


Works great at medium settings capped to 30FPS. Important: use mangohud launch option, see below
MANGOHUD=1 MANGOHUD_CONFIG="fps_limit=30,no_display" %command%
Game runs well, other than the known stuttering which is a problem with the PC port regardless of hardware performance. Regarding the 30fps cap, if millions of people could play this at 30fps on PS4 then you can definitely have fun on the Steam Deck at 30fps. At 30fps you can run at native resolution without any upscaling or frame gen technology, you get pure frames and the game looks great!
I recommend these Display settings:
- 1280x800
- Upscale Off
- FOV 80
- Adaptive performance FPS Off
- FPS limit unlimited
- Refresh rate 60 Hz
- Vsync Off
Graphics settings:
- Start with medium preset
- Disable motion blur
- Enable TAA anti-aliasing
I didn't test it fully but you might get away bumping Textures/Model quality/Anisotropic filtering to High.
Lastly, remember to run the game in 60 Hz in the Steam Overlay settings.

Some frame drops when moving around open areas, particularly while mounted.
Some SteamOS crashes while playing, unclear what the cause is but they were very infrequent.

I used the LCD 70hz mod so I could play at 35 fps at 70 hz https://github.com/ryanrudolfoba/SteamDeck-RefreshRateUnlocker . Also used the Decky Plugin Powertools to set the game profile and changed the Governor at "Performance". Also used the A.P.T script https://github.com/RickS-C137/SteamDeckTuning/tree/main . Also have Undervolting at Undervolting, o meu está 50 cpu, 40 gpu, 50 soc
L4 run and R4 dodge.
On the Steam Deck, there will still be FPS drops while roaming the world and when there is some heavy combat.
Ingame setting, Display: Display Resolution: 1280X800 Upscale Method: None FOV: 100 Adaptive Performance: 50 fps FPS Limit: 40 fps Aspect Ratio: Auto Display Mode: Fullscreen Refesh rate: with mod 70 hz, without 60 hz V-sync: Off
Ingame setting, Graphics: Set to Original and then I changed Textures to low, Shadows to low, Anti-Aliasing at FXAA
Steam Performance Tab: Frame Limit: 35FPS/70HZ with mod, 30FPS/60HZ without Enable Allow Tearing TDP Limit: disable Enable Manual GPU Clock: 1300 mhz (this helps with shutters, you will notice if you go higher than 1300 mhz, the CPU ususage starts to go up and you will get more shutters because cpu can't keep up with the gpu)

Game runs mostly perfect with some very minor FPS drops in certain areas doesn't hinder the experience much at all.
Minor FPS Drops

The native implementation of FSR is not ideal, blades of grass show flickering and artifacts. It can be improved by switching FSR to Quality mode, but the best solution I've found was to switch the game to dynamic resolution and force FSR via Steam's interface. Game looked gorgeous then.
Couldn't get gyro controls to work. After enabling them, Aloy just aims straight at the ground.
I have finished the base game and the expansion on the Deck and it ran great. After capping the framerate at 40 and setting the dynamic resolution goal to 30 I have rarely experienced framerate dropping below 30. The game does suffer from stutter when travelling, it felt so minor that it did not bother me.

Terrible experience on steam deck, you have turn FSR on at 800p AND even then settle for stuttering 40 to 60fps (at best) experience.
Stutters every 10 to 30 seconds.
Game simply does not work good enough to be enjoyable on steam deck. Dont bother.

