Can you play Dead Island 2 on Steam Deck?

❘ Updated: 2024-02-22T08:02:00

Dambuster Studios, Valve

With Dead Island 2 now unleashed across various gaming platforms, a key question remains: is it compatible with the Steam Deck? Let’s find out.

Following the 2022 launch of Valve’s portable console, the handheld gaming market underwent a significant transformation, underscoring the importance for major releases like Dead Island 2 to be playable on the Steam Deck.

Dead Island 2 has rightfully been gaining attention, given the popularity of the first entry, and fans want to know if they can slice and dice Zombies in Los Angeles on a smaller screen.

While Dead Island 2 might not have launched on Steam initially, there may still be ways to get around those limitations to get the game up and running on Valve’s portable powerhouse. But, you’ll need to do some work in order to get it up and running.

Is Dead Island 2 on Steam Deck?

Dead Island 2 is theoretically playable on Steam Deck. However, you will have to put in some effort in order to ensure that the game even boots at all.

Deep Silver, the publisher of Dead Island 2, has already announced that the zombie title is bound by a deal with the Epic Games Store on PC. This means that Dead Island 2 cannot be bought through Steam, and a knock-on effect of this is that it prevents the game from being run natively on the Steam Deck without some tinkering.

But, since the Steam Deck is essentially a PC, you will still be able to play it by installing Lutris on your Steam Deck and setting up your Epic Games account from there. We’ve even written a handy guide to help you through the process.

It’s worth noting that you can also currently enjoy Dead Island 1 on the Steam Deck.

For more Dead Island 2 content, check out the guides below: