Helldivers 2 finally works like a dream on Steam Deck, here’s how

If you've not been paying attention, Helldivers 2 is quite the comeback, almost a decade after the last game. We awarded it 4.5 stars out of 5 in our review, and it's been a big success for Sony across PS5 and Steam.

Yes, Helldivers 2 is the talk of the town, and as you may perhaps have expected given the first game played so well on Vita, it's a great experience on the Steam Deck, too.

While we had been a little worried that Valve's compatibility rating wasn't forthcoming at launch, and the initial launch day issues and anti-cheat had us fearing the worst, I'm pleased to say Helldivers 2 is a very literal blast on Steam Deck thanks to a post-launch Proton Hotfix from Valve.

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The images above were captured on a Steam Deck, and as you can see, even in a darker, nighttime mission, there's plenty of detail on display.

I will concede it can be tricky to input some of the in-game terminal commands, but outside of that, it feels like a fantastic experience on Steam Deck.

Playing on the Steam Deck OLED, I had pretty decent framerates even in chaotic bug-squashing missions with orbital strikes. In fact, I was able to clear more than one tricky mission while lying back on the sofa.

Helldivers 2's structure, which sees you popping back to your ship between missions to retool and pick your next target, also makes it an ideal game to play in chunks - not unlike Monster Hunter World or Rise.

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While Valve's own rating for Helldivers 2 is 'Playable' as opposed to the green 'Great on Deck' score, the caveats are relatively minor.

For one, the smaller text can be magnified using the Steam Deck magnifier. This system-level feature can be triggered by holding the Steam button and pressing L1.

The other item of note on Valve's list is 'manual configuration of graphics settings', but in testing, I found the base presets to be more than acceptable. You can check out the preset graphics settings Helldivers 2 defaults to on the Steam Deck below.

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Naturally, you lost some detail with the 800p resolution, but it's a small price to pay to take one of 2024's best games (so far) on the go.

While you're here, check out our Helldivers 2 homepage for some essential guides like how to earn Super Credits for free, how to farm Medals quickly, and how to deal with those pesky Chargers.