Is Marvel Rivals Steam Deck compatible? Yes, Marvel Rivals now has Playable status on Steam Deck, and we’ve tried out the game as well. The gaming experience is surprisingly smooth, even with decent graphics settings, thanks to some help from FSR. However, getting the game up and running can be a bit fiddly.
Being able to run Marvel Rivals is good news for owners of the best handheld gaming PC, as the game wasn’t playable on Steam Deck when it first launched. As the Marvel Rivals system requirements are pretty low-spec, the game has no trouble running on the Steam Deck’s hardware, it’s mainly just small text and the need to use the trackpads and keyboard input that stop it from being a flawless experience.
Is Marvel Rivals Steam Deck compatible?
Marvel Rivals has a Playable Steam Deck rating, meaning it runs on the device, but you occasionally have to use the keyboard input and trackpads to navigate the menus and launch the game.
When booting up Marvel Rivals on the Steam Deck, you’ll first be met with a warning that the game’s launcher doesn’t support controller input, and that you’ll need to use the trackpads and touch-screen. Further warnings come up the next few times you load the game too, telling you about the need to use keyboard input, and how to use the screen magnifyer for small text.
The end result works, though, and you can get into the game this way. You also have to (manually) bring up the keyboard input to set your character name, which is a bit clunky.
Once you’re in the game, it defaults to the standard Steam Deck controls, and the tutorial gets them all right – there’s no fiddling around in the menus, wondering which control maps to which button. However, the text is small to the point of being unreadable on the Deck’s screen in some places, and you still have to use the touch-screen or trackpads to navigate the in-game menus.
Marvel Rivals best Steam Deck settings
Marvel Rivals runs surprisingly well on the Steam Deck and, thanks to some help from AMD FSR upscaling and frame generation, you don’t need to run it all on low settings either, or with the worst FSR setting. I found the following settings worked well in the game on Steam Deck, averaging 50-60fps.
These are the best Marvel Rivals Steam Deck settings:
- Anti-Aliasing and Super Resolution Type AMD FSR
- Super Resolution Mode Balanced
- Super Resolution Sharpening 80
- Frame Generation Mode AMD FSR 3 Frame Generation
- Limit FPS Off
- V-Sync Off
- Graphics Quality Medium
- Global Illumination SSGI
- Reflection Quality Screen Space Reflections
- Model Detail High
- Post Processing Medium
- Shadow Detail Medium
- Texture Detail Medium
- Effects Detail Medium
- Foliage Quality Medium
If you find the game slowing down in more frantic areas, this also gives you a bit of headroom to turn down the settings further, opting for the Performance FSR 3 preset, and/or setting some of the graphics settings to Low.
If you’re looking for more titles to play on your deck in the meantime, you can check out our list of the best Steam Deck games currently available. Every game is hand-picked and tested for your peace of mind.