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:
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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.
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20 comments
LordDaveTheKind Feb 15, 2023
It works great for me, but from time to time the EOS can crash the whole game. And it is also tough to reproduce as it occurs randomly. But all in all it feels like a very good game.
0 Likes
I just read a user review for this:
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
Posted 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
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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.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.
7 Likes, Who?
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.
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.
2 Likes, Who?
I can echo Liam's comment. It's not installing EGS, it's installing EOS. EOS (Epic Online Services) is used to, among other things, enable crossplay across storefronts and platforms. It's middleware, and the folks who are getting worked up over it should probably consider that Steam/Steamworks is also middleware. As for why it was used for this title instead of Steamworks, simple. It's running on a modified version of Unreal Engine 4, and I can only imagine that it's far easier to integrate tailor made middleware for the engine your game runs on.
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.
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.
0 Likes
ExpandingMan Feb 16, 2023
The steamdeck is a *portable* device, and we're not exactly talking about a gigantic gaming laptop so... doesn't exactly seem like a big let-down.
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.
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.
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furaxhornyx 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.
Good point, I think it may also depend wether the developers will see sales as "Generic Linux" vs "SteamDeck" ?
0 Likes
Let's stay optimistic : the game just released, we could see some optimisation in the coming days. 
4 Likes, Who?
Sales show up as Linux as it's running Linux.[...]
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" ?
1 Likes, Who?
Returnal won the game of the year award too https://entertainment.ie/gaming/bafta-game-awards-2022-519144/
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Mohandevir Feb 16, 2023
Let's stay optimistic : the game just released, we could see some optimisation in the coming days.
Yep! Unless things have changed, Sony is a great supporter of the Steam Deck. Returnal is not tested yet on it. It's not too far fetched to think that an upcoming update in the next few days/weeks will make it playable. They've done it with other games.
Last edited by Mohandevir on 16 February 2023 at 2:06 pm UTC
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DoctorJunglist Feb 16, 2023
Has anyone tested it yet with an Nvidia Pascal GPU? I have a GTX 1070 in my desktop and I'm curious how well the game would fare on it.
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Is it the upload quality , jpg compression or are you adding extra sharpening to the screenshots here? The image fidelity looks very poor. There is too much haze and edge sharpening going on, kind of looks like a screenshot taken with a cell phone.. or is that the look nowadays with all these scaling temporal technologies combining with FXAA, TSAA etc.
Last edited by Lofty on 16 February 2023 at 5:56 pm UTC
Last edited by Lofty on 16 February 2023 at 5:56 pm UTC
0 Likes
Is it the upload quality , jpg compression or are you adding extra sharpening to the screenshots here? The image fidelity looks very poor. There is too much haze and edge sharpening going on, kind of looks like a screenshot taken with a cell phone.. or is that the look nowadays with all these scaling temporal technologies combining with FXAA, TSAA etc.As mentioned right above the screenshots, it's using NVIDIA NIS.
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Completely unplayable on my desktop system, probably because of my limited VRAM.
In-game benchmark
Initial run, 1440p low, probably some shader comp stutter: 8fps
Second run, enabled FSR Performance, otherwise same settings: 40fps (although very irregular and unpleasant).
Tried playing briefly. Cinematic plays fine, but when you gain control it's really unpleasant and unresponsive. Not going to waste more time on it.
My guess is your system will fare better than mine and it might be playable although not super smooth. Minimum system requirements state GTX 1060 6GiB.
In-game benchmark
Initial run, 1440p low, probably some shader comp stutter: 8fps
Second run, enabled FSR Performance, otherwise same settings: 40fps (although very irregular and unpleasant).
Tried playing briefly. Cinematic plays fine, but when you gain control it's really unpleasant and unresponsive. Not going to waste more time on it.
Has anyone tested it yet with an Nvidia Pascal GPU? I have a GTX 1070 in my desktop and I'm curious how well the game would fare on it.
My guess is your system will fare better than mine and it might be playable although not super smooth. Minimum system requirements state GTX 1060 6GiB.
0 Likes
As mentioned right above the screenshots, it's using NVIDIA NIS.
Well it says "With everything set to Low, with multiple in-game scaling methods tried like AMD FSR, NVIDIA NIS and dynamic resolution " so that's three differing technologies. But i take your point. I guess it looks bad because of the NIS.
Last edited by Lofty on 16 February 2023 at 7:54 pm UTC
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No, what you quoted is talking about Steam Deck. Below the video talks about desktop and explains the settings there.As mentioned right above the screenshots, it's using NVIDIA NIS.
Well it says "With everything set to Low, with multiple in-game scaling methods tried like AMD FSR, NVIDIA NIS and dynamic resolution " so that's three differing technologies. But i take your point. I guess it looks bad because of the NIS.
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No, what you quoted is talking about Steam Deck. Below the video talks about desktop and explains the settings there.As mentioned right above the screenshots, it's using NVIDIA NIS.
Well it says "With everything set to Low, with multiple in-game scaling methods tried like AMD FSR, NVIDIA NIS and dynamic resolution " so that's three differing technologies. But i take your point. I guess it looks bad because of the NIS.
okay my bad, i shouldn't have skim read 👍️
i still think the desktop screenshots look poor quality with NIS vs the Native screenshots i have seen. I guess thats the tradeoff you make for FPS. Id much rather not run 'EPIC' settings and drop a few things to high and get a constant 60fps Native resolution without scaling than use these temporal solutions, where possible. Each to their own.
Last edited by Lofty on 16 February 2023 at 9:37 pm UTC
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