AEW Fight Forever: Steam Deck Recommended Settings

Despite not being fully supported on the Steam Deck, AEW Fight Forever is playable on the Deck with minimal issues.

Performance

AEW Fight Forever runs at a solid framerate. Expect 60 frames per second for the most part, with occasional dips when things get hectic.

Visually, the game looks as good on the Steam Deck as it does on the ASUS ROG Ally. With the exception of the aforementioned dips on the Deck, both games are hard to tell apart. You couldn’t pick out which version is which when they’re running side by side.

Of course, whether you like the visuals is another thing entirely, but from a tech perspective, the options available on the Steam Deck can be maximized without too many issues.

Settings

The settings below are what I’ve been using to play AEW Fight Forever and they keep the game at a solid 60 frames per second for the most part.

Adding extra characters on-screen, or explosions during exploding death matches, will lower the framerate momentarily but the game recovers quickly. If you do find the dips getting a bit much, there’s plenty of room here to lower some settings to accommodate. For the majority of players, these settings will be more than enough, though.

As I say, they’re what I used and I had a blast with Fight Forever.

Bugs and Issues

The good news: Bugs are few and far between. The bad news: Boy does this game have some issues.

Let’s kick things off with the visuals. It’s a truly peculiar game. Texture quality is absolutely stunning, but the character models look weird. Some are better than others, but a large portion of the roster looks like melted wax works.

Then there’s the barebones character creation suite. A staple of wrestling games is being able to create whoever you want, but AEW Fight Forever is extremely limited. There’s Roman Reigns’ moveset, entrance, and gear, but no way to make a face that even vaguely resembles him.

You’ve also got issues with hit detection working against you. Punches, kicks, or grapples will randomly refuse to connect due to the angle at which they’re landed, even if you’ve lined them up perfectly when you hit the corresponding button.

AEW Fight Forever also runs into the problem of outdated rosters. In fairness, this is a problem all wrestling games face due to the length of video game development, but it’s even more apparent here. The upside of this is you get Cody Rhodes, but you’re missing all of the NXT acquisitions and AEW staples like The Acclaimed (despite their music being in there). I can’t help but feel the roster isn’t as packed as it should be.

Kicking out of pins also borders on unfair. The gimmick here is to mash buttons, but unless you’re a robot, chances are you’re going to get pinned at impromptu moments. And yes, it’s very annoying losing an enjoyable match to a mere hip toss.

Verdict

I want to stress, I am enjoying my time with AEW Fight Forever, but the plethora of issues get in the way of what could be a great arcade wrestling game. It feels complete, but also missing an extra layer of polish to bring it to where it needs to be.

What AEW Fight Forever feels like is a base game about to get an entire roster’s worth of updates and downloadable content in the next 12 months. Want FTR? Pay me. The Acclaimed? Pay me. Danhausen? Pay me. Welcome to the world of live service wrestling games – a genre where I can’t predict how it’ll end up.

Do I recommend picking up AEW Fight Forever? It’s a tough one but yes, I do. The action, despite my complaints, is the best it’s been in years, and AEW Fight Forever truly makes wrestling games fun again.

Disclosure: All screenshots captured on Steam Deck. | Review code provided on behalf of THQ Nordic.| To learn more about our review policy click here. | Alternatively, click here to find out why you can trust me.