Horizon Zero Dawn™ Complete Edition Best Steam Deck Settings

By /

The first installment in Sony’s flagship open-world adventure series has finally made its debut on PC. Horizon Zero Dawn is Steam Deck Verified, meaning it not only runs on Valve’s handheld gaming machine but also has full support for all the bells and whistles your Steam Deck has to offer, including the trackpad and gyro.

Horizon Zero Dawn runs great from the get-go, but we can make it run even better with a few changes to the in-game and Steam OS settings. These are the best Steam Deck settings to get the most out of this post-apocalyptic romp.

Horizon Zero Dawn™ Complete Edition Best Steam Deck Settings

Compatibility Settings
Proton Version Default
BIOS Settings
UMA Frame Buffer Size 4G
CryoUtilities Settings
Swap File Size 16GB*
Swappiness 1
*Set to as large as your Steam Deck will allow

While Horizon Zero Dawn runs fine at the default settings, you can get a more consistent gaming experience by making some tweaks in your Steam Deck’s BIOS. You’ll also need CryoByte33’s excellent CryoUtilities for best results.

Battery Saver Settings (600p@30fps | ~3h)

These settings prioritize battery life for up to 3 hours of game time. You’ll have to make several sacrifices to the graphics to get there, but even with everything turned down, Horizon Zero Dawn looks impressive.

In-game Display Settings
Display Resolution 960×600
Field of View Default
Adaptive Performance FPS Off
FPS Limit 30
Render Scale 100%
Aspect Ratio Auto
Display Mode Fullscreen
V-sync Off
In-game Graphics Settings
Preset Favor Performance
FSR Quality
HUD Scale 1.20x

Steam Deck Performance Menu Settings
Refresh Rate 60
Framerate Limit 30
Allow Tearing Off
Half Rate Shading Off
Thermal Power (TDP) Limit On
Watts 6
Manual GPU Clock Control On
GPU Clock Frequency 600MHz
Scaling Filter Linear

Recommended — Balanced Settings (Native@40fps | ~1h30m)

These are our recommended settings, which get you a stable 40fps at native resolution. Forty frames per second is the ideal target framerate for most AAA games on the Steam Deck, as it’s noticeably less choppy than 30fps and doesn’t strain the APU as much as 60fps. This is the most playable configuration we have for you, and we recommend going with this one to get the best playing experience.

In-game Display Settings
Display Resolution 1280×800
Field of View Default
Adaptive Performance FPS 50FPS
FPS Limit 40
Render Scale 100%
Aspect Ratio Auto
Display Mode Windowed
V-sync Off
In-game Graphics Settings
Preset Original
FSR Off
HUD Scale 1.20x

Steam Deck Performance Menu Settings
Refresh Rate 40
Framerate Limit 40
Allow Tearing Off
Half Rate Shading Off
Thermal Power (TDP) Limit Off
Manual GPU Clock Control On
GPU Clock Frequency 1600Hz
Scaling Filter FSR

Best Quality Settings (Native@30fps | ~3h)

Want to see what the Steam Deck can really do? This preset gives you the best graphics possible on the Deck while maintaining a playable framerate of 30fps. If you can live without the extra 10fps, you might prefer this configuration over the last one.

In-game Display Settings
Display Resolution 1280×800
Field of View Default
Adaptive Performance FPS Off
FPS Limit 30
Render Scale 100%
Aspect Ratio Auto
Display Mode Windowed
V-sync Off
In-game Graphics Settings
Preset Custom
FSR Off
HUD Scale 1.20x
Model Quality Medium
Anisotropic Filtering High
Shadows Medium
Reflections Medium
Clouds Medium
Ambient Occlusion High
Anti-aliasing FXAA

Steam Deck Performance Menu Settings
Refresh Rate 60
Framerate Limit 30
Allow Tearing Off
Half Rate Shading Off
Thermal Power (TDP) Limit Off
Manual GPU Clock Control On
GPU Clock Frequency 1600Hz
Scaling Filter FSR

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top