Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time is fantastic on Steam Deck, but what about Nintendo Switch?

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As a passionate gamer, I’m thrilled to share my early impressions of “Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time” by Level-5, now available globally on consoles and PC via Steam! Although I’m still diving deep into the game for a comprehensive review, I can’t wait to discuss my experiences after clocking over 20 hours on three different platforms: Steam Deck, Nintendo Switch, and ROG Ally. This feature will delve into the performance of “Fantasy Life i” on the Switch, optimal settings for the Steam Deck, thoughts on the PC port, and much more. To maintain the story’s mystery, I’ve carefully redacted quest names in screenshots where necessary. Additionally, I’ve tested cross-save functionality between the Steam Deck and Switch to ensure a smooth gaming experience.

Fantasy Life i Nintendo Switch performance impressions

I primarily played the game through its Steam release, but after pre-ordering digitally, I got to test the Nintendo Switch version. Since Fantasy Life 1 has cross-save functionality, I transferred my Steam save over to explore bustling areas and start a fresh new one on my user profile. I was curious to experience the game’s initial performance on the Switch from day one. Please note that this is with version 1.1.0, which lags slightly behind the PS5, PS4, and Steam versions. The Switch edition didn’t receive an early unlock for the Digital Deluxe Edition like other platforms did.

The Fantasy Life game on Nintendo Switch performs better than I anticipated, considering its presentation in the recent Direct. So far, I’ve only played it in handheld mode and found the visuals to be softer compared to what I expected from the Switch. Load times are decent, but the performance is disappointingly inconsistent, often dipping below 30fps even during certain cut-scenes. While the game may temporarily meet its target frame rate, issues with frame pacing or stuttering detract from the experience, especially in busy areas like Ginormosia’s sandy parts or near Mysteria’s Capital where there are many NPCs. I assumed the gameplay would be rougher, but it falls short of being optimal.

Fantasy Life i Switch handheld gameplay screenshots














I’d prefer if an update for Level-5 fixed the option to eliminate depth of field, similar to the PC version, since I dislike how it makes the edges of the screen blurry in certain instances. Additionally, I’m hoping for a future update that includes touchscreen support. Although it wouldn’t be essential during combat or exploration, having this feature would make it easier to progress through cut-scenes and navigate menus. The Switch version does offer good HD Rumble and is playable, but unless you’re playing the game on another platform and using cross save as a means to play on-the-go, I wouldn’t suggest purchasing it.

It’s yet uncertain, but it would be ideal if the performance problems with the Switch version could be fixed when played via backward compatibility on Switch 2 before its official release. For the time being, this Switch port is decent to own and play alongside another version, but I wouldn’t suggest relying on it as your primary means to enjoy Fantasy Life at the moment. Let’s hope that some of these performance issues can be rectified in future updates.

Fantasy Life i PC graphics options and port features

Since Megaton Musashi W: Wired for PC offered an exceptional port that performed seamlessly on handheld devices, I wasn’t overly concerned about Fantasy Life 1. However, I must say I’m quite impressed with the Steam version. It boasts a variety of graphics settings, scales effectively, and functions well with mouse and keyboard inputs, as I’ve discovered from my initial attempts using those controls.

If you’re using Steam Deck or other devices running SteamOS while playing games, you may encounter an issue where the game restricts your ability to modify display settings such as mode (windowed, borderless), resolution (with 16:10 support), toggle v-sync, set frame rate limit (30, 60, 120 or unlimited), activate motion blur, choose a graphics preset (low, medium, high, custom), enable HDR, and adjust screen brightness. I’ll discuss this issue further below, but first let me tell you that Fantasy Life offers these customization options for your gaming experience.

Fantasy Life i PC options





In the Fantasy Life game, the graphics preset automatically optimizes certain settings that you can also customize manually. These include shadow sharpness (options: low, medium, high), anti-aliasing type (FXAA or TAA), enabling global illumination, ambient occlusion, screen space reflections, depth of field, object quality level and the display count (options: low, medium, high).

Fantasy Life i Steam Deck impressions

In simpler terms, “Fantasy Life 1” has been confirmed as compatible with the Steam Deck. While the Verified status may not carry as much weight as it once did for new games, in this instance, it’s well-deserved. Upon launching the game for the first time, there might be a brief wait for download or update of Epic Online Services, but after that, everything functions smoothly. Remarkably, even with anti-cheat measures in place, the game operates flawlessly on the Steam Deck. I’ve personally invested approximately 20 hours into the game on my Steam Deck, out of a total playtime, and the experience has been seamless. Features like text input bringing up the keyboard and performance are perfect, with HDR also supported on the Steam Deck OLED display.

