Tankhead Is Getting Optimized For Steam Deck Despite Launching Exclusively on Epic

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The Day of the Devs showcase showed off some amazing games that are coming out soon, with a few that are actually out right now! One of these was shown right at the end, and it is probably one of the coolest games I have seen from the stream. Tankhead is a tank combat game where you will travel and take on different missions to destroy tanks, take their parts, and upgrade your own to be more powerful.

It's an awesome game, and I am really enjoying it so far. Developer Alpha Channel Inc. sent over a key for us to review, and while I haven't had nearly enough time to review it yet, I can say it is quite enjoyable. It is an Epic Launcher exclusive as of right now, though, which is usually a bummer for playability on the Deck. However, not only is it playable, but the developers are also working on optimizing it for the Deck even more, regardless of not being on Steam.

In an email chain, Alpha Channel Inc. mentioned that they have been testing the game on the Steam Deck and will continue optimizing further. While they didn't mention exactly what they were doing, they did say that they are targeting 45 FPS on Medium settings, which would be pretty amazing. They are using Unreal Engine 5 and their performance-heavy features like Lumen and Nanite, so if they can get it to 45 FPS at a stable rate, that would be pretty amazing.

They did mention they also have the correct Steam Deck buttons and glyphs that show up in-game too, which is a nice touch.

As of right now, Tankhead is playable, but needs a couple of changes to run well. I found the stock Medium settings to stick to an average of 35 FPS, with some dips into 27 FPS when traveling around the world at a faster rate. There are moments when going slow or in closed spaces where framerate will bounce up to 50, but I would like the higher framerate when I am fighting off tanks.

To get the game running on the Steam Deck, you will need to use a third-party launcher. I personally chose the Heroic Launcher, which you can download from the Discover Store, and I used the Wine-GE 8-26 layer to run it.

For right now, I recommend aiming for 30 FPS for the most stable experience. I kept upscaling on TSR and turned Global Illumination to Low while the rest of the settings stuck to Medium. The game mostly stuck above 30 FPS, though there are still some very small moments that dropped to 28, but it stuck above 30 for all of the tank battles I participated in. I have only played about an hour or two of the game so far, so there is more to test, but I would say this is a solid showing.

Even though it does need a little work, I am impressed and surprised by the commitment to Steam Deck compatibility for a game that isn't on Steam. I don't usually hear about games like this, especially ones that are Epic exclusive, so I think the devs deserve some praise for that. I am looking forward to hearing more about compatibility and optimization, and expect my review for Tankhead soon. But if you are on the fence about it, I say it is worth buying right now to play on the go!

Tankhead is available on the Epic Games Store at a 17% discount at $24.89 until December 19th.

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