Thanks to Feybreak, Palworld is once again reaching top figures on Steam. Many fans enjoy the title on the Steam Deck – but according to Valve, the title is suddenly no longer compatible with the handheld console.
Was Palworld playable on the Steam Deck? Valve categorizes all games available on Steam into 4 possible categories. These include “verified,” “playable,” “unplayable,” and “not yet tested.” This allows fans to know whether a title is (with limitations) playable on the Steam Deck. Until now, Palworld belonged to the “playable” category, where titles with certain limitations are recommended.
However, overnight Valve quietly changed the status to “unplayable.” The reason for this could be the new Feybreak update, which brings new regions and new Pals. But as many players report on Reddit, Palworld has been running just fine since the update. The question remains as to why Valve suddenly changed the status.
The contents of the update are presented in the following trailer:
Valve backtracks and reevaluates Palworld
What has changed now? After just 3 days, Valve changed the status back to “playable.” However, there is now a whole list of limitations that users on the Steam Deck should expect:
- Some functionalities may not be available with the standard controller configuration or require the use of other input methods like the touchscreen.
- The game occasionally displays controller icons from other platforms.
- Text input requires manually calling up the on-screen keyboard.
- Some text is difficult to read due to small size.
- The game requires manual configuration of graphics settings.
Why these changes were made remains a mystery. Valve’s rating system for the Steam Deck is a great mystery, as there are no detailed explanations as to why a game has received its rating.
What does this mean for me? If you haven’t noticed any changes with Palworld on the Steam Deck, you need not worry about the rating. Many fans reported in the Reddit post mentioned earlier that they haven’t noticed any changes at all.
You can still play Palworld as usual on the Steam Deck. The rating “playable” also only means that the title runs on the handheld. Valve can only not recommend it.
The best possible rating for the Steam Deck is “verified.” MeinMMO has selected 12 games that we can recommend for the handheld. These include not only brand new but also 9-year-old titles: 12 games you definitely need to try on the Steam Deck OLED
