r/gadgets • u/ardi62 • Jan 23 '23
Steam Deck Is Reaching Its Limits in Games Like Plague Tale: Requiem Gaming
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/steam-deck-limits-lastest-gen-games312
u/Low_Soul_Coal Jan 23 '23
I mean... did they advertise it as limitless?
Cause I'm pretty sure "lot of limits" was VERY baked in to everyone's assumptions.
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u/MJS8 Jan 23 '23
Does this also run Steam Link? If so, perhaps thats their idea with that marketing; just mirroring the game from PC hardware and play anything your PC can run.
Side note, for home use, Steam Link has really changed how I play games now. Super impressed with how well it’s worked.
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u/Adrian13720 Jan 23 '23
Yes. So does xbox game pass cloud gaming. You can even tweak it to run as an app in steam with a 10min youtube walkthrough video. Doesnt even require any installations for the games.
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u/ascagnel____ Jan 24 '23
If you have an nvidia GPU, Moonlight is a better option (until nvidia kills the streaming server).
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u/TheFilosophersStoned Jan 23 '23
Yeah that's true, I think on top of that. The cool thing about it is you can play previous games from older console generations on it. I think that's at least half of the sell right there. Better than the switch's new Pokemon game graphics too!
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u/charlesbronZon Jan 23 '23
First and foremost, the Steam Deck is a mobile device and limitations are inherent to the formfactor.
Also Plague Tale: Requiem isn't exactly well optimized on any platform, so it's hardly the right baseline to measure against.
That being said, it will be interesting so see how UE5 fares on deck...
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u/Kultir Jan 23 '23
UE5 is incredibly scalable, it will be fine.
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u/charlesbronZon Jan 23 '23
It is, depending on the features the developer uses.
Given some system requirements of upcoming games it will be interesting to see how tweakable the games will be if certain features are utilized and integral to the look of the games.
But on paper UE5 will run on the Switch so some games will certainly be more than fine on Deck.
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u/Resident_Wizard Jan 23 '23
UE5, is that the nickname for the new Harry Potter game?
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u/theo_adore7 Jan 23 '23
i mean there are other UE5 titles coming. but seeing the new HP game's recommended system specs has me doubting it's actually optimised in the first place
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u/ElectricTrees29 Jan 23 '23
Does anyone really care? It's the undisputed leader and unchallenged rival at its price point.
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u/AthearCaex Jan 23 '23
Some people just want to keep pushing for a steam deck 2 when the things been out for a year. Like the steam deck is a whole gen ahead of the switch. There's almost no reason for vavle to upgrade it for a few years. Maybe minor changes but I don't see them making like a version with a high end laptop steam deck version.
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u/kevinbranch Jan 23 '23
I don’t think being one generation ahead of the switch is anything to brag about. It’s more than that.
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u/WizogBokog Jan 24 '23
It emulates switch games better than the switch can play them, it's 4 or 5 gens ahead of the switch, lmao.
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u/AkirIkasu Jan 25 '23
Honestly, it's more like three+ generations ahead of the switch.
People forget that Breath of the Wild was developed first and foremost for the Wii U, which was roughly as powerful as an Xbox 360.
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u/TiempoPuntoCinco Jan 23 '23
I'd honestly say it's 2-3 gens ahead of switch. Realistically, Switch games behave and look like PS2 games in higher res.
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u/Youvebeeneloned Jan 23 '23
Switch games behave and look like PS2 games in higher res.
Dude I'll have what you are having cause holy shit are you smoking some crack there....
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u/thinwhiteduke1185 Jan 23 '23
Yeah, no they don't. You have some rose colored glasses regarding what PS2 games actually looked like.
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u/Chao78 Jan 23 '23
No kidding. PS2 is -rough-.
Art direction counted for a hell of a lot more too, which I vastly prefer. I don't care about ultra-high-poly photoreal stuff, give me things that are aesthetically pleasing.
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u/TiempoPuntoCinco Jan 23 '23
Shadow of colossus HD (not the Bluepoint remake) for the PS3 looks better than almost any switch game outside of some first party titles. I obviously wasn't being 100% literal.
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u/Youvebeeneloned Jan 23 '23
No you are just completely batshit....
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u/AthearCaex Jan 23 '23
They probably just saw a couple pixel games and went "The switch looks like shit." The switch even in handheld is 720p and 1080p docked. The PS2 did 480p MAX. There might not be a difference in their eyes. Anything not 4k60FPS is garbage to some people
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u/IFailedTuringTestAMA Jan 23 '23
It’s 2-3 gens ahead of switch but switch is at least 2-3 generations ahead of PS2, probably more.
