Best Hogwarts Legacy graphics settings for Steam Deck

One of the most anticipated titles of early 2023, Hogwarts Legacy, is finally underway. Boasting detailed and realistic graphics, players are fully immersed in the magical world of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The use of advanced lighting and special effects adds to the overall esthetic, making Hogwarts Legacy a visual feast for fans of both Harry Potter and the RPG genre.

Steam Deck is Valve's entry into the handheld gaming space. Despite its size, the device packs a serious punch and can run several new AAA releases. It comes with an AMD APU, which features a Zen 2 CPU and an RDNA 2 GPU. This combination allows the Steam Deck to deliver solid gaming performances on the go.

However, certain compromises will need to be made to run the latest titles on the Steam Deck, with the same applying to Hogwarts Legacy as well.

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Hogwarts Legacy delivers sub-optimal results on the Steam Deck

Hogwarts Legacy is Steam Deck verified, which means that the game should run on the system without any trouble. However, this couldn't be farther from the truth. Although the game runs well, it suffers from frequent stutters, FPS drops, and other performance issues. Essentially, if the settings aren't correctly tuned, Steam Deck users will end up having a sub-optimal experience in Hogwarts Legacy.

This guide lists out the particular graphics settings that allow users to not only enjoy the game in terms of visual fidelity, but performance as well. It provides a balanced experience that most users of the Steam Deck will prefer for the RPG. Keeping these objectives in mind, the following are the settings that one should use in Hogwarts Legacy with the Steam Deck:

Display Options

• Window mode: Windowed
• Select monitor: Default_Monitor
• Resolution: 1280x720
• Rendering Resolution: 50%
• Upscale Type: AMD FSR 2
• Upscale Mode: AMD FSR 2 Performance
• Upscale Sharpness: As per preference
• Nvidia Low Reflex Latency: Off
• Vsync: Off
• Framerate: Uncapped
• HDR: Off
• Field of View: +20 (Recommended, but users can choose as per their preference)
• Motion Blur: As per preference
• Depth of Field: As per preference
• Chromatic Aberration: As per preference
• Film Grain: As per preference.

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Graphics Options

• Global Quality Preset: Custom
• Effects Quality: Low
• Material Quality: Low
• Fog Quality: Low
• Sky Quality: Low
• Foliage Quality: Low
• Post Process Quality: Low
• Shadow Quality: Low
• Texture Quality: Low
• View Distance Quality: Low
• Population Quality: Low
• Ray Tracing Reflections: Off
• Ray Tracing Shadows: Off
• Ray Tracing Ambient Occlusion: Off

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In general, these settings will give users an average of around 35 FPS. However, in populated areas or during intense combat, there will likely be FPS drops, resulting in a poor gameplay experience.

If users are unhappy with these settings, then it's recommended to tweak them further as per their requirements. If superior visual quality is the focus, they should opt for a higher FSR preset. However, if they want more frames, they should lower the resolution or go for a lower FSR preset.

As mentioned earlier, even though the title is Steam Deck Verified, it will require a few more patches and updates to fine-tune gameplay and address all the performance issues.