Borderlands 4 Proves The Steam Deck Verified System Still Needs Work

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There are a multitude of ways to find new games to play on the Steam Deck, but the most prominent of those is the Steam Deck Verified system. This is a badge system made by Valve that checks games on their storefront, and if they are a "great experience", they get a green checkmark on their store page. As far back as I can remember, I have been pointing out how the system has its flaws, and the green checkmark is not a good indication of how well a game runs, and now, we have more proof of that fact.

Borderlands 4 is currently on sale for $48.15 on GreenManGaming, which saves over $20 off MSRP.

Yesterday, Borderlands 4 got the Steam Deck Verified badge, meaning that Valve has acknowledged that the game is a "great experience" on the Steam Deck. In the rating breakdown, it mentions that the game has a good default controller configuration, good default graphics settings, shows the correct controller icons, and in-game text is legible on the Deck's smaller screen.

Knowing how Borderlands 4 performed on the Steam Deck previously, I was very skeptical right out of the gate. However, I wanted it to be accurate, so I decided to give it the benefit of the doubt, download the game, and try it for myself. Ultimately, I was not surprised by the experience.

The game no longer has any settings that can be changed right out of the box; we will have only two options: Quality and Performance. However, this doesn't really matter much, as both presets looked and performed around the same.

I will give Gearbox some credit. The game is running better in general. It is hitting above 30 FPS when standing still, and in some areas, even hitting above 40 after everything is loaded in. This is significantly better than how it was previously, so I will tip my hat in this aspect. However, this feeling of appreciation for optimization doesn't last long.

We can walk and run around without going below 30 FPS, and even stick above 30 in smaller scuffles. But as soon as we get into larger fights, there's no stopping the drops. Depending on how many enemies are on the screen and how many explosions there are, we could see drops going down into the high 10s, causing some major stuttering and slowdowns that are not only felt but also ruin the experience. I would generally avoid larger fights on the Deck, but that's quite hard to do when some of the best moments of Borderlands 4 are these fights.

And then we have the visuals, which are nowhere near great. Is it playable? Yes, I would say so. However, it is extremely blurry with lots of unloaded textures and models that need extra time to look decent. It's easy to see the textures loading in, with some models blinking as their textures start to gain detail. Combined with the framerate drops, it's very jarring. The combat can distract from it, but with the stuttering and drops, it's like choosing which is the best of the worst.

Ultimately, this isn't a "great experience" in the slightest, and not one I would recommend in general. I know that this is subjective, but with Valve claiming that all Verified games are a "great experience" on the Deck, I feel these games need to be held to a higher standard. The Verified rating can sway people or convince them to buy a specific game, so the information should be standardized with a clear set of guidelines for the bare minimum. From my experience, Borderlands 4 does not meet that minimum, and I disagree with the green checkmark it now has.

I do hope it will get better with more optimization, but as it stands right now, I would not get this for your Steam Deck.

Borderlands 4 can be purchased on Steam for $69.99. But if you want to save some money, you can get it on GreenManGaming for $48.15.

The GreenManGaming 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.

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