Doom: The Dark Ages runs surprisingly well on the Steam Deck
Doom: The Dark Ages is not Steam Deck verified, and a cursory glance at is system requirements tells us the handheld might not have the requisite firepower to run the game. While reviewing the game, it wouldn't even boot up on my Deck OLED, but now, that is no longer the case. An update (H/T Cary Golomb) to the Steam Deck preview channel (SteamOS 3.7.6) finally lets us bypass the Bugsplat error message and test how the game runs.
Setting Doom: The Dark Ages up to run on the Steam Deck is relatively easy. We set the resolution to 1,280 x 720, switched off Depth of Field and Chromatic Aberration. For upscaling, we used FSR Quality. Switching to Balanced didn't result in much of a performance difference, so you can use either. Frame Gen has to be switched off because it greatly degraded performance. And everything else was set to low. We kept the game's UI elements intact for an apples-to-apples comparison with PC.
With the above settings, we could get an easy 30 FPS in most regions, with that figure going as high as 42 FPS in an unpopulated region with minimal textures. But the 30 FPS figure didn't hold in some later game fights because of all the projectiles on screen and the dozens of monsters to deal with. There were noticeable frame dips, but it never dropped below 20 FPS. Mech combat was more or less the same, averaging at a steady 30 FPS. Switching over to XeSS didn't make much of a difference, but that's not really the upscaler's fault and more to do with the anaemic Steam Deck hardware.
Overall, Doom: The Dark Ages is somewhat playable on the Steam Deck. You might be able to get through the early game with ease, but as the game progresses, things will get a lot trickier once the mob density increases. If you absolutely have to experience this on the Deck, we'd recommend turning down some difficulty sliders to make your experience more tolerable. Save that no-hit Ultra Nightmare run for a PC with a keyboard and mouse.
Source(s)
Own
