Cyberpunk 2077

Cyberpunk may have come out way back in 2020, but recent updates have dramatically changed and improved it for the better. With September’s 1.6 “Edgerunners Update” the dystopian future sim is much more stable and reliable, and it even runs remarkably well on Steam Deck. It is the only non-Verified experience on this list. Valve currently assesses it at just “Playable” status, but the novelty of playing Cyberpunk 2077 on the go, and the overall reliability of this game on Valve’s mini PC, makes it well worth the exception.

Though 2077 comes with its own “Steam Deck” graphics settings in the main menu, I’ve found that you may want to tweak further to get a more consistent level of performance. Expect a 30fps experience. Scale back your shadows. I like to switch off Film Grain and Chromatic Aberration to get a cleaner image on the smaller screen. You may also find luck dropping the resolution to 720p as opposed to the Deck’s native 1280×800. This results in black bars at the top and bottom, but gives the Deck just a bit more breathing room to ensure stable performance.

While the performance of Cyberpunk on Steam Deck is frighteningly good for the form factor, I have personally run into a few issues when putting the game into a suspend state. Occasionally the audio gets chopped up or even plays at double speed when resuming, especially after returning to it a day or so later. Best practice might be to save and quit out and when you’re done with a session.

If you’ve purchased Cyberpunk on GOG, fret not. Install the Heroic Games Launcher from the Deck’s desktop and you’ll be able to add Cyberpunk to Steam as a non-Steam game.