Nintendo could learn a thing or two. Their first party games literally do not have any anti-aliasing at all, they look disgusting. It's doubly sad because they were pioneers with the N64, it had hardware-level anti-aliasing and it was the best on any console before the HD era. I have no idea what they're thinking on the Switch, third-parties use proper AA and they don't.
Because Gamefreak doesn't give A F. They know people will buy the games no matter what. If Nintendo actually owns the IP, they'd have better developers on the job
Meanwhile Xbox One port: barely playable At least that's what it looked like the last time I played it Yeah, Ik about the HDD and stuff, but come on, why X1 port plays worse than Switch port?
@@mikeyytube00 what a unnecessary comment. High resolutions arent important. What’s important is how the gameplay feels and how it looks on the specific device.
Hello Games making a custom version of FSR 2 for the Switch is quite impressive. I think they may be the first and only developer thus far to actually get FSR 2 running on the Nintendo Switch and I can only hope that other studios are able to implement similar changes to their games on the Switch because the visual quality difference is quite amazing. I now kinda wanna see Nintendo do something similar with TOTK, upgrading from their FSR 1 use to a custom version of FSR 2 which hopefully improves the image quality without negatively affecting the performance.
Very impressed by the NMS FSR2 implementation. One of Switch's biggest issues is image quality especially with ambitious ports like this. Looks super clean and stable, just goes to show what can be achieved on this hardware when you put in a little more optimization effort. Fantastic job by Hello Games.
I wouldn't call any switch optimization "small". Because of how weak and underpowered it is ( Tegra X1 can run up to 2.1 GHZ, why limit to 0.8? ), work devs have done to put on this console that's weaker than the device you're watching right now is insane
I wouldn't call it a little more, it cost time and money to optimise games and it becomes harder on weaker hardware. In the case of No Man's Sky, the developers have continued to support that game with new contents, so for them, it's more worthwhile in them cleaning up the port, but in most cases where developers move on, it's likely not worth putting the extra work in. Still, I've got to say that I'm impressed with this custom FSR implementation, considering how low the base resolution is, the image looks a lot more stable, whiles being on the soft side, it looks a lot cleaner than it did, and it makes me wonder if the same tricks could work on FSR on the PC and consoles to get better results out of lower resolutions, with the results likely being better than the Switch because hardly any PC or console game would drop as low of a resolution that the Switch does, so the same tricks on PC and consoles should look far more stable and with less blur because the starting resolution is higher.
@@izznazhanzur it’s limited because of the power budget and battery draw but yes, these are very conservative numbers regardless. Funny how much more capable it becomes once unclocked.
FSR implementation is a interesting subject. Sure it's not DLSS, but when used within its limitations and with sensible choices it a great option. It also looks like Hello Games have really used it to their advantage. The switch is an awesome "handheld" and still amazes me with what it can do taking into consideration its hardware and power limitations etc.
I get the impression that with enough attention and care, developers can get good results out of FSR, but I feel that because developers are focusing on 2 or 3 upscaling tech, the fine-tuning results take a backseat and the quality suffers. It does kinda indicate that developers need to pick one and put more effort into the fine-tuning process and not support all 3, with FSR making more sense across a wider range of hardware, maybe XeSS if it works well enough.
We are kind of unfair to the hardware when we talk like that because the hardware may have limitations but the chip inside a Switch console is only half used at best. The specific hardware could do much better in a different system.
@@paul1979uk2000 I disagree. We need all 3 for competition sake. I am sick and tired of just 2 companies being recommended to people by basically every tech tuber. On forums it's probably much the same.
@@paul1979uk2000 XeSS cannot even work on the switch. It doesn't have the required matrix instructions for its algorithm. For comparison, it has shader model 6.0 compared to the 6.7 of the now historic GTX 900 series. It is basically a low power 800 series. Cheap mobile phones today have a better GPU.
Warframe deserves special mention. It's impressive how much Digital Extremes has been able to optimize their engine from its launch day state to its currently released campaigns on the system. It's complete night and day.
@@willwunsche6940 Yes, Warframe was one of the early "impossible ports" for the system alongside DOOM 2016. I recall DF showing some of the open-world HUB areas in the game (Cetus, namely) where performance ran horribly with dynamic resolution scaling the lowest in those areas. Now those area look sooooo much sharper and perform at a more solid framerate. Gameplay in the open-world areas themselves show the same remarkable improvement compared to launch day.
