Does Elden Ring run on Steam Deck?

The Steam Deck makes it easy to run the epic FromSoftware RPG, Elden Ring, while still maintaining the expected souls-like difficulty.

In 2022, Elden Ring made a huge impact upon its release, quickly emerging as the top contender for the highly sought-after Game of the Year title on various platforms. This trend has carried over to the Steam Deck, where the game consistently ranks among the “Most Played Steam Deck games”every month.

With the upcoming release of Shadow of the Erdtree, the game’s first DLC, there is no better opportunity to resume your journey as the tarnished character on Steam Deck.

Can you play Elden Ring on Steam Deck?

It is possible to play Elden Ring on Steam Deck, and the FromSoftware masterpiece can run at an average of 40 FPS on the Valve handheld.

Despite its initial struggles with massive frame rate drops and poor graphics on Steam Deck, the game was greatly improved after Valve stepped in to optimize Elden Ring. The performance was significantly enhanced, resulting in stable frame rates and impressive visuals.

Screenshot from Elden Ring. — Namco Bandai

As shown in video footage from YouTuber DeckWizard DeckWizard, the Steam Deck continues to run Elden Ring flawlessly years after its release. During our testing of Elden Ring on the OLED model of the Steam Deck, which was running SteamOS version 3.6, the enhanced OLED display showcased The Lands Between in all its stunning glory.

Despite being optimized for handheld devices over time, the game still runs at 40 to 60 FPS as shown in the video, providing a seamless RPG experience. However, due to its intensive graphics, it may drain the battery faster.

It is advised to keep the Steam Deck charger at a distance while playing the challenging game to ensure an uninterrupted gaming experience.

The highly anticipated Shadow of the Erdtree DLC for Elden Ring will soon be released on both Steam and the Steam Deck. While there is currently no information on its performance on the handheld, given the game’s success on the go, we can anticipate that the DLC will maintain the same level of optimization and solidify Elden Ring’s reputation as one of the top games for the Steam Deck.

Even though the upcoming Shadow of the Erdtree DLC adds an extra 16.5 GB, bringing the total storage space required for Elden Ring on Steam Deck to 76.5 GB, this is still not considered a large amount by today’s standards.

Choosing one of the top microSD cards will guarantee that you have ample storage for Elden Ring, its forthcoming DLC, and any game on the Steam Deck that you desire to play – particularly if you have not yet purchased the 1TB OLED or upgraded the SSD.