The Steam Deck can run Windows instead of the standard SteamOS, as you probably know, and the newly released drivers for those who installed Microsoft’s operating system on their handheld have fixed problems playing Halo Infinite.
PC player (opens in new tab) saw that there are new Windows Drivers for Steam Deck (opens in new tab) available for download, and that the new APU driver solve (opens in new tab) the issues that meant Halo Infinite had stopped working (hangs when trying to run the game).
Some other games for which the previous APU driver version also released wrenches in progress are now also cured of these issues.
It is also worth noting that the audio driver for Windows has been updated (opens in new tab), also, a few days before, again to fix some bugs. Going by the online feedback, one such glitch was that only the left speaker worked after a Steam Deck cold boot, and that is now a thing of the past thanks to the revised audio driver.
In other Steam Deck game news, it’s also good to know that Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade, which just became available on Steam today, is a ‘Verified’ title for Valve’s handheld (as flagged by PCN games (opens in new tab)).
Review: Roll on dual boot…
Halo Infinite does not work on the default Steam Deck operating system (i.e. SteamOS) because of its anti-cheat feature. Naturally, on Windows 11 (or Windows 10) you’re fine on that front (or were until a recent APU driver messed things up, with the remedy for that now in place in this latest version, of course).
Turning to Windows for greater compatibility with renowned games that have anti-cheat like Halo Infinite is one solution, but it comes with a bunch of caveats. You need to ditch SteamOS and all its streamlined ease of use, and switching to Windows on the Deck isn’t a trivial exercise, and not something the less tech-savvy are likely to do. (For those interested in going that route, though, we have a complete guide on how to install Windows 10 and 11 on a Steam Deck.)
The good news is that getting the best of both worlds will eventually be possible, as the Steam Deck is a fully dual boot capable PC and allows you to choose between two operating systems. It’s just that Valve needs to bring SteamOS installer support in the form of a dual-boot wizard, and that’s coming, but there’s no specific timeframe just yet.
It won’t be a top priority for Valve, but when it’s done, this will be a great extra capability for Steam Deck owners looking for additional options to run more games on their device.
