Minecraft Dungeons should be great on the Steam Deck

Minecraft Dungeons Ultimate Edition Key Art
Minecraft Dungeons Ultimate Edition Key Art (Image credit: Mojang Studios)

What you need to know

  • Minecraft Dungeons is now available on Steam.
  • Early tests show it works well on Linux, admittedly using a custom version of Proton right now.
  • When the Steam Deck arrives this should be the best handheld Minecraft Dungeons experience.

It took some time but Minecraft Dungeons is finally available on Steam. While that's good news for folks who flat out don't want to use the Microsoft Store for anything, it has a wider application; The Steam Deck. Valve's handheld gaming PC is but a few months out from getting in the first eager hands and Minecraft Dungeons is a perfect title to play on it.

Which is why it's so good to see that it already runs like a champ on Linux. The fine folks at GamingOnLinux have already put it through its paces and results are good. The only caveat is that right now you have to use ProtonGE, a custom version of Valve's Proton, to play it properly, due to some media incompatibilities in the official version that make the videos die.

Valve is promising a lot from Proton when the Steam Deck launches, though, so you'd hope it's a simple install and play affair, but even so, installing ProtonGE isn't much of a stretch. Minecraft Dungeons is a really good title to play handheld already, whether that's through Xbox Game Pass cloud or on the Nintendo Switch.

The superior hardware promised by the Steam Deck over the Switch, though, means that running the Steam version of Minecraft Dungeons on the handheld should be the best way to play on the go. You won't have to worry about having a fast data connection, and you should be able to get frame rates far in excess of what the Nintendo Switch is capable of. Minecraft Dungeons on the Switch is good, but it does feel like you're running through treacle.

I love playing Minecraft Dungeons with my son through crossplay already, but the thought of a little couch co-op on a Steam Deck, while he plays it on Switch, is pretty enticing. Fingers crossed I'm in an early batch of Steam Deck orders.

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Richard Devine
Managing Editor - Tech, Reviews

Richard Devine is a Managing Editor at Windows Central with over a decade of experience. A former Project Manager and long-term tech addict, he joined Mobile Nations in 2011 and has been found on Android Central and iMore as well as Windows Central. Currently, you'll find him steering the site's coverage of all manner of PC hardware and reviews. Find him on Mastodon at mstdn.social/@richdevine