@@packlesswolf1 Err...misread your post. My bad. Warframe doesn't have FSR2 on Switch...yet. (Would immensly benefit from such a solution though.) I thought you were talking about No Mans Sky, where the Switch version 4.4.0 and subsequent versions got delayed by about a week due to the usual lot check. Also, I was comparing launch day Warframe to the latest current version out right now.
It's amazing what you can do when you put a little effort and time into optimization. Many dev studios have no excuse for the way they release their titles these days.
@@InhabitantOfOddworldtrue it's not entirely the developer's fault sometimes the Publishers gets too involved and then they can't work the best that they possibly can
There needs to be more videos like this on coming back to releases especially on switch a year later to showcase performance patches which especially in this case makes all the difference
It’s really cool what they did to fsr 2 on no man’s sky. It honestly looks more stable than standard fsr 2 (albeit maybe less detailed). I wish more games had a “low cost” solution for upscaling that focuses more in eliminating artifacting than properly increasing detail for low powered pcs (both old and portable), as I find myself relying on on inhouse TAAU more often than not on steam deck. Maybe if amd themselves had a “light” version of fsr, this would be more widespread.
Yup, someone out there published an optimized version of FSR for mobile phones, bringing the cost from 6.3 to 2.0 milliseconds on iPhone 12. I wonder if someone will put out similar work for FSR2
@@BigCheeseEviefsr 2 is good but the issue is ghosting on anything in motion. Dlss has a lot less of that. Its still a lot better than most standard TAA though. Just look at DOOM Eternal or Xenoblade on switch. If those had fsr 2 theyd look much better Actually xenoblade 3 does have some taa upscaling and it looks a shit ton sharper than xenoblade 2 despite having the same internal resolutions pretty much
I thought you guys forgot about the Switch third party games, so I'm super delighted with this video. There has been so many post-launch updates and while Switch is still underpowered, the developers deserve some props for the magic they manage to squeeze out. Thanks for the video!
fair play to hello games for what they have done with nms. unlike some companies who i won't mention (activision/ea/blizzard etc) who only care about profit. hello games actually cares about their games and have done sterling work to redeem themselves. well done to all of the staff at hg.
the amazing work they put into no man's sky really contrasts with the ridiculous performance issues that are still present in the GTA definitive collection. The "newest" game in that still predates the Switch by over a decade.
Great video - it’s good to shine a light on games post-launch to see how they’ve improved. It’s something that generally isn’t addressed in game reviews
Optimization is a lost art. Been working as a software dev for the last 23 years and I can safely say that nowadays most want to get an MVP out the door and don’t care about how it runs. It didn’t use to be like this, we actually delayed launch dates to make sure everything felt snappy on day one.
No Mans Sky is amazing. Super recommend if the thought of an expansive open world exploration game is somethijg you're interested in. Its super relaxing after a long day of work.
Only so much you can do on a hand-held. It's amazing some of these titles play as well as they do. Hats off to devs putting in hard work to get these ports running 👊
I'd love to know more about NMS in house engine. How did they integrate FSR "in the engine" pretty much natively? There's no way they could see this coming during development so it's pretty impressive it works like this IMO.
AMD has been a godsend for sharing their technology. RSR is crazy and FSR2 and 3 seems to be very impessive too . Can't wait to see their 8000 series of APU on handheld pcs !!!!
You guys really should have included Skyrim. The anniversary update brought improved ambient occlusion and it now has volumetric lighting effects. Recent updates also restored the frame rate to a mostly locked 30 FPS. It’s pretty great now.
My problem with the Switch version of Outer Worlds is that each loading screen was literally 1 minute, compared to a few seconds on any other platform. I wish this video would have addressed if this has changed at all.
It is pretty long, I think the Witcher 3 was longer. It's not ideal but I just use that time to browse my phone. What I can't stand on Supernova is that the game saves JUST BEFORE you enter a new location. Would it have killed them to save the game once you have entered? It would have reduced the loading time by half as you would only go through one loading screen then.
Well is a portable console that is very close to replacement. I wonder what they will do with the Switch 2. Some think that since Nintendo is cheap with Hardware they will just put 8GB and say is enough since they doubled the memory. Others say they will have to put 16GB to stay relevant in getting third party ports. Personally I see them going in the middle and putting 10 or 12 GB.
