ARC Raiders, a 2025 action shooter that has been gaining a lot of popularity due to how optimized it is. Despite that, players are struggling to run it smoothly on mid-end PCs and the Steam Deck.
ARC Raiders is a visually demanding extraction shooter built on Unreal Engine 5. While it can technically run on the Steam Deck, it needs a few smart tweaks to stay smooth. The default graphics settings push the Steam Deck a bit too hard which makes the game drop FPS and causes the Deck to overheat.
With the right balance of resolution, effects, and upscaling, you can maintain a steady 45–60 FPS without sacrificing too much visual quality.
Best Settings for ARC Raiders on Steam Deck
Here are the best settings for ARC Raiders on Steam Deck:
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Window Mode | Borderless Fullscreen |
| Display Resolution | 1280 × 800 (native Steam ≈7″ screen) |
| V-Sync | Disabled |
| Frame Rate Limit | 60 fps cap (or as high as the Deck can hold stable) |
| Upscaled Resolution / Resolution Scale | 100% (i.e., native) |
| Resolution Scaling Method | Use AMD FSR (Quality) or equivalent handheld upscaler |
| Global Illumination (GI) / RTX GI | Static or Low on handheld to reduce cost |
| View Distance | Low |
| Anti-Aliasing | Low or Medium (lean Low for better performance) |
| Shadows | Low |
| Post-Processing | Low |
| Textures | Medium (if enough VRAM) or Low for battery saving |
| Effects | Low |
| Reflections | Low |
| Foliage | Low (important for clarity/visibility) |
| Motion Blur, Depth of Field, Camera Shake | Off/Disabled (for clarity, responsiveness) |
If you are having stutters or random frame drops while trying to play ARC Raiders on your Steam Deck, then enable the Manual GPU Clock slider and set it to 1600 MHz. For PC, make sure that your GPU drivers are up-to-date.
Ensure that no unnecessary applications are running in the background to reduce CPU load. Update your Windows to its latest respective versions.
That’s all for this ARC Raiders guide on how to run it smoothly on PC and Steam Deck. Apply the provided settings, and you will be good to go.
