Baldur\u2019s Gate 3<\/em> is a delight on Steam Deck \u2014 even though I sometimes can\u2019t tell what\u2019s going on.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n I suspected that might be the case going in. Everything I had seen about Baldur\u2019s Gate 3<\/em> before I downloaded it promised a vast, sprawling adventure, and all the streams of the game I watched on Twitch featured incredibly detailed characters and worlds. I\u2019m sure most of those streamers were running the game on top-of-the-line rigs. I suspected that the Steam Deck, which recently had some troubles with The Last of Us Part I<\/em><\/a>, might not be the best place for me to play Larian Studios\u2019 new RPG.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n That said, the game just looked like so much fun, and since it won\u2019t be coming to PS5 until September<\/a>, I really wanted to find a way to play it sooner. I was even more intrigued after reading my colleague Ash Parrish\u2019s beginner\u2019s guide<\/a>. And then, a few days after Baldur\u2019s Gate 3<\/em> officially launched, I saw that it was Steam Deck verified<\/a>. I knew that wouldn\u2019t necessarily mean the game would be beautiful to look at, but it was enough for me to jump into Baldur\u2019s Gate 3<\/em> on my Steam Deck.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Here\u2019s what I encountered after downloading the huge 122GB game:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n You\u2019ll notice the screenshots in this article aren\u2019t pretty, but for some reason, they\u2019re seemingly worse<\/em> than they should be. I promise I didn\u2019t go out of my way to make the game look as awful as possible! After I first published this story, Sean Hollister and I may have found some inconsistencies with Baldur\u2019s Gate 3\u2019s<\/em> default Steam Deck settings, and we think there\u2019s something going on that made the game look worse for me. Possibly something to do with the AMD FSR AI-powered upscaling that can improve performance by running a game at lower resolution before blowing it up.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n We\u2019ve reached out to Larian to try and clarify a few things, including the default FSR mode for Steam Deck, and we\u2019ll update if we hear back.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Despite all this, I\u2019m absolutely fascinated with Baldur\u2019s Gate 3<\/em> on Steam Deck. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n I just keep marveling at how much game<\/em> is packed onto a relatively small machine that I can hold in my hands. Even though it clearly struggles on my Steam Deck \u2014 it\u2019s a graphically demanding game, and we\u2019ve seen subpar results on lower-specced desktops as well \u2014 I\u2019m impressed that it works as well as it does.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n I\u2019ve rolled four different characters already, and I\u2019ve found new areas and conversations each time I go through the game\u2019s early sections. Baldur\u2019s Gate 3<\/em> is full of life, so even though I sometimes have to squint to figure out where I am, the characters are incredibly fun to talk to. To my surprise, I haven\u2019t run into any major issues playing co-op, meaning my wife and I have spent hours howling at our ridiculous mishaps. (RIP, Barcus Wroot, the gnome we accidentally flung from a windmill<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n I also find that there\u2019s something more personal when playing a game on a handheld \u2014 it\u2019s one of the reasons I love the Nintendo Switch. Sure, it\u2019s a lot of fun to share an adventure with everyone in the room on a TV. But some of my favorite time with Baldur\u2019s Gate 3<\/em> has been sitting on the couch, Steam Deck resting on a pillow on my lap, and headphones plugged in, wandering through Faer\u00fbn. (It helps that the game\u2019s gamepad controls, while a bit complex, have started to make some sense, though it\u2019s sometimes hard to pick up objects that are close together.) I\u2019m even thinking about bringing my Steam Deck on an upcoming vacation so I can play Baldur\u2019s Gate 3<\/em> \u2014 what better way to relax than a cold drink and a successful persuasion roll?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n My feelings could all change. With about 18 hours of playtime, I\u2019ve barely scratched the surface of Baldur\u2019s Gate 3<\/em>, and I don\u2019t know if later areas will look or feel worse on Steam Deck. (One colleague says some darker areas that show up later can be particularly hard to parse.) Larian plans to implement FSR 2.2<\/a>, which could make things look better.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n But overall, it\u2019s been a surprisingly smooth ride so far. Even though I\u2019m looking forward to picking up my adventure on PS5 with cross-saves<\/a>, I bet I\u2019ll still spend a lot of time with Baldur\u2019s Gate 3<\/em> on Steam Deck.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Update August 18th, 7:41PM ET<\/strong>: Added details about the Steam Deck\u2019s graphical settings.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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