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#Returnal is now on Steam and so heres my #SteamDeck benchmarks plus thoughts and gameplay at the end.One thing you can also do is reduce the render resolution scaling, but to get it to perform well you would need to drop it to at least 60% and honestly it then looks pretty bad IMO especially with how dark it is and all the fast movement. Not a level Im willing to drop to, not worth it. Wait for patches from the developer and/or #Proton updates.Buy from Humble Store with my partner link to support the channel: https://www.humblebundle.com/store?partner=gamingonlinuxFollow me in these places:Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@gamingonlinuxTwitter: https://www.twitter.com/gamingonlinuxRead news: https://www.gamingonlinux.com  Support me: https://www.patreon.com/liamdawe  Join Discord: https://discord.gg/AghnYbMjYgA reminder: this channel and the content is done entirely by one person. Please be kind and civil in the comments.==============Affiliate links below to support the channel to give me some monies:ivoler Steam Deck Docking Station (UK): https://amzn.to/3XgT2YXSpiden Armour Steam Deck Case (UK): https://amzn.to/3XTy3vltomtoc Carrying Case for Steam Deck (UK): https://amzn.to/3kmGW1U

[ 2023-02-15 21:30:07Z ]👍 11

Good getting the info out. Hopefully things get better but thanks for the video, I love my Steam Deck. =]

[ 2023-02-16 12:08:16Z ] 👍 0

@Richard Servello agreed, they need to tinker more.

[ 2023-02-15 22:54:39Z ] 👍 3

@@RichardServello arguably anything under 40fps is not really playable for Returnal. It's one of those games

[ 2023-02-15 21:40:53Z ] 👍 1

Nearly every reviewer I've seen that says something doesn't run well on deck it's because they didn't edit any settings to make it run well. I have yet to find a game that doesn't at least do 30fps.

[ 2023-02-15 21:31:30Z ]👍 1

That sucks! Thank you for showing it

[ 2023-02-15 21:44:11Z ]👍 18

Was really hoping this would be playable. Got a Steam Deck and PS5 in the same week and put off playing it on PS because roguelites and handhelds just go together in my mind. Thanks for your reporting and fingers crossed for a fix.

[ 2023-02-16 12:04:12Z ] 👍 0

@@zachary9385 Thanks for the tip but I mainly wanted it for the train so not an option.

[ 2023-02-16 12:03:45Z ] 👍 0

@@OptimumSlinky Yeah that's fair. I think it was worth waiting to see though. I'll just go play it on the PS now.

[ 2023-02-16 09:43:51Z ] 👍 1

Just because sd is often compare to ps4.. Seen it happen many times by now. It wont take long for it to run good enough on sd.

[ 2023-02-16 03:09:18Z ] 👍 5

If you got good internet, setting up chiaki on your steam deck is a good alternative

[ 2023-02-15 23:43:02Z ] 👍 5

I would not hold your breath. The Deck has about the equivalent performance of a base PS4; Returnal wasn't even released for PS4 because the devs felt 30fps would basically be unplayable and I'd agree with them. Slower games like Dead Space are fine at 30fps but Returnal absolutely needs beefy horsepower and 60+ fps.

[ 2023-02-15 21:48:05Z ]👍 5

Looks like the bottleneck is in the GPU... With that in mind, it should be easier for the developer to optimize the game for the lower end (if they are interested in that at all), be it with using simpler LODs, reduced draw distance, fewer particles effects, etc. Maybe some of it is editable with an ".ini" config file of some sort. This game seems to really like UE4's Niagara particles (which are GPU accelerated).

[ 2023-02-15 23:08:44Z ] 👍 0

I blame the alpha particles It's just an educated guess, but redoing the assets to remove transparency and stuff would probably give the game a huge performance boost

[ 2023-02-15 22:36:08Z ] 👍 0

@@CAVR just like what i said, games should be GPU bottleneck, would you rather have a CPU bottleneck or GPU bottleneck when gaming? obviously most people would answer the same. but the returnal in SD, devs lowering more settings just for the SD is impossible. wait for shader compilation for less stutter

[ 2023-02-15 22:25:45Z ] 👍 0

This one is 100% CPU bound. Look at the wattages, the GPU is power starved, because the CPU is sucking a huge chunk of the TDP.

