Zenless Zone Zero is the newest launch from HoYoverse, available to be played on PC, iOS, Android, and PS5. It was announced in May 2022 and was released in July 2024. However, all HoYoverse games launch in the Epic Store and therefore Steam Deck faces problems in running these games, sometimes even failing to run.
The Steam Deck is technically a PC and runs on an OS based on Linux. It isn't difficult to download the game from its official website. But the main problem is the incompatibility of the anti-cheat with Steam Deck's Proton, which the handheld uses to play Windows games on Linux. HoYoverse's anti-cheat detects Proton as a third-party software and does not launch the game.
This has been a common occurrence with the past games launched by the developer. So will Zenless Zone Zero follow the suit as the other games or will it successfully run on Proton without hiccups? This article answers that question by covering the cause of failure to launch and the ways using which you can run it.
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How to play Zenless Zone Zero on Steam Deck?
HoYoverse games have a difficult history on the Steam Deck. Previously, multiple gamers reported issues with titles like Honkai Star Rail and Genshin Impact. However, you can get the game up and running on the console with a few workarounds we will discuss in this article.
HoYoverse does not officially support Steam because they are legally bound in a contract with Epic for an exclusive launch. However, they do support the players trying to run their games. Genshin Impact didn't run on Steam Deck due to the incompatibility of the anti-cheat with SteamOS. The issues were surprisingly ironed out with the patch 3.8 that proceeded after.
None of the other games from the developers are officially supported, so you need to tinker around to install and launch Zenless Zone Zero on Steam Deck. Here are the ways you can install the game.
1) By installing Windows on the Steam Deck
There are mainly three ways of doing it: installing the Windows on an SD card and dual booting them, installing on the SSD itself by altering the partition and then dual booting the Steam Deck, or simply erasing the Steam Deck and installing Windows.
The safest way is to tinker with the partition and then install Windows on the SSD itself and then dual boot it or install Windows on a separate SD card. However, installing it on the SD card may cause some performance issues. We don't recommend the third option.
2) By using the Heroic Launcher
By using the Heroic Launcher you can easily pre-download Zenless Zone Zero on the Steam Deck. You can face space detection issues when installing through the Heroic Launcher if you try to install it on any other drive instead of the C drive. However, if you can look past it, the game runs smoothly and you can easily navigate the settings with it. The controllers work fine as well.
You just have to check if Zenless Zone Zero logs in successfully because so far the game looks and feels smooth and normal. Make sure you are on GE Proton 9.9.
3) Several other ways
You can use the Junk Store Decky Plugin to install the game. The plugin directly accesses your Epic Games library without needing an Epic Games client like Heroic. It is a comparatively hassle-free way to play the game because the plugin manages all the settings for you. But you need to be careful while installing the plugin because any misstep can cause the game to not run later.
Many other launchers, which won't be named here to prevent them from being killed or patched, can be used to install and play the game.
So, the short answer is that Steam Deck can install Zenless Zone Zero and run it. However, unless the properly game launches and we get to move past the login page, we can't be sure. Genshin Impact runs smoothly even using the official launcher but Honkai Star Rail does not. So, it all depends on HoYoverse on how they want to optimize Zenless Zone Zero.
