A big Elden Ring patch dropped ahead of the game's DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree, has made a lot of small changes to the game, but it's also introduced some annoying bugs into the mix. Top of the list of bugs are a pair of issues which seem to be affecting Steam Deck players only, and while it doesn't make the game unplayable by any means, it does mean playing this summer's hottest DLC is a lot more difficult than it should be.
News in brief
- A pair of bugs is affecting Steam Deck players
- Both are annoying, but largely not game-breaking
- FromSoft is aware of the problem and a fix is coming
"A Steam Deck related issue has been identified and a hotfix is being worked on," the Elden Ring Twitter account has said. "Leaving your Steam Deck inactive for more than five minutes may stop the game from accepting inputs."
That's a pretty big deal, and it's easy to do. Get up to answer the door, make a snack, or just go to the toilet, and bang, when you get back, your game won't accept inputs any more. It's an irritating complication, and while you can just exit the game whenever you need to step away, that reduces the handiness of the Steam Deck significantly. There's no word whether this input freeze also happens after suspending the console, but if it doesn't, that's a neat workaround.
The other bug is more serious if you're a multiplayer fan. Some players are finding the main page throwing an "inappropriate activity detected" error at them, which bars them from going online for multiplayer access.
Thankfully, FromSoftware are aware of this problem, and it's likely a fix will be rolling out soon. Elden Ring enjoys a Verified rating for the Steam Deck, and FromSoft isn't likely to want to jeopardize that.
Shadow of the Erdtree is enjoying an otherwise incredible launch. The DLC has recently surprised the Witcher 3: Blood and Wine DLC's rating on Metacritic, making Elden Ring's addon the most highly-rated DLC on all time, and players are enjoying the new content which has been called the most challenging ever.