[ 2023-02-15 22:22:52Z ] 👍 0

@@iamdickel8574 It depends on the game. They can be either CPU or GPU bottlenecked and it often depends on the resolution you play (the higher the resolution, more taxing it is to the GPU). Games heavy on AI and simulation are more often CPU bottlenecked (like Flight Simulator). What I was saying in my previous comment is that CPU bottlenecks (which doesn't seem to be the case with Returnal) are usually harder to fix/optimize.

[ 2023-02-15 22:09:11Z ] 👍 0

every games are GPU bottleneck and they should be, 100% usage on games should be the case.

[ 2023-02-15 21:59:09Z ]👍 0

Pray for Optimization

[ 2023-02-16 07:58:17Z ] 👍 0

@@Djep1taph I don’t remember having any major problem whatsoever, and I played before VRR was implemented.

[ 2023-02-15 22:44:29Z ] 👍 1

Don't expect a miracle. PS5 struggled with it as well, couldn't hold a solid 60fps

[ 2023-02-15 22:00:06Z ]👍 2

Honestly I don’t know about playing this game under 60FPS. Sounds super frustrating. I would honestly skip it, but I’m not a big fan of games that are punitive by design. So, not the right target audience.

[ 2023-02-15 22:16:48Z ]👍 1

Hi liam here,! Good video ^^

[ 2023-02-15 22:20:58Z ]👍 0

The amount of particle effects really hammers down on the gpu. Hopefully some type of patch can maybe bring us a steam deck profile.

[ 2023-02-15 22:25:59Z ]👍 0

I read that it doesnt use FSR2.0 yet, so maybe that might get patched in and help some. Thanks for the headsup!

[ 2023-02-15 22:28:23Z ]👍 10

This one is 100% CPU bound. Look at the wattages, the GPU is power starved, because the CPU is sucking a huge chunk of the TDP. You can confirm that’s the case by looking at the minimal difference that dropping the resolution gave. That’s what happens with most of the AAA games. Dunno if it’s just the game being CPU heavy or if it’s just the shaders being compiled…

[ 2023-02-16 09:30:56Z ] 👍 1

@@NormanTiner that’s not how it works. You can be cpu bound at 15% usage, if one core is 100% the others (if the game uses more than one core) will have to wait for this core to finish its job so the game can start loading the next frame. In a power limited APU, usage doesn’t mean anything, the GPU can be at 100% and be clocked at 400mhz which is actually 25% usage. I have a deck and and I’m a game developer myself, I know what I’m talking.

[ 2023-02-16 08:01:52Z ] 👍 0

CPU is 40-60% while GPU is hammered at 100%

[ 2023-02-15 22:39:06Z ]👍 1

If it can hold a solid 30fps or more it should be fine.

[ 2023-02-15 22:46:28Z ]👍 0

I’m wondering if any of the other wine or a GE photon or experimental proton layers, have any sort of effect on this game.

[ 2023-02-15 22:49:19Z ]👍 1

Can you please show Hogwarts Legacy on Steam Deck 👍

[ 2023-02-15 23:28:56Z ] 👍 1

Some people are scared or misinformed and have stupid controversy over anything Harry Potter, so don't expect many to want to run that and get bullied by the haters. That said, the game is Steam Deck verified and actually runs quite nicely, I was pleasantly surprised. Its also one of the best games I have ever played... so all the ignorant haters are ruining it for people.

[ 2023-02-15 23:16:02Z ] 👍 5

Sorry no plans.