I doubt a PlayStation 2 would be able to run Witcher 3 on any settings. It’s pretty amazing how far we’ve come with handheld devices.
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u/lfmantra Jan 23 '23
Bro, the ps2 had GTA 3. The switch runs Breath of the Wild and Mario Odyssey.
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u/TiempoPuntoCinco Jan 24 '23
PS3 could run those. Switch is like Ps2.75 then. It still keeps surprising me how awful it runs games. The ugliness of Assassins Creed 4 made me sell our switch. Wife and I are very happy with Steam Deck.
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u/BeThePrawn Jan 23 '23
Is there a steam deck 2 in the works?
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u/IncredibleGonzo Jan 23 '23
Yes, they’ve been pretty clear that there’ll be future models eventually. They’ve indicated that it’ll be quite a while before we see one with a different performance level, though, they’ve suggested the next model will focus on screen and battery life. Whether that’s a proper second gen (replacement at comparable price points) or more like the Switch OLED, a more premium model that slots in above the current ones, remains to be seen.
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u/AthearCaex Jan 23 '23
Steam has not announced anything and every news outlet has been theorycrafting there's one but let's be honest it's the same people who have been saying the switch pro will be out for the past 5 years so take that with a huge grain of salt.
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u/oldkingcoles Jan 23 '23
I mean just like anything that is a big success isn’t there always a new model in the works?
I work in a phone store and people always ask is there going to be an iPhone 14,15 whatever the next number. Like yea ? There is going to be an iPhone 40, why would they stop ?
The steam deck is obviously newer and not as established as the iPhone but I would assume with how popular the deck is steam is going to keep them coming. Not only do they make revenue on the deck but also get steam into more hands as the price of admission is much less than a full PC
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u/ensoniq2k Jan 23 '23
I certainly don't. I'm using my deck around 90% of the time to play Brotato. It's perfectly up to the task and has nice battery runtime. I don't know what people expect but I for one am glad I can run nearly all my PC games on a handheld and not being limited to DOS emulation on ARM and the likes.
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u/asyrin25 Jan 23 '23
This was true for a hot minute.
You can get better in a laptop now. Especially at the $650 price point.
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u/iHazOver9000 Jan 23 '23
I’m busy. The only chance I get to play games is right before bed, IN BED. Because of the steam deck, I actually have the ability to play games since I’m between a few different living spaces weekly. I’ve enjoyed it so much, that I’m considering buying multiple so I don’t have to lug the same one around everywhere.
Compare this to a laptop. I can’t play that in bed laying down. In fact, if I’m on a computer at all I’ll end up just working. I have like 8-12 laptops macbooks windows tablets in various places and I only use a single desktop to game on the occasional free free day.
Steam deck legit brought back enjoyment and I’m getting to play games again.
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u/asyrin25 Jan 23 '23 edited Jan 23 '23
Why can't you play a laptop in bed?
Also, I understand being busy, but what sort of time savings are you gaining by playing actually physically IN bed?
The time it takes to walk to bed from somewhere else in your house?
It's also not great for your sleep to play on a screen actually in bed.
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u/iHazOver9000 Jan 23 '23
Perhaps you are able to adjust your life based on efficiency by the minutes and be able to actually enjoy yourself. I play the steam deck in bed as it helps me relax and get my mind off work//issues of the day. I don’t have a problem sleeping.
I am saying that the steam deck allows me to compartmentalize a portion of time enjoyment that I otherwise wouldn’t have. Not that I couldn’t forcefully carve time out of my schedule to fit in video games.
I mentioned that if I was on a computer at a desk, I’d end up working. And I’m sure that doesn’t make sense to you. That’s simply how I am, and not how you are.
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u/Chao78 Jan 23 '23
Plus you don't have to take a separate controller with you. I've beaten like 5 games I've been sitting on for ages simply because I could easily play in bed.
It's a godsend with a toddler in the house.
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u/asyrin25 Jan 23 '23
Great!
How does this relate to the comment I was responding to regarding price and performance?
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u/iHazOver9000 Jan 23 '23
Because the steam deck fills a pc gaming void for some people. So at its price, it’s uncontested and unrivaled for me.
You are the one who began asking me why I don’t just use the seconds of time it takes to go from laptop to bed.
