When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Heres how it works.
Sometimes it feels like all I do is rant.
I don’t take a stab at, honestly, but this week is definitely one of those weeks.
Steam Deck Verified games get highlighted in your library as supposedly the best titles to play.
The latest topic across my desk is the Steam Deck Verified program.
The trouble is I’m losing faith in it, and the most recent cause is Remnant 2.
But it’s a glaring example of what I think is missing from getting the Steam Deck Verified badge.
Steam Deck Verified games get highlighted in your library as supposedly the best titles to play.
At bare minimum we should be getting consistent 30 FPS gameplay.
Except, as Remnant 2 very much shows, we are not.
I’ve already written separately that I thinkearly adopters need to hold off for some fixes.
Remnant 2 doesn’t play at 30 FPS in nearly enough areas despite being a Verified title.
That’s because it just isn’t playable enough, Verified badge or not.
What is Steam Deck Verification?
To get the covetedSteam Deck Verified badgea game must hit four key criteria set out and reviewed by Valve.
Lots of games but we should expect more from Verified.
These are as follows:
All of these are important criteria.
And, again, using Remnant 2 as an example, it does indeed tick all of these boxes.
At least, not right now.
I’m sure fixes will come to the game and likely something in Proton as well.
But that’s not the point.
Playing a game below 30 FPS just isn’t enjoyable at all.
Good default configs can absolutely mean the lowest graphics.
There are fine examples that do this, likeSpider-Man Remastered.
I love playing Spider-Man on the Steam Deck.
But Remnant 2 doesn’t get close to 30 FPS far too often.
In some of the worlds where you’re actually fighting enemies, the same, sometimes worse.
Even now it has achieved the badge, I’d question whether it’s truly worthy.
But it’s also really important.
And that’s not how it should be.
The Steam Deck is essentially a games console, and we’ve come to expect certain things from consoles.
And it shouldn’t require installing tweaks like custom Proton in some cases to make these games play better.
I doubt this will ever get added to the program, but we can always hope.
I’m positive I’m not alone.