[ 2023-02-15 22:53:12Z ]👍 6

After entering the door way the frame rate becomes painfully low @ 7:15 Your video is very helpful showing just how bad the frame rate gets. I mostly play on my Steam Deck so I wait to see if they can make it hold a solid 30fps before getting it.

[ 2023-02-15 23:15:52Z ] 👍 10

Thanks for commenting :). I often find certain other creators really badly cherry-pick scenes to show the Deck doing well, I will always show it honestly because developers need to see it too. The more that talk about it badly and show it, the more likely the devs are to improve it IMO.

[ 2023-02-15 22:56:16Z ]👍 0

Are they stuck on FSR1 still???

[ 2023-02-15 23:13:02Z ]👍 0

It’s a ps5 exclusive so this performance is as good as you can hope for

[ 2023-02-15 23:23:57Z ]👍 1

Hey really appreciate you putting this up. Fantastic game yet I will either wait or just replay it on ps5. You've saved me a bit of cash for the moment.

[ 2023-02-16 00:14:29Z ]👍 0

I played through this on PS5 and I’m glad it’s out for PC but I think I expected this for steam deck. The heavy lighting and particle effects along with how the map expand while you play.. just didn’t seem like it would work. Guess I won’t be taking it on the go anytime soon.

[ 2023-02-16 00:27:42Z ]👍 3

I will be buying this for the steam deck once the kinks are worked out. I can wait :)

[ 2023-02-16 00:34:54Z ]👍 1

Anyone stream it from the PC to the steam deck? If yes how did that go?

[ 2023-02-16 11:07:03Z ] 👍 0

@@nanfoodles have you tried using moonlight ? Works better than steam in home streaming in my experience.

[ 2023-02-16 01:53:59Z ] 👍 0

@@danielmckibbin1979 no big deal, you were trying to help :)

[ 2023-02-16 01:42:17Z ] 👍 1

@@nanfoodles Ah sorry about that. Yeah I'm not sure about PC.

[ 2023-02-16 01:20:14Z ] 👍 0

@@danielmckibbin1979 I asked from PC to Steamdeck because some games stream well and some don't. Zero Dawn did not steam well. Was buggy and filled would odd dark patches

[ 2023-02-16 00:53:38Z ] 👍 0

If you have a good wireless setup. Streaming from PS5 to steam deck is fantastic

[ 2023-02-16 00:58:48Z ]👍 2

It's a ps5 game lmao, are you surprised????

[ 2023-02-16 01:09:10Z ]👍 0

just gonna ay it with 2060 super

[ 2023-02-16 02:04:22Z ]👍 1

Even at absolute low the game looks amazing!

[ 2023-02-16 03:47:08Z ]👍 0

Better play Isaac 👌

[ 2023-02-16 04:55:58Z ]👍 0

@7:16 it chugs down to 15 and hovers around 22fps, maybe due to the vegetation and the enemy attacks? Frightful performance. Thanks for the heads up, let's wait for improvement. Until then Risk of Rain 2 is a good analogue, and that runs at 60!

[ 2023-02-16 05:53:09Z ]👍 2

If game using FSR(gen1) then resolution must go under 720/800p otherwise it is not using FSR feature at all. All games should go down like 960 x 540

[ 2023-02-18 12:21:07Z ] 👍 0

@@Gramini I think I have to admit I was wrong about ingame FSR. I am still confused about yours original comment about games resolution on benchmarks overlay: 1280x768. This is 10:6 aspect ratio which does not fit to anything. Should it be 1280x720 or 1280x800 ?

[ 2023-02-18 09:47:02Z ] 👍 1

@@retro_ed746 That's only needed when using "external" scaling with FSR, such as the global option of the Steam Deck. What you said is just not the case, please read my original comment again.

[ 2023-02-17 18:36:10Z ] 👍 0

@@Gramini Returnal uses FSR (gen1) so resolution must set manually lower than display and if game don`t offer lower resolution option than 1280 x 720/800 then game do not use FSR at all.