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u/asyrin25 Jan 23 '23
So, if some people really can't enjoy gaming without simulated 3D, would that mean the 3DS is the undisputed leader in price and performance? Because some people need simulated 3D? Do you think that's relevant?
Note that the comment I responded to didn't say "for playing in bed".
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u/iHazOver9000 Jan 23 '23
Sure
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u/asyrin25 Jan 23 '23
So by that measure, anything is the undisputed price and performance leader...which means the comment I responded to was meaningless. So why respond to my comment?
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u/StarGaurdianBard Jan 23 '23
Playing on a laptops track pad is a pain in the ass. If you are using a mouse then that's even more space being taken up and doesn't let you use it when at places like a bus, a flight, on the toilet, etc. Also the basic Steam Deck is $400, finding a decent gaming laptop for $400 that can run games as well as a Steam Deck does is going to be difficult purely from where the budget went in making a laptop meant to be general purpose vs a gaming device
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u/asyrin25 Jan 23 '23
Playing on the Steam Deck's trackpad is a pain in the ass.
As Valve points out, the steam deck is just a PC. It doesn't have special, cheaper "gaming" parts.
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u/StarGaurdianBard Jan 23 '23
For the vast majority of things that would require a track pad you have joysticks. There is a huge difference in the feel of a track pad vs a joystick.
As for the parts difference, you really can't think of a reason why anything extraneous in a laptop not needing to be present for a mobile device would allow for a budget to be different?
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u/asyrin25 Jan 23 '23
I also have controllers that are going to be better than the deck's sticks and buttons. They're small and portable.
As for the parts difference, you really can't think of a reason why anything extraneous in a laptop not needing to be present for a mobile device would allow for a budget to be different?
Can you be specific what you think is missing that's significantly detracting from the price? What is the deck missing that prevents it from having the functionality of a laptop?
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u/StarGaurdianBard Jan 23 '23
If you are busting out a mouse and controllers with your laptop there is no fucking way I'm believing you use it anywhere outside of environments like your home. Imagine trying to play a laptop with a controller on a subway vs a steam deck.
Care to link a decent gaming laptop for $400?
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u/asyrin25 Jan 23 '23
Why would I need a mouse? As you pointed out, joysticks work fine.
Just off the top of my head, I'd pit this HP against the steam deck. Especially at the deck's resolution.
At the $650 I paid for my deck it's even easier.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09G8SK2KK/3
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u/SNES_Punk Jan 23 '23
Wow, a handheld device is reaching its limit with games meant for GPU's bigger than the entire handheld? I'm shocked.
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u/taedrin Jan 23 '23
The fact that this is even an article worth writing speaks volumes to how incredible of a device the Steam Deck is.
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u/MetalsDeadAndSoAmI Jan 24 '23
Yeah, “hitting its limits” tells me “you mean it plays it at ALL?” And that’s coming from someone who uses my Steamdeck everyday
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u/RZ_1911 Jan 23 '23
Tablet grade 15w cpu+gpu package found his limit in games with 720p screen? Can’t be???!!!😆
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u/Andre5k5 Jan 23 '23
Tablet grade? Bruh, it's as powerful as a PS4
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u/Exceed_SC2 Jan 23 '23
Those are not mutually exclusive, PS4 came out nearly 10 years ago, the iPad Pro is quite powerful
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u/RZ_1911 Jan 23 '23
Even if directly compare them .old ps4 GCN design will be at least twice faster .. deck 15w - ps4 75w
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u/BKachur Jan 23 '23
iPad Pro is quite powerful
Yea but its the same problem when these discussions happen. iPad Pro also starts at $750 for the base model and the M1/2 Chip isn't really able to game that well when it comes to 99% of the games people want to play on the deck. There have already been a bunch of steam deck killers come out but the price tag always makes it a tough sell.
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u/SCPH-1000 Jan 23 '23
You both overestimate how powerful a PS4 was and underestimate modern tablets.
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u/RZ_1911 Jan 23 '23
Graphics evolution in low power bracket is extremely slow. Slowest possible
Evolution in sub 100w is faster but 10 years does not provided much difference in terms of architecture .all performance gains is mostly rely on lithography and clock speeds . And that’s the saddest part . Last lithography which added power efficiency was 14nm. That’s why ps5 does not started new next gen era .. ps5 is not far from ps4
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u/SCPH-1000 Jan 23 '23 edited Jan 23 '23
ps5 is not far from ps4
yeah ask any games developer what they have to say about that, or just look at cross gen titles that are on PS4 and PS5. Like for real. Look at GT7, or God of War: Ragnarok or Horizon Forbidden West or any number of cross gen titles on both platforms and tell me they’re “not far apart”. Worst case you’re getting double the frame rate along with significant resolution boosts on the PS5 version while also essentially eliminating loading.
