Steam Deck

Sons of the Forest Best Steam Deck Settings

Don't miss out on these game-changing settings for the best Sons of the Forest experience on your Deck.

Sons of the Forest, the highly-anticipated sequel to the cult-favorite The Forest, has taken the gaming world by storm with its captivating blend of survival horror, open-world exploration, and intense multiplayer action. What makes this game truly exceptional is its ability to immerse players in a chillingly atmospheric world filled with mystery and danger, while also providing a platform for thrilling cooperative experiences with friends. And what's even more exciting is that Sons of the Forest is an excellent fit for portable gaming, making it a perfect match for the Steam Deck. In this article, we'll guide you through the best Steam Deck settings for Sons of the Forest, ensuring that you can enjoy this spine-tingling adventure at its absolute best while on the go.

Sons of the Forest Best Steam Deck Settings

Compatibility Settings
Proton VersionDefault

You won't believe it, but Sons of the Forest practically runs like a charm on the Steam Deck right out of the box—no fussing around with settings needed. It's come a long way since its rocky launch, thanks to the devs' hard work. As of now, the game keeps a mostly solid 30 frames per second, giving us a pretty decent gaming fix. There are still stability issues to need ironing out, but with regular updates dropping, it's only going to get better in the coming weeks and months.

Recommended — Balanced Settings (Native@40fps | ~1h45m)

The September 2023 update (Update 9) brought a flood of optimizations that finally made the game fully playable at a rough 30 frames per second. Stability issues still linger in this early stage of development, but we can try to get around them with a configuration that shoots for 30 fps by tuning the settings down as low as they can go. Visually, it's a far cry from the game's true potential, but in its current state, these settings are the most reliable and playable.

Graphics Settings
Quality Preset Custom
Draw Distance Ultra Low
Ambient Occlusion Off
Fog Quality Off
Anisotropic Textures Off
Shadow Quality Ultra Low
Clouds Low
Grass Low
Water Low
Parallax Distance Low
Billboard Quality Low
Texture Resolution Half
Weather Occlusion Quality Low
Features
Anti Aliasing Off
Dynamic Resolution Off
Bloom Off
Screen Space Reflection Off
Motion Blur Off
Micro Shadowing Off
Contact Shadow Off
Chromatic Abberation Off*
Style
Film Grain Off*
Color Grade Default*
*Set to personal preference.
Steam Deck Performance Menu Settings
Refresh Rate60
Framerate Limit30
Allow TearingOn
Half Rate ShadingOff
Thermal Power (TDP) LimitOff
Manual GPU Clock ControlOff
Scaling FilterLinear