The rumors indicate 12 GB, but this can easily change even a few months before release. The Switch should have only 3 GB originally, but devs like Capcom convinced Nintendo a few months prior to release to include 4 GB for UE4 compatibility.
@@SIPEROTH I hope they go with 14gb and a slightly more premium pricey console but the 12gb rumors sound very realistic. Who knows what they end up deciding though towards it's actual launch
I appreciate DF giving these efforts the attention they deserve, even though the games aren't the new hotness anymore. It's a way to reward the developers for their work and commitment to quality. Keep it up!
Glad to see you guys doing videos like this. Switchup has been doing it for awhile but some games definitely deserve to be revisited because some studios are doing great work on Switch.
FSR2 makes an incredible difference to the Nintendo Switch's dock mode, No Man Sky is so much better now. I would love if games like The Witcher 3, Pokémon Scarlet/Violet or even Tears of the Kingdom received an update adding FSR2 but I don't think that will happen as we will probably see the Switch's successor next year and the interest in working with the original Switch it should unfortunately decrease.
The Switch is such a treasure for emulation. Games are usually like 20% the drive space and very optimized. I'm glad not every game is the Steam version cause that means every game would be 10-100gb. I know people complain about the Switch being outdated, but the limited hardware means Switch ports often run on mobile phones/Steam Deck very well whereas their PC/Steam versions won't be installable at all or have very large file sizes
It's partly because of having to get blood out of a stone whereas on the PC or other consoles, there's more power to play with so more developers get lazy with their optimisation. The switch being a large user base, forces many developers to get to the nitty-gritty when it comes to optimisation, but there is only so much they can get out of limited hardware and if the same effort was put into PC and other console games, the results would be a lot more impressive for the hardware level. At the end of the day, most publishers are going to take the easy option, more hardware power allows them to get lazy and careless on port quality and optimisations, that's unlikely going to change unless A.I. can optimise games for us.
@@paul1979uk2000 Yeah I got an RTX 3090 on my PC largely for that reason, it plays everything regardless of optimization. Other reason is the 24gb VRAM is clutch for machine learning. I'm worried about Switch 2 being more on par with modern consoles, file sizes will be huge and it will be harder to hit 60fps with emulation
very impressive stuff. Happy for those gamers that only have a Switch enjoying the big performance updates. I don't think you mentioned how much shimmering was in No Man's Sky before the new update. It looks like a lot vs none now. Also I can't believe for Alan Wake they used the remaster as a base instead of the original. The Switch should be capable of running the 360 version at full speed or even 60 fps instead of the remaster at barely 30.
I still always find it impressive what they can manage on Switch, and with FSR. My OLED Switch is still one of my favorite pieces of hardware. Even Digital Foundry often really underestimates the battery life of the Switch. Especially with the later revisions of it and the OLED. I use it portable a lot and the average battery consumption (based on how much game demand) is usually between 10% to 15% per hour for the 3D games. Persona 5 Royal (which I played a lot off battery) always gets around 7.5 hours of playtime off the battery itself. I hope that the next Switch, using a much newer tech, can also have such great battery life, but I have a feeling (like the original switch revision) it'll probably be only 60% as long lasting on the first model. But needless to say, my OLED is a long life portable gaming device and I appreciate the convenience that gets me. While I love my Steam Deck, it really is more of a plug-in hybrid. It allows me to use it more places than at a desk, but outside of quick sessions, I'm always playing it plugged in within a couple of hours. My OLED, in the same time frame still has between 75%-80% battery, depending on the power demands.
I've no clue what was Remedy thinking porting Remastered version to Switch instead of the original Alan Wake from 360, it would look and run so much better. Unless Microsoft has some sort of ownership over the original version? That seems like the only reasonable explanation.
It's for the same reason they released GTA definitive edition instead of OG GTA Trilogy, same reason they release Skyrim Anniversary instead of OG Skyrim, etc... These people don't go back and work on the OG versions of games, to some extent the developers have probably forgotten how to work with some of that old code, or they may have misplaced or lost it, this is not uncommon. Even if the devs wanted to work on it, shareholders don't like to greenlight a simple port. Look at all the blowback from RDR1 port to PS4 and Switch, fans were mad it wasn't a whole remaster. I personally like straight ports on games that already look and run good, but you can see how upset some fans get. That is why they don't port games, people call it "lazy" not knowing all the work that goes into it. To me it's more efficient, than making a new version of a game that never needed a new version, the original is still great!
