Did you think The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is a thing of the past? Nothing could be more wrong (luckily)! Four years after the game's premiere, another port debuted on the market, this time for the Japanese Nintendo Switch console. So how is Geralt doing here ?
We might have thought that with the Blood and Wine expansion we said goodbye to The Witcher 3 , sending him away for a well-deserved retirement. Here, however, after a few years, a new version of the Switch saw the light of day. The community around the game quickly hailed it as the “Switcher”, expressing both great approval and a sea of doubt.
The latter mainly related to hardware limitations. The console is equipped with a few years old ARM processor (modified NVIDIA Tegra processor), supported by only 4 GB of RAM, has less power than newer phones. No wonder that for some people the mere possibility of launching the game seems like a miracle. Meanwhile, the game works and, what’s more, remains playable! Of course, it doesn’t feel the same way as it does at 4k and 60fps, but a significant success is the fact that not even the smallest side-quest has been cut out of the game. This is exactly the same The Witcher 3 that we got for the PC, and later for the Xbox and PS4 consoles.
Lopsided views
Before we set off on the witcher’s trail, however, it is worth equipping yourself with a suitable memory card. The game requires a minimum of 28 Gb, which unfortunately is not possible to obtain on the console itself, even after removing all other titles and screenshots. Another option, of course, is to buy the game physically. We will then get a cartridge containing most of the data.
After that, all you have to do is prepare your “wow” cry, because The Witcher looks surprisingly good. The Saber Interactive studio behind the port faced a real challenge. You can see that graphics have been assembled on the altar of performance, but in terms of content it is still the same great adventure, about which portals and magazines have already written length and breadth. For some, however, the impression may be bittersweet. On the one hand, optimization tricks are practically invisible – the graphics look a bit dated, but still polished. In portable form, we will play in 540p resolution, while when docked on the TV it will only expand to 720p. In the era of booming 4k, it may not be a great success, but it is worth noting that the game runs smoothly around 30 frames per second.
Novigrad turns out to be a bit more disappointing. The largest agglomeration, created by CD Projekt RED, seems frighteningly empty and dead here. The city is still huge and filled with winding alleys, in which it is easy to get lost, unfortunately this only intensifies the feeling of desertion, because there are not as many NPCs moving around it as in other ports. Similarly, witcher senses have been lame – using them requires a lot of concentration, because the slightly hazy image then becomes even more hazy and indistinct. Limited rendering also hurts combat a bit, where characters and text above them get blurry and hard to read. The situation is largely saved by the small console screen, because on the TV all these compromises and depleted textures are much more visible.
Wio, Roach!
Although the graphics are the biggest drawback of the entire production, it is also the only drawback. As I mentioned before, apart from the visual compromises and a certain depopulation of the map, which everyone was getting ready for since the announcement of the port, not a single piece of content was cut. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt continues to impress with its complexity and refinement of even the smallest gameplay details. In addition, the Switch version is in the Complete Edition, which includes all released additional content, including both large add-ons – Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine, as well as the New Game + mode. So there is a lot of material to play. The more ambitious ones can, unfortunately, be hurt by the lack of achievements.
And how is the battery life in all this? After all, it must be remembered that the main advantage of the Nintendo Switch is its mobility and flexibility. What would it be after it if the battery, tormented by the Witcher, fell off after several dozen minutes? Fortunately, this is also not bad. We can play for two and a half hours without the cable!
So “Switcher” is not for 4k and 50 FPS fans, but if you are not afraid of graphic compromises, it will be a great adventure. This, of course, raises questions and doubts that have been swept under the carpet for a long time about the superiority of good gameplay over pampered graphics. It is a pity, therefore, that the gaming market has gone the exact opposite direction, but this is already considering another article. The Witcher 3 is still a fictional and playable masterpiece and enough!
We would like to thank CDP for providing the reviewer.
