I had the unique opportunity to dive into the "Phantom Galaxies" world before its official release on November 15, thanks to Blowfish Studios for the key and pre-early access.
From the outset, "Phantom Galaxies" impresses with its performance on the Steam Deck. It's a game still polishing its edges, but its potential shines through. The unique twist of this title is the seamless transition between spaceship and mech, offering a diverse gameplay experience. Flying a mech requires a bit of acclimatization, but the challenge adds to the game's allure.
However, running this ambitious game on the Steam Deck has compromises. To ensure smooth gameplay, I found the best settings to be a resolution of 1280x800, low texture quality, medium anti-aliasing, high effects quality, and other settings on low. Disabling volumetric fog and motion blur, along with setting Shadow Cascades to low, also helps maintain performance.
Navigating space stations in the game can strain the Deck's capabilities, but it manages to hold a steady 30 frames per second, which feels quite fluid. Despite occasional server spikes – likely due to pre-Early Access limitations – the game's performance is commendable.
Cutscenes in "Phantom Galaxies" run flawlessly, complemented by excellent voice acting. The character models have quirky moments, but the mech graphics are stunning, showcasing the developers' attention to detail. Some lengthy transitions during space jumps are understandable given the hardware's limitations and should improve with server upgrades.
Playing in space battles, the Steam Deck impresses with 40 to 50 frames per second, ensuring an engaging experience. Adapting to the control scheme, especially toggling between mech and ship modes, presents a learning curve, mainly because the pre-access version lacked optimal controller mappings. Fortunately, the developers have promised improvements in the final release, especially regarding controller prompts.
"Phantom Galaxies" on the Steam Deck is a journey of discovery, mixing high-flying space battles with intricate mech maneuvers. As I leave you with more gameplay footage, sans commentary, to better appreciate the game's performance and visuals, I encourage fellow gamers to share their thoughts. Is this a game you see yourself diving into on the Steam Deck?