Code Vein 2 Should Not Be Played On The Steam Deck - Preview

If you haven't yet, follow us on X (Twitter), Mastodon, or Bluesky to know when we post new articles, and join our Reddit or Subscribe to us on YouTube to check out our content and interact with our awesome community. Thank you for supporting us!

Code Vein 2 was provided by Bandai Namco for review. Thank you!

While I may not be the best at soulslikes, I do enjoy them, and Code Vein stuck out to me. I loved the anime style, coupled with some solid gameplay mechanics, and it felt more unique. Code Vein 2 kept that excitement going, and now that it's out, I can see just how alike it is. There have been some pretty big changes, but I am enjoying my time with it so far. However, it's unfortunately not an experience I would recommend on the Steam Deck.

Sadly, as much as I tested, there's just no way to really enjoy Code Vein 2 on the Steam Deck. The game's framerate almost immediately tanks, even in the opening areas in closed off caves. This continues throughout most of the caves and out into the open areas, which find some stutters and other drops here and there as we run around and fight enemies.

Despite there being some spots where 30 FPS is achieved, it almost never stays that way. Almost every fight will go below 30 FPS and have some stuttering throughout, making it way more difficult to time dodges and blocks, and has led to my death more times than I would care to admit. I would already consider that unplayable on performance alone, but the sacrifices that need to be made for it to even get to this performance are too much.

To get to 30 FPS, we have to bring the quality down to low. At low, the Code Vein 2 looks horrible. The Shadows are almost completely gone in the outside world, while inside areas look better after a little bit of time allowing it to load. Still, it never looks as great as it does at higher settings, and with performance still suffering even at the lower settings, it's hard to justify playing this way.

Due to the new Steam Deck Client update, I wasn't able to use Decky Loader to try lossless scaling or frame generation, but based on how the game is performing without it, I wouldn't say it's a good idea. The base framerate will fluctuate and regularly be too low, and that will make the game feel much less smooth and add input lag.

Despite the issues on the Steam Deck, I am enjoying Code Vein 2 so far. There's definitely a lot more of the game I need to play before my review is out, but it definitely won't be on the Steam Deck. Unfortunately, I can't see any way to justifiably play this on the Deck, with performance going so low that it makes combat more difficult and visuals looking horrid. The performance problems do seem to be pretty frequent across all platforms, not just the Deck, so hopefully, we will see some optimization in general. However, at this point, I would avoid Code Vein 2 on the Steam Deck.

Code Vein 2 can be purchased for $69.99 on Steam right now ahead of its January 29th release date.

If you enjoyed this article, check out the rest of the content on SteamDeckHQ! We have a wide variety of game reviews and news that will help your gaming experience. Whether you're looking for news, tips and tutorials, game settings and reviews, or just want to stay up-to-date on the latest trends, we've got you covered!