Can you play Baldur’s Gate 3 on a controller?

Baldur’s Gate 3 is gearing up for its official PC release tomorrow, August 2, 2023, and many in the community are interested to know if the RPG will have controller support. While mouse and keyboard are often the best way to play such table-top RPGs, many in the community would like to experience Larian Studios' latest title using a controller.

Hence, it’s not all that surprising why players are curious to know if the title's full release will have controller support.

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Does Baldur’s Gate 3 have controller support?

game controller support at launch for pc. by u/TheMostHatedCritic in BaldursGate3

The Early Access version of Baldur’s Gate 3 does not natively support a controller. However, the full release of the title is set to have the feature installed via a day-one patch.

This information comes after a Redditor pinged Larian Studios regarding controller support for their latest title, and they responded by stating that controller support will be something that the official release version of the RPG will be boasting.

Baldur’s Gate 3 having controller support does not come as much of a surprise, as the title is set for a PlayStation 5 launch on September 6, 2023, and an Xbox Series X/S release in 2024.

Additionally, Larion Studios’ previous titles, Divinity Original Sin and Divinity Original Sin 2, both have controller support on Steam. They run seamlessly with Xbox and PlayStation layout controllers.

As a result, controller support making its way to BG 3 is an inevitability.

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How to play Baldur’s Gate 3 with a controller

Controller support should be natively supported by BG3 when it releases for PC. However, in the scenario that the game does not detect your controller, here are a few things you can do:

• Go to the Steam desktop client and then to “Steam,” located in the top left corner.
• Then make your way to the settings, navigate to “Controller,” and under the external gamepad settings, you will see all the controller configuration options.
• Now go to your Steam library and right-click on Baldur’s Gate 3. This will open up more options for the game. You will need to head into Properties and click on “Controller”.
• You will get a drop-down menu where you must select and enable Steam Input for Baldur’s Gate 3.

The RPG will likely detect the controller you are using and automatically change the in-game layout from mouse and keyboard to controller.