FromSoftware warns Elden Ring patch 1.12 might stunlock your Steam Deck: Going "inactive for more than 5 minutes may stop the game from accepting inputs"

If you've checked your exact Elden Ring DLC release time and are now counting the minutes until you can jump into Shadow of the Erdtree for yourself, tread carefully if you're also a Steam Deck user. The game's latest patch has an odd bug that might freeze up Valve's handheld if you leave it alone for too long.

"Note: a Steam Deck related issue has been identified and a hotfix is being worked on," the official Elden Ring Twitter account said in a tweet. "Leaving your Steam Deck inactive for more than 5 minutes may stop the game from accepting inputs. We apologize for inconvenience. The date and time of the hotfix will be announced separately." 

Five minutes is, of course, an estimate. I doubt this bug is kind enough to wait exactly 301 seconds. In theory, you should be fine if you manually delay the 1.12 update, or if you make sure you don't leave the game idle for long. However, the replies to the studio's tweet are filled with reports from Steam Deck users claiming online mode is borked after the patch, with some saying they've had trouble playing online due to a login error flagging "inappropriate activity detected." 

FromSoftware hasn't acknowledged this reported error from what I've seen, but there are enough folks saying it – and sharing screenshots as evidence – that I'm inclined to believe that it is something. Surely they can't all be actual cheaters getting flagged for attempted day-one DLC shenanigans. Surely. But seriously, it's probably an anti-cheat mixup. 

For Steam Deck users rushing through what to do before Shadow of the Erdtree, the safest route for the time being seems to be playing offline, if necessary, and very actively (or, you know, on your main PC if you have one). Elden Ring doesn't exactly have much downtime and it loads pretty quickly on Steam Deck, so that shouldn't be too hard. Here's hoping a fix comes soon. 

Elden Ring publisher Bandai Namco says what FromSoftware probably should have: Shadow of the Erdtree "rivals the scope of a standalone game."