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Baldur’s Gate 3 knocks Elden Ring off its Steam Deck pedestal

Baldur's Gate 3 has rolled its way onto the top 20 most-played Steam Deck games list for August, and has beaten out the likes of Elden Ring and Stardew Valley.

A Tiefling from Baldur's Gate 3 against a background from Elden Ring.
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Baldur's Gate 3 PC games hardware Steam Deck 

When Baldur’s Gate 3 launched, many questioned just how a PC game of that magnitude was going to perform on a handheld like the Steam Deck. Now, the DnD-based RPG has not only been dubbed as Verified for the handheld but Baldur’s Gate 3 has also knocked Elden Ring down a spot to become the most-played game on the Steam Deck in August 2023.

Baldur’s Gate 3 has continued to garner success since it launched on PC last month. The latest game in the Baldur’s Gate series, by developer Larian Studios, has achieved some impressive feats, reaching nearly 1 million concurrent players on Steam, and now the RPG has become the most-played game on the Steam Deck.

The news landed on the official Steam Deck Twitter page, and the list is based on hours played. While it’s not surprising to see the DnD RPG make the list, taking the number one spot over some of the best Steam Deck games is still an impressive feat nonetheless.

Some other additions are, however, perhaps a little more unexpected. The latest game by FromSoftware, Armored Core 6 Fires of Rubicon, appears at number 16, being beaten out by mainstays like The Binding of Issac and The Witcher 3.

Holo Cure Save the Fans, an unofficial fan game featuring a series of popular Vtubers, is a brand-new addition to the list too. Its popularity likely being due to the fact it’s free to play, and inspired by Vampire Survivors, whose addictive and fun gameplay has been a staple of the list for months on end.

With the Starfield release date closer than ever, I’m putting my bets on seeing the huge Bethesda RPG becoming one of the most-played games on the Steam Deck next month. Although, similarly, with Baldur’s Gate 3, its participation will likely come down to how well Starfield performs on the Valve handheld.

Check out our Baldur’s Gate 3 Steam Deck guide for tips on getting the best performance out of your Valve handheld. If you’d prefer to play on your PC instead, our Baldur’s Gate 3 settings and PC options guide will help you get the optimal experience, with no perception checks required.

Rosalie is a hardware staff writer for PCGamesN, based in Scotland. After writing about the development of adaptive game audio at the end of their music degree, Rosalie was inspired to pursue a career in journalism. They took their love of video games, and the hardware they run on, to write for sites like TechRadar and GameByte, until landing a full time role with the team at PCGamesN. When not gazing upon their ever-growing anime figure, and physical game collection, you can find Rosalie writing about everything to do with Steam Deck, as well as catching up with the latest AMD and Nvidia news.