Valve’s handheld has proven itself to be a device capable of punching above its weight in situations you wouldn’t expect it to. The Deck proves itself once again with Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora which runs at an acceptable level on the device.
There are a couple of hurdles you’ll encounter. The biggest one is the fact that the game isn’t available on Steam’s store. Consequently, you’ll have to visit the Microsoft Store, Epic Games Store, or the Ubisoft Store to grab yourself a copy. You can access these stores on the Deck, and the Heroic Games Launcher will help you with EGS.
Things get a little trickier with the Ubisoft Store, though it can be added to your Steam Library with a little tinkering in desktop mode. As for Microsoft’s Store, you’re forced to switch to Windows OS. Out of the three launchers, Epic Games Store will probably be the easiest to set up and start playing Frontiers of Pandora.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora Steam Deck settings
I’ve experimented with Frontiers of Pandora on the handheld, and while it won’t be my primary platform for the game, it’s certainly viable. As is the case with most AAA games released in 2023, you’ll have to crank the visuals down significantly to get it running on the Deck. The plus side is that even on the lower graphical settings, it still looks pretty good. You’ll also enjoy a relatively consistent 30 FPS framerate.
Try these settings when exploring the Western Frontier:
Graphics
- Motion Blur – Optional (I’d suggest turning it on)
- Depth of Field – Off
Shadows
- Shadow Quality – Very Low (Low won’t affect performance too much)
- Sun Contact Shadows – Off
- Spot Shadows – Low
- Spot Shadow Resolution – Low
- Shadow Proxies – On (You can get away with turning it off)
Reflections
- Specular Reflection – Very Low
- Diffuse Reflection – Low
- Environmental Reflection Quality – Low
Volumetric Effects
- Volumetric Clouds – Low
- Volumetric Fog – Very Low
World Detail
- Extra Streaming Distance – 0
- Object Detail – 0
- BVH Quality – Low
- Microdetail Quality – Low
- Particle Detail – Very Low
- Scatter Density – Low
- Dither Fade – On
Textures
- Spotlight Projection Resolution – 128
- Destruction Quality – Low
- Terrain Tessellation – Low
For the best Frontiers of Pandora experience, play it on a capable PC or a console instead. If this isn’t an option, the Deck will get the job done.