In the current situation, there’s a potential issue that might not impact everyone while playing. If you decide to alter any graphic settings, the game will automatically switch from 800p / 16:10 to 720p and 16:9. Since Fantasy Life on Steam Deck restricts the display mode and resolution settings by default, the solution is to use “Steam Deck=0 %command%” (without quotes) as a launch option. This allows you to customize your preferred graphic settings during gameplay.

Fantasy Life i Steam Deck gameplay screenshots













Apart from a few exceptions, Fantasy Life i performs exceptionally well on the Steam Deck. Over the years, I’ve tested thousands of games on Valve’s handheld device and routinely explore new and older titles for our RPG section on Steam Deck. Among all these games, Fantasy Life i stands out as one of the finest, offering an exceptional gaming experience tailored to this system. Notably, you can advance dialogue by tapping and use the right trackpad for precise placement during the building phase (thanks to Steam Input).

Fantasy Life i Steam Deck recommended settings and a fix

In the game Fantasy Life, the cut-scenes are limited to running at 60 frames per second (fps) on PC. To ensure a consistent and smooth experience when playing on either the LCD or OLED screen of the Steam Deck, it’s best to set the game’s frame rate to match this cap. If you’re using an OLED display, make sure you haven’t accidentally capped the game at 60fps within the settings for your 90hz display. I personally left the game uncapped but used the Steam Deck’s quick access menu to limit it to 60fps whenever needed. So far, my playtime of Fantasy Life on the Steam Decks has been mostly smooth, with only brief instances where the frame rate dipped below 60fps, usually lasting just a second or two in menus.


On smaller screens, many performance-enhancing options aren’t particularly beneficial. My general advice is to turn off depth of field adjustments as they tend to blur parts of the screen. Apart from that, you can simply set the game to medium quality and forget about further tweaks. Using the High preset may lead to frames per second dropping below 60, so I advise against it on Steam Deck. Additionally, I typically reduce shadow settings as well.

Fantasy Life i ROG Ally impressions and recommended settings

In my regular testing routine, I’ve been using a top-tier ROG Ally Z1 Extreme model with its GPU set at 5GB VRAM. I’m currently running the most recent driver update that was released last week, ensuring everything is up to the mark. So far, I’ve only spent about an hour playing Fantasy Life on the ROG Ally, but my time testing on Steam Deck provided some useful insights. I wanted to push the visuals of ROG Ally across its various modes and see if I could achieve a consistent 120fps in handheld mode.

As an enthusiast, I can vouch that when you play at 1080p with the high preset and engage the 30W mode, you’ll consistently get around 30 frames per second. However, in bustling areas, it dips slightly into the high 20s when set to the 25W mode. Personally, I wouldn’t strive for 30fps in Fantasy Life, as the performance trade-off seems excessive given the minimal visual differences.

Fantasy Life i ROG Ally gameplay screenshots




As a dedicated fan of Fantasy Life, I’ve noticed some fascinating performance adjustments when tweaking the game settings on my device. When I run the game at 1080p with the low preset and in the 25W mode, it consistently achieves 70 frames per second (fps) or more. However, switching to the 15W mode brings me frame rates around the mid to high 60s.

In an attempt to boost performance further, I lowered the resolution to 720p and stuck with the low preset. This adjustment resulted in a smooth 100-120fps experience for me. Achieving a locked 60fps at 15W mode only happens at 720p resolution, unfortunately.

The 900p mode is almost there, and Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) certainly helps, but I’ve found that the frame rates can dip into the 50s quite often under these settings.

After enjoying Fantasy Life on Nintendo Switch, Steam Deck, and ROG Ally, I’m eager to experience its feel when the Nintendo Switch 2 version comes out. Keep an eye out for my take on that, along with my comprehensive review of the game itself.

globally, Fantasy Life I: The Time-Stealing Girl will hit shelves simultaneously for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC (Steam) on May 21. However, if you’re a Nintendo Switch 2 owner, you’ll get the Fantasy Life I: The Time-Stealing Girl – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition a bit later. So, if you’re interested in this game or have already purchased it, be sure to explore our comprehensive Fantasy Life I game guides right here.

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2025-05-21 20:56