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More HDR goodies for you to test with your shiny new Steam Deck OLED, as Tetris Effect: Connected should now work great with it. Even if you only have the original Steam Deck LCD model, this update should still improve things for you too!

The changelog was short and sweet noting:

  • [STEAM] Added an HDR option for the Steam Deck OLED. You can enable this from OPTIONS>GRAPHICS>HDR.
  • [STEAM] Optimized the GRAPHIC QUALITY settings for Steam Deck for better performance in SCORE ATTACK and CLASSIC SCORE ATTACK game modes. 

Great once again to see more developers actually test and improve their games for Steam Deck, which should also ensure they work on desktop Linux quite nicely too with Proton! Currently Tetris Effect: Connected is Steam Deck Verified.

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More about it:

Tetris® Effect: Connected is Tetris like you've never seen it, or heard it, or felt it before—an incredibly addictive, unique, and breathtakingly gorgeous reinvention of one of the most popular puzzle games of all time, from the people who brought you the award-winning Rez Infinite and legendary puzzle game Lumines.

Music, backgrounds, sounds, special effects—everything, down to the Tetriminos themselves—pulse, dance, shimmer, and explode in perfect sync with how you're playing, making any of the game's 30+ stages and 10+ modes something you'll want to experience over and over again.

Plus cross-platform multiplayer modes for competitive and cooperative play!

I've actually never played this one, am I missing out on something here? It has an Overwhelmingly Positive rating from users on Steam so plenty of people love it. My poor poor backlog of games, is it going to grow again?

Available to buy on Steam.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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14 comments
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Mountain Man Dec 14, 2023
$40 seems unreasonably expensive for a Tetris game.
RedWyvern Dec 14, 2023
QuoteI've actually never played this one, am I missing out on something here?
Yes, you absolutely are.

The game uses modern Tetris rules (outside of Classic mode), which differ wildly from traditional Tetris.
Initially they seem weird, quirky, maybe even glitchy, but they're very purposefully designed.
The more you get familiar with them, the more fun it gets to pull off weird tricks and score better in this way.
And a skill ceiling is practically non-existent, no matter how long you play you'll see (slow) improvements in your skill.

In the journey mode, they've pretty much turned Tetris in a spiritual experience, unlike any other game I'm aware of.
It's not shameful to start with beginner mode here if needed, this mode is an absolute must-play.

The effect modes all offer fun and unique spins on the Tetris gameplay, offering more variation than you'd expect from Tetris.
Don't be afraid of the online functionality popup here, it's only for sharing your scores, the gameplay all works offline.

Even the multiplayer is fun, the Connected mode is incredible and the competitive modes are fun too.
It generally works well, it uses good peer-to-peer hosting, which still depends on whichever system was appointed as host.

And the game continues to get updated and well supported, you can feel that the studios involved care first and foremost about having their game play well.
Earlier this year a pretty major 2.0 update was released, which implemented a lot of community feedback and expanded the effect modes.
Along with this performance update, they've been one of the first to show official gameplay on Deck too, in Tetris Effect: Connected Hands-On Gameplay Preview | Steam Deck.
It is important to note that Tetris Effect is a very graphically intensive game, though for casual modes it can be made playable on Vega 8 tier iGPUs.

Overall it's one of my all-time favourite and deeply respected games, this while I only picked it up on a whim as I liked playing basic Tetris on my graphical calculator.
Jpxe Dec 14, 2023
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Quoting: RedWyvernIt is important to note that Tetris Effect is a very graphically intensive game, though for casual modes it can be made playable on Vega 8 tier iGPUs

How’s the performance on Steam Deck? Can you get stable 60fps at low TDP?
uh_clem Dec 14, 2023
I just tried it out after reading this article. At first I thought the HDR looked kinda crappy because all the menus got really dim, but then I went in-game and activated the zone mechanic and my jaw hit the floor. Definitely worth checking out if you've got an OLED.
hardpenguin Dec 14, 2023
I can also recommend Puyo Puyo Tetris, fun couch multiplayer experience 😎
kuhpunkt Dec 14, 2023
Quoting: Mountain Man$40 seems unreasonably expensive for a Tetris game.

Get it on sale then in a few days.

QuoteLiam Dawe]I've actually never played this one, am I missing out on something here?

It's absolutely amazing. The "campaign" is a lot of fun, the extra modes are varied and challenging and they even have the classic NES score attack with the old ruleset.

Best Tetris game out there. The VR mode is neat too.
kuhpunkt Dec 14, 2023
Quoting: Jpxe
Quoting: RedWyvernIt is important to note that Tetris Effect is a very graphically intensive game, though for casual modes it can be made playable on Vega 8 tier iGPUs

How’s the performance on Steam Deck? Can you get stable 60fps at low TDP?

I have the setting on high. With 10 watts you get like high 80 fps, with 11 watts 90 fps all the time.

edit: Just tested some more... at least when you use the "celebration" environment with the fireworks and tons of particles it can drop down to about 65 fps even at 15 watts. Never went below that for me, but still at high settings.


Last edited by kuhpunkt on 14 December 2023 at 8:10 pm UTC
CyborgZeta Dec 14, 2023
My favorite Tetris is Tetris Plus for the PS1, but Tetris Effect is pretty good. I'm glad to see Steam Deck specific optimizations.
RedWyvern Dec 15, 2023
Quoting: kuhpunkt
Quoting: Jpxe
Quoting: RedWyvernIt is important to note that Tetris Effect is a very graphically intensive game, though for casual modes it can be made playable on Vega 8 tier iGPUs

How’s the performance on Steam Deck? Can you get stable 60fps at low TDP?

I have the setting on high. With 10 watts you get like high 80 fps, with 11 watts 90 fps all the time.

edit: Just tested some more... at least when you use the "celebration" environment with the fireworks and tons of particles it can drop down to about 65 fps even at 15 watts. Never went below that for me, but still at high settings.

That's a significant improvement over what I felt I got back when playing a 1.x version of the game at Medium.
This had stutters similar to the ones visible in the early Deck gameplay video too.

While I use my Deck as a controller while playing (with Steam Link), I usually play Tetris Effect on my PC.
This as it's a the bigger the screen, the better kind of game (though low latency is more important still).
And my PC's headphone output is significantly better now I upgraded to an audio deck for it, despite the amazing adaptive OST this benefit is more apparent in other games.
StoneColdSpider Dec 15, 2023
Quoting: RedWyvernThat's significant
Yes...... "RedWyvern" with a Green Wyvern avatar is a bit sus........
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