Among Us 3D Is Playable on Steam Deck, But Needs Better Controller Support

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There's a little-known indie darling that gained particular popularity throughout the various COVID lockdowns, namely Among Us, that gave us a much-needed sense of chaotic, party-like togetherness that other propitiously-timed games, such as Animal Crossing: New Horizons, may not have. Not heard of Among Us? I'll forgive you, it's pretty niche. It only achieved a peak concurrent of 447,476 players back in September 2020, after all.

Sarcasm aside, Among Us is an absolute golioth of a game, culturally. The numbers may have fallen off somewhat, but - and queue some heroic music here - the memories spent with it still hold firm for those that banded together in the perilous, unprecedented times that 2020 threw our way. For many, it was a chance to get together and blow off steam. For others, to build blossoming relationships in one of a few readily available and accessible "social" scenarios. Whatever your experience with it, the news that Among Us 3D - a non-VR version of the once VR-exclusive first-person take - is now readily available (on Steam, at least) will pique your interest.

However, a piqued interest doesn't necessarily correlate with the smoothest of experiences. Technically speaking, the game runs like an absolute beauty on the Steam Deck, with a steady 90fps throughout, bar the occasional and inconsequential hiccup. I did run into a repeatable 10fps drop when each game had finished, either on the Victory or Defeat screen, but again, this impact is negligible. Where the game completely falters on the Steam Deck, though, is nigh-on everywhere else.

However, from the moment you boot up the game, it's apparent that the UI doesn't work with the controller, even though controller icons appear. Instead, the right analogue stick or the touch screen acts as your cursor, with either R2 or a touch helping you navigate the various mandatory forms and whatnot you must agree to, and from there… It's still very much more of the same. Considering the game relies on proximity-based voice chat to communicate with your fellow beans, how you can project your voice - push-to-talk or toggle on and off - is inherently broken from the get-go. For the former, you must go into your UI controller settings and enable the back buttons, with R5 acting as the Space button. There is an option to remap the controls from within the game, but nothing happens after trying to choose the button. It just waits for your input, yet registers nothing. For the latter, the toggle option for voice chat isn't mapped to anything on the Steam Deck and is therefore just stuck on.

Among Us 3D doesn't officially list that it has controller support, which explains why some of the experience isn't working with one, but it seems to at least have some. Hopefully with some patches in the future, we can get full controller support for the entirety of the experience.

It's clear that the Steam Deck was not a priority when getting this game out the door. Still, considering the behemoth that is Among Us, I do not doubt that the various niggles and gripes littered throughout will be remedied in due course. It's a shame that it launched in such a barely functional state in all areas outside the actual gameplay itself. You can certainly have a good time, as my nearly 7 hours across both PC and Steam Deck will attest to. I had more fun away from the Steam Deck in this instance, though.

Among Us 3D is on sale for $7.99 until May 20th and is rated Playable due to needing a community controller configuration, showing incorrect controller icons, and small in-game text.

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