It's way easier to port a current gen version to Switch and make cutbacks than it is to port the last gen versions. Switch and make upgrades. Switch is still an 8th gen system in terms of architecture and back-end. It's way more similar to Xbox One and PS4 than it is to 360 and PS3 when you're coding for it. Yeah, it sucks when you get results like Alan Wake, but there's a very good reason they do it that way.
I'd like to note that the magic that Hello Games managed to work on the NMS Switch port would be impossible if FSR was a closed source technology like DLSS. It's a very good example of why making as much software as possible open source is so important.
Hush, you can't speak well of FSR on a DF video, or Alex will appear under your bed at night to smother you with a leather jacket! :) I'm joking, obviously, but sometimes it is quite depressing to see the vitriol and disgust in his tone and expression when he talks about the technology... Sure, It's not quite as good as DLSS, but to hear him speak, you'd sometimes think it's a crime against humanity.
I really wonder how a custom FSR2 implementation could look like on Alien Isolation on the Switch, the image quality was already really good with CAS TAA, but FSR2 could take it one step further.
Just goes to show how transformative FSR 2 can be for the current consoles. If developers put more effort into their implementations *cough*Bethesda*cough* you can get much better image quality and performance. While DLSS works better at these lower resolutions, it simply isn't available for these machines. I think with enough care and craftmanship devs could implement FSR 2 into their game engines to give an experience that is close to DLSS.
@@karehaqt Well they still are beaten hard by AMD powered Steam Deck, but I mean that's to do a with AMD's higher end CPUs (NVIDIA just uses some off the shelf ARM cores) and Nintendos insisting to go with the cheapest crap they can find. Just imagine what they could do with a proper AMD or NVIDIA offering...
@@archivey-h8e TSR is way worse... Also ML (it's not AI, no one has achieved AI yet or will anytime soon) it's only a way of easier creating that algorithm in the end all of these algorithms are just that, algorithms. It is just about how you tune it and which instruction set used (you can use ML to train an algorithm that doesn't use ML typical instruction sets as well, you could probably even improve FSR2 parameters with ML training as well, if AMD doesn't already do that). In the end ML is just usually easier to do, almost never the most optimal way.
Game is very bad optimized ..... nothing will change. Shaders are very simple in this game. So decrease resolution and upscale with fsr will take more time than rendering without fsr. Nintendo know you will buy this shit game, no matter fps, bugs, image quality ....
Now its time to support these guys... they deserve it... look at the love theyve put into this port! I thought fsr2 was imposible on switch.... i didnt get how they were able to adapt it
Given the ancient tech, it's amazing the results that some teams get out of the Switch. Really looking forward to part 2 (although really wish it was on a newer TSMC process).
@@andyenglish4303 As they often do 😁 Last I heard from DF, who I trust more than most, was Samsung 8nm, so I'll temper my expectations there. Anything better will be a bonus.
No Man's Sky's FSR2 implementation at such low internal resolutions looks better than most of AMD's first party "sponsored" titles implementations at much higher internal resolutions. I think there's some lessons to be learned by devs using the tech here, perhaps the non-external library structure is actually a boon for the tech?
It could be custom work but it could also be a lot of fine-tuning, which in the case of the PC, I feel a lot of games don't fine tune them for good results because many are supporting 2 or 3 upscalers, dividing resources and I suspect developers would get better results if they focus on 1 over 3 that works on a lot more hardware.
That's the flip side of current upscaling technology being very "plug and play" -- devs drop it in without thought and check if it actually looks good well after the fact. FSR can look really good if the dev team puts some effort into base image stability, but they rarely do. It's also why TAA tends to look like crap in most games nowadays.
It feels like No Man's Sky's team is always ahead of the curve on participating in technical stuff challenging themselves with stuff like PS VR 1, overhauls, PC VR, graphical overhauls, cross play, DLSS, PS VR 2, Mac port, etc. They just do stuff that makes you happy that other devs seem to shy away from until a sequel at least.
I hope Hello Games shares this FSR2 optimization they have done with other developers. It's quite a fantastic job. Also... it shows what a difference DLSS could make on a Switch 2 with actual Hardware support.
It is pointless to share because it is detail work based on their game and engine and way it works. Other developers can't use the same details because their games and engines works differently.
