNGuide
Written by RJ Pierce