Benchmarked: Is ‘Monster Hunter Wilds’ Playable On Steam Deck?

In our first look at Monster Hunter World back in 2019, we described it as “a gorgeous game that pushes the limits of online multiplayer action role-playing.”, and, indeed, the game’s stunning visuals are still a major drawcard, even though it’s now more than three years old.

With Monster Hunter Rise recently released on Steam, and its sister title Monster Hunter World: Sunbreak due for release in June, interested PC gamers may be wondering if they can run the current Monster Hunter World on their machine, and whether it’s playable on Steam Deck.

Our testing shows that Monster Hunter World’s performance on PC is very sensitive to the hardware used. Although the minimum spec CPU is a quad-core processor, this game is clearly optimised for high-end multi-core CPUs, and our testing with the i7-8700K and the new 12th Gen i9-12900K both resulted in a smooth 120fps gameplay experience, even with all graphics settings maxed-out.

With such a demanding game, the GPU is also important, and the minimum spec GPU is a GTX 760 or an RX 560, however, these will only deliver 30fps at best with all settings at low. Even the GTX 1060 3GB, a GPU that is quite powerful for 1080p gaming, only just manages to deliver 60fps at ultra settings.

So, how does it run on Steam Deck? The good news is that, yes, you can play Monster Hunter World on Steam Deck, but your experience will depend on whether you’re willing to make some compromises in terms of graphics settings.

When we ran the game on the Steam Deck with the default controller settings, and with graphics set to medium, we measured an average framerate of 59fps with a 1% low of 29fps and a 99% low of 11fps. This meant that the game was still quite stuttery, and not really what we’d call a smooth experience.

By turning the graphics settings to low, Steam Deck players can improve the gameplay experience. With these settings, we measured an average of 71fps with a 1% low of 42fps and a 99% low of 17fps. This is definitely more smooth, but the game still feels a bit hesitant, and the camera movements in particular are a bit jarring.

If you’re a die-hard Monster Hunter fan, and you just have to play Monster Hunter World on your Steam Deck, then definitely turn the graphics settings to low, and you’ll probably want to turn the resolution down to 540p or 720p, which should get you closer to that 60fps mark.

However, if you’re just curious, and you’ve not played Monster Hunter before, then we’d suggest that you try the Monster Hunter Rise demo first, as this is specifically designed for PC, and it will give you a much better idea of what to expect from a “modern” Monster Hunter game on your PC or Steam Deck.