Resident Evil 3 (Remake)

Posted:  Jul 13, 2022
SDHQ BUILD SCORE: 
Full StarFull StarFull StarFull StarNo Star

Review

Special thank you to Mr Doc Jones for helping with this review!

Resident Evil 3 Remake (RE3) is…well…a remake of the third game in the Resident Evil series as well as the third Resident Evil game Capcom released using the RE Engine.  It follows the continuing adventures of our master of unlocking, Jill Valentine, after the events of RE1 and overlaps with the events of RE2.  In addition to the stylistic and graphical changes from the original, there are a considerable number of content changes, including cut-content..  Despite this issue the game Capcom released follows suit with the RE2 remake. RE3 is another updated classic for the modern age of action survival horror.  Oh, and it plays really well on Steam Deck. 

Resident Evil 3: Optimization 

RE3 Remake has no issues running at a solid 60fps, but does tend to run hot (consistent 84*C) while at max settings. Thankfully, with some tinkering to settings and TDP, we can push that down immensely. Through the testing, I was able to get a solid 60 FPS build with a slightly lower resolution (Performance) and a 45 FPS build with crisp-looking resolution (Quality). I was also able to put together a battery focus build that does add about an hour to battery life, but the quality is a little unbearable at times and I would recommend against it. Personally, I would recommend the Quality build over the other two.

Left ImageRight Image

While there is a dip in battery usage, there is also a noticeable blurry downgrade in visuals.

Both of the Performance and Quality builds thankfully come with vast improvements on stability, battery, and temps. Both builds tend to stay around similar temperatures and decently stable frame rates between the two. There is about a 1W-2W difference in battery usage between each other. The RE3 remake has proven to be quite optimized and plays wonderfully on Deck. The biggest differences between the two are resolution (how crisp it is) vs frame rate.

While having a 60 FPS stable experience is always a treat, the tradeoff for having it with good temps and battery is some blurry visuals. Up close, it is still very clear, but the distance gets noticeably blurry. It isn’t too bad where it actually hinders gameplay, but it can be a little annoying after a bit of time. Compare this to the Quality build and you start to see what you are really missing out on. A stable 45 FPS doesn’t feel like anything is being compromised, and with the lowered frame rate, allows us to increase resolution and still keep stability. The meshes are more detailed, shadows look nicer, and lights just pop a bit more. The benefits here definitely outweigh the sacrifices.

The Battery build does save shave off some more temps and battery to keep things going longer and cooler, but these tradeoffs don’t justify it. The resolution is even more blurry and becomes heavily noticeable when playing. Again, it doesn’t deteriorate gameplay, but it does take away some enjoyment from it. All of this really adds on about an hour of gameplay and drops temps by about 5c, but since temps are already quite low in both the other builds, I would say it isn’t necessary at all.

The controls translated well to the Steam Deck and rebinding any keys was easy thanks to SteamOS. I decided to rebind due to personal preference, the default controls for RE3 work very well too. The biggest change I made was enabling gyro controls when holding the L Trigger down so I could more precisely kill zombies. Otherwise, the controls largely remained the same.

Conclusion

While many complained about this particular remake cutting corners when it came to content, the performance and fun factor on Steam Deck are still there. RE3 is so well optimized that it took very little adjusting to get the near-perfect cocktail for some zombie-killing! It’s action packed, atmospheric world entranced me and it has me extremely excited for the RE4 Remake.  Fingers crossed that it will be optimized well as this one!

Our review is based on the PC version of this game.

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SDHQ's Build Score Breakdown

This well-optimized game is baffling at how good it feels to kill some zombies on-the-go. Don't pass up on this one or I will become your nemesis.

