First, to get it out of the way - it is FINE on the steam deck. I have a gaming PC and ended up just slamming through this game purely on the deck instead, because my couch is comfortable and playing games on the deck is bliss. I didn't even remote play.
Set it to FSR 4 @ balanced, all settings to either low or med. I prefer med. Vsync on, FPS unlimited - set your FPS limit to 30 or 40 in the deck settings (this is the best way to cut frame time issues). Looks great - wee bit sharp on the edges, otherwise good.
Perfectly fine, didn't have issues playing through it, the only place it was getting a bit laggy was the final area due to sheer density. Otherwise, fantastic time all round. If you're a weird 80,000fps@8k only junkie with a water cooled AI facility for a PC and think a deck can do this game at 60 fps, it can't. Never will. You're dumb. The ONLY caveat to this is if you use Decky plugins to run lossless scaling, so you can framegen 60fps. It works very well in this, but that requires some tinkering so you can DYOR on that. Anyway..
I don't understand what "unplayable" means to people anymore. For me it's the classic meaning of "I cannot actually play the game as it is non-functioning". My PS3 to this day whoops ass in all its homebrew glory, and in wonderful 720p@30fps. No worries, the games are good.
Post-whiskey drinking dribble aside, the game is fabulously good. Beautiful world, intriguing lore, great enemy designs and no bosses are like the Bed of Chaos in Dark Souls 1. In fact, all bosses are a solid B or A in rank overall, especially Lightreaper. That dude's insane. Extra note on the world design, it is gnarly and disgusting. There's a particular room which had me gawking at the ceiling due to the...eugh.. you'll see. Feminists, man.
The spectral shifting mechanic is wonderful, too. It's a nice reminder of Soul Reaver and sorely missed. It's a fantastic mechanic that makes level design even more interesting. You can expect an interconnected world with a hub ala Dark Souls 1 in this.
My only advice is not to get cocky - you will hit a very specific difficulty spike once you enter some mines, and after that, an abbey with feminists. You will know when you hit it because you will die really fast. Mental note.
Otherwise, I reckon this is a safe buy. I got it during the summer sale and feel like I stole it. It's amazing fun, some of the best fun I've had with a game in a while. May need to do a 2nd play through.
