Despite Its Rating, MySims Runs Quite Well On Steam Deck - First Look

If you haven't yet, follow us on X (Twitter), Mastodon, or Bluesky to know when we post new articles, and join our Reddit or Subscribe to us on YouTube to check out our content and interact with our awesome community. Thank you for supporting us!

I remember back in 2007 when I was so into my Nintendo DS that I was looking for new games to get. I was a huge fan of the Sims, so I was a bit curious when MySims was announced. It looked like a more friendly version of the Sims with a more specific goal in mind, which is a departure from the norm. However, I never got the chance to try it, but that has changed now! The game has been bundled and re-released on Steam, so of course, I just had to try it on the Steam Deck.

Oddly enough, the game was originally rated as Steam Deck Playable, but it was changed to Unsupported last week. For a game that was originally released on the DS, it seemed a bit weird that it wouldn't be supported and playable on the Deck. So, I tried both MySims and MySims Kingdom to see how they fare, and while it isn't straightforward, they are both very playable on the Deck.

Both games mention they have full controller support, but for whatever reason, the Steam Deck's gamepad is not recognized correctly. MySims doesn't recognize it at all, while Kingdom does, but some buttons and actions don't work accordingly. I was able to fix this by using different controller schemes. For MySims, I used the "My Sims Steam Deck Layout" from Absworthy and the Keyboard (WASD) and Mouse scheme for Kingdom. After that, I was able to control them just fine, but I needed to use the trackpad.

I did run into one other problem with Kingdom. The game would crash as soon as I would get to the character creator page, stopping me from actually playing the game. I discovered that this can be fixed by forcing Proton Experimental on Bleeding Edge. I was able to play the game fully this way and encountered no crashes, which is great.

I did see some reports of the audio looping, though I didn't encounter that myself, so be warned it could happen.

So, even though the games are rated Unsupported, they are actually playable with some compromises right now. EA is working on Steam Deck compatibility too, so these issues may not be here much longer, but it's still good to know they are working on it. Both games run perfectly too, hitting 90 FPS on the Steam Deck OLED with under 8W battery drain for over 5-6 hours of gameplay, so once they are fixed, this should be a great game to play on the go.

The MySims Cozy Bundle is available for $39.99 on Steam.

If you enjoyed this article, check out the rest of the content on SteamDeckHQ! We have a wide variety of game reviews and news that will help your gaming experience. Whether you're looking for news, tips and tutorials, game settings and reviews, or just want to stay up-to-date on the latest trends, we've got you covered!