L4 run and R4 activate Focus.
13w TDP, 40hz refresh rate
Audio crackling when suspend/resume
Traversal stutter
As a quick disclaimer, I run bazzite on my Steam Deck LCD, and thus am using a slightly different experience than stock SteamOS (i.e. updated Mesa Drivers, newer kernel, different scheduler).
The game suffers from traversal stutter, reducing the games fps when loading into new areas. I experimented with many different setting configurations in attempt to alieviate the short windows of FPS drops, and while I could not eliminate the stutter entirely. It has been speculated by others, and I am inclined to agree that the root problem is due to VRAM swapping. I do not experience the issue with my Ryzen mini PC (also running Bazzite).
These settings seemed to work best for me, targeting 40fps and (mostly) smooth frametime graph for a solid mix of visual fideltiy, no FSR artifacting, battery life, and smooth FPS for battles and cutscenes. If the game is set to 720p, borderless display, and FSR off the game scales linearly to 800p automatically.
Display
Display Resolution: 1152x720
Upscale Method: None
FOV: 70
Adaptive Performance: Off
FPS Limit: Off
Aspect Ratio: Auto
Display Mode: Borderless
V-sync: Off
Graphics
Original (no changes at all)
Steam Performance Settings
Frame Limit: 40FPS/40HZ
TDP Limit: 13 watts
Manual GPU Clock: 1200 mhz
Final notes: I did experiment with setting the GPU clock to 1600mhz, which makes the Steam Deck run hotter and louder, but does not effect the traversal stutter. If anything, 1600mhz made my frametime graph worse overall. Also testing using low settings, or using Original settings and reducing clouds & shadows, FSR upscaling on Performance/Balanced/Quality which all look muddy and pixeliated, but even runing low settings with FSR Performance STILL has traversal stutter.
In the end, you just have to deal with the FPS drops while roaming the wild on the Steam Deck.

Changed VRAM to 4GB in UEFI
Lowered TDP to 10
Traversal stuttering from time to time
UMA frame buffer size to 4GB. Keep TDP to 10 to save battery, around 2.5 hours on Deck LCD with these settings: 1200x800, no optimization method, performance image rate 40, everything on Medium except textures and shadows to Low, motion blur on, AA based on camera. In the Deck Settings capped to 30fps.

Check out Cryoutilities "Fixing Horizon Zero Dawn" video on youtube for optimization: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xx9sf47sB9o

After exiting the game from the in-game menu, it does not stop the game entirely (maybe some launcher not being stopped?). So I have to press "B" once more to stop and exit it, then I'm back to my library.

There is a bit of lagging some time in cutscene or in specific place
Little lags, weird default control, but the game is nice to play on the deck !

TDP 13
Mid to Late game shows significant drops in FPS down to an average of 20FPS making it very hard to finish.
The game plays well enough in the start but as soon as you get to mid to late-game, FPS drops run rampant making it difficult to complete.

Consistent, severe stuttering and frame drops as low as 12fps
My experience playing this game has been rather bad so far. No matter what graphics setting, fsr, frame cap, gpu clock, windowed or fullscreen, the game has severe stuttering and frame drop issues on deck.
About every 1 to 2 minutes, you either get stuttering/lag or fps will drop, usually into the twenties, but i've seen it drop as low as 12. This is unacceptable for a deck verified title!
I've read so many forum posts from people who had the same problem on the deck, and I can confirm that it's an issue. The stutter/lag/fps drop seems to be related to either shader compilation or loading, since cpu usage will spike sharply.
I haven't played enough to tell if the problem will resolve itself over time, but i've managed to make the stutters a bit better by locking fps to 30, setting fsr to quality, and turning everything down to the lowest possible setting. I read in some reports that increasing vram size and swap file can help, I personally haven't tried this, but doesn't valve's 'verified' badge mean the game should run fine on the deck without any tinkering? Why is the responsibility to fix the game offloaded onto the consumer here?

