Starfield's rough Steam Deck performance brings back a horrifying glitch

starfield on steam deck brings back a horrifying glitch
Credit: ZeroRains (Reddit)/Bethesda

starfield on steam deck brings back a horrifying glitch
Credit: ZeroRains (Reddit)/Bethesda

Starfield doesn’t run well on the Steam Deck but some brave players are trying to play it on this handheld anyway. Aside from not performing the best, playing it on Steam Deck can also lead to horrifying glitches making appearances, including a ‘fan-favorite.’

One user posted on the official Steam Deck subreddit, showing one of those signature horrifying glitches usually connected to rushed games. Poor Sarah Morgan has lost most of her face, only having her eyes and mouth to greet the player, which is a glitch gamers have seen many times.

While it might be easy to say ‘lol, signature Bethesda glitch,’ this has also happened in a lot of rushed games. Assassin’s Creed Unity is a major culprit, as that game launched in the worst way possible. Fans of wrestling games will also remember that WWE 2K20 suffered a similar fate when it first released.

A Reddit user shows off a horrifying Starfield glitch.
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Credit: ZeroRains (Reddit)

All that being said, this goes to show that Starfield is a long way from being verified on Valve’s powerhouse handheld. Despite being much more powerful than a Nintendo Switch, it still has issues running really demanding titles, including Bethesda’s sci-fi RPG.

One other game that’s proven to be too demanding for the Steam Deck is Baldur’s Gate 3. Despite getting the ‘verified’ status, many gamers have complained about how CPU-intensive Act 3 is. Major frame drops happen and it becomes a chore to play, even with lower settings.

It will be interesting to see if Bethesda attempts to make the game more playable on Steam Deck, maybe even reaching ‘playable’ status. Currently, at the time of writing, the sci-fi RPG is still labeled as ‘unknown,’ showing that more tinkering is needed to make the game playable.

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Starfield is now available on Xbox Series and PC. Definitely avoid getting the Steam Deck version, or wait until a better update comes along.