Wuchang: Fallen Feathers Steam Deck Impressions, ROG Ally Performance, PC Features, and More

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This week sees the release of “Wuchang: Fallen Feathers” on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam. In anticipation of its debut, I’ve been examining the PC aspects, graphic settings, ROG Ally performance, impressions for the Steam Deck, potential optimal Steam Deck settings for “Wuchang: Fallen Feathers”, and more by playing the Steam version. Having had the game for a few weeks prior, I opted to replay the initial stages with the day-one patch, which was rolled out earlier this week. It’s not unusual for a day-one patch to be released near a game launch, but in the case of “Wuchang: Fallen Feathers”, the update significantly enhanced my gaming experience. I will make updates to this article if any significant patches addressing PC handheld issues arise in the future.

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers PC graphics options

In the settings menu for the game Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, you’ll find an array of customizable graphic and display options. These are organized into two sections: Graphics Settings and Advanced Graphics Settings. The basic Graphics Settings allow you to tweak brightness levels, turn on HDR, adjust HDR-related settings, select different display modes (borderless and windowed), modify screen resolution from 720p up to 1080p on the ROG Ally and offering support for 800p on Steam Deck, set frame rate caps at 30, 60, 90, or unlimited, enable v-sync, activate low latency mode when v-sync is enabled, change quality settings among several presets (custom, low, medium, high, high, extreme), control motion blur, adjust depth of field, and reset all settings to their default values.

1. Resolution scaling for oversampling (ranging from 25 to 100).
2. Super-resolution techniques like TSR, FSR, and DLSS (if available).
3. Frame Generation control (available with FSR on Steam Deck and ROG Ally).
4. Sharpening level adjustment (from 0 to 10).
5. Post-processing effects modification affecting lighting, reflections, depth of field, and ambient occlusion (with options for low, mid, and high settings).
6. Shadow quality selection (ranging from low to extreme).
7. Effects quality adjustment (affecting clouds and lighting with options for low, mid, high).
8. Viewing distance adjustments (low, mid, high).
9. Texture, vegetation, and volumetric fog detail levels (with options for low, mid, high).
10. Global illumination toggle (off, low, mid, high).
11. Ambient occlusion and reflection quality settings (low, mid, high).

Please note that DLSS is not available for testing in this context, but it does support DLSS 4 with Multi Frame Generation as confirmed elsewhere.

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers PC graphics, display, and HDR options









Wuchang: Fallen Feathers PC control options 

In Wuchang: Fallen Feathers, you can play using both controllers and keyboard & mouse. Both options allow for customizable control settings, as shown in the gallery. If you opt for a DualSense controller, it will correctly display PlayStation button prompts. However, if you find Xbox button prompts instead when using your PlayStation controller, simply disable Steam Input to fix this issue.

In addition to rebindable controls, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers offers mouse sensitivity adjustments and the ability to invert the camera for mouse control within an individual Input Settings menu. Camera speed, field of view (FOV), and controller inversion options can be found under a separate Camera Options menu.

Moreover, the game dynamically updates button prompts based on input, giving you flexibility as you play without being locked into a specific setup once you’ve started the game.

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers keyboard & mouse and controller options




Wuchang: Fallen Feathers Steam Deck impressions

Before the day one patch, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers wouldn’t run on my Steam Deck at all. However, after applying the update, I managed to play it for a while and test it on my Steam Deck OLED. The game initially gave a positive impression with features like full 16:10 support (which needs to be enabled in settings), working HDR on Steam Deck OLED, proper sync and resume Steam Cloud support, and even shader compilation during the first launch. Unfortunately, playing it on Steam Deck is far from an enjoyable experience. After spending a few hours with a stable and up-to-date SteamOS on my new save file, I couldn’t achieve a consistent 30fps. Although the game does start, you won’t come close to maintaining a steady 30fps even at the lowest possible settings.

As a dedicated fan, I’ve dabbled with various versions of Proton, including the default and stable Proton, GE Proton 10-10, Proton Hotfix, and even the beta version 10.0-1 that I had installed. Regrettably, I didn’t notice a significant improvement in performance across these different versions. At the moment, I can’t endorse one specific Proton for better performance. However, I usually opt for Proton Experimental for untested games from Valve or the latest GE Proton version if I detect any noticeable improvements.

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers Steam Deck with global Illumination on at low vs off

As a gamer, I’ve noticed that even when I lower the settings to their minimum – like setting the oversampling resolution to 25 and turning off every other option – Wuchang: Fallen Feathers struggles to maintain more than 20fps during combat and exploration in both early areas and indoors. It seems that the game’s memory demands might be the culprit since it requires a minimum of 16GB of RAM, which is exactly what my Steam Deck offers. Considering this, I suspect the limited VRAM (6GB to 8GB) may also play a part as Wuchang: Fallen Feathers’ minimum requirements state a need for up to 8GB of VRAM.

