[Resources] The First Descendant: Can You Play It on Steam Deck?

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The First Descendant on Steam Deck

The First Descendant is a game which has been designed with low minimum system requirements, making it accessible for a broad range of PC players. As it turns out, this also applies to Steam Deck users, who may want to play the game on a portable platform.

No longer do you need to wonder if you can play The First Descendant on the go. Despite the game only being recently released, it runs exceedingly well on the Steam Deck. Although gamers seeking extremely high framerates may not be blown away, the playing experience is more than satisfactory for portable use.

Performance and Settings

The game manages to function remarkably well on Steam Deck. A variety of settings were tested, none of which seemed to massively impact the performance, which bodes well for the optimisation of the game. The display initially runs at a locked 1280×800 resolution, targeting around 30 to 40 FPS, providing a satisfactory gaming experience even during the heat of battle.

However, at the time of writing, there doesn't seem to be a way to improve the game's performance on the Steam Deck. The system uses almost 100% of its CPU and GPU to run The First Descendant even on the lowest possible setting. Some potential solutions (like playing in fullscreen mode) were tested but did not bring any significant improvements.

Looking Forward

Despite these constraints, it's important to keep in mind that The First Descendant is still very much a playable game on the Steam Deck, even in its current state. Gaming performance and experience can only improve with upcoming updates and patches. So, even if you're dealing with performance limitations now, the future of playing The First Descendant on the Steam Deck looks promising indeed.

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