Bloodborne’s Steam Deck Compatibility is Not Perfect

YouTuber DeckWizard successfully ran Bloodborne on the Steam Deck using the ShadPS4 PlayStation 4 emulator.

Despite Sony and FromSoftware’s lack of a remaster for Bloodborne, fans continue to create their own versions of the Lovecraftian Souls-like game.

Recently, the team behind the ShadPS4 PS4 emulator successfully ran Bloodborne on PC, only a week ago. Though its performance was not flawless, this breakthrough has made the game accessible on different devices, such as the Steam Deck.

On August 24, DeckWizard demonstrated the emulator’s capabilities by uploading a video to their YouTube channel. The video showcased the emulator’s performance as it navigated through different starting areas of the game.

Screenshot from Deck Wizard's YouTube video.
Deck Wizard

The Hunter’s Dream area, home to the workshop and the Doll, runs at approximately 30 frames per second, as shown in the video. The area closely resembles the PS4 version, although some textures may not have fully loaded.

Despite this, things drastically change when DeckWizard presents Old Yarnham. On the Steam Deck OLED, the location appears almost unrecognizable, with numerous missing textures and assets.

Certain sections of the player model appear to vanish, as the hunter’s torso becomes completely see-through.

According to the video’s description provided by DeckWizard, the game will frequently experience hard crashes on the Steam Deck.

Upon reaching the initial encounter in the game, it appears nearly unplayable. The video footage shows the entire floor of Iosefka’s Clinic to be missing.

Despite the challenge, DeckWizard was still able to successfully execute the otherwise unplayable fight.

This lack of smoothness in the performance of Bloodborne on PC is not entirely surprising, as it is also seen on PC.

Despite being a work-in-progress emulator, ShadPS4 is able to replicate some aspects of Bloodborne on PC, such as slowdown, motion blur, and missing textures similar to those found on the Steam Deck. Nonetheless, the fact that Bloodborne is able to run on the Steam Deck without an official native version is a remarkable achievement.

The YouTuber cautions that attempting to try this oneself will involve a “complex setup.”

To run Bloodborne on Steam Deck using the PS4 emulator, it is necessary to have a backup of your personal copy of the game and to dump your own PS4 hardware files.

Although you may experience some lag and delay, it remains the closest option to officially playing Bloodborne on Steam Deck.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *