Baldur’s Gate 3 on PS5 has amazing couch co-op

It’s probably not all that controversial to say that Baldur’s Gate 3 is one of 2023’s best games. Between a varied cast of lovable characters and an amazing story with surprising depth, it is a wonderful RPG that's one of the best in years.

But until this week, it was only on PC. That makes its extreme popularity impressive on its own, but many console players were no doubt feeling left out. With the PS5 version of Baldur's Gate 3 out, players stuck on that platform now can venture across the Sword Coast.

Baldur’s Gate 3 is a fantastic couch co-op experience

I’ve been a big fan of Baldur’s Gate 3, putting in about 170 hours in the PC version, including going mad in its Tactician difficulty. Before that, I finished several campaigns and spent a decent amount of time on the Early Access version.

As if it hasn’t sucked enough of my life away on PC, I’ve had even more taken away with the PS5 port. With only about 20 hours in, split between local co-op and single-player campaigns, it’s fascinating to experience the game from a whole new perspective. And to be honest, I love it.

My experience with this port has only been in Baldur's Gate 3’s first act, but it has been excellent so far. Some quirks carry over from the PC version. I also have a couple of grievances that come more from personal experiences than anything specific to the game.

The most significant difference in my time between the versions is how I experienced them. I have only played single-player on the PC version, lamenting those organizing parties to create digital D&D chaos. This changed on the PS5, since I've been playing local co-op with friends.

Experiencing Baldur’s Gate 3 with a friend sitting beside you is incredible. Menus and text can be a pain to read, but Larian compensates for the smaller real estate per person with some neat alterations. Every once in a while, the game cuts off an extra panel or some information, but it works within its limitations.

I’m more mixed on the player limit for split-screen. A two-player limit makes sense because the game's already stretching PS5’s hardware by rendering separate images, but a four-player local co-op is theoretically outstanding. Unfortunately, my friends and I learned this the hard way. We attempted to connect over two players and couldn’t. We only realized our mistake after looking it up.

This was definitely on me, but having that awkward moment sucked. The chaotic part of me laments not having a four-player option. Still, the logistic part understands that virtuoso performance and being able to read in-game text are even more critical.

Baldur’s Gate 3 is still incredible to play sitting next to someone else. Both characters can role-play as their person, going on a unique story arc and bonding with separate party members. The primary campaign I’ve been playing even had my friend romance Lae’zel while my character still debates who she wants. It helps build an experience that we're both influencing this world and sitting together adds something special.

Baldur’s Gate 3 is surprisingly great on a controller

I went into the Baldur’s Gate 3 PS5 port, having some experience playing it with a controller. It’s a little weird, but overall, it felt great on PC. That time dashed any concern that a console port would feel clunky. It was a big adjustment, but it felt natural the more I played.

Being limited to a controller on PS5 has not changed my thoughts. This version plays identically to its PC counterpart, and I couldn’t be happier. The fundamental difference in feel is going from my monitor to my TV.

This accounts for the adjustment time needed to acclimate to the controller. Both friends I played the game with needed time to figure out how everything works, and we all slip up sometimes. Interacting with the environment with Cross and Square for actions makes sense, but others are strange. The action placements are fine, mostly, but jumping with Up on the D-pad is incredibly awkward when needing to do it multiple times. Remapping buttons are also unavailable on a controller, which is a shame.

Certain aspects, like walking around, feel comfortable on a controller. Direct control over a character gives more freedom of movement, and the command wheels lead to fewer misclicks from me. The overall feel is great, even if I still prefer the keyboard and mouse because of remappable key binds, making it possible to play using only the mouse.

When all's said and done, PS5 players are getting the same great experience those on PC have been getting. Larian Studios took the time to make controllers a competent substitute for keyboard and mouse in Baldur's Gate 3. Various menus and UI elements cater to controllers, with some screens showing more overall information.

Jaunting across Faerun with few hitches

Going into this port, I was concerned about how Baldur's Gate 3 performs on PS5. It's a demanding game, and performance is inconsistent on PC. BG3 runs okay on my PC, but demanding scenes can cause it to lurch momentarily. Meanwhile, the PS5 version promises a Performance mode at 60fps and a Quality mode offering native 1440p at 30fps. These are standard offerings this generation, and I'm happy to report it runs well.

Frame drops occur sometimes but are hardly noticeable. That is especially important because split-screen forces players into the Quality mode, so its stability is arguably even more critical. This could change later in the game, but the frame rate has stayed consistent.

I divided my time between playing Performance mode solo and Quality mode in co-op, and Baldur's Gate 3 doesn't buckle even with two players. Seeing the experience run smoothly was impressive, even though we've essentially been in a relatively stable forest area.

BG3 looks somewhat better on PC, but this was only noticeable when swapping between the different versions. Some texture quality and lighting seem to have taken a hit on PS5, but not to a degree anyone would reasonably care about. Baldur's Gate 3 is a great-looking game regardless of platform.

Something to note is that this version has some weird bugs that will probably get quashed in one of the extensive patches. In my time, I've seen things like my co-op partner temporarily having no control over their character and audio cutting out when we were both watching the same scene. I also had audio cut out when playing the game using headphones, but this could have been a controller issue. It also looks like Larian has started addressing these PS5-specific audio issues with the most recent hotfix.

Some things to consider when buying Baldur's Gate 3 on PS5

Lastly, it's important to note how cross-saving works. I swapped between my copies on PC and PS5 to try cross-saving, and I can say it works okay.

Instead of backing up all save data, the game only backs up the most recent saves on the latest campaign. This system works fine but encourages playing on a single campaign save when jumping across versions. I probably won't use it regularly, but the feature is neat for owners of both versions.

The fundamental difference between the two versions of Baldur's Gate 3 is what someone wants. The PS5 version is a good fit for anyone looking to host a local co-op campaign and potentially more stable performance. Both versions offer local co-op, but a PS5 is likely better set up for it. The PC version, meanwhile, has somewhat comfier controls and potentially better graphics. You can't go wrong with either version of this fantastic game, especially with both having update parity.

Baldur's Gate 3 on PS5 is an excellent version of a phenomenal game. Larian Studios knocked it out of the park with this conversion to the point it's my preferred way to play the game in multiplayer. The performance has also been rock solid, and the game looks terrific, so it's an easy recommendation.

My opinion might change if the quality dips later in the story, but Baldur's Gate 3 on PS5 has so far held up to the PC version's standards. I think it will continue to, and I will continue gallivanting through Faerun while sitting cozy on my couch.

How to enable split-screen co-op in BG3

To enable split-screen co-op in Baldur's Gate 3 on PS5, you must first launch the game and either star a new game or load a current save file. Once the game has loaded, plug in the second DualSense controller to your PS5, turn it on, and press X on it. This will bring up a prompt telling you that another player is trying to join, and you need to allow them to join to enable split-screen co-op.

You can do this at any point during the game's story. I tried it out with a brand new save file with a fresh character, and it worked just after meeting Lae'zel. The game will get the second player to create a new character, and they'll then join the game alongside the other player.

You can also enable split-screen co-op on PC in Baldur's Gate 3 using the exact same method. The game is extremely approachable, meaning all you need in order to play it with a friend in split-screen is two controllers and a single copy of the game.

_{[These impressions are based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

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