Baldur’s Gate 3 is a sprawling Dungeons & Dragons-flavoured CRPG that lives and dies on choice. On console, it also has to solve the awkward bits: party management, inventory fuss, and turn-based battles full of tiny positioning decisions. The PS5 version proved it could work with a controller, but busy areas and split-screen co-op could still expose rough edges.
PS5 Pro is designed to sand those edges down, offering a sharper image and a smoother frame rate without changing the underlying adventure. The question is not whether Baldur’s Gate 3 is brilliant, it is whether the Pro upgrade makes it the most comfortable way to play on a television. This review focuses on clarity in combat, stability in crowded hubs, co-op performance, and how well the improved presentation supports a game that rewards slow, deliberate planning.
Game Snapshot
Developer/Publisher: Larian Studios
Release Date: 06 September 2023 on PS5 family
Platforms: PS5, PS5 Pro, PC, Xbox Series X|S, macOS
Price: Around £57.99/$69.99 RRP on PS Store, often discounted in sales
Rating: PEGI 18 | ESRB Mature 17+
Genre: CRPG, turn based role playing, fantasy
Length: ~75-100 hours for a main story run, 100-150 hours or more with side content and replays
Install Size: Roughly 110-125 GB after patches on PS5/PS5 Pro
Presentation and World Design
Baldur’s Gate 3 is not aiming for photorealism, yet on PS5 Pro it looks richly theatrical. The opening Nautiloid, the windswept wilderness of Act one and the dense streets of the city in Act three all benefit from sharper image quality. Native 4K in quality mode does what you would expect for static shots and cinematic conversations, with faces, armour detail and environmental clutter looking pleasantly crisp on a 4K display.
Switch to performance mode and you are looking at 1440p internally, upscaled to 2160p using PSSR. In motion this is where the game shines on PS5 Pro. Fine distant detail is a little softer than native 4K, but the combination of higher resolution than base PS5 performance mode and a much steadier 60 frames per second target makes exploration and combat feel noticeably smoother. Even busy city squares and interiors full of spell effects hold together better than they did on the original console hardware, although the most CPU heavy scenes can still dip.
Across both modes, the art direction does most of the heavy lifting. Campfires throw warm light onto worn leather, the gloom of crypts feels oppressive rather than simply dark, and Baldur’s Gate itself finally lives up to the series name, packed with balconies, docks and back alleys that feel plausibly layered rather than flat. On PS5 Pro you are getting the cleanest, most readable version of that vision on console.
Gameplay and Combat
Mechanically, nothing about the PS5 Pro version changes Baldur’s Gate 3 at a rules level. This is still a turn based CRPG built on Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition, where actions, bonus actions and movement define your turn, and dice rolls determine whether a fire bolt connects or a persuasion check lands.
Where the Pro hardware helps is in making that depth more comfortable to live with over long sessions. A consistent 60 frames per second in performance mode makes cursor movement, radial menus and camera panning feel snappier. That matters in large encounters where you are juggling verticality, surfaces and line of sight. It is easier to line up a thunderwave near a ledge, or place an area spell so that it catches enemies on a staircase without clipping your own front line.
Compared with Xbox Series X, which also offers 60 frames per second performance but suffers heavier drops in town areas and slightly lower visual settings in places, PS5 already had a small edge. With PS5 Pro, those advantages widen. Performance mode is cleaner and more stable in the worst case scenarios, and split screen, historically the roughest way to play on console, is now significantly more viable at 60 frames per second on the higher setting.
Story and Characters
The narrative strengths that made Baldur’s Gate 3 such a standout RPG are untouched on PS5 Pro, which is exactly what you want. Your parasite ridden adventurer still stumbles from crash site to city gates, surrounded by one of the strongest companion casts in modern RPGs. Astarion, Shadowheart, Karlach, Lae’zel, Gale and the rest remain the real stars, their approval, inter-party arguments and romances shaped by your choices rather than simple checklist prompts.
Where the new hardware subtly helps is in presentation. Higher resolution facial capture and cleaner shadows during close ups give emotional scenes more impact, especially on large screens. Act three, which already pushed the engine with its density of NPCs and cinematics, benefits from the extra headroom in both quality and performance modes. It still has rough edges and occasional scripting quirks, but on PS5 Pro those moments are less likely to be undercut by hitching or heavy blur.
Value and Longevity
On any platform, Baldur’s Gate 3 offers a ridiculous amount of game for your money. A run that balances the critical path with a decent spread of side content will comfortably hit the 80 hour mark, and that is before you start fresh as an Origin character, reroll classes or tackle Honour mode.
