SteamDeck : Which version of Outer Worlds should you pick?

[da1writer1985]

I decided to make this post for those SteamDeck owners on the fence between The OG version from 2009 and Spacer's Choice. I read online threads and watched many videos comparing the two and many are either outdated information before patches or simply videos telling SteamDeck owners to drop settings to low/medium without too much thought into it. So I bought both and decided to do a somewhat thorough analysis between the two so you don't have to. Keep in mind I'm not that far in the game as I was very undecided and conflicted for a long time on which version to play.

To be upfront without any more dawdling, let's pop the settings I think you SHOULD be playing this game at without too much sacrifice of the developers intended vision on the visuals while keeping a playable framerate. Keep in mind, I'm not a framerate snob btw, so anything over 30 is "playable" to me (as I came from consoles years ago, now I'm a PC only guy), but preference is the "Golden 40" rule or better. I also believe in the 960x540 "magic resolution" due to Alan Wake in the 360 years - eeking out more fps while still looking decent and not being too soft as long as you can upscale somehow. FSR will be the one to help with these games and they have an option to get near.

Settings below will be slightly different from each other but that's so we can have a consistent visual makeup between the two, I'll explain so don't you worry.

Outer Worlds - Spacers Choice Edition

• Window Mode : Window
  
• Resolution : 1066 x 666 (FSR2 below will clean this up)
  
• Framerate : Unlimited (Use SteamDeck external 3 dot button to cap)
  
• Vertical Sync : Off (to reduce input lag)
  
• 3D Resolution : 75%
  
• Motion Blur: Preference (to help hide framerate drops, turn up percentage but up to you)
  
• FSR2 : Performance (Oddly enough, it looks alright, you can bump to balance)
  
• Screen Effects : High (if you lower this, you lose God Rays amongst other things)
  
• SSGI : On (turning this off has no improved framerate, impacts visuals)
  
• View Distance : Low (Medium impacts framerate but barely visually different, shadow distance mostly)
  
• Shadows : Medium (low turns off AO all over the scene, brightens everything)
  
• Textures : Medium (2x Anistropic Filtering, High is 4x Anistropic Filtering)
  
• Visual Effects : High (Medium removes SSR, reflections disappear)
  
• Foilage : Medium (can bump to High in some places but low is a no go, too patchy)
  
• Chromatic Aberration : Preference (hides edges of above lowered items though if on)

Minimum FPS - 40ish fps out the cities (although sometimes drops into the 30's), near 50's fps in the cities, and around the 70's in buildings with decent visuals. Spacers Choice also has added visuals to flesh out areas, improved character models, excellent skyboxes with decent clouds, and better day night transitions. Oh, and short load times.

Outer Worlds (Original 2019 Release)

• Window Mode : Window
  
• Resolution : 1066 x 666
  
• Framerate : Unlimited (Use SteamDeck external 3 dot button to cap)
  
• Vertical Sync : Off (to reduce input lag)
  
• 3D Resolution : 75%
  
• Motion Blur: Preference (to help hide framerate drops, turn up percentage but up to you)
  
• (EXTERNAL FSR : On Steamdeck, turn this on to cleanup image)
  
• Screen Effects : High (if you lower this, you lose God Rays amongst other things)
  
• SSGI : On (turning this off has no improved framerate, impacts visuals)
  
• View Distance : Low (Medium impacts framerate but barely visually different, shadow distance mostly)
  
• Shadows : Medium (low turns off AO all over the scene, brightens everything)
  
• Textures : Medium (2x Anistropic Filtering, High is 4x Anistropic Filtering)
  
• Visual Effects : Very High (High removes SSR, reflections disappear)
  
• Foilage : Medium (can bump to High in some places but low is a no go, too patchy)
  
• Chromatic Aberration : Preference (hides edges of above lowered items though if on)

Minimum FPS - 50's in and out the cities and near 80's in buildings with decent visuals. Better grass than Spacer's Choice imo (tuffs provide more visual affect of an expanded region), but awful cloud visuals (warble, strange pixelation), SSR less pronounced (have to stare hard to see), and strange day night cycles (micro changes every few seconds.) Long load times.

Now you can bump the texture, foilage, and view distance settings up one but I saw fps dropping, every frame counts for a smooth/decent experience. Up to you to decide.

Below are a few videos showing comparison of settings and the two titles.

https://youtu.be/V_T0Co2fSck

https://youtu.be/AsYhVLBZGvM

So which should you grab? Well...
If you want more fps? Stick to the OG from 2019.
If you want better visuals? Try out Spacer Choice.

The visuals are somewhat comparable, with the art direction still great between the two.
SteamDeck does have a harder time running Spacer's Choice near the fps of the OG.
Maybe lock to 30fps in Spacers Choice for a consistent experience? Apologies for seeming subjective in this post but hopefully it helps.
Here's two more videos that might help you more than myself to help you decide.

https://youtu.be/F0haFThW18A

https://youtu.be/asnbEdbZfN4