Build Score

Performance: 
Full StarFull StarFull StarFull StarFull Star
VISUALS: 
Full StarFull StarFull StarFull StarNo Star
Stability: 
Full StarFull StarFull StarFull StarFull Star
Controls: 
Full StarFull StarFull StarFull StarFull Star
Battery: 
Full StarFull StarFull StarFull StarNo Star
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.
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Community Rating

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Let us know what level of playability you consider Resident Evil 3 (Remake) to be. Help our community determine the viability of playing this game on Steam Deck!
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Current Price: 
$39.99
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Other Builds & Information

Performance Focus

SteamOS:

60 FPS Cap with 60 Refresh Rate

Half Rate Shading OFF

TDP Limit 10

FSR Upscaling with Sharpness 4

 

Proton Version:

Proton GE 7-24

 

Game Settings:

Resolution 960x540

FSR: Ultra Quality

Texture quality: High (1GB)

Texture Filter Quality: High (ANISO x8)

Mesh and Shadow Quality: High

Shadow Cache: On

SSR: On

Subsurface scattering: On

Volumetric lighting: High

Particle lighting: High

Ambient Occlusion: SSAO (Set Areas Only)

Bloom, Lens Flare, and, Depth of Field: On

Motion Blur: Off

Lens Distortion: On (+chromatic Aberration)

 

Projected Battery Usage/Temps:

12W - 13W

Around 64c - 73c temps for CPU and GPU

Around 3 hours of gameplay

Battery Focus

SteamOS:

40 FPS Cap with 40 Refresh Rate

Half Rate Shading OFF

TDP Limit 6

FSR Upscaling with Sharpness 0

 

Proton Version:

Proton GE 7-24

 

Game Settings:

Resolution 1152x720

FSR: Ultra Quality

Texture quality: Medium (0.5GB)

Texture Filter Quality: High (ANISO x2)

Mesh Quality: Medium

Shadow Quality: Low

Shadow Cache: On

SSR: On

Subsurface scattering: On

Volumetric lighting: Low

Particle lighting: Low

Ambient Occlusion: SSAO (Set Areas Only)

Bloom, Lens Flare, and, Depth of Field: On

Motion Blur: Off

Lens Distortion: On (+chromatic Aberration)

 

Projected Battery Usage/Temps:

10W - 11W

Around 62c - 65c temps for CPU and GPU

Around 3.5-4 hours of gameplay

related Settings

9 comments on “Resident Evil 3 (Remake)”

  1. Gracias a ustedes compré el Resident Evil 3 Remake y lo jugué en la Steam Deck con vuestra configuracion.
    Acabo de pasarme el juego en 4 horas, y en estas 4 horas el juego me ha ido de maravilla, no he tenido ningun solo bug.
    Realmente, el Resident Evil 3 funciona tan bien como el Resident Evil 2 en la Steam Deck.
    Gracias!

  2. The Disposal Area Boss cannot be defeated in 45 FPS! It will run in circles forever, tested it three times with reloading and relaunching the game. As soon as you set it to 60 FPS, the boss does his next move.

    So: Unbeatable in 45 FPS, technically. Everything else runs just fine, but this detail should be added.

  3. Why does Valve rate Resident Evil 3 as Unsupported? What are the parts of the game that cause Valve to say "some or all of the game currently doesn't function on Steam Deck"?

    1. Funny enough, this was asked by IGN in their interview yesterday (which we summarized here:https://steamdeckhq.com/news/steam-deck-interview-ign-dock-issues-and-dual-boot/).

      Basically, even if the game runs completely well and it is 1 cutscene that goes black, immediate "Unsupported" rating. This isn't something I necessarily agree with though and I think it needs to change wording. It could be something so small, but immediately flagged and given that rating, which could put people off. RE3 worked perfectly fine, so I am not sure why it was specifically rated "Unsupported", but a tidbit about WHY the rating is that way would be really appreciated.

  4. Was this review done based on the dx11 or dx12 version? Since this game had an update that increased its requirements, I don't know which of the two is more recommended to install.
    It would be nice if they would specify which version was used for those configurations they explained

  5. This review is very well written and I just want to say that I really enjoyed reading this review and it makes me want to try this game out. I really like the image and the quality. The image is very beneficial and I am happy to see a sneak peek. I love love love the breakdown of the different categories. Thank you so much for writing this review and I am looking forward to reading more reviews on the different games you are playing.

    1. Thank you so much! We are happy to help however we can. If there is a specific game you'd like us to review, feel free to submit a game review request from the top!

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