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Is Genshin Impact Steam Deck compatible?

As one of the worlds most popular games, Genshin Impact can be played on the Steam Deck, but it takes a few extra steps to get it working.

Image of a genshin impact character with the steam deck overlayed

Is Genshin Impact Steam Deck compatible? While Genshin Impact has been available on other portable hardware like phones and tablets, the Steam Deck is still a great – and arguably better – way to take this RPG with you on the go. You might want to consider a storage upgrade though as the file size is a little hefty.

Genshin Impat’s system requirements are nothing to fear, and the Steam Deck – which is one of the best PC handhelds – will run the game with very little issue. However, with 135GB of storage space needed, you may want to consider picking up one of the best MicroSD cards for Steam Deck.

Is Genshin Impact Steam Deck compatible?

Yes! Genshin Impact can be played on the Steam Deck, but it’s not available through Steam or Epic Game Store, you instead need to download it natively as if you would a normal PC game and add it to your Steam Library.

To do this, you need to head into SteamOS desktop mode, head into your browser, and download Genshin Impact directly from the website. Once that’s sorted, find the .exe file and add it to your selected programs.

Now, you can head back to your Steam library and find the .exe again. Head to its properties, select compatibility mode, and then choose the Proton Experimental option.

You can now check where the game will be installed. If you have the required storage space available, then you won’t need to make any adjustments. If, however, you don’t have the onboard storage to spare, make sure you download it to an SD card or SSD.

There are now just two more checks to make. First, ensure that the controller layout of Steam is ‘gamepad with joystick or mouse trackpad’. From there, when in Genshin Impact, you need to adjust the in-game controls from the ‘keyboard and mouse’ to ‘controller’.

The game should be launched in Desktop Mode, but once it is running, you can switch back to Game Mode.

Genshin Impact is a game that will have you occupied for hundreds of hours, but if you’re after some added inspiration, check out a list of the best Steam Deck games that we’re always keeping up to date.