Even if you’re not getting a Steam Deck OLED, the new SteamOS update will make your display just a little bit prettier
I’m gonna be sticking with my original run Steam Deck for a good while yet, but that doesn’t mean I and my fellow LCD dead-enders are getting completely left out of the Steam Deck OLED party: SteamOS’ 3.5.5 update, available now, introduces the OLED model’s software tweaks and changes for owners of the original handheld.
First up are the Deck’s new display options, which we previously covered when they were made available on the preview branch of SteamOS back in September while the OLED Deck was still under wraps.
The Deck now defaults to the sRGB (warmer and more vibrant) color range for its display, with menu options for the previous “Native” setting, as well as a “Boosted” mode that increases color vibrancy even further, but can cause some gradient clipping. Also introduced from that September preview are HDR and VRR settings for external monitors.
SteamOS 3.5.5 further fixes standing glitches with a number of games, most notably Amnesia: The Bunker and Starfield. The biggest change aside from the sRGB is the revamped FPS/screen refresh rate slider, which combines the previously separate settings into a unified tool for picking an arbitrary frame rate between 30 and 60 fps, a real boon with the Deck’s limited battery life—I’m almost always on that 40 fps train.
All in all, it’s a nice little consolation prize for the yeoman first-gen Deck owner. I installed the update last night, and noticed the sRGB upgrade before even looking at the patch notes—Deus Ex: Mankind Divided looked just that little bit nicer. You can check out the full SteamOS 3.5.5 patch notes here.