Can you play Baldur’s Gate 3 on Steam Deck?

PC players can finally dive into Baldur’s Gate 3 but is the game also available on Steam Deck? Here’s everything you need to know about whether or not you can play the RPG on the portable device.

Larian Studios are here with the third entry in the famed, long-running RPG series. Meaning, it’s time for another round of magic, melee, and monster-slaying action with a number of different classes at your disposal.

Set in the world of Dungeons & Dragons, BG3 tasks players with completing various tasks befitting of any game in the genre from completing quests to killing enemies and leveling up. However, the game has been in Early Access since October 2020, and with the Steam Deck now in full swing since 2022, how does the RPG run on it?

Baldur’s Gate on Steam Deck works out of the box via Proton, so there’s no issue with finding a compatibility layer that works. This also means that if you’re using a copy from Good Old Games, you should be able to play that too.

While you’d suspect the game to run quite well, the Steam Deck is currently limited to a stable 30, or 40FPS. For those of you who want to squeeze more out of it, 40Hz seems to be a good point. We’d also recommend using FSR to ensure the best performance.

Steam Deck controller support for Baldur’s Gate 3

Larian Studios

The main sticking point appears to be the controller support. Larian Studios have confirmed that the game will support it at launch, but there are some queries that haven’t gotten properly answered.

Baldur’s Gate 3 has been delayed on PS5, and from what we can see and have played, controller support is still a little weird. When we asked someone who had been playing the game, they mentioned that it does work but is “finicky”.

On Steam Deck, it should recognize your embedded controller and any external ones. It does, however, look “finicky”. While controller support seems to be in, it might not be the best way to play the game.

Baldur’s Gate 3 launches on PC on August 3, 2023, and is available via Steam or Good Old Games.

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Now that you know the status of Baldur’s Gate 3 on the Steam Deck, be sure to take a look at a bunch of other handy guides we’ve whipped up for you concerning other aspects of the game:

Best Sorcerer build | Best Bard build | Best Rogue build | Best Fighter build | Best Ranger build | Best Barbarian build | Best Druid build | Best Warlock build | Best Wizard build | Baldur’s Gate 3: What’s the max level cap? | Best Baldur’s Gate 3 classes tier list | How to revive characters in Baldur’s Gate 3 | Can you multiclass in Baldur’s Gate 3 | Baldur’s Gate 3 Soul Coins: How to get them & what they are | Baldur’s Gate 3: Fastest ways to get XP & level up | Baldur’s Gate 3: How to respec your character | Baldur’s Gate 3 Karmic Dice: What are they?