Control Resonant Steam Deck Support Disappoints at Launch
Remedy's Control Resonant performs poorly on Steam Deck despite a 'Handheld' graphics preset, with framerates often below 30fps.
Control Resonant, the new character action game from Remedy, has launched with disappointing performance on Valve's Steam Deck handheld. Despite previous plans for support and the inclusion of a 'Handheld' graphics preset, the game struggles to maintain a playable framerate on the portable device.
The publication found that, even with the Handheld preset and FSR upscaling enabled, a Steam Deck OLED typically produced framerates in the low-to-mid twenties while handling the game's warped New York streets. The performance frequently dipped lower, with heavy stutters suspected to be caused by the device's 16GB of combined RAM and VRAM being insufficient. Disabling additional graphics options like SSAO and post-processing failed to raise the average framerate above 25fps in most areas, making the Steam Deck an unrecommended platform for the 105GB game.
Steam Machine Performance
In contrast, the game runs much more capably on the stationary Steam Machine. With ray tracing disabled at 1080p resolution, the machine experienced far fewer stutters. Using the Medium quality preset at native 1080p resulted in a playable 40-50fps in demanding open-world sections. Switching to the High preset with FSR Quality upscaling yielded less consistent but generally higher performance, typically between 50fps and 65fps.
Optimized Settings Guide
The report's author tested individual graphics settings on the Steam Machine to find an optimal balance. They concluded that the game's settings are highly prescriptive, offering minimal gains from fine-tuning. The best achievable improvement was roughly 14% over simply using the High preset with FSR Quality. The following settings were recommended for a balance of visual quality and performance on the Steam Machine.
Advanced Graphics Options
FSR Frame Generation was noted as a subjective option. The implementation was described as smoother than many others, potentially allowing the game to reach perceived framerates above 100fps. However, it introduces some input lag, which could be detrimental to the game's timing-sensitive melee combat. Ray tracing, however, was deemed "absolutely not worth pushing your luck for." Enabling the Low RT preset caused instability, including a crash, and forced a switch to Proton Experimental to launch the game again. Even when running, framerates dropped into the twenties, mirroring the poor Steam Deck experience.