[ 2023-02-16 10:06:24Z ] 👍 2

Exactly. People get confused on this, you only need to do that for the Deck’s FSR.

[ 2023-02-16 07:32:53Z ] 👍 1

When using the in-game setting for FSR, the game automatically handles the resolution lowering. In the benchmark overlay it says 1280x768 (50%), so it is being used.

[ 2023-02-16 08:25:35Z ]👍 0

Well that's the reason the game released on PS5 and not on PS4 I guess. Unless the devs can optimise it for a low powered device like the Deck, it is like it is.

[ 2023-02-16 09:15:40Z ]👍 1

Will be nice if you make a little note about how the game is running on Linux desktop, if it's possible.

[ 2023-02-16 10:39:47Z ] 👍 1

Can read that here: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2023/02/returnal-rough-on-steam-deck-good-on-linux-desktop/

[ 2023-02-16 10:15:40Z ]👍 1

I think this will almost certainly get improved over the next few weeks.

[ 2023-02-16 10:52:53Z ]👍 0

I know it's not the best solution, but I tested it in Control and worked pretty well. I just set the frequency to 48Hz and capped the FPS to 24. It did give a cinematic experience, but it was constant. The dips lower than 24 seem to be only when processing the shaders, so they should become better soon enough.

[ 2023-02-16 14:36:36Z ] 👍 0

@@RetroMannGaming when I was young I had a weak PC and played slideshows as well 😅 (medal of honor allied assault... Good old days). Now I'm lucky to have a pc, allowing me to play uncharted 4 at 120fps. And boy, I don't regret the slideshows haha. Stable 30fps on a handheld remain a good experience in my book though.

[ 2023-02-16 14:22:23Z ] 👍 0

@@etienne1062 lol I mean, compared to the stutterfest, this should at least be playable. Or a good way to prolong battery life. Also, I'm old. Back when HL2 launched my PC was pure gabage, but it played the game at 15-20fps, so I am used to seeing worse 😂

[ 2023-02-16 13:35:51Z ] 👍 0

@@RetroMannGaming I'll test it on uncharted 4 on steam deck to see how it feels. Something makes me think that I won't stand the result for too long haha

[ 2023-02-16 13:21:18Z ] 👍 0

@@etienne1062 Yeah, that was just to make it look more playful. While it's not 40 or 60fps smooth, it is very near to 30fps. Honestly, I wouldn't play Returnal with less than 40 or better 60fps, but it would be worth testing it. I do not yet intend to get the game, so I cannot test for myself. It would just be fun to know.

[ 2023-02-16 12:32:48Z ] 👍 0

You know that the catch phrase ''cinematic experience'' was probably coined by marketing bs artist to justify poor performance in video games right ? 😅. A film requires no interaction from the viewer, that's why low frame rate is way more acceptable. But games feel sluggish at 24 fps, because of the response time increase.

[ 2023-02-16 11:04:18Z ]👍 0

So we are talking about a PS5 exclusive game that runs (non optimized) at average 27fps in the Steam Deck? What should one expect?? I'm amazed it even runs at 20 fps non optimized!

[ 2023-02-16 11:07:20Z ]👍 3

I believe that SteamDeck is an amazing machine as a baseline for developers to be able to optimize their games the most they can. It's like a fixed target and reference. If you make it run well on a steam deck, then it will definitely run well on other PCs with better hardware

[ 2023-02-16 11:11:03Z ]👍 0

Thank you for showing many scenarios. Clearly the performance is not good enough. Maybe if the devs look into it, they'll find a way to improve things. But seeing how the game can currently hammer the steam deck I doubt they'll be able to reach stable 30...

[ 2023-02-16 11:12:42Z ] 👍 0

Maybe lower than low particle effects to begin with... This game is so heavy on particles...

[ 2023-02-16 11:28:49Z ]👍 0

It looks like shader compilation stutter to me but not as bad as the usual case, maybe they're using async shader compilation but still blocking frames for some reason.

