Sony Interactive Entertainment appears to be pretty content with how Steam Deck handles the beautiful world of Horizon Zero Dawn.
Taking to Twitter earlier today, Shuhei Yoshida, head of independent developer initiative, teased his followers by showing Horizon Zero Dawn running on Steam Deck. While the former Sony Worldwide Studios president never shared any recorded footage, he did exclaim happiness over how the rather demanding game runs on the new handheld console.
Thanks to @valvesoftware, checking out #HorizonZeroDawn on Steam Deck 😀 pic.twitter.com/rO9ev0NLkR
— Shuhei Yoshida (@yosp) October 29, 2021
Horizon Zero Dawn requires a lot of hardware juice to hit 60 frames per second (or higher) in 4K resolution. Steam Deck however features support for an equivalent of 720p (or less) with a frame cap of 30 frames per second to enhance its battery life, which means that Aloy and her adventures against the towering robotic creatures will take a hit in terms of visual fidelity.
Steam Deck has been designed by publisher Valve to be a portable PC of sorts. The device can play most games found on the Steam Store, including modern-day triple-a games, while also being able to do so much more.
Just like an actual desktop system, Steam Deck users can choose to install Windows as well as other third-party software and applications. That also includes game launches and clients such as the Epic Games Store.
Valve has started reviewing its entire catalog of games on the Steam Store to determine which games are fully of partially compatible with Steam Deck. The compatibility factor, even if games are not supported at all, will be labelled as such on the Steam Store to inform users before they make purchases.
Steam Deck launches around the coming 2021 holiday season. It comes in several editions with the cheapest being $350, the same as the new Nintendo Switch OLED model but far more powerful in comparison.
