If you’re into city-builder games with a ton of strategy, Manor Lord is an amazing title. The game was just released for the Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. For all you Deckers out there, there’s great news. Slavic Magic isn’t going to keep you from enjoying this game on your handheld console. Yes, that’s right. Despite release in an early access state, the game’s also available on the Valve Steam Deck.
After selling over a million copies on its launch day, Manor Lord is the first-ever city-builder game with the highest concurrent players on Steam! Of course, being available on Valve’s platform and actually being playable are two different stories. If you’re curious whether your Steam Deck can handle the game, we’ve already got you covered.
Did you really think we wouldn’t test it out for you? Our team’s been busy testing it to give you the low-down on optimal settings for the best experience.
What it’s Like to Run Manor Lords on the Steam Deck?
When we first saw the system requirements, it felt good to know that Slavic Magic made the game easy for a handheld console like the Steam Deck to handle the game. What is really surprising for us is how amazing the game looks. Zooming out as far as you can, you’ll see what an expansive world the game offers. That said, the game doesn’t offer you full controller support right now. You’re going to be using the trackpad and triggers to navigate through the game.
If you zoom in, you can actually see a lot of vivid detail right down to the character level. That is a remarkable amount of detail, especially considering that you’re playing the game on a handheld device.
While testing right off the bat, the game’s performance on the Steam Deck is actually satisfactory. In terms of smoothness, it will need a few adjustments. The Steam Deck’s hardware isn’t exactly tuned for it. To get the best out of the game, you’ll have to tweak the graphics settings.
Best Settings for Manor Lords on Steam Deck
Sure, you can try running the game and adjusting the settings yourself. To make it easier for you, here’s our breakdown of the best settings for Manor Lords on Steam Deck to get the best gameplay experience:
Resolution | 1280x800 |
Anti-aliasing | FSR |
FSR Quality | Quality |
VSync | Off |
Max framerate | 30 |
Sharpening | Medium |
Shader quality | High |
Shadow quality | Medium |
Postprocess quality | Medium |
Bounced light approximation | High |
Volumetric clouds | On |
Terrain texture resolution | High |
View distance | High |
Grass density | High |
Grass distance | High |
Foliage quality | High |
With these settings, you’ll get a good balance between amazing visuals and smooth gameplay. Since it’s a smaller screen, you won’t be able to tell that you’re actually playing the game on Steam Deck.
Capping the gameplay at 30 FPS makes a lot of sense. You’re not playing a fast-paced game that needs a really smooth framerate. 30 FPS is pretty great for the scale of the game, considering you’re playing it on a smaller screen.
While you can switch anti-aliasing to TAA, keeping it at FSR is the best way to get a little bit more stability in your gameplay. The game will have 40 FPS support soon on the Steam Deck. When that happens, you can set the anti-aliasing at XESS with quality at ‘Balanced’ to enjoy a higher framerate.
What’s the Gameplay of Manor Lords on Steam Deck Like?
Since there’s no controller implementation yet, rotating the screen based on how you’d like will feel a little frustrating. For the most part, you’ll be able to navigate the game just fine right now. We’re in love with the sheer scale and how much time it takes to build up the world in this game. It makes complete sense why it’s getting this popular so early after its release. To make things even better, Manor Lords also has a walk-around mode.
It definitely takes a little getting used to and the mode is experimental. The game even warns you that it can be somewhat glitchy in that mode. However, being able to walk around and interact with all your workers and peasants and watching everything up close is fun. While the game can dip a bit below 30 FPS at this level, the visual details are incredible. The game even offers a community mapping feature, which will effectively let you interact with maps from other players. Of course, we recommend waiting on diving into that right now. With all the problems you’ll face navigating it without proper control implementation, it might not be a lot of fun to do that.
What’s Our Verdict on Manor Lords on Steam Deck?
Overall, we think it’s easily one of the most remarkable titles you’ll come across on the Steam Deck. Sure, it’s still in its initial stage, but the first impression is amazing. The game is mesmerizing for all the details it offers.
If you look at how smoothly it transitions into winter with all the snow and environmental changes, you’ll forget you're playing the game on a Steam Deck. The change in seasons doesn’t just make the game look different. It also affects where you’ll be foraging from and how the game behaves.
While you can enjoy the game right now, playing it without proper controller support is going to be annoying. We are very excited to see what the developers have in store for all of us. If you are really excited about the game, it’s good enough to give it a whirl right now. As for truly enjoying the experience, we’ll be waiting at the edge of our seats with the rest of you for developers to release a Steam Deck-specific update.