Here’s a question (admittedly splitting hairs) that’s been on our mind since grabbing Elden Ring for the Steam Deck: is a game still “portable” if it can only last 90-120 minutes on battery? Or is it effectively busting out a gaming laptop without tethering it to the A/C brick?
(This is not a question about whether the Deck itself is portable: most of the games we want to play with it have a 3.5-7 hour lifespan on the device, and we have burned through TWO chapters of Higurashi in a single month because of how convenient it can be.)
So here’s a fun update: after realizing we could tell the processor to draw less power(!) using TDP settings and playing with the graphics, the battery life is now much closer to 3 hours on Elden Ring. The Steam Deck continues to impress us