You can play Dragon’s Dogma 2 on the Steam Deck start. But the enthusiasm of many testers and us is limited.
Dragon’s Dogma has launched on Steam and after the first good reviews, the action RPG has now tripped itself up with nasty microtransactions. But does the game run on the Steam Deck?
Important to know: Dragon’s Dogma 2 is currently not verified for the Steam Deck. You can still install it and start it.
The game runs, but anything but smoothly
What works? First the good news: You can easily start Dragon’s Dogma 2 on the Steam Deck. You can also go to the menus and make graphics settings.
Our tip: Use the experimental build from the developer options. Games that are not officially verified by Valve for the Steam Deck run a little more stable.
Change Proton version: Properties > Compatibility > Force use of a specific Steam Play compatibility tool > select experimental version.
How well does Dragon’s Dogma 2 run on the Steam Deck? The performance problems of Dragon’s Dogma 2 are particularly noticeable on the Steam Deck. The Steam Deck’s CPU severely limits performance, especially in cities or busy areas. The memory limitation of the CPU (cpu memory bound) slows down performance particularly severely.
At the lowest settings and reduced resolution (480p), you can achieve an average of 14 to 15 FPS in Dragon’s Dogma 2 in the green landscape and with a few enemies. This can still be described as “playable”.
But it actually gets worse. If you go to a big city, the values drop well below 10 FPS. IGN describes the experience on the Steam Deck as “almost unplayable” and speaks of 4 – 6 FPS (via youtube.com). This is more reminiscent of a slide show than a smooth gaming experience.
Feel free to watch the video of “Santiago Santiago” on YouTube. Here you can see for yourself that Dragon’s Dogma 2 runs at very low frame rates and looks anything but pretty.
Is Dragon’s Dogma 2 worth it on the Steam Deck? The game is currently running anything but smoothly on the Steam Deck (as of March 22, 2024) and doesn’t really make a good impression.
Publisher Capcom has already announced that an update should solve the CPU problems. Until the update, we would advise against the version on the Steam Deck. We’ll keep you updated if anything changes or the update for Dragon’s Dogma 2 is released.
What alternatives are there? Instead of on the Steam Deck, you can also play Dragon’s Dogma 2 on the PC, Xbox and PS5. If you have chosen the PC as your preferred platform, then check out the following article to see whether your gaming PC can really handle the game:
Dragon’s Dogma 2 system requirements: How fast does my gaming PC need to be?