Now that Grounded 2 has launched (at least in early access), it makes sense that you'd want to know if you can play it on the go with your gaming handheld of choice. Whether you're rocking a Steam Deck, ASUS ROG Ally, Lenovo Legion Go, or any of the other options, I'll give you the information you need before you make that purchase.
I've been playing a lot of Grounded 2 lately, and some of that has been on my ASUS ROG Ally X. I've tested different settings and scenarios to gauge whether Grounded 2 is a good fit for handheld gaming, and here's what I found out.
Can I play Grounded 2 on my gaming handheld?
Yes... mostly. Grounded 2 does support controller input (on Steam and the Microsoft Store), and it will run on any of the best gaming handhelds. However, performance isn't the greatest right now, with even the most powerful handheld running the game on the lowest settings only hitting around 40 frames-per-second (FPS) at best. Grounded 2 isn't Steam Deck Verified right now, either.
How does Grounded 2 play on gaming handhelds?
I started a new world on my ROG Ally X, so I could get a feel for how Grounded 2's performance evolved through the tutorial area until you reach the open world, and I did have to make some adjustments to get a smooth and stable playing experience.
Is the game playable? Absolutely. I didn't experience any crashes or massive frame rate drops, and my ROG Ally X didn't feel like it was struggling to run the game on battery power.
Even in the most powerful 25W Turbo mode and on the lowest graphical settings (including a lowered resolution), though, I couldn't expect much more than 40 FPS. That felt more than fine to actually play the game, but that was Grounded 2 at its best.
Grounded 2 is more than playable on the ROG Ally X, but even the most powerful handheld can't maintain high framerates.
Buggies, more detailed areas, and battles with multiple creatures at once will all cause that frame rate to dip, and dropping below 30 FPS isn't all that difficult to do. Considering this is one of the most powerful gaming handhelds you can buy, the experience will only be worse on handhelds like the Steam Deck.
Of course, Grounded 2 is in early access and there's clearly a lot of optimization work to be done (it's also quite, ahem, buggy), so I wouldn't lose hope yet. I'm confident Obsidian will get Grounded 2 running much smoother on handhelds on the road to launch, and I think Steam Deck Verification is more than possible, too.
For now, though, I still much prefer playing Grounded 2 on my Xbox Series X.
What Grounded 2 settings should I use with my handheld?
Another weakness Grounded 2 has right now is a distinct lack of actual graphical options on Windows PC, whether you're playing on Steam or through the Microsoft Store, so you don't have a lot of leeway to tailor the game to your handheld hardware.
That includes built-in support for resolution scaling or frame generation features like AMD FidelityFX and NVIDIA DLSS, although some handhelds (like the ROG Ally X) can tap into those features anyway.
That's also something that can and likely will change in the future, but for now it's pretty straightforward to set up Grounded 2. Here are the settings I used on my ASUS ROG Ally X.
- Resolution. Most games I play on the ROG Ally X run just fine at FHD (1080p), but I did have to lower Grounded 2's resolution to HD (720p) to consistently stay above 30 FPS.
- Render Scale. This refers to what percentage of the native resolution the game is actually rendering at. I left it at 100%, because the image quality gets blurry very quickly at lower percentages, but this is a way to gain a few extra frames if you need them.
- Quality. Grounded 2 only has Low, Medium, and High quality levels with no granular graphical settings, and Low is the only setting that ran well on my ROG Ally X (but the game still looks good).
- V-Sync. If your handheld has a higher refresh rate display with VRR support, enabling v-sync can help make the game feel smoother and prevent screen tearing.
- Other tidbits. Other settings are down to personal preference and won't affect performance much, but I do disable motion blur (our eyes already do that, why would I want more motion blur on top of my motion blur). Just a note on Field-of-View (FoV) — it can be tempting to raise it, but that's a great way to tank your performance on weaker hardware, so be cautious.
I'd happily play Grounded 2 on my ROG Ally X, but I'd also probably avoid the most intense battles and missions to avoid any poorly timed frame rate drops. Fortunately, there's another way to play Grounded 2 — streaming through Xbox Cloud Gaming, which will render the game at 1080p and run around 60 FPS.
Honestly, if you have a good internet connection, that's the way to play Grounded 2 on handhelds right now. Especially if you have a less powerful handheld, Grounded 2 clearly needs some optimization before I'd consider it a great mobile gaming experience.
Grounded 2 is now available on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox PC and Steam, Xbox Cloud Gaming, and Xbox Game Pass in early access.