To compensate for this, I took screenshots in the gallery below with HDR enabled and global illumination turned off to boost performance. Unfortunately, these shots appear washed out or too dark due to the HDR settings, but I’ve included a comparison above showcasing how the game looks with and without global illumination on my Steam Deck. Keep in mind that enabling global illumination can significantly improve visuals at the cost of performance.















Wuchang: Fallen Feathers Steam Deck recommended settings

Currently, my advice is to hold off on playing Wuchang: Fallen Feathers on Steam Deck at this time, as there are no recommended settings available for it. Regrettably, the game isn’t playable on Valve’s handheld device at the moment. Even with the lowest possible graphics settings and an uncapped frame rate, you’d only achieve around 34-35fps while looking at the sky or ground. This necessitates turning off global illumination, which leads to a decrease in visual quality. Although the game can be visually stunning on more powerful systems, I wouldn’t recommend it even if it ran at 30fps with these low settings on Steam Deck, due to the poor upscaling quality from such a low input resolution. At present, you might find it challenging to spot enemies and other points of interest in the distance.

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers ROG Ally impressions

On the ROG Ally, the game “Wuchang: Fallen Feathers” plays better than on the Steam Deck, but it’s not an experience I’d wholeheartedly endorse without some reservations. The game tends to stutter during exploration and combat, although these hiccups do improve somewhat over time. I discovered that TSR provided a superior visual experience compared to FSR, so I opted for the former throughout, just as I did on the Steam Deck. When running the ROG Ally in 25W Turbo Mode while unplugged and set to 5GB VRAM, “Wuchang: Fallen Feathers” runs at around 15-25fps on its default graphics settings at a resolution of 1080p. These default settings are too demanding for the ROG Ally, and I hope the developers will adjust them in an upcoming update.

At first, I opted to keep the game’s resolution at its standard 1080p because that’s the device’s native resolution. This default setting primarily employs medium (mid-level) settings, with shadows set high and ambient occlusion low. It also includes a 60 oversampling resolution and TSR upscaling. However, even when I played at 30W Turbo Mode while the ROG Ally was plugged in, performance remained subpar.








I was curious if I could manage to achieve a consistent 30 frames per second (FPS) on Wuchang: Fallen Feathers using the ROG Ally at 1080p resolution. To test this, I lowered all settings to their minimum with oversampling set at 25 and global illumination disabled. When running at 25 watts, I achieved approximately 30fps in the initial open area of the game, but encountered regular stuttering. Boosting to 30-watt Turbo Mode while plugged in slightly improved performance in certain areas, but a stable 30fps was still not attainable.

In simpler terms, when I played the game using the lowest settings and 25W Turbo Mode, I managed to maintain a frame rate of around 30fps, which occasionally rose to the high 30s and low 40s. However, there was significant stuttering while exploring. Even when limiting the frame rate to 30fps, I encountered occasional freezing during movement. Switching to 30W Turbo Mode slightly improved the frame rate to the low 50s, but the stuttering during movement remained a problem. Despite the game performing well in the early hours with no frame drops below 30fps in 30W Turbo Mode, the stuttering issues make it less than ideal for recommendation. I haven’t found a solution to these problems yet. It’s unclear if this is an issue specific to handheld devices like ROG Ally or a problem with the overall PC version, but the experience is not pleasant at all.

Because the game needs a minimum of 16GB memory and 6 to 8GB VRAM, the ROG Ally X might offer a playable experience, though I’m not impressed by the current performance on the ROG Ally Z1 Extreme due to the hitching. If the developers can resolve that issue, it should at least be playable and maintain a consistent 30fps based on my retest of the opening hours with the day one patch installed.

Although the main character and environment in Wuchang: Fallened Feathers might appear okay on devices like the ROG Ally and Steam Deck, distant enemies or objects may not load until you approach them due to heavy upscaling. This can be a significant issue for this type of game. At the moment, it’s not advisable to play Wuchang: Fallen Feathers on the Steam Deck, but it is playable on ROG Ally with a caveat about occasional lag during movement. Hopefully future patches will address these performance issues.

As we draw this article to a close, I’d like to highlight some concerns I have about the PC version of the game and potential improvements in upcoming patches.

Firstly, the boot-up configuration check takes an extended time on the ROG Ally device, sometimes up to a minute, which can be frustrating due to the delay before reaching the title screen after navigating through multiple splash screens. It’s unclear if this issue is exclusive to handheld devices or not.

Secondly, Steam Cloud appears to synchronize certain graphics settings across different devices. I observed this when the game was set to 800p on my Steam Deck but launched at 720p instead after playing for a bit on the ROG Ally. This could be problematic for users who play primarily on their desktop PC and occasionally on handheld devices like the ROG Ally X, as settings seem to sync inconsistently.

Lastly, there have been instances where the game fails to close properly. Even after exiting, Steam may still display the game as running for a short while before it finally shuts down.

So far, I’ve found Wuchang: Fallen Feathers quite enjoyable in terms of its visuals, difficulty level, battle system, and music. It’s best experienced on a primary gaming computer, and if console versions for PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X are available, they could be worth considering as well.

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2025-07-23 04:57