The Last of Us Part 2 just got Steam Deck Verified, but we’re still worried about performance
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The Last of Us Part 2 first came out in 2020 for the PlayStation 4, and a remastered version for the PlayStation 5 was later released in 2024. Now, the game is finally making its way to PC, with the release date set for April 3rd. And if you’re planning to play the game on your Steam Deck, you’ll be glad to know that the game is officially Verified on the handheld.
The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered is officially verified on the Steam Deck
For those who don't know, a game marked as ‘Verified‘ on Steam Deck means it works smoothly right out of the box, and you don’t have to worry about performance issues. If you look at the official PC system requirements, The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered needs at least a GTX 1650 or an RX 5500 XT to run at 720p with 30 FPS.
If you want to play in 4K, you'll need a high-end GPU like the RTX 4080. But since it's verified for the Steam Deck, it's safe to say that Valve and Naughty Dog believe the handheld can handle the game smoothly, at least at lower settings.
However, even though the verified badge is meant to help Steam Deck users pick games that run well, it doesn't always tell the full story. Sometimes, games are marked as verified, but they still have performance problems when played on the handheld. A recent example of this is Spider-Man 2, which, despite being verified, had performance issues.
Can we trust the Verified badge?
Spider-Man 2 launched in February this year, and many were excited to try it on the Steam Deck because of its Verified status. But when the game was released, many were left disappointed due to performance issues. On the Steam Deck, it was unable to maintain a stable frame rate, and the overall experience didn’t feel smooth. Because of these issues, Valve later changed the rating from Verified to Playable, which shows that sometimes the badge can be misleading.
The main reason for concern is that Spider-Man 2 and The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered share similar PC system requirements. Since Spider-Man 2 ran poorly even though it was verified, it raises questions about how well The Last of Us Part 2 will actually run on the Steam Deck. Especially since the first Last of Us port to PC was immediately hit with performance issues.
While it's good news that the game has the Verified badge, it will be wise to keep the expectations low, as there is a chance for performance issues to appear once the game arrives on PC. Of course, we won’t know for sure until the game launches and we test it on the Steam Deck ourselves.
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