I also recommend sticking with the settings set to medium. Plus Skyrim still looks great on the Deck’s hardware, it’s just the lighting doesn’t beam as much. Yes, it looks really pretty, but it’s also a massive GPU hog that it’s not worth sacrificing the framerate to accommodate it.

It’s stunning for sure, but it’s also going to limit how well the game runs. The biggest hurdle with Skyrim on Steam Deck is the Godrays – light that pierces through foliage, cracks, and holes in walls. You really couldn’t ask for a better way to play Skyrim on the go. I’m not saying every external mod will work flawlessly, but enough of them do work to make the venture worthwhile.Īnd the best part? With the settings below, very few of the mods I applied affected performance in any meaningful way. While it’s not as clean as installing mods on Windows, the fact it’s possible once you’ve downloaded the right tools makes the Steam Deck version a must for fans of the series.ĭuring the review period, I was able to install texture mods, co-op, SKSE, cheats, and a mod to enable achievements while mods are active, to name a few. Textures are clear and visible, shadows render smoothly, and load times are relatively fast.Īlso, to my sheer delight, you can mod Skyrim on Steam Deck. Visually, Skyrim doesn’t match the crispness seen on consoles and high-end PCs, but it’s still a massive step up from the original release. I’d even go as far as calling the experience smooth. Frames will dip into the high-40s, before instantly returning back into the 50 to 60 frames range.

Skyrim doesn’t have anything near a stable framerate, but then it doesn’t on PC and console either. It’s a game that’s held together by aging duct tape and wishful thinking, and how well the Steam Deck could mimic the PC experience was up in the air.Īs it turns out, Skyrim runs really well on the Steam Deck. I’ll admit I was somewhat concerned coming into Skyrim on Steam Deck. I know this because I – like many others – have spent far too many hours playing Bethesda’s role-play game. Let’s face it, if you’ve played Skyrim on PC, there’s a high chance you’re going to want to play it on Steam Deck.

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