Today, I’m diving into Kingdom Come: Deliverance. Huge thanks to Deep Silver for giving me a key to test this out on the Steam Deck. I’m really hyped for the next version coming out later this year, so I wanted to revisit the first game to see how it runs on the Deck and to find the best settings for it. I know many of you will want to get into the vibe before the next release.
As you can see, the game runs very well on the Deck and looks absolutely gorgeous on the OLED screen. Even the cut scenes run between 30 and 60 frames per second. However, none of the settings I’ll show you will get a consistent 60 FPS. Most of the time, you’ll be around 40 FPS, with occasional spikes.
Here’s the setup I found works best: full screen mode with no VSync, starting with the highest graphic settings, then tweaking down object quality, physics, post-process quality, shader quality, and textures to medium, and turning off motion blur. Everything else remains on the high preset. For the most part, this setup keeps you between 40 and 50 FPS.
Capping it at 45 FPS on the Deck provides a stable experience, which I highly recommend. However, since 45 isn’t a multiple of 30, it doesn’t cap on my external capture card, which is why it didn’t take effect in my footage. But, when moving around, it sits just above 45 FPS most of the time, even in combat.
Combat in Kingdom Come: Deliverance is quite challenging. That tutorial section you saw is actually a couple of hours into the game. It’s a lengthy game, with over 100 hours of gameplay. If you enjoy games like For Honor and the open-world feel of Skyrim, this is definitely for you.
The game is a bit high on wattage, and combat takes some getting used to. Capping the frame rate at 30 FPS doesn’t save much power and introduces some input latency. While it saves one or two watts, the hit on the overall experience isn’t worth it. The game feels smoother with the frame rate uncapped. Leaving it uncapped or capping it at 45 FPS will give you about 2 to 2.5 hours of gameplay on battery without needing a power bank or charger.
The game runs exceptionally well, but there’s a lot of running around if you don’t have a horse, which takes up a lot of time. The map is quite large, so there’s plenty of walking and scenery to enjoy.