“After dozens of hours on just Steam Deck, Starfield feels good in some parts, but really struggles in the bigger cities. Turning everything to low and enabling FSR2 is basically the only way to play it right now on Valve’s handheld, and even that drops to 20fps often in the first major city (New Atlantis). The game itself can look very good on the device screen in many parts, but it is very CPU-heavy right now. This has been tested after the day one patch as well.”
While I appreciate a 60fps experience as much as the next gamer, this game targets 30fps on consoles. A 60 fps guarantee for Verified status is totally unrealistic.
I agree that there needs to be some sort of performance standards, but not everything has to run at 60 fps to give an absolutely fantastic experience. 30fps (as long as it’s a solid 30 fps) can do that too.
It’s also okay for Valve to accept that some of these new releases aren’t going to run well on the steam deck. I don’t think they are willing to take that answer though. Frankly, in my mind, Starfield should never be verified on steam deck. It’s not playable at 20 FPS.