Enshrouded is new indie release making waves on Steam, and while it is still in early access, some folks have already logged hundreds of hours playing the survival crafting game. If you have to share a PC with someone, or you just want a chance to play the game while aout and about, you might be wondering whether or not you can play Enshrouded on the Steam Deck.
The short answer is yes. However, it isn’t verified to do so, and you’ll need to change a few settings to get the best performance out of your Deck. Here’s how I got it up and running.
How to get Enshrouded running on Steam Deck
I won’t sugar coat it: The Steam Deck is not the ideal way to play Enshrouded. While you certainly can get it working, things will still be a little iffy when it comes to performance.
Credit: Joshua Hawkins
However, after juggling some settings and experimenting with my options, I’ve found some helpful tweaks that should provide a fairly stable 30 fps experience throughout your time with the game. Again, performance can vary here, and I have seen the game drop below 30 fps more than a couple of times during my testing, but the screenshot above will give you a rough idea of what Enshrouded looks like running on my Steam Deck after my fiddling about: Not so bad.
Install CryoUtilities for better performance
Firstly, I highly recommend installing CryoUtilities on your Steam Deck before you attempt anything. The program helps most games perform better, especially intensive titles like Enshrouded, and even Palworld. If you don’t have it installed, check out my guide on how to improve your Steam Deck’s performance for more information.
Once the game is installed, you should change a few key settings right away. Launch it an navigate to Settings via the main menu. From there, adjust the following settings to these values:
Anti-Aliasing: FSR2
FSR2 Quality: Balance
Texture Resolution: Quality
Shadow Quality: Performance
Contact Shadows: Off
Indirect Lighting: Balance
Reflections: Balance
Fog Quality: Performance
Volumetric Shadow Quality: Performance
SSAO: Performance
Distant Objects: Off
Voxel Detail Models: Off
Small Foliage: Performance
Tessellation: Off
Point Light Shadows: Off
By all means, mess with these settings as you see fit—but this is where I landed after a significant amount of testing and experimentation. For example, both FSR2 Quality and Texture Resolution can be lowered to improve frames slightly, but I found that dropping them beyond the settings I’ve noted above resulted in gameplay that was full of jagged lines and ugly textures.
Enshrouded is never going to have the sleek, refined look of most modern AAA games, because that isn’t the vibe the developers are going for. But dropping the resolution any lower does muddy the graphics a bit too much for my own preferences. Maybe you’ll feel differently. And at the very least you’ll be able to enjoy playing the game whenever and wherever you want to.
