Baldur’s Gate 3 launched on PlayStation 5 this week following its PC release in August, and the tech experts at Digital Foundry have delivered their verdict.
According to Digital Foundry, Larian’s sprawling Dungeons & Dragons-themed role-playing game is an impressive port on PS5, and runs at a level equivalent to the PC version on ultra settings, the highest set of options available. As Digital Foundry pointed out, this isn’t typical of most console games.
The PS5 version lets you turn performance mode on or off. Both result in a 1440p resolution. Performance mode targets 60 frames per second and, according to Digital Foundry, for the most part the game hits that.
As is the case with the PC version, in the PS5 version the city of Baldur’s Gate itself causes some issues. Digital Foundry reported a frame-rate in the low 20s at worst here. Larian has said it’s working on performance improvements across the game, as well as specifically for its third act.
Baldur’s Gate 3’s quality mode targets 30fps and, Digital Foundry said, hits that target without any issues except in Act 3, where the frame-rate drops to mid-to-low 20s.
Digital Foundry also took a look at Baldur’s Gate 3 PS5 running in split-screen (split-screen multiplayer in particular has been challenging for Larian, with the studio ultimately having to drop support for the mode on Xbox Series S in order to launch the game on Xbox in 2023). There are understandable cut-backs here, but a relatively stable 30fps except, once again, in Act 3, where the frame-rate drops to the low 20s.
Baldur’s Gate 3 does not currently support crossplay, but in a recent interview Larian confirmed it’s “on the roadmap”. Larian has been working diligently to fix various bugs and performance problems since its release last month, which has kept the studio busy. When crossplay arrives, Baldur’s Gate 3 fans can play co-op across PC and PS5.
We praised Baldur’s Gate 3 in our review, calling it a “landmark moment in the genre.”
“I waited 14 years for the stars to align again so that we could get the ideal mix of crunchy, tactical, old-school RPG combat, an epic and well-written story with complex characters and lots of meaningful choices, and a level of polish and cinematic presentation that let me see the sweat and the sorrow on characters’ faces in their darkest hours,” we wrote.
PlayStation 5 owners just now getting into Larian’s RPG can check out our full Baldur’s Gate 3 walkthrough among other resources.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.