Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 is a stunning game for Xbox Series X|S and PC, offering some of the best visuals you can find in gaming right now. With the game’s arrival on Steam, some players are wondering if they can play it on the Steam Deck, and the lack of a compatibility section on the store page leaves things a little ambiguous. Lucky for you, I tested it on my own Steam Deck and can confirm that it works and found the best settings to use.
Can Senua’s Saga Hellblade 2 run on Steam Deck?
As noted above, when navigating to Senua’s Saga Hellblade 2 Steam Page, you’ll notice that it doesn’t mention anything about the Steam Deck. The lack of a rating is quite worrying and has caused quite a stir online. Since its launch, the company has not indicated the rating of the Steam Deck anywhere. This has left many fans concerned about whether the game is available on the Steam Deck; However, it certainly is, and it’s not too bad on the handheld either. However, you’ll need to change some settings to get the game up and running, and it won’t be the smoothest experience ever.
Best Builds for Senua’s Saga Hellblade 2 on Steam Deck
When looking at the game on the Steam Deck, the truth is that you will not be able to get the game above 40 FPS. The game will normally run. about 30 FPS, Which isn’t ideal, but it’s certainly playable. If you have a PC that can run the game and you care a lot about graphics, you might want to consider playing it on PC. However, don’t rule out the Steam Deck just because it’s not up to par with a PC. Here are the optimal settings to get a consistent 30 FPS while gaming (note that the Steam Deck will probably last around 1 1/2 hours, at least mine does).
- Resolution: 1,280 x 800
- Custom Climber: AMDFSR 3
- Premium mode: Quality
- Sharpness: 30
- HDR: Off
- Vertical Sync: Off
- Variable rate shading: In
Honestly, I didn’t see much difference between the different Upscalers. You can certainly try Intel Xess with balanced mode or AMD FSR 3 with balanced mode, but there’s not much between them. I noticed that the specific settings above gave me a few more FPS than the other options. It also depends on what you are doing what difference you will see. While walking, you may not notice much difference; However, while you’re in the thick of battle, you might discover that one of the other Upscalers might look better to you.
Overall, this is a really solid game that can run on the Steam Deck with the same types of graphics you’d expect on a Nintendo Switch. The game can be played handheld and I enjoyed every minute of it. But, if you’re someone who really cares about graphics, you might want to consider the PC for this case.
For more information on Senua’s Saga Hellblade 2, see All Hidden Face Locations in Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 (Glimpses of the Gods achievement).