Baldur’s Gate 3 is the biggest PC game of the year so far, but Steam Deck owners are unhappy with the game’s verified status on the handheld PC device. With some fans suffering from performance issues, many believe the game should have its status revoked.
In a post on the Steam Deck subreddit, one fan made a meme criticising Baldur’s Gate 3 Steam Deck performance. The post claimed that the game was still “24fps and blurry after three hours of tweaking”, despite the game being verified for the handheld.
Commenters on the post reveal that, while the first act of the game runs quite well, later segments in the game fail to meet performance expectations on Valve’s successful handheld. As the game opens up into larger, more complex environments and encounters such as Moonrise Towers or the titular city of Baldur’s Gate, performance becomes more troublesome.
“It performed fine for me at first but, midway through Act 2 and from what I've played of Act 3 the performance went into the garbage,” one user said. “Once u arrive in act 3 town. Steam Deck will rip,” said another.
“Supported for Act 1, literally unplayable in Act 3,” another commenter. “Yea, they need to redesign [verification], because it's pretty much useless.”
While the majority of commenters explained that Baldur’s Gate 3 is still playable on Steam Deck for the most part, they also claim that it shows Valve’s verification process still needs to change. Yes, the game’s performance isn’t as bad as some claim it is, but it also isn’t a perfect experience on the PC handheld.
In our experience, Baldur’s Gate 3 does require some tweaking to get running, but it can play quite nicely on the Steam Deck. Using settings such as Proton Experimental and AMD’s FSR, you can get a very respectable experience, at least until you reach Baldur’s Gate.
At the end of the day, it’s surprising that a PS4-level handheld like the Steam Deck can run Baldur’s Gate 3 in a playable capacity at all. Larian Studios’ RPG is a demanding title with lots of physics interactions and world complexity. It’s not an open-world title, but it is still very, very dense.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is available right now on PC with a PS5 port coming in the future. While the PS5 version won’t have a worldwide physical launch, a Baldur’s Gate 3 physical edition will launch in some select regions.