168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth has taught me to never underestimate the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Steam Deck. Ever since I picked up Valve’s handheld console, I have used it primarily for smaller indie titles and classic games that rarely stumble into triple-A territory. With a PS5 and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Xbox Series X in my curr🧸ent setup, playing visually demanding games on anything other than the b༒est hardware feels like shooting myself in the foot.

But sometimes, when I fancy replaying a sprawling RPG like Rebirth, doing it from the comfy confines of a Steam Deck has its appeal. So when code came across my desk, I desperately wanted to see if it was up t🌳o the task. Turns out the game is not only playable like this, it’s a step above anything I could have expected.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Works A Treat On Steam Deck

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Steam Deck

Ahead of its release this week, , meaning work has been put in to make sure it not only runs on the machine𝕴, but has been optimised to work with its limited technical specifications. ✱Obviously, this is still a PS5 exclusive, so it requires some serious grunt to look and run its best, so folks playing on the Deck will need to do some fiddling so they don’t run into any sudden issues.

The PS5 Pro version of Rebirth remains one of the best reasons t🌠o pick up the fancy console if you’re still on the fence. It shows what en✨hanced graphical modes are capable of.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth On Steam Deck

When you first launch Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth - or any device for that matter - it will take a bit of time to compile shaders and textures to ensure you don’t run into any unexpected tumbles regardless of the settings you opt for, a process I’d recommend letting run its course before it takes you to the main menu. After this, enter the graphics menu and set all the settings to low or their minimum equivalent if you haven’t already. My console did this automatically, but it’s worth checking to avoid accidentally tankiওng your framerate into the single digits.

I’d also recommend turning off the low resolution font because it looks unappealing. You won’t be running Rebirth any higher than 1280x720 on the Steam Deck🌱 anyway.

How Does Rebirth Look And Perform On The Steam Deck?

I previously mentioned that in order for Rebirth to run on Steam Deck at all, you need to set everything to Low, but ꦐthat doesn’t mean it’s going to look like garbage. It doesn’t match up with the PS5 Pro or any half decent gaming PC, but considering the size of the screen you’re playing on, that hardly matters. With the help of HDR on the OLED model and a consistent level of performance when capped at 30 frames per second, Rebirth is more than playable.

During the opening Nibelheim flashback I noticed a few drops, and even when I did during a hectic boss fight or cutscene, those only ever decreased to 27 frames or so when checking build-in performance tools. Multiple cha🌠racters, enemies, and physics objects can be found on screen at once and Unreal Engine 4 is able to keep up. However, this is made possible by a noticeable drop in visual fidelity that is apparent across every aspect of the experience.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth on Steam Deck

If you want to mine as much peꦇrformance as possible from Rebirth on Steam Deck, you can adjust more minute settings like the number of optional cha🍸racters present on the screen at any given time, the details of individual shadows, or the type of antialiasing.

Character models are less detailed in clothing and facial expressions, with hair especially noticeable with differing stranജds that stand out like a sore thumb in close-ups. Particle effects from attacks are also less detailed and jarring when interacting with low-deܫtail environments ripe with texture pop-in and detailed assets that don’t load correctly until you’re right in front of them. Rebirth is playable on the Steam Deck, but it does take a while to grow accustomed to its shortcomings if you’ve played on either the PS5 or a more capable gaming PC.

Things are a different story in the open world, unfortunately. When I first stepped foot into the grasslands, the initial cutscene was an awkward collage of glitching textures and ugly pop-in before my Steam Deck gave up the ghost and crashed🃏. This was partly because I was using the internal recording software at the same time, but the fact this is bad enough to force a reboot of the entire system is not a good sign. Rebirth pushes the Deck hard.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth On Steam Deck

Once you are out in the grasslands or Junon and exploring, however, the experience is both smooth and enjoyable. The graphical fidelity exhibits noticeable downgrades but t💃he overall tone and atmosphere remain untouched.

Even on a smaller screen with far fewer bells and whistles, it still manages to feel like a grand adventure. I’m hopeful that Square Enix is able to patch out some of the more irksome issues going forward, especially if it also has ideas to release Remake and Rebirth on the Switch 2 at some point, as rumours suggest.

How Is Battery Life When Playing Rebirth On The Steam Deck?

It’s fine. When playing Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth on the settings we described previously, you will be able to mine roughly two hours of playtime from the Steam Deck before it requires a charge. This will vary depending on the brightness of the screen, level of volume, and if you are exploring the open world or more confined dungeons. It is a dಌemanding game no matter how you slice it, and thus you will have a hard time playing Rebirth on the go without running your battery down very quickly. Remake was similar, although this port is in a far better state at launch than that disaster. If it runs competently on Steam Deck and my PC with the Nvidia RTX 2080Ti, I’m hopeful more powerful machines will eat it right up.

There are more graphical settings to choose from this time around too, showing that Square Enix has taken on feedback regarding Remake, which launched with just three visual presets, none of which exhibited much difference in terms of what they did or the performance toll it might take on your system. Rebirth only has three standard options too, but the addition o🎃f several other optional toggles makes it easier to curate your experience, even if the results are far from perfect. It still needs further refinement, but the fact this pre-release version of the game is playing on my Steam Deck and not setting it on fire is quite an achievement.

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Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
Systems
Top Critic Avg: 92/100 Critics Rec: 97%
Released
February 29, 2024
ESRB
T for Teen
Developer(s)
ꦓ 🎐 Square Enix
Publisher(s)
Square Enix ൲
Engine
Unreal Engine 4

WHERE TO PLAY

DIGITAL
PHYSICAL

FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH is the highly anticipated new story in the FINAL FANTASY VII remake project, a reimagining of the iconic original game into three standalone titles by its original creators. In this game, play🥃ers will enjoy various new elements as the story unfolds, culminating in the party’s journey to “The Forgotten Capital” from the original FINAL FANTASY VII.