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!

Death Stranding 2 is an incredible game by all means, and completely improves what the first game set out to achieve. As we note in our review, this feels like Kojima firing on all fronts, and it's just fantastic. However, it just wasn't a great experience on the Steam Deck. The framerate would regularly stay below 30 FPS, which makes sense because of how big and sprawling the world is. Still, it would be nice to play this on the Deck, and it seems like developer Nixxes Software feels similarly.

You can save some money by getting Death Stranding 2 on Fanatical for $62.99.

Death Stranding 2

In the game's newest update, we have some changes that sound like they improve performance on the Steam Deck, and it is referenced directly. Not only is it in the release notes for the patch, but there's a paragraph that specifically talks about how the performance improvements benefit the Deck and that they are continuing work on optimization:

We’ve made optimizations to reduce the amount of data being transmitted between the GPU and CPU over the PCIe bus interface. This results in performance improvements across most hardware configurations, with most gains seen on systems that have limited PCIe bandwidth.

Handhelds like Steam Deck also benefit from these changes, and this patch includes additional optimizations focused on handheld devices, resulting in improved performance. We continue to work on additional performance improvements for Steam Deck.

Death Stranding 1.2 Patch Notes - Steam Community Post
Compare
Pre-Patch 1.2
Post-Patch 1.2
\
Post-Patch 1.2
Pre-Patch 1.2

It's great seeing how Nixxes Software is working on making sure the game runs on the Steam Deck well, and I have a lot of faith that we will hopefully get to 30 FPS. So, with the update now out, I decided to go check it out and see just how much better it has become.

And there are definitely some pretty massive upgrades here. A lot of the game is running above 30 FPS, with the beginning area now averaging around 31-33 FPS. The area before the first fight still dropped, but a bulk of the other sections have seen noticeable improvements that keep it hovering above 30. For a patch with some optimizations, this is a huge boost. It's almost on par with the Eclipse Mod's performance, and some areas are even better than and match the mod. I still wouldn't say it's fully stable just yet, but it's definitely getting closer.

Compare
Pre-Patch 1.2
Post-Patch 1.2
\
Post-Patch 1.2
Pre-Patch 1.2
Compare
Pre-Patch 1.2
Post-Patch 1.2
\
Post-Patch 1.2
Pre-Patch 1.2

I can't wait to see what else Nixxes Software is cooking up when it comes to optimizations for the Deck, and I can see the game being a solid 30 FPS one day.

Death Stranding 2 is available for $69.99 on Steam, but you can save some money by getting it on Fanatical for $62.99.

The Fanatical links above are using an affiliate link, which gives us a little back from sales at no extra charge to you. All proceeds go back into SDHQ and its development.

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!

Noah Kupetsky
A lover of gaming since 4, Noah has grown up with a love and passion for the industry. From there, he started to travel a lot and develop a joy for handheld and PC gaming. When the Steam Deck released, it just all clicked.
Steam Profile