I think they set up a program to share a bunch of there procedural generation tech with other indie developers. Wonder if they learned anything super helpful about implementing FSR2 well
No Man's Sky's standard TAA is very old and thus very unstable and blurry. On my PC, I get way more image stability both standing still and in motion even with FSR2 performance mode at 4k than I do with native 4K and TAA. Quality mode is far better looking than native 4k TAA. So it makes sense that they changed over to FSR2 in the Switch version.
I wonder how the new NMS patch with an overclocked switch would perform
ปีที่แล้ว +1
If FSR were released with the switch SDK at launch, we wouldn't be so upset about switch ports, It's really amazing how it can change the game. The Switch 2 will be a game changing on performance for a Nintnendo console after all these years, thanks to DLSS and FSR.
It shows what happens when effort is put into the Switch version of a game. NMS looks great, and the huge Patch for MK1 made the Switch version look a lot better.
I do wonder if we get a switch 2 or whatever that developers will be more interested in upgrading their ports for that at the least. You briefly showed Nier at the end there, if that could hit 60fps or if the visuals were upgraded just a little it would be incredible.
I played through all of Outer Worlds and the main problem I noticed was performance tanking if I was moving around a lot of inventory. Exiting the immediate area seemed to improve things a bit. Also, when the DLC came in, the performance took a small hit.
Just recently I've heard that MK11 also got quite better with later patches, but I never got to check myself. I don't know if it's possible to make a part 2 of this video but if it is, I'd love to see that one included! (especially with all the chaos surrounding MK1)
MK11 runs and looks great. MK1 on the other hand…. Which doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense to me because they made MK1 with the Switch in mind-so they didn’t need to port back any version already made. 🥴 it was literally developed alongside
FSR improves the image in the way we used to dream anti aliasing would. The detail isn't higher but all roughness, jaggedness and temporal crawling is solved making lower resolutions look pleasing
Honestly always been surprised at how much the Alan Wake gets knocked on the switch. Sure it’s QUITE as visually accurate but I bought it day one and it’s always looked and played really well on the switch.
That comparison of Alan Wake Remastered vs the 360 version is insane. I've never played the game, but holy hell does the 360 version look lightyears more visually interesting than the remastered version. Damn.
DF did a video on Warframe back in 2018. A lot of work has gone into it since then visually it looks much better, wondering if DF could take a look again!
Played Alan Wake Remastered recently on switch in handheld mode, and I enjoyed the game, Aside from the downgrades, the game is still quite enjoyable from start to finish and I would think the cutscenes ran at a pretty good resolution. In a couple of months I'll come back and play it on PC
Love this kind of content. Thank you for taking the time to meticulously reevaluate these games as they've changed over time. This sort of information is immensely useful for the consumer.
No one is buying a switch to play these games, and anyone who is doesn't have a choice and doesn't care how the games run. This is literally just crappy viral marketing for Nvidia and Nintendo.
It would be nice if you could take a comprehensive look at the recent patch 4.04b for The Witcher 3 on Switch, as it makes further improvements to get the game closer to "next gen", as on other systems. Thanks!
probably one of the strongest cases for FSR2 i've seen thanks to no man's sky. if only we had this technique for some nintendo games, let alone other suffering third party titles
I ran the numbers when FSR2 came out and it left me quite convinced that we'd never see it on the Switch. You simply can't give away most of your frametime to a TAA resolver. I'm glad to be proven wrong. Also a little right since there's no way the original implementation would have made it. Needless to say i'm mighty impressed.
I've been playing NMS on the Switch since the latest patch and it's great! It does crash on occasion but otherwise it's been great having the game in a portable format. I realised I enjoy it way more than playing on PC, I think the game works really well with the short gameplay sessions often associated with portable game consoles. I've had NMS on PC for years but I've never completed the game because I get burnt out on it. I can actually see myself getting to the end on the Switch version.
I think its one of those sort of games that just sits well as a handheld experience. There's another game I can think of that had an exceptional Switch port, to such an extent that playing it in handheld mode is arguably one of if not the best ways to experience it. Diablo 3.
After playing NMS on switch for 130 hours I have to say, the more you unlock in the game the more it takes a toll on performance. Especially on my freighter base it got really bad, I often could not send my fleet on missions without the game crashing. In the last 30-40 hours I got constant crashes. Sometimes after 5 minutes sometimes after 30 minutes. As soon as I finished a derelict freighter the game would crash, and because the game doesn't save on those it became impossible to farm for upgrades. In the beginning of the game my save got corrupted somehow and 27 hours of play time was basically erased (tried to load the save and it would initialize the beginning of the game). No living ship, because of a bug it was just a regular ship. No amount of rebooting helped, so just claimed it and sold it for scrap. Despite all of it I still enjoyed the game, but if you can play it on something else, I would recommend you do so.
