Yes, Elden Ring Should Work Nicely on Steam Deck

Elden Ring is finally out now, and it's been verified to work well on Steam Deck – which is also released today.

Valve has already confirmed that Elden Ring, the wildly popular new release from FromSoftware, is “fully functional” on the company’s handheld gaming device.

“Valve’s testing indicates that Elden Ring is Verified on Steam Deck,” reads the compatibility checker. This game is fully functional on Steam Deck and works great with built-in controls and display.”

What exactly does this mean? Well, games that are given the “verified” status must satisfy four different criteria:

• Input: The game has full controller support, uses appropriate controller input icons, and automatically brings up the on-screen keyboard when needed.
• Display: The game supports the default Steam Deck resolution (1280x800 or 1280x720), has good default settings, and in-game text is legible.
• Seamlessness: The game doesn’t display any compatibility warnings, and if there’s a launcher it’s navigable with a controller.
• System Support: If running through Proton (which allows Windows software to run on Linux systems) the game and its middleware are supported. This includes anti-cheat support.

Essentially, this means that Elden Ring should be fully playable on the Steam Deck without any major issues caused by the system (although the PC version in general is suffering from some performance complaints, which could rear their head).

Valve’s Steam Deck was officially released today, alongside Elden Ring, and offers gamers more or less the only chance to play the punishing action RPG on the go, since the game hasn't launched on Nintendo Switch.

IGN’s own 10/10 Elden Ring review calls it “FromSoftware’s largest and most ambitious game yet.”

“Even after 87 hours of blood, sweat, and tears that included some of the most challenging fights I’ve ever fought, and innumerable surprises, there are still bosses that I left on the table, secrets that I’ve yet to uncover.”

Check out our Elden Ring wiki for guides and walkthroughs to help you take your first steps through the Lands Beyond.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.