To quote a certain Atlus game I can’t stop playing, “Time marches on, and the age of a new king draws nearer.” This particular king, of course, is the Steam Deck, which has been a retro gamer’s dream since it launched in 2022. But unless you’ve been paying close attention to the emulation scene lately, you may have missed the news that PlayStation 4 emulation is now up and running on Steam Deck. And it’s looking very promising.
While I knew PS4 emulation was inevitable on PC, I honestly didn’t think we’d see it in a playable status on something relatively underpowered like the Steam Deck. After all, even PS3 emulation can still be hit or miss. And yet, PS4 emulation looks to be making some confident strides forward.
As evidence of that, here is the tragically not-yet-remastered Bloodborne — a game never released for PC — running at ~30FPS on Steam Deck courtesy of the Deck Wizard channel:
There are some dips below 30FPS, but I’m surprised to see it in a playable state. You’ll notice that even during more chaotic parts of gameplay, the framerate remains pretty stable. Now, consider that as of just a few months ago, the emulation wizards hadn’t even managed to get Bloodborne running beyond the main menu.
Speaking of those developer wizards… what makes this all possible is the ShadPS4 project, a PS4 emulator for Windows, Linux, and macOS that’s in the early stages of development. During the second half of 2024, however, it has been progressing forward at a steady clip.
Currently, ShadPS4 lists Dark Souls Remastered, Red Dead Redemption, Journey, Transformers: Devastation (yay!), Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2, and many others as playable. However, it seems like more demanding games with complex graphics (read: not 2D) present more of a challenge. For example, inFamous: Second Son barely reached “in-game” status in September 2024.
Still, things are promising enough that the EmuDeck team has added ShadPS4 into its official list of emulators that get installed. So, if you’re not afraid of some instability and want to test the bleeding edge of PS4 emulation on Steam Deck, here is a terrific guide on getting EmuDeck installed and configured.
