It's absolutely playable on the steam deck - beat the game that way with no regrets.

That said, do yourself a favor and lookup the graphics settings to use. By default, it uses a preset "Steamdeck" option with absolutely atrocious graphics - and completely unnecessarily! It can actually run the game at much higher settings with almost no FPS impact.

(I know people say that kind of thing all the time, but I'm telling ya, in this case it really is a night and day difference).

Will it be as nice as a gaming PC? Obviously not, but I was honestly really impressed with what it could do. The game is well optimized.

If you struggle to find settings, let me know, I can try to dig em up later.

I've not got a steam deck so I'm going off general knowledge here. I think it's a bit much for the thing. I know it runs because my friend is using it to play but he says the graphics definitely take a hit. The game probably uses a hidden ultra-low preset.

The nature of the game really begs for stable 60+fps and quick Google says it only hits 45 at most on steam deck. Probably why my friend is struggling.