2021's PS5 exclusive Returnal was one of the biggest surprises of the year. The game was the first foray into AAA game development for Finnish developer Housemarque, which was previously known for developing arcade-style downloadable titles such as Resogun and Dead Nation. Despite this, Returnal kept the studio's arcade roots intact while telling a compelling horror-style story. Now, various rumors and leaks indicate that the game is coming to PC via Steam, and according to its SteamDB listing, it will also be compatible with Steam Deck at launch.
Steam Deck is a handheld game console created by Valve that doubles as a gaming PC, built on Valve's Linux-based SteamOS and allowing far more performance customization than a traditional console like the Nintendo Switch. The system has been a huge hit, appealing to both fans of console and PC gaming, and has remained sold out since its launch in February of this year, while Valve continues to release the system in batches. Currently, reservations are still open for the system, but these units are not expected to ship until October 2022 at the earliest.
So far, support for the Steam Deck has been huge, with many developers patching their previous titles to be compatible, or Valve implementing support to make the games Deck compatible. So far, all of Sony's releases for PC have been compatible with Steam Deck, including Horizon: Zero Dawn, Days Gone, and God of War. Now, according to SteamDB, the upcoming PC release of Returnal will be too.
Returnal's Steam Deck compatibility is especially exciting as it will be the first PS5 developed title to be compatible with Valve's handheld PC, which is closer to the original PS4 in terms of specifications at its max settings. While this is still unconfirmed, given that SteamDB is connected directly to the internal Steam database itself, it's hard to believe this is an inaccurate listing. This also provides hope that upcoming Sony PC releases such as Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection and The Last of Us Part 1 will also be compatible with Steam Deck at launch.
Currently, a Returnal PC port has not yet been officially announced, however gameplay for the port has already leaked alongside information of a PC release of Sackboy: A Big Adventure. Returnal also appeared on the now infamous Nvidia GeForce Now leak, which also claimed that Demon's Souls, Ghost of Tsushima, and Gran Turismo 7 will come to PC. While none of these have been announced yet, other games from the list such as Kingdom Hearts 4 and Resident Evil 4 Remake have been officially announced, adding some credit to it.
Returnal is available now, exclusively for PlayStation 5.
Source: VGC