Okay, Oblivion Remastered isn’t great on Steam Deck, but here’s why I don’t care

Unless you’ve spent the last week living under a rock, you’ve probably heard about Bethesda shadow-dropping The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered. Unsurprisingly, it launched on both the latest Xbox and PlayStation consoles, but in a slightly more unexpected development, it’s also already Steam Deck Verified. Following the big reveal, I’ve seen countless reports of how poorly it runs on Valve’s handheld, and having played it myself, I can confirm that it isn’t great. But honestly, I don’t care. That’s how I’m playing it anyway, and I’m happy to explain why.

Let’s be clear from the off: the Steam Deck isn’t one of the top picks from our guide to the best handheld consoles for its performance, and I knew that before I bought it around this time last year. That’s not to say that Valve’s console is awful; it’s just that some of the newer Steam Deck alternatives, such as the Asus ROG Ally X and MSI Claw 8 AI+, pack more performance power. The problem with those options, however, is that they rely on Windows 11, which is a clunky mess, whereas the Steam Deck has SteamOS, which is almost infinitely more user-friendly than Microsoft’s handheld operating system.

Now, I don’t have a swanky gaming PC. If I want to play something, it’s either on my Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series S, or Steam Deck OLED. Oblivion Remastered isn’t out on Switch, so it was between my Series S or Steam Deck. After a little research, I figured that I wasn’t going to get elite performance with either option, so I plumped for the Steam Deck version and prepared myself for the worst.

Now, like I said earlier, it’s not great, but it runs, and that’s all I’m really looking for. Dungeons and caves are fine, no problem at all, but there’s a bit of a pop-in problem in the open world, and even with a lot of tinkering and using a best settings guide, I can’t get the game to run at a stable 30 frames per second. That isn’t ideal, but do you know what I can do? I can play it. I can pickpocket, slay Mudcrabs, and venture into the depths of Oblivion, all without the game completely crashing or my Steam Deck exploding in my hands.

In my first five hours of playtime, I only experienced one event where it felt like the Steam Deck really wasn’t up to the job. As I was storming Castle Kvatch, I encountered a horde of what felt like 20 or more Stunted Scamps, which, as you might expect, completely tanked performance. Fortunately, I still had just enough control over what was going on to unleash a few attacks, and with some support from a few friendly Imperial Legion troopers, I soon thinned out the group, and performance returned to normal.

The thing is, handheld gaming has always been, and probably will be for a long time yet, a trade-off. This has been the case for every era throughout the history of gaming, from the Game Boy all the way until now. The experience is never going to match that of playing on a home console or a souped-up PC build, but the perks are obvious. I can now play Oblivion Remastered wherever and whenever I please. For me, slightly sub-par performance is worth it for that alone.

This isn’t to say I wouldn’t prefer it if Oblivion Remastered ran better on Steam Deck; of course, I wish it did. I also respect the argument that it might not be quite worthy of its Steam Deck Verified status, as Niall from our sister site PCGN so eloquently explains in his piece on the game, and I’m hoping that there are some post-launch updates in the works to enhance the experience at least a little.

The thing is, for me, it’s just not that big a deal. If it were, I’d have the jazzy PC setup with the latest graphics card and all that complicated, and let’s face it, expensive jazz. I’m a low-performance settings handheld veteran. It didn’t bother me with Baldur’s Gate 3, which still tops the list in our guide to the best Steam Deck games, and I’m not deterred now either, lagging Stunted Scamps or no lagging Stunted Scamps. As someone who grew up playing handhelds, to play a game of this quality without hooking up to the TV is a dream, even if the textures could look nicer.

So, there you have it, my reason for sticking it out with The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered on Steam Deck, despite the haters. For more great games to play on the go while you’re here, see our picks for the best mobile games and the best Nintendo Switch games. Or, if returning to Cyrodiil has you feeling nostalgic, check out some old-school hardware with our list of the best retro handhelds.