Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Just Got a Little Better on Steam Deck

Since its release, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has captivated fans, earning it one of the year’s highest Metacritic ratings so far. With a compelling narrative and strong characters, the game is, as our ComicBook review puts it, “an RPG tour de force.” However, just because a game is great doesn’t always mean there’s no room for improvement. And like many big games, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 hasn’t exactly run perfectly on the Steam Deck from launch. Thankfully, with a new update, Steam Deck users should find matters at least slightly improved.

Although the Steam Deck is Valve’s own proprietary handheld gaming console, not every game on Steam automatically runs well on the device. That’s why Steam has a section for each game that rates its Steam Deck Compatibility, in three categories: Not Compatible, Playable, and Verified. The ideal situation, of course, is a Steam Deck Verified game, which is confirmed to run as intended on the console with few to no issues. But many games, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 included, tend to fall in the Playable category, especially so close to release.

The “Playable” Steam Deck Compatibility designation means that a game works fairly well on the console. However, it might require some extra configuration or have a few issues. For Expedition 33, these issues mainly relate to the text being a bit small on Steam Deck and some potential snags with the game’s launcher. Until recently, one of the bigger issues with the game on Steam Deck was that the backgrounds of many menus would not display properly. Menus are important in a turn-based RPG like Expedition 33, so this was a pretty big snag for Steam Deck users.

Latest Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Update Fixes Steam Deck Menus

Thankfully, the issue with backgrounds for the menus in Expedition 33 has reportedly been resolved. This fix came with the game’s latest update, Patch 1.2.3, which deployed on May 9th. One of the top-ticket items for this set of patch notes included fixing the backgrounds for Steam Deck menus, which should hopefully take the game another step from “Playable” to “Verified” for those hoping to enjoy it on Steam Deck.

RELATED: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Review: An RPG Tour De Force

With the backgrounds fixed, the game should be a bit easier to enjoy on Steam Deck. Already, it’s come a long way since launch, when Reddit users said the game was a “hot mess” on Steam Deck. Since then, many gamers have found that subsequent updates and efforts to take Expedition 33 to the Playable zone have improved performance. That said, colors may still be wonky, and you might need to adjust settings to improve the graphics and performance to your liking.

With many games, it takes a bit longer to get things up and running for the Steam Deck. It’s possible, perhaps even likely, that future updates to Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 will help it run even more smoothly on Steam Deck. For now, though, it looks like the menus will be working a bit better than before, which is a win, however small.