Elden Ring Nightreign Is Good for Handheld Gaming PCs

Elden Ring ran extraordinarily nicely on the Asus ROG Ally X, however with the discharge of Nightreign, handheld gaming PC nerds (like me) are determined to know if it continues the development. In any case, Shadow of the Erdtree was extra demanding than the unique, and that was an enlargement constructed into it. Contemplating Nightreign is a standalone title, it has the potential to take issues up a notch. However I’ve nice information: It runs even higher than Elden Ring.

That appears shocking, but it surely shouldn’t be: Elden Ring Nightreign is proscribed to a small map known as Limveld, that means there’s far much less on the display screen at any time. It helps that the atmosphere relies on Limgrave reasonably than something from Shadow of the Erdtree, which got here out two years later and had extra advanced visible results that gave my Ally a run for its cash.

Can the Asus ROG Ally X Deal with Elden Ring Nightreign?

I examined the sport primarily within the citadel on the middle of Limveld. It is the most important set piece on the unaltered base map, the place giants can throw huge pots of magic on the participant. That is the place my framerate constantly dips to its lowest factors, so I’m utilizing it as a baseline for efficiency. I additionally began a brand new match between every graphics preset (as advisable by the sport).

I set my ROG Ally X’s Working Mode to Turbo (30W) and plugged it into an outlet, permitting it to output the utmost quantity of watts into efficiency. I additionally allotted 16GB of RAM to the GPU to get essentially the most of its {hardware}, which is a novel benefit of the Ally X, because it’s constructed with 24GB of RAM. Most different handheld gaming PCs function 16GB of RAM and might solely allocate 8GB to the GPU. These settings enable the Asus ROG Ally X to run at its finest.

The sport runs nicely on the hand-held, however Elden Ring Nightreign can wrestle when there are lots of enemies and visible results on the identical time, particularly in additional open areas. So, for those who’re being ganked by a number of blood-infused enemies set to self-destruct in your place, all whereas overlooking Limveld from the highest of ruins, the body charge will take a large hit. Nonetheless, in enclosed areas, like a dense forest, the sport fares a lot better, notably for those who strategically level the digital camera in the direction of the bottom.

My ROG Ally X maintained a median of 30 fps at 1080p on the Most preset, with occasional drops all the way down to 27 fps (normally after being bombarded by magic pots). The one different preset that dipped beneath 30 fps was 1080p on Excessive. It hit a median of 35 fps, however dropped to twenty-eight fps just a few instances when battling atop the citadel. In any other case, no different graphics preset dipped beneath 30 fps as soon as. 1080p at Medium settings got here in at a median of 39 fps. Low averaged at 43 fps, with a low of 39 fps.

The sport runs a lot better at 720p, even reaching 60 fps sometimes. Most at 720p averaged 41 fps, with a 1% low of 38 fps. Excessive got here in with a median of 44 fps, with 40 fps on the worst. Medium and low look crunchy, however yield glorious efficiency.

Elden Ring Nightreign Is Good on the Asus ROG Ally X

Nightreign appears nice at 1080p with Most settings, and performs decently sufficient. I loved classes from begin to end on this preset, and whereas occasional stutters have been bothersome, it’s fairly clean in any other case and sometimes hovered over 30 fps. 30 fps isn’t sufficient for everybody although, and people keen to take successful to decision will seemingly discover a higher steadiness taking part in at Most graphics and 720p, which hovers round 41 fps, hitting a midpoint between smoothness and high quality.

Gamers clamoring for 60 fps on their Asus ROG Ally X could have one of the best luck at 720p, however you’ll have to scale back the graphics presets to Medium or Low. Even then, the machine can’t keep a median of 60 fps, and solely reaches that prime throughout much less demanding encounters, like in enclosed areas. It doesn’t look nice, although, as Limveld seems flat on Low particularly. The island loses its advanced shadows, and every construction is low-poly.

Claire finds pleasure in impassioned ramblings about her closeness to video video games. She has a bachelor’s diploma in Journalism & Media Research from Brooklyn Faculty and 7 years of expertise in leisure journalism. Claire is a stalwart defender of video games as an artform and spends most days overwhelmed with pleasure for its previous, current and future. When she is not writing or taking part in Darkish Souls, she could be discovered consuming rooster fettuccine alfredo and gushing about handheld gaming PCs.