Is V Rising Available To Play On Steam Deck?

Publish date: 2024-08-15

Wondering if you can play V Rising on the Steam Deck? Look no further - learn everything to know about its compatibility right here.

First Published May 8, 2023, 10:51

V Rising was a breakout hit, securing over 120,000 concurrent players after its initial Early Access release in 2022. Since then, developer Stunlock Studios have continuously worked on smoothing out the game, fixing a myriad of bugs and issues, and improving the overall player experience ahead of the game's full release. That being said, many players still wonder if it's possible to play V Rising on the Steam Deck. If you're wondering the same -- don't sweat it. Continue reading to learn more about V Rising's compatibility with the Steam Deck device.

Reminder: The V Rising: Secrets of Gloomrot update releases on 17 May 2023 and will introduce many new gameplay changes, which may affect the accuracy of the contents of this guide. In this regard, we will endeavor to update this page as soon as possible.

Can You Play V Rising On Steam Deck?

The answer to this question is both yes and no. Valve’s changelog for the Proton 7.0-3 update published in June 2022 shows that you can play V Rising on Steam Deck. However, this compatibility is limited to "playable" status, a rating shared by a long list of other gameplay titles: Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide, Age of Chivalry, Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamer Edition, and more. So to be clear, V Rising is not a verified Steam Deck title.

This incompatibility is likely attributed to V Rising not having any controller support. According to a response from the developer to a player request on Twitter, while they're not working on controller support for the game, "it isn't impossible," but players shouldn't "expect it". So while you could technically play V Rising on the Steam Deck under the "playable" status, it presumably won't be a compelling experience.

How To Play V Rising On Steam Deck

While V Rising may not be available for PC players to hop into on the Steam Deck, there is a workaround solution to get the game running on the handheld console. According to GamingOnLinux, you can run the isometric survival game on the Steam Deck and Linux desktops through a software tool.

To run the game on the Steam deck, you'll need to install a compatibility tool, Proton, which, used together with the Steam client, lets the device run games compatible with the Steam Deck. Then, locate Proton Experimental within the Steam library, navigate to the Properties sub-menu, and find the Beta tab.

Choose the "bleeding-edge" option from the dropdown menu within the Beta tab before selecting V Rising from your game library. Then, from the game's Steam page, go to Properties again, and this time, choose the Compatibility tab and check the box beside Proton Experimental.

From here, you can run Steam Deck-supported games on the handheld console; however, some players have reported issues like gameplay video not running. Other notable issues include dropped framerates and game crashes, so running V Rising through Proton Experimental may not be worthwhile.

Featured image courtesy of Stunlock Studios.