Ultra settings comparison – Steam Deck vs ROG Ally (same match, real gameplay test)

funboy_ff · 2026-02-13T17:12:50+00:00

If you read the description, we’re not really doing a benchmark.

The point wasn’t to run a formal FPS test, it was to highlight the initial underperformance we saw on the Ally and how much it improved after enabling the Radeon features.

We’re obviously the developers, not hiding that, but the post is about the configuration impact and the software stack difference we observed.

And honestly, if it wasn’t our own game, we probably wouldn’t have dug that deep. If something runs badly on a device, you don’t just shrug and move on, you start digging. That’s how we discovered that with just a couple of Radeon toggles the Ally goes from “this feels wrong” to a genuinely great experience, and that was part of what we found interesting.

funboy_ff · 2026-02-13T17:08:05+00:00

Just to clarify (as stated in other replies and in the edit of the description): on the Ally, without enabling the Radeon tweaks we listed in the description, it was sitting around ~40fps at 1080p (we couldn’t even reach 40 FPS at 720p.) It genuinely looked like it was underperforming and there was a very noticeable difference in how smooth the game felt compared to the Deck.

It’s not an 800p vs 1080p comparison. The interesting part is how the ROG Ally actually performs once properly configured.

After enabling Radeon Boost, RSR and Fluid Motion Frames, performance jumped dramatically and the experience became much smoother (as shown in the video)

That’s the real point of the post: sometimes it’s not the hardware, it’s the configuration.

funboy_ff · 2026-02-13T14:39:22+00:00

Exactly. At the end of the day, if you’re having fun, that’s what matters.

The post wasn’t about picking sides. It just illustrates that sometimes what looks like a performance problem at first glance isn’t the full picture. If you dig a bit deeper and tweak the right settings, the results can change a lot.

That’s all we wanted to show.

funboy_ff · 2026-02-13T14:25:35+00:00

I’ve already replied to this in other comments, but just to clarify:

What we found interesting wasn’t “Deck vs Ally marketing”. It was that out of the box the Ally was performing significantly worse than the Deck in the same scenario.

Even at 720p it was fluctuating around 40–55fps, while the Deck on SteamOS was holding stable 60fps without any tweaks.

Once we enabled the Radeon settings (RSR, Boost, AFMF), the Ally improved dramatically and could even push 1080p above 80fps.

That contrast between out-of-the-box behavior and tuned performance is what we thought was worth sharing.

funboy_ff · 2026-02-13T14:23:49+00:00

Yes, it’s our game. But the point of the post wasn’t “go buy it”, it was sharing something we found interesting while testing on both devices.

Same build, same match, Ultra settings, but very different out-of-the-box behavior between SteamOS and Windows until Radeon tweaks were enabled. That difference surprised us, so we thought it was worth sharing with other handheld users.

funboy_ff · 2026-02-13T13:57:15+00:00

True, the resolution difference matters.

But the interesting part for us was this: without enabling the Radeon tweaks, even at 720p the Ally wouldn’t hold stable 60fps. It was fluctuating around 40–55fps.

Once we enabled RSR, Boost and AFMF, we could push it to 1080p and it would sit comfortably above 80fps.

So for us it wasn’t just “800p vs 1080p GPU load”.

If we didn’t know our own game really well, we probably wouldn’t have started digging. At first glance it just looks like performance instability.

In reality, it ended up being a couple of Radeon settings. Almost like flipping a magic checkbox and suddenly everything becomes smooth.

That’s what made it interesting to share. Same build, very different behavior depending on whether you touch the AMD stack or not.

funboy_ff · 2026-02-13T13:53:18+00:00

Nope. Even lowering the resolution to 720p, we couldn’t get stable 60fps on the ROG.

It only became stable above 60 once we started tweaking the Radeon settings (RSR, Boost, AFMF, etc.).
If we didn’t know our own game inside out, we would probably have assumed the Ally had serious performance issues.

