No, but technically yes
HoYoverse’s free-to-play RPG Honkai: Star Rail has exploded in popularity. While this should be no surprise for the follow-up to the massively successful Genshin Impact, it’s still impressive to see how viral the game has gone. Part of Star Rail’s success involves its cross platform play between PC and mobile. But what if you wanted the best of both worlds in one device?
The Steam Deck should be the handheld that fits that bill. After all, even games that don’t natively launch on the device’s operating system may still load thanks to Steam Proton. Unfortunately, even if you like to tinker with your Steam Deck to make games run, Honkai: Star Rail requires an above average amount of work. It’s technically possible, but you might prefer playing the game on your mobile device.
How to run Honkai Star Rail on Steam Deck
You will not find Honkai: Star Rail on Steam in any capacity. In fact, Honkai: Star Rail won’t run on Linux at all. The game’s anti-cheat just won’t play nice with the operating system, no matter how many built-in workarounds you try. MiHoYo did release Honkai Impact 3rd on Steam, so Star Rail could receive an official release on the platform. However, considering the Steam version of Honkai Impact 3rd lacks any cross-platform support, I wouldn’t count on it.
If you feel truly determined to run Honkai: Star Rail on your Steam Deck, you have a specific way forward. By installing Windows on your device, you can make Honkai: Star Rail launch successfully. Players who have gone through the hassle of a Windows installation report running Honkai: Star Rail at around 45 FPS. Some have noted sound glitches and other similar issues, so your milage may vary.
That said, unless you have a ton of games to play on your Steam Deck that require Windows, this isn’t necessarily recommended. The Steam Deck was built with SteamOS in mind, so running Windows will typically add more hassle to your user experience than anything. In the future, the Steam Deck community may come up with workarounds to run Honkai: Star Rail on SteamOS. However, since the game is still new, I wouldn’t necessarily wait on this option if you really want to play the game.
If you do want to go through with a Windows Installation, you’ll find Valve’s official support page here. While I’d personally recommend just playing the game on a mobile device or finding a way to stream it from your Desktop, the option is there if you want it. Best of luck, Trailblazer.
