Zero Parades Is Going To Be A Treat On Steam Deck - Preview

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Zero Parades was provided by ZA/UM for review. Thank you!

Disco Elysium is one of the best narrative-based games I have ever played, which is why I am putting a lot of pressure on Zero Parades: For Dead Spies. The follow-up game from developer ZA/UM is great so far, and despite some minor grievances I have, I feel it is holding up to my high standards. With how big the game is, we need a little more time to complete our full review, but I still wanted to write up how it is actually running on the Steam Deck so far. And ultimately, if you’re expecting to enjoy this on the go, you will be pleasantly surprised.

It’s important to remember that this is a preview. The performance may change in later sections of the game that we haven’t reached yet, so keep in mind that this is an impression rather than our full review.

Zero Parades is running quite well on the Steam Deck so far. The game defaults to high settings with a 45 FPS lock. For the most part, it sticks to this without issue. In the areas I’ve played, I didn’t see one drop below 45, apart from some minor stutters here and there. It was quite nice to see, and I’m very happy with how it was playing.

It is possible to push the frame rate higher, but I chose not to because there are some crowded areas, like The Bazaar, that hit performance harder and can drain up to 20W. Because of this, I felt just fine sticking at 45 FPS for consistency, with some parts draining a little more. There aren’t many settings that we can change, with only one option to change the render quality from low to high, and there isn't much difference between them.

The game also seems to get hit by harder performance when it's raining, and I was regularly getting drops below 45 FPS. I am still testing to see how I can fix this to keep it at a smooth 45, but it may need a 30 FPS lock at high settings.

However, performance actually wasn’t my biggest concern. This is a very narrative-driven game, and it is very text-heavy. So on games like this, I always wanna make sure that the text is legible without any issue, and I would say it is. It defaults to the large setting, which I think is readable in most areas, but might be a little bit of a strain in others. Luckily, there is an extra-large option, and that is gigantic. So there should be no issues reading any of the text on the screen like this.

Otherwise, there aren’t really any issues while playing. Gamepad controls were great; it has 16:10 aspect ratio support, so there are no black bars at the top or bottom of the screen, and it looks fantastic on the smaller screen. Other than the minor issues here and there, it feels like it’s a perfect pairing for the handheld.

So, based on the early part of the game, and what I’ve played so far. I would say this should be a great experience for the Steam Deck. Look forward to our full review to confirm this throughout the entire game, but I would say this is a safe bet to be a great portable experience.

Zero Parades: For Dead Spies can be wishlisted ahead of its release on May 21.

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