Honkai Star Rail, the new game from Genshin Impact developer HoYoverse, seems settled as the new hotness. This turn-based RPG/science fiction/waifu JPG-collecting adventure is available for both PC and mobile platforms, and will eventually hit consoles. The mobile version doesn’t have controller support though, and for some gamers that’s a deal-breaker. What about other handhelds? Can you play Honkai Star Rail on Steam Deck, for example?
The answer is no, but with a caveat resembling a “yes” depending on what your Steam Deck situation looks like. If you’re still utilizing the SteamOS and generally sticking to what Valve’s handheld PC can do natively, you aren’t gonna be playing Honkai Star Rail. Unfortunately, like some other online-heavy games that lack decent Linux support, Honkai Star Rail’s anti-cheat software is a roadblock. It’s the same for another HoYoverse game, Honkai Impact 3rd. For now, Proton is a no-go.
How to Play Honkai Star Rail on Steam Deck
That doesn’t mean running Honkai Star Rail on a Steam Deck is impossible, though. It just requires, well, a totally different operating system. If you’ve gone through the effort (or are willing to) of installing Windows on your Steam Deck, you’ll be able to install Honkai Star Rail. Unfortunately you’re going to run into various kinds of performance issues, but the game is certainly playable. And if you’re running Windows on a Steam Deck, that’s probably not surprising to you.
Relatively speaking, this is a fairly beefy game. I’ve been playing Honkai Star Rail on an AYANEO 2 for example, and even after lowering the settings the game turns that bad boy into a screeching slab of heat that would probably burn a child. Solid frame rate, though!
If you have other questions about Honkai Star Rail, such as whether or not the game is a sequel, or if it has cross-progression between PC and mobile, we got you!
