How does Avowed run on Steam Deck? Performance comparison

Avowed is finally here, and you can enjoy Obsidian’s latest release on the Steam Deck. But how well does it run? Here’s everything you need to know about Avowed’s performance and its best settings on Steam Deck.

Does Avowed run well on Steam Deck?

Unfortunately for fans of the Steam handheld, Avowed is not one of the better Steam Deck ports. In most performance benchmarks, Avowed falls well short of what would be considered good enough to ignore for the sake of a handheld gaming experience.

Considering Avowed’s minimum specs demand a GTX 1070 to run properly on PC systems, the game’s performance on Steam Deck is a letdown. Let’s discuss each aspect of how Avowed runs on the Steam Deck compared to Xbox’s lower-end Series S console and higher-end PC systems.

Resolution comparison

The Steam Deck’s native 1280×800 resolution makes Avowed’s dynamic and vibrant gameplay look as uninspiring as you may expect, even with the upscaling, especially when compared with how well the game runs at 1440p on any PC system with a 30 series GPU or above. Even the Xbox Series S on Quality mode provides significantly more detailed visuals and textures than the Steam Deck.

FPS comparison

Sadly, in the frame rate department, things are just as dire for Avowed on the Steam Deck. Depending on how hard you’re willing to tank the image quality, you’ll be looking at lows of 20 fps to a maximum of just 35 fps in what would be considered playable settings. Once again, the Steam Deck gets blown out of the water compared to any mid to high-end PC system. The Xbox Series S, too, hits a relatively more consistent 40 fps with much less compromise in image quality than the Steam Deck.

Best Steam Deck settings for Avowed

If you choose to play Avowed on the Steam Deck, we strongly recommend tinkering with the game’s performance settings to get the best performance. Here are the best settings we recommend for Avowed on the Steam Deck:

• System Resolution: 1280×800
• Graphics Preset: Low
• VSync: Off
• Ray Tracing: Off
• Motion Blur: Off
• Upscaling: AMD FidelityFX 3
• FSR: Balanced or Quality
• FSR Sharpness: 35 percent
• Frame Rate Limit: 30
• FOV: 90
• View Distance: Low
• Shadow Quality: Low
• Shading Quality: Low
• Effects Quality: Low
• Foliage Quality: Low
• Post Processing Quality: Low
• Reflection Quality: Low
• Global Illumination Quality: Low
• Texture Quality: Medium
• Anti-aliasing: Medium

Of course, you can tinker around with the Advanced Settings to inject better textures, shading, or shadows into your gameplay experience, but going overboard will tank your average frame rate.

You should also enable the Compatibility and Proton Hotfix settings in the game’s properties. These are early patches that Valve may release to improve a game’s performance, especially on the Steam Deck.

That’s all you need to know about how Avowed runs on the Steam Deck. For more reviews like this, make sure to check out our coverage of how Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 runs on the Steam Deck. Also, fans of the Steam Deck will get a lot out of going through our 13 best accessories for the Steam Deck list and our list of the best games on the Steam Deck for 2024.