DIABLO 4 RUNS GREAT ON THE STEAM DECK, BUT THERE ARE PROBLEMS

Diablo 4 seems to perform well on the Steam Deck, according to user reports, but there are problems with the experience as well, and some of them may well be impossible to ignore due to the device's quirks and nuances. Blizzard's ARPG blockbuster has already made its proverbial weight in gold, and its initial burst of popularity is bound to ensure its staying power.

It's not a huge surprise that Diablo 4 has smashed Blizzard records on day one, becoming the developer's fastest-selling game of all time. It's a given that Steam Deck owners would be very much interested in dipping their toes into the experience as well, and early reports indicate that the game is a very good fit for the handheld at a glance, but a deeper look reveals a number of issues that may be hard to resolve.

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Notably, Steam Deck owners have reported that Diablo 4 runs "super well" on the system out of the box. As the game supports arbitrary inputs, with some claiming it plays better with a controller than a mouse and keyboard, setting up a satisfying control scheme seems to be easy. The only downside is that it's desirable to install the game via Lutris to get the launcher, Battle.net, to run properly. Some of the issues that are obvious at a glance may be a deal-breaker for some players, however, such as the fact that the game doesn't support the Deck's sleep mode and that it cannot be played offline.

For Those Interested in getting D4 on their Deck.. by u/SquareKey3417 in SteamDeck

Diablo 4's live-service features mean that the game will not function in offline mode, necessitating a consistent Internet connection to work properly. Some of the Deck players who spent more time playing Diablo 4 have also noted that the game pushes the device hard, especially when encountering other players. More testing will be necessary to conclude whether this is just an anomaly or something that most players may experience over a long enough period of time.

An avid D4 player with comments by u/SpringsPanda in SteamDeck

While Diablo 4 hasn't yet been added to the list of best RPGs for the Steam Deck, everything shown above suggests that it may end up making the list eventually. The only real caveat, of course, is that it's not available on Steam, meaning it's not going to receive an official verification badge no matter how well or poorly it ends up performing on the Deck over time.

It's not hard to see why Deck owners would be excited to play Blizzard's long-awaited flagship portably, of course. The game's release has gotten the whole world in a bit of a frenzy, with special Diablo 4 promotions running in Sydney and with KFC to mark the occasion. For the Deck, specifically, the good news is that stress testing Diablo 4 shouldn't take long, and it will be obvious soon enough whether the game really is a good fit for the device or not, even in endgame sequences.

Diablo 4 is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

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2023-06-07T08:33:07Z dg43tfdfdgfd