It Doesn't Look Like DOOM: The Dark Ages Will Be Steam Deck Compatible

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I love the DOOM franchise. You don't need to look any further if you are looking for tight, fast-paced, brutal FPS action. id Software has done an amazing job with the series, and if you are a fan of this type of game, I would consider the series an essential purchase. Both of the currently released titles of the reboot of the series, DOOM (2016) and DOOM Eternal, are Steam Deck compatible, so I was hoping the next entry, DOOM: The Dark Ages, would be as well. However, now that we see the system requirements, I am starting to have my doubts.

DOOM: The Dark Ages system requirements are asking for a beefy computer to run it. It asks for an AMD Ryzen 7 3700X CPU, 16GB RAM, and over 100GB of space. However, none of that worries me much. The part that really worries me is the GPU requirement. The game is asking for a GPU with 8GB of dedicated VRAM, recommending an NVIDIA RTX 2060 Super or AMD RX 6600 or better. This wouldn't normally phase me as much, and we do have Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth running on the Steam Deck with a similar minimum GPU requirement. It is the emphasis on ray-tracing that worries me.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth does ask for a ray-tracing compatible card in its minimum system requirements, mentioning that RTX cards are needed, but Microsoft also just released a game with forced ray-tracing that may have been playable without it, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. This alone wouldn't worry me, but id Software being under the same publisher and using a similar engine (Indiana Jones uses a fork of id Tech 7, while DOOM uses id Tech 8) shows some worrying signs.

Anything is possible, and id Software may be able to make some magic happen to get it playable on the Deck, but I have my worries. Forcing ray-tracing nearly eliminates any possibility of this being playable, and even makes it questionable for more powerful handhelds like the ROG Ally X. DOOM feels best when playing at high framerates like 60 FPS, and it doesn't look like it will be able to achieve that on the current lineup of handhelds. However, I really do hope id Software and Microsoft prove me wrong.

DOOM: The Dark Ages can be pre-purchased on Steam ahead of its May 14th release date for $69.99, but you can also pre-order it from Fanatical for 16% off at $58.79.

The Fanatical links above are using an affiliate link, which gives us a little back from sales at no extra charge to you. All proceeds go back into SDHQ and its development.

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