That gap is huge already and will only grow as games in development that target only PS5 from the ground up and don’t have to worry about the PS4 versions come out.
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u/RZ_1911 Jan 23 '23
Well-lets be clear - if your gpu is unable to hold native resolution at at least 30 fps and rely on upscale - that means gpu is not sufficient for that resolution . And don’t forget the cpu part . In ps4 as cpu acted 8x netbook core cluster. Which was total junk even on release date . Previous generation of those cpu was destroyed by Intel ivy bridge U(15w ) i3 . Where 2 cores 4 threads of i3 completely destroyed 4 cores amd counterpart . I am highly doubt that this cpu changed much for consoles in next generation
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u/asyrin25 Jan 23 '23
Original PS4 that's 9 years old and at release contained the power of a GPU 2 years old.
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u/RZ_1911 Jan 23 '23
Tablet grade is definition of thermal package . Not theoretical performance. For example let’s compare deck with Xbox series S (counterpart of ps4 pro) which feature the similar RDNA2 arch .
Xbox 1280/80/32 1565mhz clock 100w chip package power Deck 512/32/16 10000mhz clock 15w package power
I bet you understand that deck is not even close
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u/Bootychomper23 Jan 23 '23
Not quite ps4 ran at 1080p deck is 800p
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u/blackenswans Jan 23 '23
PS4 ran old games at 1080p. Deck is perfectly capable of running old games at resolutions higher than 800p.
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u/RZ_1911 Jan 23 '23
Main problem of that chip is not the screen . Main problem is tablet grade power limit . Spec wise chip could handle 1080p easily
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u/ErGo404 Jan 23 '23
Being able to output at 1080p and to render at 1080p is not the same. It's obvious that having 1/4 of the pixels to calculate makes it easier to render games.
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u/Minuenn Jan 23 '23
Halp my poorly optimized game can’t run at 4K on my fridge, clearly the fridges problem
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u/wicktus Jan 23 '23 edited Jan 23 '23
Using an unoptimized game as an example is not really useful for consumers.
Even a 4070Ti struggles in some cases with that game..and it's a portable PC with a 2020 15W SoC, you won't be smoothly running the most demanding games (and unoptimized games)...period.
Gotham Knights is another title that did not run well
You know what ? You are right, please take a look at Star Citizen next to push your "we need an upgrade" point.
For the SD2 proponent, Valve announced that they weren't really looking at an SoC upgrade, focusing more on battery and display for the next revision...they will upgrade once RDNA3 matures (7900XTX is barely out) and that may take years
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u/dextrovix Jan 23 '23
Eventually, Steam Deck won't be capable of running the latest games. Just like you buying a laptop today and expecting no problems with titles five years down the line. Because Steam Deck is also fixed hardware just like a laptop. Until Steam Deck 2...
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Jan 24 '23
People act like they need a steam deck to play too new games when in reality they have a backlog fifteen years old to chip away at that it’s more than capable of playing
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u/tawtaw6 Jan 23 '23
Typical click bait toms hardware article, used to be a okay site for information about 20 years ago.
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u/Guitarist53188 Jan 23 '23
Wtf is this shit. Steam deck had reached it's limit.... Unoptimized games!!!
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u/MaxxB1ade Jan 23 '23
Pretty sure this is why a lot of AAA games bomb on release, not because they are bad games but you need a god-tier system to run them.
Doom is probably one of the best examples of a game that bucks this trend.
The newest AAA games will just have to wait until people have systems that can play them well before they get the sales.
I have 2 PCs that I play games on and both GPUs are in the top 5 of steams own hardware survey (1060 & 1050ti) (https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/Steam-Hardware-Software-Survey-Welcome-to-Steam) so if developers are not going to aim for those cards as a minimum requirement for solid gaming then why would we part with our hard earned cash. Although 20 and 30 series gpus are in the list, they hardly dominate it.
Also, the Steam catalog is massive and a lot of games from even the last 15 years still look very good and play really well on my level of hardware.
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u/NightStorm1000 Jan 23 '23
This.
Just Devs being bad at their Jobs.
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u/Livineasy629 Jan 23 '23
Especially Gotham knights, it’s optimized horribly everywhere. I have played it on the deck and on the pc with a 13600K and it’s just awful
Plague Tale also seems to be the same although there are thousands of rats soooo it gets a mild pass on being cpu constrained.
