Is Sonic Superstars compatible with Steam Deck?

While many are enjoying Sonic Superstars game on all current and last-gen consoles, PC players are also enjoying the latest Sonic game. But what about Steam Deck users? How does Sonic run (no pun intended) on the Steam Deck?

Does Sonic Superstars work on Steam Deck?

Sonic Superstars, while playable, doesn’t run fully on Steam Deck. The game is playable and can run at an almost steady 60 FPS. However, the online features simply do not work. 

Sonic Superstars is primarily a single-player game with a few online features. Unfortunately, the online portions are hosted by Epic Online Services, which isn’t compatible with the Steam Deck. 

Launching the game on Steam Deck will hit you with an Epic Online Services overlay. According to many Steam users, this is a massive roadblock for Steam Deck because there’s no way to close the overlay. Many claim that the game is entirely unplayable on Steam Deck.

Are there any workarounds to get Sonic Superstars on Steam Deck?

Fortunately, there are workarounds and non-conventional alternative methods.   

• One solution is to close the Epic Online Service overlay manually every time you launch the game, but even then, the online experience is finicky at best. 
• Another solution is to entirely disable Epic Online Services from the game’s directory files, but that will, in turn, disable all online features.

Like with previous Sonic titles released on Steam, there is also the DRM Denuvo known to cripple game performance. This has been a huge issue with titles like Sonic Mania and Sonic Frontiers. What’s even stranger is that Sega always removes the intrusive DRM after a few months of being available on Steam, and we think it’s safe to assume that the same will be done for Sonic Superstars. 

Many other game developers also remove Denuvo shortly after launch. Fortunately, we are happy to report that Denuvo does not impact performance too much in this case, not even on the Steam Deck. Alternatively, it has been reported that Sonic Superstars runs well by utilizing emulators. 

Since the game has only recently been released, there is a chance that Sega will release an update to address these issues, which might make the game even more playable on Steam Deck.