diff --git a/Source/Core/DolphinLibretro/Video.cpp b/Source/Core/DolphinLibretro/Video.cpp
index dcefba80ea..50b8ebb57b 100644
--- a/Source/Core/DolphinLibretro/Video.cpp
+++ b/Source/Core/DolphinLibretro/Video.cpp
@@ -719,6 +719,13 @@ void ContextDestroy(void)
 #ifdef HAS_VULKAN
 namespace Vk
 {
+/* The instance the frontend makes for the core: the version the loader
+ * has, up to 1.2, as the backend calls the 1.1 functions (the Properties2
+ * and Features2 queries and the feature chain they fill) where the device
+ * has them, which a 1.0 instance leaves the loader emulating without the
+ * chain. */
+static u32 s_instance_api_version = VK_API_VERSION_1_0;
+
 const VkApplicationInfo* GetApplicationInfo(void)
 {
   static VkApplicationInfo app_info{VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_APPLICATION_INFO};
@@ -726,7 +733,10 @@ const VkApplicationInfo* GetApplicationInfo(void)
   app_info.applicationVersion = 5;  // TODO: extract from Common::scm_desc_str
   app_info.pEngineName = "Dolphin-Emu";
   app_info.engineVersion = 2;
-  app_info.apiVersion = VK_API_VERSION_1_0;
+  s_instance_api_version = Vulkan::LoadVulkanLibrary() ?
+                               Vulkan::VulkanContext::GetInstanceAPIVersion() :
+                               VK_API_VERSION_1_0;
+  app_info.apiVersion = s_instance_api_version;
   return &app_info;
 }
 
@@ -803,7 +813,7 @@ static bool CreateDeviceInternal(
   if (gpu == VK_NULL_HANDLE)
     gpu = gpu_list[0];
   Vulkan::g_vulkan_context =
-      Vulkan::VulkanContext::Create(instance, gpu, surface, false, false, VK_API_VERSION_1_0);
+      Vulkan::VulkanContext::Create(instance, gpu, surface, false, false, s_instance_api_version);
   if (!Vulkan::g_vulkan_context)
   {
     ERROR_LOG_FMT(VIDEO, "Failed to create Vulkan device");
diff --git a/Source/Core/VideoBackends/Vulkan/VulkanContext.cpp b/Source/Core/VideoBackends/Vulkan/VulkanContext.cpp
index 83b380ff14..7a207f6178 100644
--- a/Source/Core/VideoBackends/Vulkan/VulkanContext.cpp
+++ b/Source/Core/VideoBackends/Vulkan/VulkanContext.cpp
@@ -222,6 +222,11 @@ static u32 getAPIVersion()
   return used_version;
 }
 
+u32 VulkanContext::GetInstanceAPIVersion()
+{
+  return getAPIVersion();
+}
+
 VkInstance VulkanContext::CreateVulkanInstance(WindowSystemType wstype, bool enable_debug_utils,
                                                bool enable_validation_layer,
                                                u32* out_vk_api_version)
@@ -596,7 +601,9 @@ std::unique_ptr<VulkanContext> VulkanContext::Create(VkInstance instance, VkPhys
 
   // Attempt to create the device.
   if (!context->CreateDevice(surface, enable_validation_layer) ||
-      !context->CreateAllocator(vk_api_version))
+      !context->CreateAllocator(std::min(
+          vk_api_version, VK_MAKE_API_VERSION(0, VK_API_VERSION_MAJOR(context->m_device_info.apiVersion),
+                                              VK_API_VERSION_MINOR(context->m_device_info.apiVersion), 0))))
   {
     // Since we are destroying the instance, we're also responsible for destroying the surface.
     if (surface != VK_NULL_HANDLE)
diff --git a/Source/Core/VideoBackends/Vulkan/VulkanContext.h b/Source/Core/VideoBackends/Vulkan/VulkanContext.h
index 4d033fe58d..32f1f4e3e5 100644
--- a/Source/Core/VideoBackends/Vulkan/VulkanContext.h
+++ b/Source/Core/VideoBackends/Vulkan/VulkanContext.h
@@ -62,6 +62,9 @@ public:
   // Determines if the Vulkan validation layer is available on the system.
   static bool CheckValidationLayerAvailablility();
 
+  // The instance version to ask for: the highest up to 1.2 the loader has (the library loaded).
+  static u32 GetInstanceAPIVersion();
+
   // Helper method to create a Vulkan instance.
   static VkInstance CreateVulkanInstance(WindowSystemType wstype, bool enable_debug_utils,
                                          bool enable_validation_layer, u32* out_vk_api_version);