![เปิด อาณาจักร หมื่นล้าน "สาระตั้ม" l [Nickynachat]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/3XE0nPF4YkQ/mqdefault.jpg)
![Death Stranding Director's Cut: [Order No.10] Construction: Bridge/Upgrades (Very Hard Mode)](/img/n.gif)
That custom FSR 2.0 on NMS is crazy. Congrats to the developers!
I hope they document and share their customizations with other devs as it could greatly benefit a wide array of games on the system.
Nintendo could learn a thing or two. Their first party games literally do not have any anti-aliasing at all, they look disgusting.
It's doubly sad because they were pioneers with the N64, it had hardware-level anti-aliasing and it was the best on any console before the HD era. I have no idea what they're thinking on the Switch, third-parties use proper AA and they don't.
@@steel5897 Rumour has it the successor (shown to developers at Gamescom) makes good use of DLSS.
@@steel5897well, Xenoblade 3 is an exception
Hello Games being outstanding as usual!! 🙂
The best redemption example in videogames history. They deserve all the respect.
This is infuriating. You look at how good these ports are then you look at what GameFreak have done with Pokemon.
Bro calm your panties
Tell me about it
@@HipnotikHylianno. He has a point. Gamefreak is lazy asf and have did nothing but release mediocrity on Nintendo's most successful console
Because they know those games will sell no matter what. There's no incentive to over achieve with those titles.
Because Gamefreak doesn't give A F. They know people will buy the games no matter what. If Nintendo actually owns the IP, they'd have better developers on the job
The No Man's Sky improvement is quite frankly unbelievable. Hopefully some of that sweet optimisation comes to the other platforms.
Meanwhile Xbox One port: barely playable
At least that's what it looked like the last time I played it
Yeah, Ik about the HDD and stuff, but come on, why X1 port plays worse than Switch port?
This is immensely impressive. Especially no man’s sky.
Nope. Sorry. 640p on a current system is unacceptable. They should have just skipped the Switch.
@@mikeyytube00 Nah, it's a great port. You should have skipped commenting.
@@mikeyytube00 it's a £200 handheld at the end of it's life, what do you expect? get real
@@mikeyytube00640p on a 720p screen is perceptually better than a 1080p game on a 4K screen.
@@mikeyytube00 what a unnecessary comment. High resolutions arent important. What’s important is how the gameplay feels and how it looks on the specific device.
Hello Games making a custom version of FSR 2 for the Switch is quite impressive. I think they may be the first and only developer thus far to actually get FSR 2 running on the Nintendo Switch and I can only hope that other studios are able to implement similar changes to their games on the Switch because the visual quality difference is quite amazing. I now kinda wanna see Nintendo do something similar with TOTK, upgrading from their FSR 1 use to a custom version of FSR 2 which hopefully improves the image quality without negatively affecting the performance.
totk does use fsr2
@@ltodom5884TOTK used FSR, it's spatial. The game doesn't have temporal anti aliasing (Thankfully!) to enable FSR2
@@ltodom5884 Totk only uses fsr1
Very impressed by the NMS FSR2 implementation. One of Switch's biggest issues is image quality especially with ambitious ports like this.
Looks super clean and stable, just goes to show what can be achieved on this hardware when you put in a little more optimization effort. Fantastic job by Hello Games.
I wouldn't call any switch optimization "small". Because of how weak and underpowered it is ( Tegra X1 can run up to 2.1 GHZ, why limit to 0.8? ), work devs have done to put on this console that's weaker than the device you're watching right now is insane
I wouldn't call it a little more, it cost time and money to optimise games and it becomes harder on weaker hardware.
In the case of No Man's Sky, the developers have continued to support that game with new contents, so for them, it's more worthwhile in them cleaning up the port, but in most cases where developers move on, it's likely not worth putting the extra work in.
Still, I've got to say that I'm impressed with this custom FSR implementation, considering how low the base resolution is, the image looks a lot more stable, whiles being on the soft side, it looks a lot cleaner than it did, and it makes me wonder if the same tricks could work on FSR on the PC and consoles to get better results out of lower resolutions, with the results likely being better than the Switch because hardly any PC or console game would drop as low of a resolution that the Switch does, so the same tricks on PC and consoles should look far more stable and with less blur because the starting resolution is higher.
