While there is no Nintendo Switch port yet, there are other pieces of hardware that will let users play Baldur’s Gate 3 portably, the biggest of which is the Steam Deck. So is Baldur’s Gate 3 Steam Deck compatible, and if so, how does it run?
How does Baldur’s Gate 3 run on Steam Deck?
The official Steam page for Baldur’s Gate 3 lists it as “playable,” which means it’ll likely run for most, but hasn’t been heavily customized around the hardware enough to be fully verified. Regardless, it defaults to 800p with the medium graphical preset and with balanced FSR1.
However, those wanting a flawless translation may want to wait for some more patches. Many have reported controllers not connecting, saves not working, noticeable visual drawbacks, frame rate problems, and stalling upon boot (which requires the player to force the Deck to use Proton Experimental in the system options), just to name a few of the problems. Others have stated that it was playable, though, aside from some the aforementioned frame rate dips. The text size might also be small, and there is currently no way to resize it.
As stated by YouTube user Steam Deck Gaming, the default settings are a little overly aggressive and can lead to to pop-in and frame rate problems. As such, it is recommended that players dial back some of the visual settings for a smoother experience on the Deck. Steam Deck Gaming advised that users go to the low graphics preset, change texture filtering to high, put FSR1 to ultra, jack up the sharpness, and put anti-aliasing to TAA.
Many or all of these problems will likely get sorted out in the future. Not only is it a big PC-centric game from a PC-centric developer, Divinity Original Sin 2, Larian’s last title, was verified for the Deck, something it announced via a tweet.
