In a surprising twist of events, the 2023 Game of the Year — Baldur’s Gate 3 — has been shadow-dropped on both the Xbox Series X and S. Xbox players had to wait several months for Baldur’s Gate 3 to come out compared to the PC and PS5 as the Xbox Series S challenged Microsoft’s parity policy with the Xbox Series line.
The Series S could not technically do split-screen co-op compared to the more powerful Series X, after all. Baldur’s Gate 3 effectively made Microsoft abandon — or at least carve an exception for BG3 — its parity policy. We will see if this continues with more technically demanding games in the future. In any case, we are glad that Xbox players now have the opportunity to enjoy this masterpiece.
Preliminary player testing on YouTube confirms the performance across the Series X and S is encouraging, especially in the locked 30 fps Quality mode. Series X offers an additional 60fps Performance mode, although this seems to have dips in performance in crowded environments. However, these are early days, and we will find out more going forward.
With all this said, you will still need to fork out $69.99 as the title is not yet available on Game Pass. We think Baldur’s Gate 3 is a great value as it is and rightfully deserves its praises. It has taken over our lives, and we don’t mind that one bit!