[ 2023-02-16 12:29:35Z ] 👍 1

As I explained in the video, it is not shader compile stutter.

[ 2023-02-16 12:11:12Z ]👍 4

This is a new challenge for me. I can do it at 25 FPS. I'm not afraid

[ 2023-02-16 12:33:16Z ]👍 0

I feel like there isn't really anything in this game that looks like it would require that many system resources. Is that because YouTube's video compression muddles a lot of fine detail, or are developers more incentivized to do things the resource expensive way given that the targeted hardware is so powerful? Bit of both?

[ 2023-02-16 13:14:02Z ]👍 0

had a quick look at this, then saw in the steam discussions that this installs epic online services (playable without epic account, but need one for co-op), so thats a major nope for me right away.

[ 2023-02-16 14:07:15Z ]👍 0

I'm really hoping this gets fixed and runs better soon

[ 2023-02-16 14:47:50Z ]👍 1

You could also try reducing rendering resolution without any upscaling. I saw people saying they got stable 30 fps, but I think this still bad though

[ 2023-02-16 15:03:41Z ]👍 0

I thnk that they need to improve fsr 2 on this game. On other games, like DL2, it helps a lot and completely change the gaming experience. Fsr 1.0 has no sense for me cause it doesn't give an interesting boost to performance and creates a lot of graphic issues. It's really strange that the didn't put the 2.0

[ 2023-02-16 15:29:56Z ]👍 0

I mean this was a ps5 exclusive so I did not expect it to run well on steam deck we are starting to see games like this dead space and hogwarts legacy all run bad on steam deck and it’s because it’s a next gen only game

[ 2023-02-16 16:06:36Z ]👍 0

the cpu is the problem so the game tells me, but im one of those guys that play using Reshade Hacks, built in AMDFSR and 640x480, then using the steam deck filter upscaling method, and playing the game in windowed mode for that xtra googey look and boost.

[ 2023-02-16 16:08:55Z ]👍 0

its rough, but i love 480p gaming with reshade, besides, im playing this on a handheld and im in control.

[ 2023-02-16 16:10:50Z ]👍 0

i might add back the opition for the pre- shaders

[ 2023-02-16 16:59:54Z ]👍 0

Are things any better using Windows? Just curious if this is a hardware limitation and the game needs optimizing, or if it's potentially a Proton issue and may get better without developer input.

[ 2023-02-16 19:41:49Z ]👍 0

Thanks for another amazing video. Hopefully they fix it soon I'm dying to play this one!

[ 2023-02-16 20:50:27Z ]👍 0

got to stable 40 after tinkering for hours. Roaming around the map that I cleaned up. Then I realized I cached all the map thats why its sticking to 42 ish. After dying new random maps respawn and back to 25 30 ish . lol Need some way to cache it quicker

[ 2023-02-20 13:01:09Z ] 👍 0

proof that it just needs optimization time...wait for few months and this will be playable at 40 on the deck

[ 2023-02-17 02:57:51Z ]👍 0

CPU in this game 😴

[ 2023-02-17 09:24:30Z ]👍 1

Stuttering caused by data streaming, consoles use DirectStorage (Xbox) and a dedicated ASIC coprocessor to unpack, decrypt and stream data from storage to VRAM, in this case as a PS5 exclusive the devs heavily relied on said coprocessor not available on PC so the PC CPU is overwhelmed and can't keep up. The same happens in Hogwarts Legacy, Dead Space remake and Callisto Protocol, the PC ports don't use DirectStorage and it's stutter paradise. Forspoken does indeed use DirectStorage and as a result the game is very demanding but won't drop a single frame ever.

[ 2023-02-24 07:24:36Z ]👍 0

I was kind of guessing this was gonna happen. Looking at the minimum requirements for Returnal just to run at 30fps is insane. I’m guessing that the devs may patch it, but the deck will (probably) still have a tough time maintaining 30fps.