Genshin Impact: ASUS ROG Ally Recommended Settings, Performance

Performance Overview

Performance across the board is solid. Genshin Impact isn’t the most demanding game out there either, which means we can up the settings slightly to get even more lush visuals.

Expect the framerate to stick close to 60 at most times. There will be dips, but on the whole, it’s smooth. Good stuff!

What I will say is with the settings below, you’ve got some leeway should you encounter any issues later on, namely when playing co-op or when cities get a little busy.

Recommended Settings

My rule for this batch of settings is to keep a mix of medium with some low to keep battery drain as minimal as possible. By running Genshin Impact on the Performance profile, we can keep battery drain to a sensible 20 watts. Nice!

This means, from my testing, the battery should last over three hours in the more tranquil areas. That’s not bad given some games struggle to make it past one hour.

I’ve seen it’s possible to extend the battery life further by limiting the frames per second to 30, but I don’t think that’s really needed. I’m also not sold on increasing any of the settings further. Genshin Impact is a game of diminishing returns when it comes to visuals. The game looks stunning on low, and opting for high settings doesn’t change the image quality enough to justify the extra power cost.

How to Run Genshin Impact in True Fullscreen

One problem I ran into is when I dropped the resolution from 1080p to 720p, there isn’t an option to run lower resolutions in fullscreen. The game only lets you run 720p in a windowed mode, which is annoying.

I have, however, solved this problem by adding a quick command to the launch shortcut. Here’s how to do it.

Head into the main Genshin Folder and locate the main executable file. You want “Genshin.exe” not the launcher. Once found, click on the file with the right trigger to open the submenu and select Properties.

In the shortcut path, which contains “Genshin.exe” put a space directly after the path and add the following command to the end:

“-window-mode exclusive” (without the quotation marks)

Hit enter once that’s typed in and next time you load up Genshin Impact through this shortcut, the game will default to fullscreen when the resolution is set to 720p.

Genshin Impact Steam Deck Comparison

I managed to get Genshin Impact running on the Steam Deck, but you’re at the behest of the developer as to whether the game will be supported. Sometimes it works, other times it doesn’t.

Performance on the Steam Deck was good given it’s not officially supported, but it wasn’t on par with the ASUS ROG ally. Plus with the Ally being a Windows device, that means you don’t have to jump through any hoops to get it working. Just install it as you normally would and it’ll work.

Genshin Impact with the XG Mobile Attached

When I hooked up my RTX 4090 XG Mobile to the ASUS ROG Ally, I was able to run Genshin Impact on maximum settings at 60 frames per second with minimal dips. It looks better, obviously, but the difference isn’t as striking as with something like The Last of Us. Genshin looks great on any settings, so I don’t think the XG Mobile is really needed here. It’s kind of overkill, to be honest.

Verdict

Love it or hate it, there’s no middle ground with Genshin Impact. Playing Genshin on a mobile device is good, but running it on the ASUS ROG Ally is great. It feels like the game was designed to showcase just how stylish and delightful the Ally is.

There are some issues, namely the fullscreen workaround and the Ally refusing to auto-switch between gamepad and desktop mode. But these issues aren’t enough to hinder the enjoyment of racing around Genshin’s world in search of quests and tasks.

If you’re looking to supercharge your portable Genshin experience, the ASUS ROG Ally version is the one to beat.

All screenshots captured on ASUS ROG Ally hardware.| To learn more about our review policy click here. | Alternatively, click here to find out why you can trust me.