Is Final Fantasy 16 playable on Steam Deck?

Final Fantasy 16 was released as a PlayStation 5 exclusive in June of last year, giving us a glimpse of Clive Rosfield’s story in the long-running JRPG franchise. PC players were left out of this experience for a long time, but the wait is finally over as the title is coming to the platform on September 17, 2024.

The brand-new Final Fantasy dials up its gameplay and graphics elements to provide a true current-gen experience. Needless to say, this also makes Final Fantasy 16 quite taxing on weak hardware like the Steam Deck. While the game is available on the Steam Deck, players will need to make some significant sacrifices to get the title running on their handheld console.

This article covers the playability of Final Fantasy 16 on Steam Deck and what kind of performance players can expect.

---

Final Fantasy 16 is barely playable on the Steam Deck

Steam Deck requires some severe setting adjustments to push playable framerates (Image via Square Enix)

Square Enix announced that Final Fantasy 16 will be coming to PC on September 17, 2024, with a free playable demo available on both the PC and the Steam Deck. The demo provides players an opportunity to experience the opening act and see what kind of performance they can expect on their Steam Decks.

Unfortunately, as per many Reddit users, the Steam Deck struggles to maintain a constant 60 FPS on Final Fantasy 16 even with all in-game settings set to low. However, players can tweak the following system and in-game settings to achieve a playable 30 FPS on the handheld console:

• Setting in-game graphic settings to lowest.
• Setting resolution to 1280x720.
• Enabling AMD FSR and using it on Performance mode.
• Enabling frame generation.

With these optimized settings, players should be able to run the game on their Steam Deck, albeit with a significant loss of visual quality. That said, the performance can improve over time as Square Enix continues to support the game and push out performance and bug-fix updates.

Also check: 5 Settings you need to change for Final Fantasy XVI PC

---

Final Fantasy 16 PC system requirements

The minimum graphics requirement for Final Fantasy is a GTX 1070, which is understandable considering its incredible lighting and detailed world design. Moreover, the title seems to be CPU intensive, despite not being an open-world title like its predecessor. Here are the PC requirements for the upcoming Final Fantasy:

Minimum PC requirements:

• OS: Windows 10 / 11 64-bit
• Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 1600 / Intel Core i5-8400
• Memory: 16 GB RAM
• Graphics: AMD Radeon RX 5700 / Intel Arc A580 / NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070
• DirectX: Version 12
• Storage: 170 GB available space
• Additional Notes: 30FPS at 720p expected. SSD required. VRAM 8GB or above.

Recommended PC requirements:

• OS: Windows 10 / 11 64-bit
• Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 5700X / Intel Core i7-10700
• Memory: 16 GB RAM
• Graphics: AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT / NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080
• DirectX: Version 12
• Storage: 170 GB available space
• Additional Notes: 60FPS at 1080p expected. SSD required. VRAM 8GB or above.

Also check: Final Fantasy XVI review - An unforgettable ballad of combat and tragedy

---

The full version of the game can be purchased from September 17, 2024 onwards. However, if you want to test the performance of Final Fantasy 16 on your Steam Deck, we would recommend you download the demo via Steam before dropping money on the title.