Hey PCWorld fans, Adam here with the hot new PC: the Steam Deck. (Yes Gordon, it’s a PC). And while
it has been fun to load up some of the newest and most graphically intensive games on this thing to
see how it fares under heavy load, it’s not really how I intend to use it. I was mostly excited to
see how well RPGs run on this hardware, which is what I’ve been doing for the past couple of weeks.
In this video I want to take you through 22 RPGs that I’ve quickly tried out to show off how well
these types of games perform on the Steam Deck. This is going to be a big one so let’s dive in!
Luckily RPGs typically don’t need a ton of horsepower, and it’s not as important to get
high frame rates. So in most cases I think they are a perfect fit for portable play.
So what I want to do is run through the 22 games I have loaded and give some brief thoughts. This
is by no means a comprehensive or deep dive into each title as I’ve had limited time with the Deck.
But if you are curious to see how a certain game works right now then hopefully this
will give a hint. You might even discover something you’ve never seen before and want
to try it out for yourself. If that happens let me know which game it is in the comments below,
and while you’re there be sure to subscribe here on PCWorld for more Steam Deck videos.
But I have been encountering some hiccups with certain games, even if they are Steam
Deck Verified. On the flip side some games that aren’t Verified yet have played perfectly fine.
Now obviously some of these games that have compatibility issues right now will change over
time, but I still think it’s worth a look right now. One last thing to note before I get started
is that there are a number of games on this list that I have never played before so all I can do
is stumble through the opening bits of the game. On top of that, some of these games I’ve beaten on
other platforms, so once again, all I have is the opening areas to show - but I will try my
best to provide insight. With that out of the way, let’s get to the 22 games in alphabetical order!
First up is Balders Gate 3, which I’ve never played on my own time so I went into it fresh.
It is listed as ‘playable’ but I ran into a number of problems that hindered me poking
around with it for too long. From control issues to the launcher flashing up over the gameplay
I’d be hard pressed to take on this game on with the Steam Deck in its current state.
Luckily performance was relatively stable, with native res at medium settings sticking around the
smooth 30 fps range.
So I’m embarrassed to say it, but I never stuck with Disco Elysium when it was released
and was hoping that having it on the Steam Deck might get me back into it.
Luckily it is ‘verified’ and plays really well. Inside the early environments it’s
able to maintain a smooth 60 at native res with everything cranked up. Once outside it
can dip down into the mid 50s but it’s still not bad and can be corrected by dropping some
settings. I definitely think this is the way I’m going to finally play through it.
Now this one I have put some time into Divinity: Original Sin 2
thanks to being one of the only games out there with cross save support between PC and
the Switch. It’s currently marked as ‘playable’ but running at native res with graphics on High
provides an almost stable 60. But it will tax the system though, so capping it to 30 in game
helped with battery life. Even capped at 30 it was still a much better looking experience than
what's available on the Switch. Apart from small text this seems to be a great way to play it.
This ‘verified’ Dragon Quest title is way too long, but it’s been a pretty good experience so
far in the opening areas. Unfortunately it doesn’t have native 16x10
aspect ratio support so it only displays at 720p. At that res and all of the settings cranked it pretty much
hangs around the mid 40’s. Even dropping all of the available settings didn’t hit near 60,
but capping it at 30 and having everything cranked worked great and is a good option
to save some battery. I will note that I did find turning antialiasing off sharpened up
the image nice on the small screen and is how I would play it personally. I will also note that
this game does not like to be hard closed via the Steam controls. Launching the game after
that squishes everything to the center and I had to redownload the game a couple of times
in order to reset it every time I did.
Moving on, Edge of Eternity has a ‘verified’ tag and a nifty launch option from Steam where you
can load into your latest save - a cool touch I haven’t seen often. Performance in the opening
areas was rough though, with frame rates hanging in the high 30’s and low 40’s at native res with
the medium graphics preset. Capping it to 30 in game I was able to get a pretty locked frame rate though
which is doable with this turn based game.
Now I know Fallout 4 is technically a first person shooter, but if you wanted to you can
engage almost every encounter with turn based gunplay and I was curious how an open world like
this would hang on the Deck. It currently has a ‘playable’ tag and despite launcher quirks it did
actually play pretty well. At native res using the medium preset it was hanging out at 60 fps
more often than not.
The original version of this classic JRPG is listed as ‘playable’
and boy was it - quirks and all! Nothing to report here once I was in the game,
but getting into the game proved to be a bit of a problem. With the default
recommended controller layout I wasn’t able to move past one of the startup screens.
Luckily I downloaded a community layout and was able to click past it. Weird quirks indeed.
Final Fantasy 8 is listed as
‘verified’ and I had no problems anywhere with this one, it played great in my short time with
it. Sure it’s not a perfect remaster but I think it’s a great fit for the Deck.
This two pack of Final Fantasy games
is only marked as ‘playable’ but I had no problems getting sucked back into these
and it ran fantastic at the highest setting. Only bummer is that while the resolution is
set to the Deck’s native 1280x800 it only displays a 1280x720 image and I couldn’t
find a way to force it.
Next on the Final Fantasy train is one of my personal favorites, which is listed as
‘verified’. This one ran better than I expected but did have a weird quirk.
At native res with graphics set to the highest setting I was getting in the 40’s and 50’s
depending on the area. That was with the FPS cap set to 60 in the game and vsync on. Capping the
frame rate to 30 requires a restart, but once back in the game the overlay still read 60 even
though things like animations were obviously playing at 30. Turning off vsync brought the
counter back down to 30 where it should be but it actually didn’t play as smooth. I’m not sure
what’s going on here but having vsync enabled and capping to 30 in the game felt like the smoothest
experience and what I would recommend.
