Need for Speed Unbound Steam Deck - how to run

Need for Speed Unbound Steam Deck - how to run
Credit: EA

Need for Speed Unbound Steam Deck - how to run
Credit: EA

As the latest title in the NFS franchise is out now, many people are wondering if they can play Need for Speed Unbound on Steam Deck.

Well, it is possible to play NFS Unbound on Steam Deck, so it is a question of how. While the Steam Deck cannot play Need for Speed Unbound straight out of the box, there are some workarounds to achieve this feat.

In this guide, we will explain the process of installing Need for Speed Unbound on Steam Deck. Let's get right into it!

How to run Need for Speed Unbound on Steam Deck

Officially, Need for Speed Unbound is not supported on Steam Deck. However, you can run Need for Speed Unbound on Steam Deck with the help of Lutris or by installing Windows on your handheld PC.

Since the latter is quite a bit of work, we will use Lutris. Here is how to run Need for Speed Unbound on Steam Deck:

  • Go to the Discover store and install Lutris.
  • Launch Lutris and click on the + icon in the top left corner.
  • Select Search the Lutris website for installers.
  • Search for the "EA app" and install it. It would take 10-15 mins to install.
  • Launch the EA app and sign in to your account.
  • Finally, download and install Need for Speed Unbound from the EA app.

That's it! Launch and enjoy the game. And before you start playing, beware of the money glitch and the car duplication glitch in NFS Unbound, so you can take advantage of it.

Also, we should warn you that when you launch Need for Speed Unbound for the first time, it might take a while to get going. So don't get disheartened if you feel like the game is loading forever; it will get past the loading screen after around 5 minutes.

Need for Speed Unbound best settings for Steam Deck

Since Need for Speed Unbound isn't optimised for Steam Deck, you need to make some adjustments for the game to run smoothly. With the default settings, the game is a bit unstable and you might experience some stutters and lag.

However, you can fix these problems by tweaking your graphics settings. Here are the best settings for Need for Speed Unbound on Steam Deck:

  • Frame rate: 30fps
  • Graphics quality: Low
  • Motion blur: Off
  • Dynamic resolution scaling: Off

These settings will help you play the game at its best and get the best results. Of course, you can play with the settings on your own and tweak them to suit your needs. But you will find these settings to be the best for Need for Speed Unbound on Steam Deck.

With the graphics quality set to "medium," the frame rate capped at 30 and AMD FSR 2 turned on, you will get the best visual experience possible. However, you may notice some performance drops.

Now that you know how to run Need for Speed Unbound on Steam Deck, have a look at the best power bank for Steam Deck.