Infinity Nikki is out for PCs, and readers may be curious as to whether the game runs on Valve’s handheld gaming PC – the Steam Deck. Thankfully, as per multiple reports on online forums (such as Reddit), it would indeed seem possible to run the game.
However, the process is rather complicated and involves entering into the Deck’s desktop mode to manipulate some settings and files. You can find instructions on how to install Infinity Nikki on the Steam Deck in the sections below, along with some recommended settings.
How to install Infinity Nikki on the Steam Deck
- Boot up your Steam Deck and enter its Desktop Mode.
- Download the Infinity Nikki launcher from the official website (Windows download – not the Epic Games Store version).
- Fire up Steam from the Desktop Mode, and go to Games > Add a non-steam game to my library.
- A finder window should pop up – select your downloaded executable (usually located in Downloads) and hit Add Selected Programs. Steam will create a dedicated page in your Library for the game.
- Click on the cog wheel (Settings) next to the game banner. Head to Properties > Compatibility > Force the use of a specific Steam Play compatibility tool. Select Proton Experimental from the drop down list.
- Now, hit the Play button to start up the launcher. Install the launcher as you normally would on a Windows machine.
- Start the launcher and begin the download – this may take a while.
- Once the download completes, close the window and head to your game’s Steam Prefix folder. Make sure to have hidden folders enabled on Dolphin (the file manager).
- Head to /home/deck/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata/unique_prefix_id_here/pfx/drive_c/program files/InfinityNikkiGlobalLauncher/ – the prefix id will vary from install to install.
- Select the launcher executable and tap right click/LT > Copy Location.
- Now, head back to Steam. Fire up the Properties menu of the install.
- Paste in the path you just copied into your ‘Target’ box – within double quotation marks (“ “).
- Do the same for the ‘Start In’ box as well – but remove the launcher.exe bit. Again, make sure to use the quotation marks before and after the end of the command.
- Exit.
Hit Play, and you should now boot up the launcher as usual. You can now click Start game from within the launcher to play the game. Log in using your email and start exploring Miraland.
If required, you can also choose to change the launcher name, and add in custom artwork using DeckyLoader’s SteamGridDB plugin.
Interestingly, this method does not appear to be compatible with other Linux distributions and/or devices at the moment – only the Steam Deck can download and boot the game.
Desktop Linux and handheld OS’es such as Bazzite simply fail to launch or even download the game.
Best infinity Nikki Steam Deck settings
Try sticking to Low settings and push your Deck’s TDP to 15 W in order to squeeze the most frames out of your device. This is a moderately demanding game so be prepared to run it at 30-40 FPS.
It is also recommended to enable Dynamic Resolution.
