Returnal is now on Steam so naturally I gave this previously PlayStation exclusive a run on Steam Deck. It's quite sad though.
This is a case of a game just being a bit too much for the Steam Deck to nicely handle. With everything set to Low, with multiple in-game scaling methods tried like AMD FSR, NVIDIA NIS and dynamic resolution — all show the game really cannot stick to 30FPS. Frame pacing is all over the place too, making it just an unpleasant experience. You could reduce the rendering resolution but considering how fast paced the game is, the result is not pretty in action and getting it low enough where it makes a true difference is just not acceptable quality-wise.
Have a look at benchmarks and gameplay below:
Direct Link
As for how it runs on Desktop Linux? Testing it on Fedora KDE 37 with my AMD Ryzen 5800x and an NVIDIA 2080 Ti, performance there seems quite good overall. I'm actually really surprised by how smooth it is, I was expecting a lot more stutter but it's impressive.
Running it at 1440p on the Epic settings preset with NVIDIA Image Scaling set to Quality and I've been seeing it running a good ~90FPS. Without using a scaling option, it would give me around 50-55FPS at 1440p. There is some shader stutter but as expected, it gets smoother over time and not a big deal here.
Screenshots of it on Fedora (click to enlarge them):
For desktop Linux gamers at least, this looks like quite a safe bet from my early impressions here. It performs well, looks absolutely fantastic and the action sure is intense!
You can buy it on Humble Store and Steam.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
LordDaveTheKind Feb 15, 2023
QuotePosted 15 February
Its a good game, runs great on a 2080, i'll recommend when they remove the epic games store install on startup. I didnt buy it on steam to install EGS.
Is that true? Can anyone confirm? I was about to go and purchase this right now when I saw that. That would be absolutely unacceptable to me if that were the case. I don't want to waste my time and bandwidth downloading it only to delete it for refund.
I'm thinking that's not true, but now Valve IS allowing other game client pollution, like EA and Ubisoft, so I can't say that with high confidence levels.
P.S. Looks like it is or at least was true. I found other reviews complaining about this too, and they are getting a lot of "helpful" votes. Ah well, I guess it's not to be. I'll not tolerate that, I detest Epic, their store client and the very oxygen they consume.
Last edited by Grogan on 15 February 2023 at 11:30 pm UTC
Quoting: GroganIs that true? Can anyone confirm? I was about to go and purchase this right now when I saw that. That would be absolutely unacceptable to me if that were the case. I don't want to waste my time and bandwidth downloading it only to delete it for refund.It doesn't install EGS, it installs Epic Online Services. Quite a few games use it. It's not a big deal I don't get the fuss over it really, most of it is largely the usual "epic bad" stuff.
Quoting: Liam DaweIt doesn't install EGS, it installs Epic Online Services. Quite a few games use it. It's not a big deal I don't get the fuss over it really, most of it is largely the usual "epic bad" stuff.
Thanks, so it's just Epic's middleware that the game uses. Partly why I didn't believe it (installing the store client) was because it's not an Epic game. I'll give it a try, then. It sounds like something I want.
You're right, it's the usual "epic bad" from me, though.
That aside, has anyone noticed some weird flickering with shadows during their playtime? The cutscene where you get your pistol looked particularly bad for me. This was on Windows, but I figured I'd ask anyway.
ExpandingMan Feb 16, 2023
This does raise an interesting point though: developers probably won't care about games on linux that are too much for the steam deck to handle. It'll be interesting to see whether valve acts like they care about them.
furaxhornyx Feb 16, 2023
Quoting: ExpandingMan[...]
This does raise an interesting point though: developers probably won't care about games on linux that are too much for the steam deck to handle. It'll be interesting to see whether valve acts like they care about them.
Good point, I think it may also depend wether the developers will see sales as "Generic Linux" vs "SteamDeck" ?
Quoting: furaxhornyxSales show up as Linux as it's running Linux.Quoting: ExpandingMan[...]
This does raise an interesting point though: developers probably won't care about games on linux that are too much for the steam deck to handle. It'll be interesting to see whether valve acts like they care about them.
Good point, I think it may also depend wether the developers will see sales as "Generic Linux" vs "SteamDeck" ?
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