Can you play Genshin Impact on the Steam Deck?

The Steam Deck is a portable PC, allowing you to play your Steam games in one Nintendo Switch-like device. The portability of this device also makes it an attractive option to play other non-Steam games that require some stronger specs, such as Genshin Impact.

While Genshin Impact is available on mobile devices, this port features downgraded graphics and a clunkier touch-screen interface. For a better Genshin Impact experience on the go, some players may want to play it on the Steam Deck instead.

How to get Genshin Impact on the Steam Deck

Even though Genshin Impact is not available through Steam, there are some ways for you to run the game on the Steam Deck; however, you need to jump through some hoops. This guide will cover how to play Genshin Impact on the Steam Deck.

Download Windows on Steam Deck

The first method involves downloading Windows on your Steam Deck and running it as a separate operating system instead of the SteamOS found on the device by default. This requirement is because the SteamOS is based on Linux, and Genshin Impact utilizes an anti-cheat that does not run well on Linux devices. However, the Steam Deck is essentially a portable computer, so it’s possible to download Windows on it.

We have listed all the steps you need to follow to install and run Windows on your Steam Deck. This will cover everything you need to know to safely get this operating system working on your device.

Following this, head to HoYoverse’s official website and install the game as you would on a normal PC. After downloading, you can run and play Genshin Impact on your Steam Deck.

You may be out of luck if you do not have the resources to download Windows on your Steam Deck. There is no officially supported way to play Genshin Impact without downloading Windows unless you are able to disable HoYoverse’s anti-cheat to use through Linux. However, this is not supported, and you run the risk of getting your account banned.