Until now, Baldur's Gate 3 made use of the Proton compatibility layer, which enables Windows games to run on Steam Deck's SteamOS, which is Linux-based. "Running the game natively on the Steam Deck requires less CPU usage and memory consumption overall!" For those of you playing on Steam Deck, Baldur’s Gate 3 now also features a native Steam Deck build! The guide also explains how to switch back to the Proton version of Baldur's Gate 3 if you run into issues with the Steam Deck native build. "The Steam Deck native build was initiated by a single engineer who really wanted a smoother version of the game on Steam Deck and so he started working on it after hours," Vincke wrote on X.