One of the best Steam Deck games, Vampire Survivors, has had a rather nifty upgrade. Thanks to a new, updated engine, the game now runs a lot more smoothly.
Upon first loading into a level the game now runs at a smooth 60 frames per second. So smooth, in fact, animations like opening a chest now feel completely different. It’s the kind of upgrade you can’t help but coo over.
Of course, this is Vampire Survivors, so that 60 frames per second is going to get absolutely massacred within minutes. What’s interesting about the update, though, is even when the screen becomes more chaotic, the framerate now remains more stable.
During my testing, which involved me playing as Sigma and picking the most eye-bleeding power-ups I could find, the lowest the framerate dropped was to 24, with an overall average in the 30s. That’s a massive improvement given I was previously able to get the framerate down to single digits when the screen succumbed to chaos. Not bad, eh?
How to Access the Vampire Suriviors New Engine Beta
Accessing the new beta update is nice and simple. Use the options (three lines) button to click on Vampire Survivors to bring up the submenu, then click on Properties.
In the left-hand column click on Betas, then in the text box, enter the code “newenginepls“. Now just click on “Check code” and the follow the onscreen instructions. After a few moments, Vampire Survivors will download the beta and you’re good to go.
Some things to note: Game data carries over from the full game to the beta and back again. That means if you want to go back to two frames per second at minute 29 for some reason, you can.
There’s also now an option to delete your save data as well. If you click on Account seven times, you can restart the game from the beginning. Just keep in mind this can’t be reverted, so only do it if you’re 100 percent certain it’s what you want.
Full beta patch notes follow:
- Save data carries over, but it is still recommended to make a manual backup. You can move freely between the default branch and the new-engine branch, as they share the same save files.
- Added resolution options
- Added [a] hidden button to delete save data (tap the “account” icon 7 times). Save data deletion cannot be reverted.
- Fix for long freeze when using Lantern of Foscari to remove very large amounts of movement eggs
- Game runs overall smoother and no longer slows down as heavily when running in the background
