RetroDECK 0.11.0 is shaping up to be the biggest update yet for the all-in-one retro gaming platform that so many of us use on the Steam Deck. Before anything else, one important point: it isn’t out yet. The current stable release is 0.10.10b, from 3 October 2026. What we do have is the team’s work-in-progress 0.11.0 changelog and test builds, so here is what’s coming.
The update was highlighted on r/SteamDeck by u/DashWriting, who interviewed the RetroDECK team for a long feature on Gardiner Bryant’s site, “RetroDECK 0.11.0 Is Building Something Bigger Than Emulation“. You can find the Reddit thread here. Everything in this article comes from that feature and RetroDECK’s own changelog.
RetroDECK 0.11.0 release status
- Stable: 0.10.10b is still the latest release on GitHub and Flathub.
- Testing: “Cooker” pre-release builds from the 0.11.0 branch have been posted on GitHub, most recently on 25 October 2026. These are for testers, not for everyday use.
- Release date: the changelog currently lists 31 December 2026. As this is a work-in-progress page, I’d treat that as a target rather than a promise.
The update is called “ZORAITI – Everything Explosion”, and the team’s short summary is: everything has changed, save migration, rewritten pipelines, everything is modular, and almost 40 new systems. They describe 0.10.0b as laying the foundation and 0.11.0 as building the house.
Save and state migration: back up first
The biggest change for existing users is how saves and save states are stored. RetroArch now has experimental cores for systems like Wii U, PS3 and Xbox 360, so RetroArch cores and standalone emulators could end up sharing save paths and overwriting each other’s data. To stop that, each component in 0.11.0 gets its own folder under saves/ and states/.
- Standalone emulators get an -SA suffix, for example saves/Cemu-SA/, while RetroArch data stays under saves/RetroArch/.
- Existing saves and states are copied, backed up and moved to the new locations, and config files are updated to match.
- The team says no existing data is deleted, and secondary backups are taken during the upgrade.
- They still strongly recommend backing up your important data first, and RetroDECK will prompt you to do so.
There is one catch for Doom fans. GZDoom is being replaced by UZDoom. Saves carry over, but custom GZDoom settings won’t, so you’ll need to set those up again.
New systems and components in RetroDECK 0.11.0
The changelog lists a long run of new components. The highlights include:
- Clients: Mudlet for MUDs (text-based online worlds) and Quake3e for Quake III Arena, including multiplayer servers and mods.
- Emulators: Xenia Edge (Xbox 360, described as bleeding edge and experimental), Flycast (Dreamcast, NAOMI and Atomiswave), Amiberry with AmigaVision support, KEGS (Apple IIGS), Tsugaru (FM Towns), SimCoupe (SAM Coupe), SDL2TRS (TRS-80), Oricutron (Oric), sm2-emu (SEGA Model 2), plus the Commander X16 and GameTank.
- Engines: dhewm 3 (Doom 3), ECWolf (Wolfenstein 3D), Ironwail (now the default for Quake), Gargoyle for interactive fiction, Open Surge, standalone ScummVM, UZDoom, Visual Pinball X and ZQuest Classic.
- Others: ZEsarUX for the ZX Spectrum Next and Delta Patcher for applying .xdelta ROM hack patches.
On top of that, the team audited RetroArch’s cores and added new systems, from the Tamagotchi P1 and Sony PocketStation to the SEGA Model 3 and a TI-83 calculator. Experimental cores for systems such as PS3 (RPCS3), Wii U (Cemu) and Xbox 360 (Xenia Edge) can also be picked in ES-DE.
A rebuilt, modular RetroDECK 0.11.0
Under the hood, each component now lives in its own module and runs in a dedicated sub-sandbox. Components are loaded dynamically at boot and define their own ES-DE settings, replacing the old static lists. The build pipeline has also been rebuilt with extra fail-safes. And following community feedback, the “b” suffix is being dropped from version numbers, or as the team puts it, “let it b gone”.
The 2-XL robot and the team behind it
Gardiner Bryant’s feature, written by u/DashWriting, spoke to Lazorne, IceNine, Xargon and Lahrs from the team. It describes 23 new components initially revealed, with more work going on behind the scenes. The most unusual story is Xargon’s. For years he and a friend have been working to preserve and emulate the 2-XL, a talking cassette-based toy robot from Mego in the late 1970s, later revived by Tiger Electronics. A 2-XL core is listed in the changelog as an early testing exclusive for RetroDECK.
My thoughts
RetroDECK 0.11.0 looks like a huge step, and the save migration is the part I’d pay most attention to. When it does land, back up first. Until then, 0.10.10b is the version to use. If you’re looking for more to do on your Deck, my Couch PiP guide is worth a look, and so is my roundup of the latest Steam Deck 2 leaks. I’ll cover the update properly once it’s released.
