The release of Dragon Age: The Veilguard is just around the corner. The action RPG from BioWare will be released for PC via Steam, among other platforms. Therefore, the question arises whether it also runs on the Steam Deck. MeinMMO has tried the game on the handheld.
Is Dragon Age: The Veilguard verified for the Steam Deck? Yes, Dragon Age: The Veilguard is verified for Steam Decks – with a green checkmark.
What does Steam Deck verified
mean? “Steam Deck verified” means that the BioWare game is fully functional on the handheld. The game is expected to run without issues on the Steam Deck.
MeinMMO author Sophia Weiß also played Dragon Age: The Veilguard for a few hours on the Steam Deck and shares her impressions with you in this article.
Does The Veilguard run on the Steam Deck? More PS2 than PS5
Right off the bat: I am not a tech author, that honor goes to our expert Benedikt Schlotmann. During my testing period with Dragon Age: The Veilguard, I also played the game for a few hours on the regular non-OLED Steam Deck. Accordingly, I report here on what my gaming experience was like.
My impressions of the game itself have also been included in our test report:
How does The Veilguard play on the Steam Deck? Basically, the game runs on the Steam Deck. However, during my first attempt, I had to force-restart the console:
The handheld handled the menus easily. But as soon as the first gameplay was loaded, it hung up and didn’t respond at all. Not even the Steam menu could be opened, the console was so overwhelmed – even though the game was already set to low settings.
After the restart, I first turned the graphics settings down to minimum and disabled all options that I could disable. I set the FPS to a maximum of 30. I couldn’t select less.
Since then, The Veilguard is also playable. However, compared to the PC, it looks like a PS2 game and some textures in the background flicker. Here you can compare screenshots of the same scene on the Deck with a screenshot from my gaming PC. Click on one of the images to enlarge:
Perhaps one can get a bit more out of the game by optimizing the graphics settings. However, with the lowest settings, I had the best
gaming experience.
The controls on the Steam Deck, on the other hand, are implemented really well. When the game runs, it can be played without major non-graphical issues.
The Steam Deck is too weak to do justice to Dragon Age
Is Dragon Age: The Veilguard recommended on the Steam Deck? Personally, I will try not to play The Veilguard further on the Steam Deck. Unfortunately, the handheld is too weak to do justice to this actually really beautiful game.
On the Steam Deck, it only runs somewhat smoothly if you are willing to make all possible graphic compromises: The world doesn’t even look half as beautiful as on the PC. The characters appear squished and the great hair turns into chunky blobs on their heads.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard is best played on a PC or alternatively on the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, for which it is also optimized. If you really want to play it on the Steam Deck, you can do so. However, I do not recommend it from my point of view.
Could The Veilguard perform better on an OLED Deck? The OLED Steam Deck is not more performant compared to its predecessor. The OLED has a better screen, more battery life, and more storage space.
Since the rest of the hardware such as RAM, onboard graphics card, etc. still matches the original, it is not expected that Dragon Age: The Veilguard will run any better on an OLED Steam Deck. You can read more about the differences in our tech expert’s comparison article.
No matter what platform you plan to play The Veilguard on: Some players already have very specific plans on how they will spend the launch. Here you can find their tips for a smooth start into the game: Fans want to optimize the release of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, planning the evening down to the minute