What tips the scales further in PS5 Pro’s favour is how well it hosts the game’s long tail. This is a title you nibble away at for months. The sharper performance mode makes dropping back in for an evening of side quests or co op sessions feel frictionless, and the console mod support introduced in Patch 7 means you can layer in curated tweaks and cosmetic additions without leaving the sofa.
Crucially, you are not paying extra for the upgrade. The PS5 Pro enhancements arrived as a free update, alongside the broader patch work that added mod support, new evil endings, and is now rolling into Patch 8’s cross play and photo mode. If you already own the game on PlayStation, the Pro turns it into a meaningfully better console experience at no additional software cost.
Technical Notes
The PS5 Pro version is easiest to understand in two layers: what it targets on paper, and how it behaves in the messiest parts of the game. Larian’s enhancement breakdown is clear:
Quality mode (PS5 Pro): native 4K (2160p) at 30fps
Performance mode (PS5 Pro): 1440p rendered, PSSR upscaled to 2160p at 60fps
Split screen (PS5 Pro): 30fps in quality mode, 60fps in performance mode
Compared with a base PS5, which aimed high with a 1440p quality option and a performance mode that most noticeably dipped in CPU-heavy city spaces, PS5 Pro does not eliminate worst-case bottlenecks, but it makes them rarer and less distracting. Against Xbox, the gap is more about completeness than raw capability: Series X is strong overall but can be shakier in towns and slightly softer in image treatment (particularly texture filtering and HUD clarity), while Series S still carries heavier compromises such as 30fps limits and a more restricted split-screen setup.
On the software side, Patch 7 improved split screen, added the mod manager and introduced new evil endings, while Patch 8 (Larian’s final major update) brings cross-play, photo mode and 12 new subclasses. With hotfixes continuing to target stability and long-running visual issues, day-to-day play on PS5 Pro now feels mature, with only occasional quirks for a game of this scope.
Final Word
Baldur’s Gate 3 was already easy to recommend on a launch PS5. On PS5 Pro it crosses an invisible line from “great conversion” to “this is where you should play it if you care about consoles”. Native 4K quality mode, sharper and more stable 60 frames per second performance mode and much improved split screen couch co op all address the areas that used to feel like compromises compared with a good PC.
Add Larian’s continued patch support, cross play, console modding and the simple fact that this remains one of the best written, most reactive RPGs in years, and PS5 Pro emerges as the definitive living room version. PC still has raw flexibility, but if you prefer to experience Faerûn from the sofa, this is where Baldur’s Gate 3 feels most at home.
FAQ
Q Is PS5 Pro really that much better than base PS5 for Baldur’s Gate 3?
A. It depends what you notice. The core content and mechanics are identical, but PS5 Pro offers native 4K 30 in quality mode and 1440p upscaled to 4K at 60 frames per second in performance mode, where base PS5 was working with lower internal resolutions and more noticeable dips in heavy scenes. If you have a 4K screen and plan to play for dozens of hours, the Pro upgrade is very easy to appreciate.
Q. How does PS5 Pro compare with Xbox Series X for Baldur’s Gate 3?
A. Series X runs Baldur’s Gate 3 well, with a 60 frames per second performance mode, but analyses highlight slightly heavier frame rate drops in city hubs, lower anisotropic filtering and some HUD resolution quirks compared with PS5. PS5 Pro then builds on PlayStation’s existing strengths with higher resolutions and improved split screen. Series S, meanwhile, is capped at 30 frames per second and has had a more limited split screen feature set.
Q. Does PS5 Pro change loading times or just visuals and performance?
A. The PS5 Pro patch specifically targets resolution and frame rate, not loading. Load times are already respectable on a base PS5 thanks to the SSD, and in practice you will not see a dramatic difference there. The real gains are in sharper image quality, steadier performance and smoother split screen.
Q. Are console mods and cross play available on PS5 Pro as well?
A. Yes. Patch 7 added an in game mod manager and curated console mod support across PS5 and Xbox, while Patch 8 brings full cross play, a comprehensive photo mode and 12 new subclasses on all platforms. The PS5 Pro simply runs all of that at higher resolution and frame rate.
Q. If I already own Baldur’s Gate 3 on PS5, do I need to rebuy it for PS5 Pro?
A. No. The PS5 Pro enhancements arrive via a free title update. Once you install the patch on a PS5 Pro, you can select the new quality or performance settings and enjoy the higher resolution and frame rate. Saves, trophies and mod setup all carry across within the PlayStation ecosystem.
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