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Don’t Play Halo: Campaign Evolved on Steam Deck or Xbox Ally
IGN reports that Halo: Campaign Evolved performs poorly on lower-powered handheld PCs, despite being labelled Steam Deck Verified. The author found it technically playable on the Xbox Ally at heavily reduced settings, but says the resulting image quality is so degraded that the older Master Chief Collection offers a better experience.
At 1280×720 on the Very Low preset with FSR set to Low, Campaign Evolved reportedly ran at around 30fps, sometimes falling into the mid-20s. By comparison, the Master Chief Collection ran at roughly 65–70fps on the same Xbox Ally and retained more environmental detail, including vegetation, while appearing less blurred; the game’s stated minimum PC requirements also exceed the hardware in the Steam Deck and base Xbox Ally.
In short
- Campaign Evolved is playable but visually poor on handheld PCs.
- Master Chief Collection looks better and runs far faster.
- Steam Deck Verified status is questioned.
Explained simply
Halo: Campaign Evolved is a recently released video game in the long-running Halo franchise. Steam Deck and Xbox Ally are portable handheld gaming computers designed for playing full PC games without needing a desk or monitor.
The new Halo game runs poorly on these handheld devices despite being approved for Steam Deck. To achieve playable performance, players must use very low graphical settings, which results in blurry visuals and significantly less detail in the game world.
This matters because many people purchase handheld devices to play new releases on the go. The situation is highlighted by the fact that the Master Chief Collection, an older Halo compilation, runs substantially better on the same hardware whilst retaining better visual quality.