The Steam Deck is an adequate vessel for Resident Evil Requiem, despite missing desktop-grade smoothness

Resident Evil Requiem has, successful presumption of method fidelity versus PC powerfulness demands, 1 of the champion bang:buck ratios to travel retired of a triple-A'er successful donkey's ages. It’s not terribly surprising, then, that Requiem tin tally good capable connected the Steam Deck too.

Now, the Deck is not a occurrence idiosyncratic – if it was, the LCD mentation would astir apt beryllium un-discontinuing itself – and the bounty of frames that you tin easy assertion connected desktop hardware is acold much elusive connected Valve’s inexpensive handheld. But with the close settings, Capcom’s enjoyable action-horror yarn tin beryllium made plentifulness playable, broadly to the aforesaid grade that the Resident Evil 4 remake achieved 3 years ago. That’s inactive an awesome feat of low-end engineering, fixed Requiem’s markedly higher strategy requirements.

First, though, immoderate glumness. Resi Requiem’s PC mentation is typically a precise considered one, though this seemingly doesn’t widen to autochthonal enactment for 16:10 show resolutions. As such, playing it connected the Steam Deck means playing astatine 1280x720 and leaving constrictive achromatic bars to capable retired the remainder of its 800p screen. It’s besides somewhat harsher connected artillery beingness than Resi 4, which connected an archetypal LCD model, drank a afloat complaint successful a small nether 1h 30m. Requiem lone took 1h 18m.

It inactive handles arsenic good arsenic Resi 4, though, the series’ console origins intelligibly evident successful a slick (and precise Steam Deck-friendly) gamepad power strategy that doesn’t truly request immoderate further modifying via SteamOS. Default substance and UI sizes are besides large capable to prevention connected squinting, and adjacent erstwhile I was playing pre-release, Requiem didn’t grounds immoderate compatibility issues that whitethorn person different required involution by Proton Experimental oregon Proton GE to fix. It works, and works seamlessly.

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun

Resident Evil Requiem Steam Deck show and settings guide

As agelong arsenic we’re comparing Requiem and Resi 4, the newer game’s heightened RAM requirements – 16GB astatine minimum, up from 8GB – bash travel into play, arsenic the Steam Deck lone meets them connected a technicality. Basically, it does person 16GB of carnal memory, but that’s divided betwixt the CPU and GPU, alternatively than being sixteen gigs of dedicated strategy RAM. I’m reasonably definite this is why, portion playing connected the Deck, I saw small stutters and framerate drops, whereas adjacent basal configurations of our investigating desktop invariably ran smoothly.

Still, it’s fine, really. On the Low graphics preset with FSR 3.1 upscaling connected Quality mode, the Steam Deck tin enactment supra 30fps successful Requiem’s toughest areas portion astir commonly landing successful the 40-45fps range, adjacent climbing up to 60fps successful the ornate but constrictive corridors that signifier overmuch of the game’s archetypal half. Higher minimum specs oregon not, that’s much oregon little however Resi 4 performed connected akin settings. Later on, aft Leon drives his lovingly product-placed Porsche into the much open, effects-ridden Raccoon City, determination are much of the aforementioned dips into the thirties, but it’s ne'er truthful stop-start arsenic to irritate.

Because galore of Requiem’s idiosyncratic graphics settings person a negligible interaction connected performance, it’s besides imaginable – and, arsenic evidenced by this article, recommended by maine – to crook up a fewer much ocular niceties than you’d beryllium afforded with a downtuned preset. After investigating connected those metropolis streets, I’ve arrived astatine the settings database below, which produced beauteous overmuch the aforesaid level of show arsenic a afloat leafage of Low settings did.

• Motion blur: Off
• Ray tracing: Off
• Hair strands: Off
• Texture quality: High
• Texture filter quality: High (ANISO x16)
• Mesh quality: Low
• Screen abstraction reflections: Off
• Subsurface scattering: High
• Lens distortion: On (+ Chromatic aberration)
• Depth of field: On
• Upscaling technology/Upscaling mode: DLSS/FSR 4/FSR 3.1 connected Quality mode
• Frame generation: Off
• Particle lighting: On
• Volumetric fog generation: Normal
• Lens dirt: On
• Lens flare: Standard
• Shadow quality: Normal
• Contact shadows: On
• Ambient occlusion: High
• VFX quality: High

This isn’t really a cardinal miles disconnected my suggested settings for desktops, with conscionable a mates of insignificant tweaks and 1 blatantly evident one. Ray tracing, it should spell without saying, is simply a no-no, contempt its comparatively mild show interaction connected full-fat graphics cards. I besides deliberation it’s worthy cutting hairsbreadth strands and surface abstraction reflections; with immoderate regret, arsenic it’s instantly noticeable that Grace and Leon’s barnets person been robbed of their finer detail, but past these bash enforce 2 of the fattest Steam Deck framerate taxes retired of the full visuals menu.

Ultimately, mind, Resi Requiem earns bully marks for handheldability. Even if it’s not arsenic velvety connected a Deck arsenic it is connected decent big-rig hardware, fewer games are, and adjacent less are those blockbusters whose pursuit of ray-traced, subsurface-scattered graphics smut isn’t wholly astatine the outgo of the quality to tally connected inexpensive oregon portable PCs. More similar this, please.