Too huge for Steam Deck? Many triple-A video games are unplayable on Valve’s handheld

Valve’s Steam Deck delivers remarkable frame rates across a vast array of titles, including many cutting-edge generation exclusives. A significant number of demanding games are at least playable on the handheld device, and plenty of last-gen or even older games perform exceptionally. However, the relentless pace of advancement continues daily, and we’re witnessing an increasing number of games that truly challenge next-gen consoles—and mainstream PC systems—intensely. It stands to reason that if desktop systems are facing difficulties, the Deck might experience even greater challenges. With this consideration, we decided to reflect on some of the top AAA titles of 2024. Which games operate effectively—and which might simply be “too big” for the Steam Deck?

Undoubtedly, the ambition level for each game differs, and several less demanding titles from 2024 still manage to perform well on the Steam Deck. Key in my assessments was Lego Horizon Adventures, an aesthetically pleasing UE5 title that operates at a high performance level on Valve’s handheld. With high settings configured and TSR upscaling set to 50 percent, we are well within the realm of a stable 30fps experience—with 40fps being a reasonable target in many scenarios as well. While we could reduce settings slightly to achieve a higher refresh rate, the visual quality established here seems impressive. Image fidelity maintains its value with TSR, and the game’s Lumen-powered lighting remains intact.

When compared to the PS5, image quality visibly suffers, particularly with the shadow map quality. However, aside from these adjustments—and some simplified water effects—it remains a largely comparable visual experience. This is precisely what we aim to evaluate on devices like the Steam Deck and Series S: fundamentally similar lighting and assets, with compromises primarily concerning resolution. I can’t truly object to how Horizon Adventures looks here, and it runs at an exceptionally impressive performance level considering the game’s visuals. Perhaps optimization for the low-power Nintendo Switch yields some benefits here, though the visual outcome on the Steam Deck is well beyond what Nintendo’s last-gen device offers.

Numerous other games run relatively well, if not exactly at that peak level. Sony’s PC adaptations continue to arrive at a steady pace, and 2024 marked the launch of God of War: Ragnarok. I tested Sony Santa Monica’s epic using FSR 3.1 in its performance preset with low settings throughout to keep the game running at an acceptable frame rate. Low settings isn’t the end of the spectrum since the game isn’t entirely stripped of any standard lighting techniques—volumetrics remain intact, for instance, and the shadow maps look decent enough in most gameplay. It broadly resembles the console version, albeit clearly downgraded in quality.

The game’s performance level is solid and pretty commendable, often reaching or exceeding 40fps. It frequently lands right at 40fps for extended durations. While I couldn’t pinpoint an exact reason, Ragnarok’s performance does fluctuate considerably depending on the load, though not as much as one might typically expect. It provides a reasonable, if somewhat uninspired, performance for a last-gen title. However, image quality suffers more than I’d like, as FSR struggles with particle effects and other intricate materials, although it doesn’t look too bad on the Steam Deck’s capable display.

Metaphor Refantazio is another title that generally functions well enough on Valve’s handheld. I tested the Atlus RPG with fairly basic settings at native 720p. Metaphor has notably uneven performance, achieving 60fps with ease in dungeons and battles, while more complex urban scenes drop us into the twenties. While it’s not the most visually striking title—or especially efficient, considering its graphics—we can achieve a decent enough 30fps experience here.

However, more demanding games truly test the Steam Deck’s abilities in a more fundamental way. Black Myth: Wukong requires minimal settings across the board to function adequately, although I adjusted the shadows to medium to avoid some distracting artifacting observed with low shadows. While the visual outcome isn’t particularly impressive, featuring lower-quality indirect lighting, oddly textured enemy fur, and artifact-laden imagery, frame rates are still acceptable considering the game’s pedigree. We typically find ourselves in the 30-50fps range, with occasional stutters but no significant long-term frame rate drops aside from the game’s introductory sequence, which remains quite challenging. Later stages have been reported to experience increased stuttering issues on PC, so performance may falter in other areas.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard concludes our selection of ‘playable’ Deck games, though it’s only just barely acceptable on my end. To achieve satisfactory performance, I had to select the low settings preset, utilizing the game’s well-optimized DRS system tailored to 30fps, with a minimum resolution of 20 percent of 720p, or 144p (!!). The use of DRS provides us the sharpest visuals realistically achievable, although certain intense moments can appear quite abstract due to that lower resolution. While I generally don’t mind FSR 2 in Veilguard, the low-resolution rendering doesn’t do justice to this game’s intricate art. Frame rates are somewhat decent. Despite employing DRS, there can be significant fluctuations between scenes, with the game oscillating between 30fps and 60fps during gameplay. It rarely dips below 30fps, which is the benchmark we’re seeking. Once again, image quality detracts from overall experience.

is the essential offering – the genre certainly doesn’t appear to mirror itself in the conclusions considered here.

Unfortunately, a significant number of new AAA titles perform poorly on Steam Deck, to the extent that I might consider these games largely unplayable. Some games hover at the edge, like Final Fantasy 16, where performance feels inconsistent. In less intense moments with the visual effects, there’s a decent frame rate, staying within the 40-60fps range. However, during more demanding scenes – including most cutscenes – it drops below 30fps. This mirrors the game’s performance on PC and consoles, where it is unexpectedly resource-heavy, with notably erratic GPU-dependent frame times. It’s fair to say that playability is not quite achievable here, and Valve agrees: like all the games we will be discussing henceforth, it receives the “unsupported on Steam Deck” label on Steam.

Horizon: Forbidden West is technically a next-gen title, yet its PC version relies heavily on the PS5 code – and it performs rather poorly on Deck. The game does include a somewhat decent DRS system here, which helps maintain visual quality and keep performance in check, but erratic frame times and stretches below 30fps are still common at the very low preset. Moving forward, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 actually manages to sustain several sequences, provided we lower the settings a bit. The issue arises in larger battles, where the high enemy count seems to overwhelm the Deck’s four-core CPU. Performance metrics here do not look promising and thus, I might deem the game generally unplayable.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 faces a similar fate. Low settings combined with FSR 3 in high-performance mode yield inconsistent gameplay with long episodes below 30fps. This includes the now-lagging city chase that ramps up CPU usage, as well as stretches in the desert, where we can hit frame rates around 15fps. This is Dragon’s Dogma 2 at its lowest settings, devoid of ray tracing, yet it remains incredibly demanding for Valve’s handheld.

This also applies to various Unreal Engine 5 masterpieces from last year. Unsurprisingly, Silent Hill 2 is a rather painful experience here, with poor frame rates even on the lowest settings I can configure. The combination of Lumen, Nanite, and heavy volumetric effects is likely crippling performance here, as the Deck is nowhere near where it needs to be. I also took a brief look at STALKER 2, which permitted me to set a static 25 percent resolution scale with TSR – resulting in just 160p. The graphics appear somewhat ‘painterly’, and the game does exhibit some clear CPU issues, though on the GPU front, it’s lighter than Silent Hill, at least as it is handled here.

Star Wars Outlaws and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny were also part of my initial testing list, but neither made the cut during my testing, as neither could progress past the splash screen. Outlaws appears to have a long-standing controller