I haven't tested enough bus as far as I have seen is very enjoyable with this configuration
Do al the process in Desktop mode.
Check if you have Wine GE proton 7.24 in Heroic Games Launcher (HGL) -> Wine manager
If not using protonup qt install it to HGL(you can choose the launcher)
In HGL, in game settings, go to winetricks, open GUI, default wineprefix, install windows DLL and install the following DLL: mfc140
Once is installed click cancel to go back to HGL
Back in game settings enable: -Wine submenu Auto install update DXVK Auto install updateVKD3D Enable Esync Enable Fsync
-Others submenu Use dedicated video card
I have chosen Default steamdeck layout, no changes, but I have problems with Xbox Controller I'm not able to solve
30FPS and no TDP limit. In game settings in "Original"
It shows me an error on screen but it continues working
A bit blurry in fast movement
Tested with Xbox series X controller
I feel a bit of delay that maybe can be improved changing som settings

Game runs well by default, no issues, lowered settings to default/original and looks quite well while performing great.

Use Winetricks to install mfc140.

Minor graphics issues but mostly excellent. Good battery life at Original preset with 30 FPS cap. The Deck can handle High preset as well.
In-game 30 FPS cap
Screen space reflections don't cover the entire width of the screen; they end a few pixels from the edge, which is distracting when travelling near water.
Periodic half-second lag spikes. Not major but noticeable. Seems like traversal stutter so probably not a Deck-specific problem.

Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition works out of the box. Minor tinkering is optional for longer battery life.
In game's settings: Upscale Method > FidelityFX Super Rosolution Display mode > Windowed
Steam Performance Overlay: Framerate Limit > 40 Refresh Rate > 40 Thermal Power (TDP) Limit > 10
There are some visual artifacts on the left side of the screen while playing.
Standard 40hz/40fps lock
Steam Cloud is saving GFX Settings so you get into trouble when switching from Desktop to Steamdeck.
Runs pretty ok OOTB. I used the settings recommended by CryoByte33 here in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xx9sf47sB9o - which gave me a solid 40ish FPS, some drops when entering a new zone but nothing gamebreaking and visually its still really good. Battery will be eaten up in no time... ;)
I also switched to my Desktop from time to time and noticed that Steam Cloud is including the GFX Settings, with is not good for hopping between Steam Deck and your 4K Desktop.
I created a little shell script that replaces the file "graphicsconfig.ini" within the HZD Settings folder with the correct file for what ever device I`m on. So every time I switched the device, I ran the script, replaced the "wrong" ini with the correct settings and it was ready to go. Makeing the files readonly or anything like that did not work, as Steam will run into a sync error, ending up in not syning the save files at all. Just search for "graphicsconfig.ini" and you will find the file, its a very long path.

Sometimes slowness for more than 5minutes at 5 to 15fps
Played exclusively with steam deck, finished it and did 100%. Encountered some slownes but it should be due to a memory issue. You should try CryoUtilities (Didn' tried during my game)
I played for an hour. It runs superbly on medium settings. I was pleased to see the rear paddles are mapped with the default configuration.
Made L2 and R2 work with L5 and R5
Capped refresh rate and FPS to 40 and TDP to 12 (which I do for all SteamDeck games)
Frame rates did dip at times but I found the game totally playable
I played the entire game on my Steam Deck and only my Steam Deck. Aside from the occassional dropped frames and jittering, it played quite well. I did turn the game to easy, which tells you about my gaming skills, but the story was fantastic and I didn't experience ahy crashes or anything that affected my ability to enjoy the game