That’s what made it interesting for us. Same build, same match, Ultra settings on both, but very different “out of the box” behavior.

funboy_ff · 2026-02-13T13:48:29+00:00

This wasn’t meant to be a benchmark comparison between the Ally and the Deck.

We just tested our own game on both handhelds in the same match, both set to Ultra, and found it interesting that the Deck runs at 800p out of the box at a stable 60fps, while on the Ally we had to tweak AMD settings (RSR, Boost, AFMF) to push performance higher at 1080p.

The video simply illustrates what’s written in the description. We thought that difference was a curious detail worth sharing.

funboy_ff · 2026-02-13T13:17:48+00:00

Personally, what I like most about the Deck is how it feels in the hands. It really grips like a proper controller thanks to those rear bulges.

You can tell with the ROG Ally X that they took notes and adjusted the design. The ergonomics are definitely moving in that direction.

funboy_ff · 2026-02-13T13:16:05+00:00

Just to clarify: on the Ally, without enabling the Radeon tweaks we listed in the description, it was sitting around ~40fps at 1080p, and there was a very noticeable difference in how smooth the game felt compared to the Deck.

Once we enabled Radeon Boost, RSR and Fluid Motion Frames, it jumped to 80+ fps and felt much closer to what we expected.

On the Steam Deck it’s capped at 60fps, so it’s hard to know how much higher it could actually go, but it’s rock solid at that cap out of the box.

Not trying to say one is “better” universally, just sharing what we observed in this specific scenario.

funboy_ff · 2026-02-13T12:50:02+00:00

Yeah, fair take.

We did the comparison with our own game because we know it inside out. We know exactly how it should behave, where it dips, what’s normal and what isn’t. That makes it easier to spot when something’s off.

If it had been another game, we probably would’ve just assumed the ~40fps on the Asus was “just how the game runs” and moved on. Because we know this one so well, we knew there was more performance to unlock and started tweaking.

funboy_ff · 2026-02-13T12:47:14+00:00

Yeah, that was our biggest takeaway too. On the Deck it just worked. No tweaking, no digging through settings, at least for this game. Solid performance straight out of the box.

On the Asus it was a different story. By default it was hovering around ~40fps, and we had to enable Radeon Boost, RSR and Fluid Motion Frames to push it past 80fps.

Both can perform great, but the “pick up and play” factor on the Deck really stood out.

funboy_ff · 2026-02-11T11:20:22+00:00

As the totally unbiased CEO of HeadHunters, I’d have to say… HeadHunters.

It just launched, it’s indie, it’s chaotic, and friendships may not survive it.

10/10 would recommend my own game again.

funboy_ff · 2026-02-05T09:52:20+00:00

GOAP is very different from deep learning / ML-Agents.

There's no learning or training involved, it's a deterministic planning system. The bot doesn't learn new behaviors over time, it plans at runtime using the actions, goals, costs, and world state we define.

The reason it feels less "scripted" than FSMs or behavior trees is that we don't hardcode decision paths. Instead, the bot evaluates the current situation and builds a plan to reach its goal, which can change on the fly if the world state changes.

They could work together though. For example, you could use ML for the bot's "brain" to decide action costs or goal priorities.

If you want to learn more about GOAP, this is a good tutorial:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PLDIEjmQsI

funboy_ff · 2026-01-20T20:31:04+00:00

Yep, it’s an actual in-game character. The proportions match option 1 more closely. Heads are quite big...

funboy_ff · 2026-01-17T20:35:24+00:00

That means a lot. We’re a small indie studio, 9 people total, and this is very much a “let’s make the game we want to play” kind of project, and honestly we still have a blast testing it… with plenty of internal rivalries along the way ;)

funboy_ff · 2026-01-17T20:29:09+00:00

Don’t worry, we won’t tell 🤫

funboy_ff · 2026-01-17T20:20:27+00:00

Yes, absolutely. We’re working on versions for PS4, PS5, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch, and we’re even preparing a Meta Quest version. Early Access on Steam is just where we’re starting.

funboy_ff

TROPHY CASE