Ghost of Tsushima runs well on Steam Deck, making its PSN nonsense all the more annoying – Rock Paper Shotgun

Ghost of Tsushima: Directors Cut is now out and about on PC, sadly with the requirement of signing into a PlayStation Network (PSN) account in order to play the samurai action-adventures Legends co-op mode. The same requirement, you might recall, that Helldivers 2 players recently lobbied Sony into abandoning. No such luck here, and as previously warned, the need for said PSN sign-in to happen over Windows means that Ghost of Tsushima is essentially missing a chunk of itself on the Steam Deck.

To be clear, you can still play the singleplayer campaign (and the bundled-in Iki Island expansion) on the SteamOS handheld, but multiplayer is a hard no-no. Which is especially irritating, even by the usual account login pile-up standards, as Ghost of Tsushima is quite a tidy Steam Deck game otherwise.

Its weighty, methodical swordfighting handles beautifully on the Decks controls, and performance is up to snuff. Id suggest dropping from the default Medium settings down to Low, keeping FSR 3 on Dynamic mode, but doing so will typically keep you in within the comfortable 30-40fps range. These settings still make for a pretty-looking game on the 800p display, too, with few visible signs of the upscaler in action. HDR is also supported, a nice little treat for Steam Deck OLED owners (just as with previous Nixxes-made PS5 port, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart).

It does get rather battery-hungry, wolfing down my own OLED models full charge in 2h 10m. Thats level with Helldivers 2 (hah) as the second fasted battery drainage result Ive seen. Likewise, a classic LCD-screened Steam Deck went from full to flat in 1h 21m, also very much on the shorter side. At worst, though, thats just an inconvenience unlike the PSN requirement, which outright blocks you from playing a significant part of the game youve bought, on the grounds that its bolted-on collector of personal info doesnt know how to talk to your widely-used and otherwise completely compatible choice of operating system.

A damn shame, this is. Even if you can put aside the bonus ridiculousness of the requirement also forcing Ghost of Tsushima: Directors Cut off sale in the 170-odd countries where PSN isnt available (including Japan, the games own setting). Were told that imposing a PlayStation account on PC players is necessary for Legends PC/PlayStation crossplay feature, but this is only in beta itself, so there isnt actually any inter-platform matchmaking going on unless you invite a friend directly. At the same time, PSN seems entrenched deep enough in Ghost of Tsushima that theres probably no real hope for a U-turn anytime soon.

Again, if youre solely of the singleplayer persuasion, you can turn a blind eye to the PSN gubbins and just set about katanaing baddies on the Steam Deck in peace. I do worry, though, that ignoring this kind of account creep at a time when PC gaming already demands a little black books worth of different launcher logins is tantamount to encouraging it. Even when its not as egregious as Sonys attempt to crowbar PSN into Helldivers 2 post-release, should we be normalising the surrender of our time and our personal details to the online service of an entirely different platform? Preferably not, right?

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Ghost of Tsushima runs well on Steam Deck, making its PSN nonsense all the more annoying - Rock Paper Shotgun