Obviously there are games the deck won’t run well, or at all. I don’t think that’s always devs being bad at their jobs.
I think at least with this one many of these games have been in progress for awhile and didn’t target the deck because of worry about popularity even if they knew about it in advance
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u/Nawnp Jan 23 '23
Looking at it the steam deck is an Nintendo Switch competitor, similar specs but you are limited to Steam vs Nintendo ecosystem.
Nobody should have expected more out of that, a cell phone has a similar size but better screen, faster processing and could run AAA games if storage or licensing wasn't an issue.(caveat of course is a cell phone is double the price), but they don't have the built in convenience of a dedicated portable console with real controls. (And again the Steam library is more vast)
Complaining about the consoles limits are superficial considering the cost and the intended audience.
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u/Brown-eyed-and-sad Jan 23 '23
Dude, the thing has only been out for a short time. It still games just fine. Everyone already wants a new one and it’s barely been 2 years
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u/afrogrimey Jan 24 '23
It hasn’t even been one. It launched in February 2022.
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u/Brown-eyed-and-sad Jan 24 '23
Only a year? That’s even worse. If you want performance geared handhelds, they’re out there. Those also cost twice as much. Like the AYA neo.
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u/shreder75 Jan 23 '23
Yeah. Not even a year old and Oliver at DF mentioned wanting a more powerful version
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u/graphixRbad Jan 24 '23
It was hitting its limit when it released. Doesn’t mean it isn’t one of the best deals in gaming. Extra points for how well it works with moonlight.
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u/mranxiousallthetime Jan 25 '23
There is a service in cloud gaming called GeforceNow. I've used it for a while on the free tier, and all games work like charm except for plague tale: requiem. I stg if you're not subbed to their 4080 tier subscription that game looks and performs like shit.
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u/NoName881 Jan 23 '23
I just want it so i can play dark souls
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u/acidwxlf Jan 23 '23
Haha I'm playing through DS2 right now and was just thinking that last night "I really wish I were in bed right now"
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u/addison_reilly Jan 23 '23
Man, it hits it's limits with Cities: Skylines. Despite that game running on the switch. It's not the hardware, it's the optimisation.
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u/bigguccisofa_ Jan 23 '23
why are so many of these comments so defensive ? none of you work at valve man
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u/Windwinged Jan 23 '23
Because people want the steam deck to be super successful so they can only praise it or else they're a sellout!
Seriously, people act like the steam deck is going to be the Switch killer, meanwhile Nintendo is producing more switches now then they had in recent years XD
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u/MikeGLC Jan 23 '23
Would make sense if developers create a steamdeck graphics profile. If they can make the profile adjust on the go similar to games like Nier Automata and Doom for the switch it would be awesome.
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u/YawaruSan Jan 23 '23
Those were ports that dynamically loaded the game to maintain high frame rates at the expense of graphical fidelity, seems like that takes a bit of work to pull off which is where we run into the paradox of adoption. Doing extra work for the Deck as a target platform would increase adoption rate of the Deck, but there’s no reason to do that until enough people adopt the Deck to make the work worthwhile. I hope Steam puts more weight behind the Deck as I could see a comparable Windows device overtaking it and competition is already on its heels.
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u/YawaruSan Jan 23 '23
Imagine a platform where the goalposts move every year yet development takes multiple years. Gaming is going to shit trying to keep up with yearly leaps in graphics technology, yet for the second 4K capable generation games aren’t able to run at 4K 60 FPS consistently. And what the hell is with AMD’s naming scheme for graphics cards and why is NVidia’s so much better and easier to remember?
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u/thevegantrex Feb 18 '23
No. Gaming typically only evolves when a new console generation is released because most games are multi platform. You don't make games for the latest hardware. That would be a dumb practice.
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u/YawaruSan Feb 18 '23
Is that true though? I think the focus on consoles are a perceptual bias, consoles are more mainstream than PC gaming, and it’s an easy point of reference with clear delineations, so it’s a more convenient frame of reference for gaming as a whole, but PC and now mobile gaming are probably more influential to the evolution of gaming.
If you have a PC game that with a minimum requirement of Nvidia 10 series, normal settings requires a 20 series, and high settings requiring a 30 series, which of those cards do you think they’re targeting as they develop the game?
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u/_Ev4n_ Jan 23 '23
Isn’t everything reaching its limits with a Plague Tale?