Steins;Gate Re:Boot looks and feels great on PC handhelds, but has issues on Steam Deck right now
Steins;Gate Re:Boot launches next week worldwide for PC (Steam). Ahead of its release, I've had a chance to try out the PC version on my Steam Decks and ROG Ally. Normally, I'd be doing a full comparison covering Steins;Gate Re:Boot on PC and every console platform, but the console versions in the West launch on October 29. Until then, I wanted to focus on the PC port and how it feels on both my handhelds, whether the experience is better than prior versions of Steins;Gate out of the box, and more. If you're curious about how Steins; Gate Re:Boot is overall, read James' review here.
Steins;Gate Re:Boot Steam version features
Steins;Gate Re:Boot on Steam is currently capped to 1080p and the game appears to not have a proper 60fps cap. This results in some minor animation transition issues if you play at 100hz or 90hz displays. It has controller support and doesn't use a launcher like prior versions of the game thankfully. I'm not sure if the full release will add 4K support or improve the frame rate cap, but right now those are the only issues with the PC version that I found on Windows.
Steins;Gate Re:Boot Steam Deck impressions
Steins;Gate Re:Boot on Steam Deck made a great first impression when it comes to visuals, but I've not been able to get the voices to work at all. Spike Chunsoft tells me that Proton 11 should fix the issue, but I've not had any luck on both my Steam Decks (Stable and Preview SteamOS). I also had James verify this on his laptop that has Linux and via Proton. The music and other sounds play, but voices refuse to play. Steins;Gate Re:Boot is a 16:9 game so there will be black bars, but it is the best out of the box experience from the original Steam release and Elite since you don't need to use a launcher and it works properly with a controller.
Steins;Gate Re:Boot Steam Deck recommended settings
The only recommendation I have right now is to force Proton 11, but I will be revisiting this section after Spike Chunsoft gives me a solution for the voice playback issue. Until then, I would wait for launch day or other impressions confirming the voice-over playback issue is resolved.
Steins;Gate Re:Boot ROG Ally impressions
Steins;Gate Re:Boot on ROG Ally works perfectly out of the box. There is nothing to change here, but the touchscreen support isn't great. I was hoping it would just work properly and let me tap to progress text, but I needed to tap a few times for it to progress regularly. This won't be an issue if you just use the face buttons, but I play most visual novels with the touchscreen even on handheld consoles when I can.
Steins;Gate Re:Boot, JAST USA, original Steam, and Elite
Steins;Gate Re:Boot has the best out of the box experience out of the four versions of Steins;Gate you can buy on PC right now. I bought the JAST USA release to make sure I have all four versions of Steins;Gate to cover. While I will include comparisons across versions in my article covering the console versions, Steins;Gate Re:Boot has been great so far aside from the Steam Deck issues I ran into. James also had no issues playing it on his Windows handheld. I haven't finished Re:boot to say if it is my favorite version of Steins;Gate, but it feels like a good middle ground between the original with its stunning art and Elite in its pacing so far. I don't have a definite favorite way to experience Steins;Gate even now since I got into it with the anime and then played the original on PS Vita and I basically like each version for different reasons.
I will update this article to cover workarounds or fixes for playing Steins;Gate Re:Boot on Steam Deck closer to or at launch. Steins; Gate Re:Boot launches on August 20 for PC (Steam) worldwide. The PS5, Switch 2, Switch, and Xbox Series versions release on October 29 in the West.