Oblivion Remastered on Steam Deck is unworthy of Valve's stamp of approval

Oblivion Remastered is available to play on PC, Xbox, and PlayStation, but it's also available to play on the Steam Deck - well, kinda.

Yes, the game technically works on the Steam Deck, with Valve giving its checkmark stamp of approval on the Oblivion Remastered Steam Store listing, but it doesn't run well. Steam Deck players are taking to social media channels and posting YouTube videos showcasing the title's lackluster performance on the handheld console, with several videos showing the Steam Deck struggling to maintain a consistent 30FPS at the lowest settings, and dropping to, in some instances, below 20FPS when running around outside.

The problems don't stop there, as the upscaling technologies, such as XeSS and FSR, come with their own problems. When XeSS is enabled, a shimmering effect can be seen across the screen, but when FSR is enabled, ugly ghosting of character animations plagues the screen. Notably, when bumping the settings above Medium, the game simply crashes, per IGN's video. The good news is that framerates stabilize when indoors or in instance-based parts of the game, with performance testing indicating a solid 30FPS can be achieved, albeit at low.

Known Problems:

• Ghosting (FSR)
• Performance drops in the open world
• Models popping in
• Shimmering (XeSS)
• Frame stuttering

While Oblivion Remastered is technically playable on the Steam Deck, it raises questions about Valve's stamp of approval and whether the guidelines should be made more stringent for what qualifies as "compatible". Oblivion Remastered on the Steam Deck works, but doesn't run or look great at all, which will certainly be disappointing for many Steam Deck owners who see Valve's stamp of approval and believe they are going to get a fluid gaming experience with little hiccups. Unfortunately, at the moment, that just isn't the case, but hopefully optimization updates are on the way.