Control Resonant struggles on Steam Deck but runs better on ROG Ally despite handheld gaming PC's rough year

Control Resonant arrives next week on PS5, Xbox Series, and PC platforms including Steam, with Steam Deck support confirmed at launch. Early testing reveals the game runs poorly on Steam Deck in its current state but performs noticeably better on the ROG Ally, though both handhelds face stability issues.

The game ships with robust graphics options including FSR and DLSS upscaling, ray tracing controls, and a dedicated Handheld preset. Despite these features, Steam Deck struggles to maintain 30fps even on the lowest settings with Ultra Performance upscaling enabled. The experience improves in closed indoor sections but deteriorates in Manhattan's open areas, where hitching and freezing occur regularly during traversal and combat.

Testing across Steam Deck LCD and OLED models on both stable and preview versions of SteamOS showed consistent performance issues. The recommended approach for Steam Deck players is to wait for patches before attempting to play natively, or stream from a PC instead. If playing on Steam Deck despite current problems, using the Handheld preset with Balanced upscaling provides the most stable experience, though frame drops below 30fps remain frequent.

The ROG Ally Z1 Extreme handles Control Resonant significantly better, defaulting to 1080p with acceptable visual quality on the Handheld preset. Freezing still occurs, likely tied to the Z1 Extreme's 16GB of shared memory. The 24GB ROG Ally models may perform better, though testing focused on the base Z1 Extreme configuration.

This performance gap highlights challenges facing handheld gaming PCs in 2024. The sector has faced a difficult year as component shortages and market shifts have pushed prices upward. The Steam Deck OLED now starts above $700, and most affordable portables below $500 have largely disappeared from shelves. The ROG Ally remains among the closest options to the sub-$500 price point that defined the handheld gaming PC renaissance, particularly through open-box models available at retailers.