Escape from Tarkov on Steam Deck: How to Play and Performance Guide

First Published July 5, 2023, 10:39

Escape from Tarkov has slowly been progressing over the last few years, releasing updated graphics, AI systems, movement systems, and further opportunities for players. The developers at Battlestate Games (excluding recent times) have received tough love from the community, embracing their updates in a reluctant but grateful manner. Whether that be due to slow updates, the release of new content, or simply pointless in-game changes, the overall content within the game has been excellent, especially with the upcoming release of Escape from Tarkov Arena. 

Battlestate Games, being an independent developing company has released new content and updated the game without help, many would suggest "rightfully so," but titles this large typically work alongside other developers to speed up creative and implementation processes. Ultimately leading to the reason why the game has remained somewhat unreleased for the last seven years. Alongside the lack of working independently is the lack of adaptation to third-party technology, such as mobile apps, websites, and availability on other storefronts such as Steam. 

This lack of partnerships ultimately hinders the game's potential, having players want to adapt and experience new ways to play Escape from Tarkov, whether that be on consoles, mobile devices, or hand-held consoles such as the Nintendo Switch or recent Steam Deck produced by Valve. This ultimately can only benefit Battlestate Games and Escape from Tarkov, having players purchase another copy of the title just to access it through their Steam Deck and play remotely, even if it's just accessing the hideout, player menus, weapon modification, Flea market, and others.

Can You Play Escape from Tarkov on Steam Deck

Yes, you can. Well. Sort of. It's quite complicated.

Naturally, a lot of players have been loving the Steam Deck hardware and naturally want to play Escape from Tarkov on the move. However, there's no point beating around the bush: you cannot play Escape from Tarkov on the Steam Deck. Battlestate Games and Steam are separate to Steam.

That being said, players can access Escape from Tarkov through Steam Decks, but in unintended ways. More specifically, downloading Windows via external micro SSD onto the Steam Deck, downloading Battlestate Launcher, Downloading Escape from Tarkov and manually setting hotkeys via the Steam Big Picture mode.

Escape from Tarkov, run by Battlestate Games developers is a completely different entity to Steam. Despite being a launcher and home of many triple-A titles, Steam doesn't currently support Escape from Tarkov, therefore the possibility and current access to the title on the Steam Deck is very minimal. Although this is incredibly unfortunate to some, after thousands of hours on Escape from Tarkov, I cannot imagine the difficulty of the title being operated on a handheld device, let alone a console controller. Therefore the possibility of Steam Deck technology mixing with Escape from Tarkov is very minimal, players using the Steam Deck will suffer severe difficulty matching against PC players, and even Controller players, therefore we'd imagine Battlestate Games won't be pushing for Steam Deck compatibility for a while. 

With the release of Escape from Tarkov Arena coming soon, the game merges into a more "arcade" FPS style of gameplay, therefore opening a more classic controller and steam deck approach. So it's not out of the question.

Escape from Tarkov has always been a hardcore FPS title for PC players, with Battlestate Games having complete creative control over the title. The reason why Battlestate Games only support PC access is due to the technological advantage PC has over consoles. Battlestate Games would simply have to drop their standards to reach the console audience, whether that be due to graphical and optimization problems, or limiting the controls console players can access because of the large volume of keybinds in Escape from Tarkov. Having an Escape from Tarkov Steam Deck adaptation would require serious modification to the game for Steam Deck access, also Battlestate Games would have to refocus their Roadmap efforts away from current updates onto Steam Deck access in-order to please Valve and their grace of accepting Steam Deck adaptation.

How To Play Escape From Tarkov On Steam Deck

As previously mentioned in this article, there are methods to access Escape from Tarkov via Steam Deck through unintentional ways. To access the title, players must unintentionally use both the Steam Deck and Escape from Tarkov to play the game on the hand-held device. However, the setup is relatively similar to playing Escape from Tarkov on the controller. 

To download Escape from Tarkov on Steam Deck, follow these instructions:

1. Install windows on your Steam Deck (click here for instructions)
2. Download Escape from Tarkov as per usual through the Escape from Tarkov Website
3. Enter Steam, add Escape from Tarkov to Steam Libary as a non-steam game 
4. Open the Steam Big Picture mode
5. Find Escape from Tarkov, modify controls and settings through Big Picture mode
6. Enter Escape from Tarkov and adjust settings to meet minimal requirements 
7. Enter offline raid and become comfortable on Steam Deck 

These are the complete settings to play Escape from Tarkov, however, you're able to download Escape from Tarkov onto an external micro SSD, connecting the SSD to Steam Deck and following on from step three listed above, ensuring Windows is already installed.