It has been 11 years since the original Path of Exile made its debut. During these 11 years of PoE, the game received numerous expansions and updates to keep the gameplay fresh and engaging. But, as per new standards, getting a new game is what excites players the most, rather than DLCs. Well, to cater to this demand, the early access version of a sequel to Path of Exile, Path of Exile 2 has been released. It was released on December 6, 2024, and since then, has been catering to a huge player base, bigger than that of Marvel Rivals, as of now. So, it is pretty clear that PoE 2 is a success, given its reception in its early access phase. Well, unlike its predecessor, PoE 2 supports multiple platforms right from its debut, which includes PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. With support for consoles comes a very obvious query: is this game playable on handhelds? We know this is a trending question and the answer to this is featured in this article. So, consider reading until the end for all the information you need.
Since PoE is a souls-like hack-and-slash game, it is perfect for handheld gameplay. The most common and popular handhelds in 2024 are the Steam Deck, Asus Rog Ally, & Legion Go. While the Rog Ally and Legion Go are Windows systems, the Steam Deck, on the other hand, is a system that runs on a custom Linux-based Steam OS. This makes it all the more important to know whether a particular game supports the Deck or not. So, let’s dive right into the details.
Also read: On Your Tail Steam Deck, Asus Rog Ally, and Lenovo Legion Go Support Details
Path of Exile 2 Steam Deck, Asus Rog Ally, & Lenovo Legion Go Support Details
Steam Deck
There’s both good and bad news. Yes, you can play Path of Exile 2 on the Steam Deck, and it has been listed as Playable on Steam too. So, if you own a Deck, you can give PoE 2 a try. But, the tradeoff is huge. To even get playable FPS in the game (in the range of 25-30, sometimes 30+), you will have to lower the in-game graphics settings to the minimum with Upscaling turned on. This will completely take the visual appeal from the game, but at least, you will have FPS, right? Well, not exactly. Since PoE 2’s difficulty level is adaptive and the more you play the harder the enemies will get, there will be times when the in-game world will be swarming with enemies. In such scenarios, your Deck will struggle to dish out playable FPS, which can go as low as 20. The occasional stutters are also there. However, there are players who reported that the game runs flawlessly on their Deck, averaging around 50 FPS or so. That’s why we recommend you install the game on your handheld, lower all in-game settings and then check whether the FPS is playable enough for you. In regard to the current state of the game on the Deck, the developers stated the following in an interview at The Outerhaven :
Jonathan Rogers: Absolutely, we’ve made significant progress on getting Path of Exile 2 working on devices like the Steam Deck. We recently got our hands on a Steam Deck in the office, and the game runs smoothly at 40 frames per second. We’re focused on ensuring that fans across all platforms get a great experience. There will be no offline mode as this is an online mode game, and as such everything has been designed around that, especially our currency system. (I chimed in that if it runs that well on the Steam Deck, it should perform even better on more powerful devices. I forgot to ask about UI scaling.)
Asus Rog Ally and Lenovo Legion Go
These handhelds have slightly better hardware than the Steam Deck. And since they run on Windows, there are no compatibility issues to worry about. So, it is pretty obvious that Path of Exile 2 runs on the Asus Rog Ally and Lenovo Legion Go. But what about FPS? This is where the slight hardware upgrade comes in clutch. If you select the right settings, you can get well above 50 FPS in PoE 2 on your Asus Rog Ally and Lenovo Legion Go.
That being said, we hope now you know all about the Steam Deck, Asus Rog Ally, and Lenovo Legion Go support details of Path of Exile 2. If you find this guide informative, consider visiting Android Gram for more such interesting content on all things gaming.
