How to Play SCUM on Steam Deck: Optimizing Settings for Survival

SCUM is out of its Early Access phase, and more fans can try out this vulgar survival game experience. Despite the reliance on toilet humor in the marketing, there’s a lot to like about this survival game, as it has some solid mechanics. Many might wonder if they can play this survival game on their Steam Deck.

While it might not match the Switch 2’s power, Valve’s Steam Deck is still plenty powerful and is home to plenty of exclusive PC games. There’s an abundance of Early Access and indie games that will be home to Steam players first before they hit a Nintendo system, assuming they do. It’s easy to see why fans want to get this game to work on Deck, since some of them find survival and multiplayer titles cozy.

Now, without further ado, let’s get SCUM working on Steam Deck.

Can SCUM run on the Steam Deck?

Despite the “Unsupported” label, SCUM can run on the Steam Deck. Players will need to adjust the game’s settings for a better experience, but it can still run. There are also some limitations when playing this title on Deck.

Starting the game out is easy enough. Press play after the game has been installed, and it should work. However, this is a pretty powerful game, so make sure to minimize the graphics settings to “low” or “medium.” This should be enough to get 30 FPS or 40 FPS out of the game on Valve’s handheld.

Does SCUM have a proper controller layout on Steam Deck?

Unfortunately, SCUM defaults to keypad and mouse controls. Luckily, players can download a Community Layout to make it more playable on the Deck, though it will be awkward. Still, the game will be playable.

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Credit: Gamepires

At the time of writing, SCUM doesn’t have proper controller support, at least not yet. The game is still in its 1.0 release, so we could see controller support added in a future patch. Until then, players must use a Community Layout or make their own if they want to play this game on Steam Deck.

Can you play SCUM online on the Steam Deck?

Kind of. Playing the game natively on Steam Deck will limit most users to single-player. However, fans can stream the game through NVIDIA or change the Linux OS to Microsoft to get multiplayer working properly.

Due to Linux's lack of the best anti-cheat options, certain multiplayer games aren’t playable on the Steam Deck. This is why titles like Apex Legends were pulled from the system despite originally being playable at the handheld’s launch.

Using NVIDIA to work around this and stream the game is a great way to play SCUM’s multiplayer. Since multiplayer requires the internet, it should be a seamless experience. Installing Windows on your Steam Deck is also an option, but that’s time-consuming and could cause some harm if players aren’t careful.

Tinker at your own risk.

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