Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is Technically Playable on Steam Deck, But It Isn't Pretty

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When I first saw Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, I was blown away by its visual splendor. It looked phenomenal, and while I am not a huge fan of Avatar in general, it was hard not to be amazed at the world Ubisoft created. Unfortunately, with it being released outside of Steam, it was hard to justify trying it on the Steam Deck when the requirements were so high. Well, now the game has been released on Steam, and is it any better to play than it was before? Well...kinda, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it.

When the game launched on Steam, a key issue stopped me from playing: It wouldn't load. Booting the game led to a black screen that wouldn't disappear. But a couple of days ago, a new Proton Experimental update was released, which did make the game playable. It mentioned Desktop mode, but I decided to try it in Game Mode anyway because why not? I am glad I did because the game was running fine in Game Mode, but it does need some adjustments.

Avatar uses a lot of RAM, so you will need to use both the 4G UMA Buffer and CryoUtilities 2 with the recommended settings. If you don't use these, the game will not load and crash when trying to load into it (you can get to the main menu, but you won't be able to load into the game). In my testing, I had to turn all the settings to the lowest and force Proton Experimental, and it works decently well when inside a building (getting a stable 30 FPS), but this changes as soon as you go outside.

To make it as playable as possible outside, lower the resolution to the lowest graphical settings and FSR 3 at Ultra Performance. I forced the resolution through the game's preferences on Steam to 800x500 resolution, and for the most part, it could stay at 30 FPS. There are many drops and stutters here and there, and it isn't ideal, but if you have no other way to play, it isn't impossible.

Would I generally recommend it to others to play? Not necessarily. The drops are frequent; they drain the battery really fast, and it could have issues with bigger fights and cause crashes. But is it playable if you don't have any alternative? Yes, and it isn't the worst experience. It definitely isn't the best way to experience the game, but even at the low resolution, it doesn't look awful.

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is on sale for the Steam Summer Sale for $41.99 at 40% off.

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