Paradox Interactive’s grand strategy (and other) games have been the most interesting PC games to follow when it comes to all things relating to the Steam Deck. You might immediately question who would want to play these games outside a keyboard and mouse environment, but I’ve been interested in, and have been playing Paradox Interactive games on consoles and more-recently Steam Deck for a few years now. Yes, the games might not be ideal on those devices compared to playing on your PC with a mouse and keyboard, but having options is always good, assuming the end result is fine. That’s what I aim to cover here as I’ve been playing multiple Paradox games on Steam Deck (both LCD and OLED) with different controller layouts and more.
I previously even bought Crusader Kings III on Xbox Series X day one and played Stellaris on Xbox One, but to understand what led to all of this happening, we need to go back to the Steam Controller hardware and Steam Input. In the Steam Controller hardware video from Valve, the team showed off the original Cities: Skylines being played with a Steam Controller thanks to its touchpad and custom controls in general. This controller that I borrowed from a friend to try a while ago, showed me what was possible with Steam Input then. Cities: Skylines eventually did come to consoles, and I played it on both Xbox and Switch. I thought the controls worked great on a traditional controller on the former, and have put in loads of time into the updated version for Xbox Series X as well. This led to me wanting to get Crusader Kings III on Xbox at launch, and I thought it was a great port as my first proper experience with the game. I eventually realized that the PC version was quite a bit ahead and got that towards the end of that year.
Since then, I’ve been focusing on getting Paradox Interactive’s grand strategy games (with DLC) on Steam, and learning to play them while trying out a few Steam Input community layouts that keep impressing me. This is the key because without those community contributions to controls, I don’t think I’d be playing these games on Steam Deck for remotely as long as I have so far.
You often see Paradox Interactive games in Valve’s most played games on Steam Deck charts the company puts out each month, so there clearly is a demand for these games on the system. I kept wondering how they actually felt, and seeing people ask about how specific games play on the handheld regularly. When I played Victoria 3 on Steam Deck, I saw what was possible from the awesome community early on, and that led me to playing and getting even the older titles and into this article covering the most popular grand strategy games from the publisher, less liked ones, older ones, and even a bonus test for games outside the genre that I was interested in trying out.
One thing to note is that Paradox doesn’t officially support the Steam Deck for many of the games here, and some are marked as straight up unsupported by Valve. I’ve indicated every single game’s Steam Deck Verification result here. If you regularly use your Steam Deck, you would have realized how the Verification program isn’t black and white with some “Unsupported” games running and looking better than Steam Deck Verified ones. Either way, I just wanted to put that disclaimer before getting into the individual games. I do hope that Paradox Interactive considers official support in the future.
For every game featured here, I will be mentioning what community controller layout I’ve used (if applicable), Proton version, Steam Deck Rating (if tested by Valve), and my basic experience with the game on Steam Deck (both LCD and OLED models).
Before getting into how individual games look and feel, there are a few common things to keep in mind. If you plan on playing without mods like I did for most of the time I put into the games, the text size might be too small for some folks. I’ve recently been trying out specific UI and text mods to make the games more playable on a smaller screen or with larger UI on my monitor, and mods like this are amazing.
While some of these games will work when using a traditional controller, you’re missing out on the most useful and best feature the Steam Deck offers with its trackpads. I realize that this article might be getting into the weeds for some folks, but I’ve tried to keep things simple enough for those who are absolutely new to these games as well. I do recommend watching this excellent video if you’re wondering which game to start with though.
How is Crusader Kings III on Steam Deck in 2024?
Crusader Kings III is a massive and complex grand strategy game about the middle ages starting in 867 or 1066 until 1453. This is probably the game I’ve been playing the most of the ones featured here. I put in quite a bit of time into the Xbox version before dropping it for the PC release on Steam Deck and macOS. Nearly four years after the grand strategy release debuted on PC, Crusader Kings III is in a much better place, though the most recent DLC, Legends of the Dead, was not worth grabbing. Crusader Kings III on PC does not have controller support like the console versions, so I’ve opted to play it using the trackpads and Steam Deck itself with a community layout titled “Gimler’s Crusader Kings III”. I initially was disappointed in the lack of controller support since the console versions include it, but having played the game with this community layout and with how snappy the interface is, I’ve begun preferring it by a large margin.
Crusader Kings III is marked as Steam Deck Playable by Valve for text size, invoking the keyboard manually, the launcher, and the lack of full controller support. I addressed the controller bit already, but there are two specific mods I’ve used that dramatically improved my Crusader Kings III Steam Deck experience. Steam user Agami has a Better UI Scaling mod and a brighter text mod (linked on the same page) that lets you use the scaling options in-game that would otherwise cause the menus to overflow off the screen or overlap. This lets you scroll through them, and makes the text much more readable.
As for stability, In the 15 hours I’ve spent recently playing Crusader Kings III on Steam Deck (both my OLED and LCD models), I’ve had two crashes, but the autosave helped. I know Crusader Kings III has had stability issues in the past, but based on my experience now, I can safely recommend it on Steam Deck once you get used to the controls. If anything changes with newer DLC, I’ll cover any updates of note.
If you’re new to Crusader Kings III, I recommend using the free weekends to try it, but the Crusader Kings III Starter Edition is the way to go for the full game right now since Tours and Tournaments is an amazing expansion. I also recommend this DLC if you want more from the initial experience.
How is Hearts of Iron IV on Steam Deck in 2024?
Next up is what is likely one of Paradox Interactive’s most popular games ever inHearts of Iron IV, set during World War II and officially ending by 1949 for its main scripted content. Nearly eight years after it debuted on PC, Hearts of Iron IV still gets updated and has paid DLC releases. In fact, Hearts of Iron IV has so much DLC that there’s a subscription option available to get all of it together for a monthly price. One thing I didn’t touch on when covering Crusader Kings III above, is the music of Paradox Interactive games. Hearts of Iron IV has an amazing score and even includes Sabaton music DLC.
Hearts of Iron IV do
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