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.
Mohandevir Feb 16, 2023
Quoting: MaxineLet'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
DoctorJunglist Feb 16, 2023
Last edited by Lofty on 16 February 2023 at 5:56 pm UTC
Quoting: LoftyIs 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.
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.
Quoting: DoctorJunglistHas 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.
Quoting: Liam DaweAs 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
Quoting: LoftyNo, what you quoted is talking about Steam Deck. Below the video talks about desktop and explains the settings there.Quoting: Liam DaweAs 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.
Quoting: Liam DaweQuoting: LoftyNo, what you quoted is talking about Steam Deck. Below the video talks about desktop and explains the settings there.Quoting: Liam DaweAs 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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