Gaijin’s War Thunder is easily one of the best vehicular combat multiplayer games out there, and its Steam Deck verified! You can now easily couch or on the go and play Naval. Although a bit tedious and finicky when it comes to controls, War Thunder doesn’t disappoint. Check out the best Steam Deck Settings for War Thunder.
War Thunder on the Steam Deck works perfectly straight out of the box. Although the default controls for War Thunder work fine for the most part, you’ll run into a few issues when it comes down to mapping key binds.
From the get-go, War Thunder is incredibly well-optimized. Though the TDP draw is a bit overwhelming, you can still expect to get a solid 3-3.5 hours on the handheld while playing War Thunder.
As for the framerate, you’ll be shocked to know that War Thunder runs incredibly well, hitting the sweet spot with a solid 60 FPS. You can fiddle with the settings at your own pace, but considering you’d want the most juice out of War Thunder, check out our Steam Deck settings.
War Thunder – Steam Deck Settings
| Settings | Value |
| FPS Limit | 60 |
| Refresh Rate | 60 |
| TDP | 12W |
War Thunder – In-game Settings
| Settings | Value |
| VSync | Off |
| Window Mode | Fullscreen |
| Resolution | 980×600 |
| Graphics Preset | Custom |
| Anisotropic Filtering | 4x |
| SSAA | None |
| Anti Aliasing | None |
| Texture Quality | Low |
| Shadow Quality | Low |
| Render Resolution | 100 |
| Small Shadow | None |
| Terrain Quality | Low |
| Terrain Deformation | High |
| Tree Range | Low |
| Tire Tracks | None |
| Grass | None |
| Cloud Quality | Medium |
| Reflections Quality | Low |
| Displacement | None |
| Render | Auto |
| Nvidia Highlights | Off |
| Shadows | On |
| Object Shadows | On |
| Shadows on Effects | Off |
| Advanced Shore | Off |
| Haze | Off |
| Suspension Animation | On |
| Detailed Foliage | Off |
War Thunder Steam Deck Controls
The controls for War Thunder are a bit finicky for the most part. If you want to play with a default control setup, then Gaijin’s Steam Deck layout should work well for you.
Switch the control Layout to Gamepad with Mouse Trackpad, and you’ll be ready. For the most part, War Thunder isn’t a game designed with the Steam Deck kept in mind. Sure, the radial dial still works as intended, but when it comes to the key binds, you’re kind of out of luck.
Still, you could configure a few key binds with the left touchpad.
Conclusion
All in all, War Thunder works perfectly. But it wasn’t designed with the Steam Deck in mind. Sure, the default Steam Deck control scheme works fine, but when it comes down to key binds and fine-tuning, you’ll run into some issues.