Larian Studios recently released a native Steam Deck version of its phenomenal RPG Baldur’s Gate 3, bringing major performance improvements to the game for all players.

Following that version’s release, Larian has still been tinkering behind-the-scenes on additional improvements to the game with the new Hotfix 35 update once again making the game more enjoyable on Valve’s handheld as well as additional improvements.

In the patch notes for Baldur’s Gate 3 Hotfix 35, Larian notes that Steam Deck users should benefit from improved loading times on Valve’s handheld. While the studio didn’t explain exactly how much faster the game loads on the portable, it should be noticable snappier.

Additionally, Larian Studios added a major improvement for the game on Steam Deck, swapping out the game’s old, blurry AMD FSR 1 upscaling to FSR 2.2. While not as clear as FSR 3 or FSR 4, which the Steam Deck does not natively support, the improvement should be noticeable to everyone playing on the portable gaming PC.

Additionally, the game no longer crashes on Steam Deck when playing co-op in cross-play or when the EN locale file is missing. Larian has also fixed a bug that caused external controllers to stop working on the Steam Deck port when players used “Switch to Desktop” or “Return to Gaming Mode” functions.

All in all, Baldur’s Gate 3 Hotfix 35 makes the game even better on Valve’s handheld, and will also make it smoother to play when the game comes to Valve’s Steam Machine gaming PC sometime next year.

While Larian is always looking to improve its games, all of these improvements targeting Steam Deck do have us wondering. With so many targeted improvements to the small-but-very-dedicated audience, are these improvements also designed to improve the alleged Nintendo Switch 2 version of the game?

Unconfirmed by Larian Studios, prominent leaker NatetheHate has claimed that a Nintendo Switch 2 version of the game is in development. With the device featuring very similar specs to the Deck, albeit with better ray-tracing and worse CPU performance, these rendering improvements could be paving the way for a Nintendo port.

As someone who has played a significant amount of Baldur’s Gate 3 on Steam Deck, the game’s performance has been rock solid since the game’s native version released. However, the biggest benefit with this latest hotfix is undoubtedly the new FSR upgrade. On Steam Deck, the game’s FSR 1.0 solution could look extremely muddy, so it’s nice to see some visual upgrades being made even this late in the game.