Final Fantasy 16 PC: Best settings for Steam Deck

Final Fantasy 16 is finally making its way to PC, so we’ve gathered the best settings to make the world of Valisthea look its best on Steam Deck.

The world of FF16 is incredibly graphically demanding on Steam Deck. Not to mention, the highly-detailed world that Clive and the many Eikons inhabit is full of action-packed battles, which even pushed the pixel-pushing PlayStation 5 to its limits.

The FF16 demo launched on Steam on August 19 and has since given us a worrying insight into how Clive’s full journey may perform on the Deck.

The action-packed RPG ran on average around 30FPS on Steam Deck, with stuttering and lag aplenty, even on the lowest graphics preset.

If you still want to experience Final Fantasy 16 on the go, we’ve put the game to the test on the Valve handheld and gathered the best settings we recommend.

Best settings for Steam Deck

• Screen Resolution: 1280 x 720
• Graphics Preset: Custom
• Super Resolution: AMD FSR 3
• AMD FSR 3 Frame Generation: On
• Frame Rate: 45 FPS
• Graphical Fidelity: Low
• Texture Quality: Low
• Terrain Detail: Low
• Shadow Quality: Low
• Water Quality: Low
• Clutter Density: Low
• NPC Quantity: Low
• Variable Rate Shading (VRS): On

Settings	Average FPS
Graphics Preset Low	30 FPS
Graphics Preset Mid	29 FPS
Graphics Preset High	26 FPS
Graphics Preset Ultra	20 FPS

The action-packed fight between Ifrit and Phoenix at the beginning of the demo looks like a queasy-inducing mess. While the Steam Deck insisted it was running between 30-35FPS, the handheld struggled to keep up while the Eikons battled it out.

Worse still, the game’s cutscenes, though insisted they were running between 30 and 60 FPS, trodded along at a Tonberry’s pace. For the Steam version, the cut scenes are capped at 30 FPS, but I would bet my gil that is not the case, as far as the demo is concerned.

Square Enix

Final Fantasy XVI will launch on September 17 on Steam. While the demo remains somewhat playable, hopefully, Square Enix will better optimize the action when it comes to the full release.

In the meantime, if you’re desperate to play FFXVI on the go, we recommend using Chiaki or Moonlight to stream the game to the Steam Deck instead.

You still won’t get that frame-tight accuracy but it’s a smoother experience than the demo currently offers when it comes to native performance.

Looking for more Steam Deck guides? We have you covered with our ultimate starter guide. Check out our How to add Xbox and PC Game Pass games on Steam Deck if you’re looking for even more Steam Deck games to play on the go.