HoYoverse
Can you play Zenless Zone Zero on Steam Deck? How to install it on the handheld
Zenless Zone Zero has officially released, and Steam Deck users can get in on the fun, but there’s some steps to take before you can do so.
After years of development, Zenless Zone Zero has finally been released. The newest HoYoverse title is an amazingly fun urban sci-fi action RPG, and is officially available on iOS and Android devices, as well as on Windows PC and PlayStation 5. But given the nature of its gameplay and how it is structured for short gameplay sessions, as many mobile games are, those of us with Steam Decks look at it as a perfect candidate to play on Valve’s handheld.
So is ZZZ Steam Deck compatible? Well, as of right now the game is not available on Steam, it hasn’t been rated or verified for the device, and it’s not natively compatible with Linux platforms… But if you know how to do so, it is possible to download and play on the Steam Deck, and as it turns out it runs pretty smoothly once you do.
How to download Zenless Zone Zero on Steam Deck
It’s no secret that you can download non-Steam games onto your Steam Deck, and Proton allows users to fiddle around with compatibility to find ways of making games work. In the case of ZZZ, there are a few different steps you have to take to play, but thankfully it’s made much easier as the game is available on the Epic Games Store. So assuming you already have an Epic account, this is what you need to do:
How to install Zenless Zone Zero on Steam Deck:
- Switch your Steam Deck into “Desktop Mode”.
- In the discovery window, search for and install the “Heroic Games Launcher” app.
- Open the Heroic Games Launcher and log into your Epic Games Account from inside the app. Doing so will allow you to see your Epic Games library from Heroic Games Launcher, as well as browse said store.
- Find and download Zenless Zone Zero in the Epic Games Store, through the Heroic Games Launcher
- After installation, run ZZZ. The HoYoverse launcher is going to claim you don’t have enough space, so click on “Change” and select the following directory: “My Computer > C: > Program Files (x86)”
- Allow the launcher to download and install the game (You’ll need at least 110 GB of available storage)
- After the game is installed, close the launcher. From Heroic Games Launcher’s ZZZ page, click on the triple-dot icon on the upper right part of the page, and click on “Add to Steam”. Now the game will be available on the Steam Deck’s “Game Mode” menu.
- Change the Steam Deck back into “Game Mode”, and restart the device.
- Done! Now you can run Zenless Zone Zero on your Steam Deck.
There are a few things of note to remember when it comes to playing ZZZ on your Steam Deck. First of all, whenever you open the game it’ll boot up the HoYoverse launcher first, which requires mouse input. You can either click on the “play” button using the touchscreen, or you can set up the trackpads to act as a mouse. However, in-game you’ll have no issues as it has full controller support.
Secondly, you’ll have to mess around with the settings in-game to get the best experience. Below you’ll find the graphics options we’ve chose to go for, with them giving us a stable 60fps without dipping to low into the 40fps range when in the most processing intensive screens:
- FPS: 60
- VSync: Enable
- Rendering: 1.0
- Anti-Aliasing: TAA
- Shadows: Low
- FX Quality: Medium
- Character Quality: High
- Environment Quality: Medium
- Shading Quality: High
- Mirror Reflection: Off
- Volumetric Fog: Medium
- Bloom: On
- Distortion(Chromatic Aberration): On
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