I knew going into this one that it would be the hardest Final Fantasy I own for the Deck to run
and boy was I right. It’s listed as ‘verified’ and I didn’t run into any problems, but it just took
some fiddling to lock in the somewhat smooth playing experience. I was able to get a fairly
good experience going with the Average preset and the resolution bumped down to 75% of native res
in the game. It still wasn’t a locked 60, but it was close and smooth enough. It doesn’t look great
though so it’s kind of a bummer and I’m not sure I’d play it this way. Also, even though it’s set
to the Deck’s native res it still only displays at 720p, I’m starting to see a trend here.
The Last Remnant is another on my pile of shame, and I never got to it back in the day.
Luckily the opening bit showed no problems and is indeed marked as ‘verified’. At native res
and max settings it was a smooth experience despite a couple of dips in frame rates,
even during the big opening battle.
For those who are wondering, Monster Hunter Rise plays great on the Steam Deck,
and Stories 2 is pretty well suited for this handheld as well. It’s marked as ‘unknown’,
and at maxed out settings it was hanging around the 50 fps range in the open world section,
but locked at 60 in battle. Unfortunately it’s yet another game that doesn’t display at the Deck’s
16x10 aspect ratio, and actually doesn’t even give the option for it.
So 720p it is.
This next JRPG carries a ‘verified’ tag and looks and plays fantastic on the Deck,
and is a nice upgrade over the Switch version. I did see some slight hitching in between loads and
during some effects sequences, but nothing crazy. This was with max quality settings at native res,
which doesn’t fully tax the system and allows for some more normal power draw.
Only downside is it’s yet another game that doesn’t display at
1280x800 even when selected.
Pathfinder is listed as ‘playable’ but it does take a bit of patience to play thanks to small
text and the mouse and keyboard default control scheme. Unfortunately I don’t have my save from
further in, but the opening sequence is pretty taxing on the graphics and I think is a good
example of performance. At native res I found the medium preset to be a playable experience,
but it was nowhere near a locked 60.
Persona 4 is one of my favorite JRPGs of all time, and playing it a bit on the Deck was a treat,
even though it’s listed as ‘unsupported’. From what I played everything ran
great at native res and maxed out settings, which isn’t surprising given how old this title is.
But I do think I figured out one of the reasons why it’s marked as unsupported though, as none of
the pre-rendered anime scenes played back audio. It’s not a perfect way to play any game obviously,
and hopefully they address it soon. But in the meantime Persona 4 is such a good game
I honestly wouldn’t blame anyone if they found workarounds like watching the cutscenes online.
Scarlet Nexus is high on my backlog of RPGs,
and the Deck seems to be a great way to play it. It does have a ‘verified’ badge but I did find a
weird quirk. When switching the game to fullscreen mode it didn’t allow me to adjust the resolution
above 480p. But even in borderless windowed mode it doesn’t display at the full 1280x800 resolution
and is instead 720p. Also, even with the available settings set to the
lowest options I couldn’t get a locked 60 in all the areas I explored. At the highest
settings it does stick around 60 often though so I think it’s doable and I’m
looking forward to playing it this way.
I beat SMT 3 on the Switch so I don’t have my save here, but what I played on the Deck was
fairly comparable. Like Persona 4 it’s also marked with an ‘unsupported’ tag,
but unlike that game I did run into a number of weird graphical issues while playing it.
It also has some weird loading issues, and takes a long time to load in the first time.
I think you could get through it on the Deck in its current state but beware there are some things
going on here that need to be addressed.
Out of all the RPGs on this list, Tales of Arise is the one I’ve put the most time into
on the Steam Deck, clocking in at 5 hours at the time of writing this.
It was already high on my backlog list, and playing it on the Deck has been a blast.
It’s marked as ‘verified’, and other than being yet another game that only displays at 720p
I haven’t run into any problems. At max settings the game sits around the 50 fps range, and capping
it to 30 has been a great option that I’ve used occasionally to save on battery. This has been a
great example of playing an RPG on the go.
Torchlight 3 is marked with the ‘unknown’ tag but it actually played pretty damn well on the Deck.
There is one big problem that I can’t seem to get around with the default controller configuration,
and that’s saving any of the graphics settings. I’m able to select and change
settings but there is no option to apply and save them this way. Using a mouse and
keyboard configuration shows the save and apply options like usual so there are ways to get around it,
but you’re going to need to fiddle with controls to do it. Once I set everything to native res and
maxed out the settings, fps was hanging in the 40s, but bumping down the settings I was able
to get a pretty solid 60.
I’ve been eyeing this one for a while, and despite its current ‘unknown’ tag this seems to be the way
I’m going to finally play it. Performance was a bit choppy due to some nasty frame
pacing at native res and everything maxed, but it was pretty close to 60fps and smooth enough.
The only real change I made was to raise the text size up one
so it was easier to read.
Last but certainly not least is Yakuza 7, which holds a ‘verified’ status.
I’m bummed that I’ve started the Game Pass version of this game because it plays great on the Deck.
At native res and high settings it provides a smooth 30 experience. Honestly I’m ok with
30 in this case and I didn’t run into any problems while playing it so I think this
is a good fit for the Deck. I guess I’ll just have to start all over if I can’t snag my other save!
And there you have it, 22 RPGs on the Steam Deck. Overall I’ve been pleased with the
experience of the Deck so far and I’m excited to dig deeper into some of these games.
Thanks for hanging all the way through this one with me, if you have any questions about
a specific game just drop a note in the comments. And be sure to give this video
a thumbs up and subscribe to PCWorld for further PC hardware and software goodness. Catch ya later!