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The original was posted on /r/steamdeck by /u/Ok-Potato5688 on 2025-08-05 17:31:43+00:00.
As someone with limited computer knowledge, I largely rely on the community for my Steam Deck game settings. I see time and time again that when folks ask for settings help here, posters will (often with attitude) say to simply check ProtonDB for assistance. This isn’t necessarily bad advice, but what folks forget to mention is that ProtonDB is, at best, a mere starting place.
I have found on many occasions that ProtonDB is either lacking in actual game settings information or it is simply wrong about the state of a game. And I reckon this is because you’re relying on community updates, which are not guaranteed to be consistent.
- Let’s take a quick gander for instance at ProtonDB’s entry for the Dead Space Remake. A quick glance will tell you this game runs perfectly with some tweaks. Anybody here who has taken an honest stab at this game on Deck already knows this is false. The game always has been and continues to be a stuttering nightmare. And while that stuttering can be reduced in some clever ways, it can not be eliminated. Yet ProtonDB and its comments will not reflect that, and the page will mislead you to buy this game for your Deck.
- Let’s take another gander at Expedition 33. We are aware that this can barely run on Steam Deck, and there are heavy compromises. For a game focused on parrying, the questionable performance is a deal breaker. So why does ProtonDB tell its readers this is a Platinum title, perfect out of box? At the very least, the comments do warn readers to proceed with caution. But the label is misleading.
- There can be so many examples here, I’ll just point finally to the Alters. There is no issue with the label here, it is correct to say this game is playable on Deck with minor issues. Because this game is demanding, it requires some more advanced tweaks to graphics settings. But if this Reddit just dismissed someone and said “check ProtonDB”, there would be very little guidance here on making finer tweaks. There is a mention that FSR 3 with medium settings may work, though no further specificity. Also, this page does not educate readers that actually TSR is the ideal choice over FSR for this title. I only know that from researching outside of ProtonDB.
Honestly there are tons of example, but I have come to the conclusion that, for the best settings, one still does best by just asking the Reddit community what the current consensus is for a game (especially when it’s a new or demanding title). I have seen plenty of special tips for improving performance that came from this Reddit community rather than ProtonDB. Yet, this community can often be quite rude to anyone asking for setting assistance, suggesting they were just too lazy to use ProtonDB. We gotta cut people more slack when people are posting performance questions with harmless, good intentions