My favorite Elder Scrolls-like RPG ran bafflingly badly on Steam Deck, but a small, surprising tweak has doubled its performance

pcgamer.com:

I make it no secret that I love Dread Delusion, a chunky, retro RPG in a stunning alien world with body horror-fueled societies clinging to life on the asteroids orbiting a small, blood-red star. Despite its throwback looks and a green «verified» badge however, it used to just tank my Steam Deck, rarely cresting above 30fps and typically hovering around 25. A recent early access update has vastly improved those numbers, and the culprit was so simple I can still barely believe it.

Developer Lovely Hellplace outlined the changes coming in the Cadaver Keep update earlier in the month, and one of them particularly caught my eye. «Our programmer fotocopiadora has vastly improved the way the game loads data between regions,» lead developer James Wragg explained. «This has allowed us to create super low-detail models of many of the game's structures, which means if you're not in a region, it's even more low-poly than usual if you can even imagine that.

»This means that the game should run much faster now, especially on low-end systems like the Steam Deck."

So I was expecting good things when booting up Dread Delusion on my Deck after Wednesday's update, but was positively shocked to see it hitting 60 fps when previously 30 was out of the question. This perfect 60 didn't last when stepping outdoors into Dread Delusion's open world, but thanks to the option to set the Deck's refresh rate, it's possible to get a rock solid 40hz/40fps out of Dread Delusion now, with projected battery life between 3.5 and four hours.

Level of detail (LOD) systems are a common sight in open world games, with older favorites like Skyrim sometimes having a visible fade out and back in as you approach a landmark, with a low-detail model for distant