Entered the BIOS and changed "UMA Frame Buffer Size" to 4GB.
Used recommended CryoUtilities tweaks to swap file size and swappiness.
1. Entered the BIOS and changed "UMA Frame Buffer Size" to 4GB. I also used the recommended CryoUtilities tweaks to swap file size and swappiness.
2. In Display:
- Reduced FOV to 70.
- Set Adaptive Performance FPS to 50 and FPS limit to 40.
- Disabled V-sync.
3. In Graphics, I started with the Original profile:
- Boosted Textures and Model quality to High.
- Set Shadows to Low.
- Disabled Motion blur.
- Set Anti-aliasing to FXAA.
Occasional crackling
Occasional frame drops, nothing major
Absolutely beautiful game, major battery drain, about 1h30min from 100% to 10% low battery alert. Dropping to 40fps/40Hz makes little difference in quality or battery drain. Haven't tried 30fps because I'm always near a power outlet and would prefer better performance.
Audio sometimes glitches out if you suspend and wake the deck while playing. Pausing before suspending seems to prevent this, though.
I had it crash a couple of times when I was trying to fast travel, but I did have my graphics settings turned up a bit. Setting them back to default for a moment solved the issue.
You can get away with turning up the graphics a bit, but doing so causes some minor frame drops and instability.
Just changed some backbuttons
I always play with 30fps.
On the second launch it crashed but that did never occur again.
It crackles very often when you awake your Steam-Deck from sleep.
The HUD textures were sometimes very crusty. When I'm on a Strider it lags quite heavy even when in 60fps mode.
It crahsed 3x times. Once at the secnond start and the other two times when fast traveling.
It runs great on the Deck. Sometimes when riding a strider or mounting one it can lag very heavily. The audio is crusty when awakening the Steam-Deck from the sleep mode.
Cloud saving also saves the monitor resolution, which has you re-set it when you switch device... Appart from that, it is flawless !
- First note... To all those who said that text is blurry... turn-off "variable rate shading"... this feature is broken anyways, and cripples text in all games where I tried it!
- Second note... If you want to enjoy games on the deck, or in general, turn-off the freaking FPS overlay! It ruins the immersion, and makes you mad about performance, when in fact, the game plays well, is fun, and have very few moments where framerate is an issue enough for you to notice (mainly when weather changes, in a new area, and many things are loading at once on screen... and it is temporary.)
Here is my final report:
Stop thinkering, and play the game... FPS are not fun, games are, and this one is AMAZING! Best game I played in years, and the Deck is perfect to play it!
So far I've enjoyed the little I've played so far. But some tinkering may be needed to help with frame dropping.
The game would drop frames and/or become grainy in more visually demanding moments (the intro video, for example).
I'm going to try messing with the configuration based on community recommendations and then will update my review.
HZD pushes the limits of the Steam Deck, but it's definitely playable! Be ready to make compromises for performance and/or battery life.
My preferences:
- Map L4 to Right Stick Click (focus scanner)
- Map R4 to the B button (cancel)
- Map L5 to the X button (interact)
- Map R5 to the A button (select)
- Map the Outer Ring Command on the Left Joystick to Left Stick Click (sprint)
- Enable gyro for more precise aiming
In Steam OS, set TDP limit to 11 Watts.
Note, this is a personal preference that differs from Cryobyte's recommendations but helps control heat, fan noise, and battery usage.
Sometimes on PC (Linux) the game will launch there but play in slow-motion, maybe 70% speed. Quitting and relaunching usually fixes it. I've never had this happen on Steam Deck.
Follow CyroByte33's guide for optimal settings as well as general Steam Deck tweaks for VRAM and Swap. https://youtu.be/xx9sf47sB9o
I put 115 hours into HZD between PC (Manjaro, core i5-2500k, GTX 1060, 16 GB RAM) and Steam Deck and completed 100% of missions and collectibles on Very Hard difficulty. Cloud Saves made it super convenient to swap devices! Overall it's a gorgeous game and was a fun experience.
It takes tinkering to get good performance and seems there are limitations possibly within the game engine itself. If you're a 60 FPS purist you might struggle to enjoy it on Deck but everyone else should be fine. However I don't think I could play the Ultra Hard difficulty mode just due to frametime inconsistency making it almost impossible to land precise arrow shots.
Turn off half rate shading if text is difficult to read
Fontionne très bien avec Proton Experimental. Testé sur Steam Deck et sur PC.
Sur Steam Deck vous pouvez aller chercher les 60 fps en configuration graphique faible et autours des 30 fps en élevée.
Does not reach 40fps even with absolute lowest settings. Doesn't even deserve playable status but is somehow verified.
On top of that, it has insane input lag (quarter of a second more than other games)