Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero PC Port Impressions – Steam Deck Recommended Settings, Switch Comparisons, & More

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Next week, NIS America will make available “NIS’ Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero” on Steam after its global launch earlier this year across PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch. In our review of the Nintendo Switch version, Nathan pointed out that the performance diminished the overall enjoyment. Despite my fun with it on the Nintendo Switch, the performance was less than ideal. I decided to try the PS5 demo for a comparison, and it provided a superior experience, but I anticipated more from the port. I was intrigued to see how the PC version would perform and if it could offer an excellent handheld gaming experience. Prior to its release, I’ve been testing “Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero” on Steam for this article about the PC port. I have played it on both my Steam Deck and ROG Ally.

Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero PC settings and graphics options

In Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero for PC, both keyboard/mouse and controller inputs are supported. On the controller end, you have the flexibility to reassign buttons and choose your preferred button prompts. If you opt out of auto-detection, you can manually select from PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox, numbered buttons, or keyboard keys. Additionally, you can control mouse input by adjusting settings within the controls tab in the menu.

On your PC, you can customize Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero to outperform or match the console versions in terms of graphics and performance. You have a variety of options to tailor the experience, such as choosing window mode (windowed, borderless, fullscreen), setting monitor priority, adjusting resolutions, locking the windowed aspect ratio, tweaking texture quality, toggling v-sync, scaling resolution for 3D artwork, enabling semi-transparent s-sampling, turning on dynamic resolution, limiting minimum resolution for dynamic resolution, adjusting shadow and water reflection qualities, toggling SSAO, selecting anti-aliasing types, capping the frame rate, setting background frame rate limits, and regulating the frame rate of independent physics-based motion when the game FPS falls below 60.

Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero PC graphics and control options












Regarding the available resolutions when gaming on my ROG Ally and Steam Deck, here’s a comparison:

On the ROG Ally, I could select fullscreen resolutions of 720p, 900p, or 1080p. However, in windowed mode, the options ranged from 1080p right down to 256×144.

On the Steam Deck, the range for fullscreen resolutions is from 720p down to 320×200, and it supports 800p. In windowed mode, the available options are similar to those on the ROG Ally, but above 720p there are some differences.

Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero Steam Deck performance

Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero performs smoothly on Steam Deck right out of the box. It features a 16:10 aspect ratio and Steam Cloud support, and doesn’t require any adjustments to run well. However, achieving a locked 60fps required some tweaking. I should mention that while the game stages operate efficiently, the hub is more resource-intensive, especially initially. You may notice that Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero runs smoother in tutorials or battle stages, but performance will significantly decrease in the hub compared to those areas.

Initially, I’d like to discuss my suggested settings for Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero on Steam Deck, a device that I find ideal for this game due to its handheld nature. Although the PS5 version appears superior based on demos, I opted for the Nintendo Switch port instead and have no regrets. Now, with the Steam Deck, I can enjoy a smooth 60fps experience without compromising visuals. However, there’s an issue with the size of some interface text being too small on the handheld screen. Valve acknowledges this problem as well, rating the game as Playable rather than Verified due to small in-game text, occasional non-Steam Deck controller icons, and incorrect native resolution settings. I didn’t experience issues with the icons or resolution, but I concur with the Playable rating regarding text size since it could be larger given the available screen space.

Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero Steam Deck gameplay screenshots









Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero Steam Deck recommended settings

To ensure a smooth 60 frames per second (fps) gameplay in Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero, I adjusted my settings as follows: Resolution at 800p, standard texture quality, no semi-transparent s-sampling, dynamic resolution off, water reflections off, SSAO on, anti-aliasing set to TAA+FXAA, and shadow quality set to 50. I noticed only minor stuttering during testing over a few hours. The game runs the target 60fps quite well, feeling much smoother than the Nintendo Switch version. If you prefer a lower frame rate like 45 or 40fps, you can boost resolution scaling for a crisper overall image, but I was content with my 60fps visuals.

When playing Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero on a Steam Deck OLED, it’s worth noting that the in-game 60fps limiter may not provide the best results. Instead, consider setting the game to an uncapped frame rate using its own settings and adjusting your Steam Deck OLED screen to a refresh rate of 60Hz at 60fps for optimal performance. This method should deliver a smoother gaming experience.

Remark: The picture you see contains enlarged and trimmed snapshots, highlighting the distinct features of each platform.

Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero Steam Deck vs Nintendo Switch and PS5

Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero on Nintendo Switch aims for a stable 30 frames per second (fps), but unfortunately, it doesn’t consistently meet that mark, even dipping below in later stages. While some might think this isn’t a major issue in a strategy RPG, I personally wasn’t satisfied with the performance on the Nintendo Switch. Despite finding enjoyment in the game, I felt it needed to run more smoothly on Nintendo’s handheld device. Interestingly, when I tried out the demo of the same game on PS5, I noticed that there were options for both quality and performance modes, neither of which aimed for 120fps. Instead, the PS5 version is limited to a maximum of 60fps.

It would have been great if Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero on Nintendo Switch provided a choice between a smooth 30fps quality setting or a smooth 60fps performance mode, but unfortunately, this isn’t an option. As such, I find playing Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero on the Steam Deck OLED to be the most enjoyable experience. I’m eager to see how Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero performs on the Nintendo Switch 2 when it becomes available through backward compatibility or if NIS provides an upgrade for the new console. At this moment, the Steam Deck OLED is my preferred choice for portable play due to certain issues with the ROG Ally version that I’ll discuss below.

Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero issues on ROG Ally

Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero on ROG Ally

Experiencing a performance discrepancy with Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero on my ROG Ally, set to 25W and VRAM at 5GB. Interestingly, the game runs smoother on Steam Deck under identical settings. I’ll delve deeper into this matter in the days ahead, awaiting potential updates to revisit this topic. At present, I can’t explain the poor performance. Even with the lowest possible settings, it barely achieves 60fps on ROG Ally, whereas Steam Deck can reach the 90s under the same conditions and resolution. During gameplay, frames often exceed 60fps, but there seems to be an unidentified issue. For now, I’d advise playing Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero on Steam Deck rather than ROG Ally. Here’s hoping the problem is addressed before or shortly after launch.

The game titled Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero is now accessible on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch. A complimentary demo for the game can be found across all platforms. The complete game will launch for PC (Steam) on April 24th.

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2025-04-18 15:26