How well does Panzer Dragoon: Remake run on the Steam Deck in 2025? Performance is great and the game is very easy to get going by default.
I recently acquired a Steam Deck OLED and decided to take Panzer Dragoon: Remake for a spin to see how the experience fares in 2025. Early adopters of the Steam Deck faced numerous compatibility issues playing their Steam libraries on the Steam Deck, due to the system’s operating system not being Windows. Steam Deck runs Valve’s SteamOS which is a Linux distribution built with a controller centric UI. To play Windows games, the software runs through a compatibility layer, which initially meant that many games simply didn’t run. But a lot has a changed since the Steam Deck first arrived in 2022; most Steam games now have some level of compatibility with SteamOS.
I’m happy to say that current version of Panzer Dragoon: Remake runs very well on the Steam Deck. No tinkering was required to get the game to run from the default user interface. Using the copy of the game that I bought from Steam a while back, I selected the game from my library, noting that it is not yet listed as a Steam Deck verified game. Upon loading the game I was greeted with the title screen showing the game version as 1.4.2.
The Steam Deck lets players choose from different community button layouts, but I found that the default “Official Layout for Panzer Dragoon: Remake - Gamepad” by MegaPixel Studio S. A. resulted in the expected controller layout, the same as what you’d find on consoles. Using the Steam Deck in handheld code, the system’s controller support is better than on Windows 11 using a bluetooth controller, which still contains an outstanding bug where an Xbox controller is not detected when the game starts up.
The game runs at a maximum resolution of 1280x800 in handheld mode, which is the Steam Deck’s native resolution. Other settings can be turned right up, resulting in a game that looks great on the OLED’s vibrant 7.4” display, especially when compared to the Nintendo Switch version running in handheld mode. Running at a smooth and consistent 60 frames per second, Panzer Dragoon: Remake on Steam Deck also features significantly shorter load times, which are notoriously lengthy on the Switch. I played through all seven episodes of the game and didn’t notice any performance dips or glitches; for all practical purposes, Panzer Dragoon: Remake could be Steam Deck verified.
These technical wins over running the game on Nintendo hardware will likely become less pronounced when the Switch 2 arrives later this year, but for now, running Panzer Dragoon: Remake on Deck is the definitive way to play the game in handheld mode. It’s also worth pointing out that for the plug and play experience, the Switch is still unsurpassed when it comes to docking to a TV and continuing on the big screen. The Steam Deck’s controller based UI is for handheld mode only; playing games docked requires switching to desktop mode - not the most seamless experience. You could also get one of the other handheld PCs for similar performance, but you’ll need to deal with Windows until SteamOS becomes more widely supported outside of Valve’s own hardware. A big part of the draw to SteamOS is just how well it works with a controller for launching and switching games compared to Windows.
I also tried the GOG version of the game. Getting this to run requires jumping through significantly more hoops than the Steam version. Since the Steam Deck is an open platform, there are no hard restrictions as to what software can be run on the device. There is no official GOG Galaxy client for SteamOS/Linux, so to play the GOG version of Panzer Dragoon: Remake, I switched to desktop mode, and downloaded a third party application called the Heroic Games Launcher. This allowed me to sign into my GOG account and download the game. By default the game doesn’t run, however after installing an experimental version of WINE (which was automatically downloaded after a prompt), the game loaded up. Performance was similar to the Steam version, but by the default the controls were poorly configured: the right analog stick moved the dragon, the right trigger for lock-on/shoot, and there was no way to rotate the view. No doubt there’s a way to configure this, but I decided to stop the experiment at this point. For the best experience on Steam Deck you’ll want to play the Steam version.
Overall, I recommend the Steam Deck as a way to play Panzer Dragoon: Remake on a handheld in 2025. If there’s interest, I may cover getting the older Panzer Dragoon games running on Deck via emulation in the future.