Grounded version 1.0 was released on September 27, 2022, for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC via the Windows Store and Steam. Now’s the perfect time for both newcomers and experienced players to jump back into the overgrown garden, but those who have managed to get their hands on a Steam Deck may be left wondering if the game is compatible with their device. Here’s the lowdown on whether Grounded is compatible with Steam Deck.
Is Grounded verified on Steam Deck?
According to Valve, Grounded is Unsupported on Steam Deck at the time of writing, meaning “some or all of this game currently doesn’t function on Steam Deck”. It does add that Valve is working to add support for the game on the device. However, despite Valve’s warnings, Grounded is playable on Steam Deck with a few caveats and minor issues.
One of the main initial hurdles if you want to play online co-op multiplayer is to get through the Xbox account sign-in screen. Unfortunately, this appears as an invisible screen on the Steam Deck thanks to a bug that affects all Linux players. Videos by Youtubers such as KevUndead will show the exact locations needed to get through the invisible screens to login to Xbox Live. Once this is done, the login is persistent and won’t be removed.
Grounded struggles to run on Steam Deck when played on higher settings and configurations. Both the Epic or High graphics settings options will see frequent drops in framerate with these becoming more severe when gameplay becomes more intense. Players have also reported below-average performances in low and medium graphics settings, although both offline and online gameplay was relatively smooth aside from this. The game uses the default Joystick Trackpad control scheme for the Steam Deck, although other control schemes like mouse trackpad and gyro controls will as function well and there’s always the option to customize your controller input.
