Ray tracing is typically a very demanding technique, but it appears that Valve’s handheld gaming PC is powerful enough to handle it to some extent. According to a news post on the official Steam Deck site, the Steam Deck has received a new beta update (3.4.6) that enables ray tracing in DOOM Eternal, allowing players to slay demons while on the go with additional effects that should include ray-traced reflections. According to a Bethesda support article, ray tracing is available on the PC, Xbox Series X, and PS5 versions of DOOM Eternal, but not Xbox Series S.
From a Steam post:
Steam Deck OS 3.4.6 Beta: March 2nd
Note: This update is for the Steam Deck Preview channel, and includes new features that are still being tested. You can opt into this in Settings System Steam Update Channel.
- Updated the graphics driver to Mesa 23.1, containing many functional and performance fixes:
- Fixed graphical corruption issues with Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty
- Ray-Tracing is now available in DOOM Eternal
- Fixed graphical corruption issues and GPU crashes in several upcoming titles