Elden Ring is king once again with the launch of its first DLC Shadow of the Erdtree, but for one group of players, this release couldn’t have come at a worse time. The hit FromSoftware Souls game is currently broken on Steam Deck.
Following update 1.12 for Elden Ring that rolled out in preparation for Shadow of the Erdtree‘s release, Steam Deck users began reporting issues where the game could become completely unplayable if left inactive for long periods of time. You can imagine why this is a problem right before the release of DLC, especially one with this much hype.
Fortunately, the issue has been identified and the FromSoftware team is working on a fix to stop it from happening going forward, however, when this will arrive isn’t clear right now. Hopefully, for the sake of those dying to get into the Realm of Shadows, it arrives sooner rather than later.
The silver lining here is that if you don’t leave your Steam Deck idle for five minutes while in the game you should still be able to play as normal. So if you’re an Elden Ring fan gaming on your portable PC then we’d suggest closing down the game entirely when you’re ready to take a break.
Another thing to note: There have been no reports of this problem occurring for other handheld PCs, but we’d suggest not taking the chance, and following the five-minute rule if you’re gaming on them also.
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree has begun its global rollout for both PC and console. This means you’ve probably already got access to the expansion, or will be getting it in the coming hours. If you haven’t yet pre-ordered, Shadow of the Erdtree is available to purchase and enjoy along with the base game on PC, Xbox, and PlayStation devices.