Yakko Tako Royale on the Steam Deck

The Deck's own controls

The game ships its own Steam Input configuration, with a default layout written for the Steam Deck alongside the Xbox, PlayStation, Switch Pro and Steam Controller ones. Nothing to set up and no community layout to hunt for: the sticks, triggers and shoulder buttons fly the kite from the first launch.

And because Steam Input knows the controller in your hands, every on-screen prompt draws the Deck's own buttons, not an Xbox pad's. If you remap something in Steam's controller settings, the prompts follow.

Laid out for a 16:10 screen

The Deck's screen is 16:10, and the game lays every menu and the fight HUD out for 16:10 on its own rather than stretching a 16:9 picture or boxing it in. The same goes for a 4:3 monitor, an ultrawide or a television when the Deck is docked: the layout follows the screen it is on.

Tilt to steer, if you like

The Deck has a gyroscope, and the game can use it. Turn gyro steering on per player on the SET THE MATCH screen and tilt the Deck to turn your kite; leave it off and the shoulders do the job. The tutorial has a chapter for it.

Built in Steam's own runtime

The SteamOS and Linux build is compiled inside the Steam Linux Runtime, the same environment Steam runs games in on the Deck, so it is a native build: no Proton, no translation layer between the game and SteamOS.