@@izznazhanzur Cooling and battery life.
@@SIPEROTHexactly.
@@izznazhanzur it’s limited because of the power budget and battery draw but yes, these are very conservative numbers regardless. Funny how much more capable it becomes once unclocked.
thanks for taking a look back on these titles. still amazes me what is possible w/ this aging, humble platform.
This is a good episode. Thanks for going back to these titles to give us an idea on how these games performance are now.
FSR implementation is a interesting subject. Sure it's not DLSS, but when used within its limitations and with sensible choices it a great option. It also looks like Hello Games have really used it to their advantage. The switch is an awesome "handheld" and still amazes me with what it can do taking into consideration its hardware and power limitations etc.
I get the impression that with enough attention and care, developers can get good results out of FSR, but I feel that because developers are focusing on 2 or 3 upscaling tech, the fine-tuning results take a backseat and the quality suffers.
It does kinda indicate that developers need to pick one and put more effort into the fine-tuning process and not support all 3, with FSR making more sense across a wider range of hardware, maybe XeSS if it works well enough.
We are kind of unfair to the hardware when we talk like that because the hardware may have limitations but the chip inside a Switch console is only half used at best.
The specific hardware could do much better in a different system.
@@paul1979uk2000
I disagree.
We need all 3 for competition sake.
I am sick and tired of just 2 companies being recommended to people by basically every tech tuber.
On forums it's probably much the same.
@@paul1979uk2000 XeSS cannot even work on the switch. It doesn't have the required matrix instructions for its algorithm. For comparison, it has shader model 6.0 compared to the 6.7 of the now historic GTX 900 series. It is basically a low power 800 series. Cheap mobile phones today have a better GPU.
@@marsovac
I would say Switch is more in line with GTX700 series
Warframe deserves special mention. It's impressive how much Digital Extremes has been able to optimize their engine from its launch day state to its currently released campaigns on the system. It's complete night and day.
Wow I didn't even know Warframe was on Switch!
Wait when did it get FSR 2? I played it a week ago and still looked horrible but ran good.
@@willwunsche6940 Yes, Warframe was one of the early "impossible ports" for the system alongside DOOM 2016.
I recall DF showing some of the open-world HUB areas in the game (Cetus, namely) where performance ran horribly with dynamic resolution scaling the lowest in those areas. Now those area look sooooo much sharper and perform at a more solid framerate. Gameplay in the open-world areas themselves show the same remarkable improvement compared to launch day.
@@packlesswolf1 Err...misread your post. My bad.
Warframe doesn't have FSR2 on Switch...yet. (Would immensly benefit from such a solution though.) I thought you were talking about No Mans Sky, where the Switch version 4.4.0 and subsequent versions got delayed by about a week due to the usual lot check. Also, I was comparing launch day Warframe to the latest current version out right now.
@@SiGeTVee I must've heard about it back in the day but forgot! It's super cool it's on Switch
It's amazing what you can do when you put a little effort and time into optimization. Many dev studios have no excuse for the way they release their titles these days.
Ghost of Tsushima was my high water mark for optimization when it was released. No loading, no bugs. That's just good coding, right? Why is it so rare
@@fuzzchan Sony’s “generally high quality bar” and time are the reasons why.
Publisher deadlines don't care for optimisation, and many games now are built around crunch being expected from devs.
@@InhabitantOfOddworldtrue it's not entirely the developer's fault sometimes the Publishers gets too involved and then they can't work the best that they possibly can
NMS continues it's redemption arc. Honestly has become one of my favourites over the years.
There needs to be more videos like this on coming back to releases especially on switch a year later to showcase performance patches which especially in this case makes all the difference
It’s really cool what they did to fsr 2 on no man’s sky. It honestly looks more stable than standard fsr 2 (albeit maybe less detailed). I wish more games had a “low cost” solution for upscaling that focuses more in eliminating artifacting than properly increasing detail for low powered pcs (both old and portable), as I find myself relying on on inhouse TAAU more often than not on steam deck. Maybe if amd themselves had a “light” version of fsr, this would be more widespread.
I remember trying it out on my 1650 when it first got added and even performance 1080p looked good
The TAAU on dying light on switch looked really good i think too. There are some issues but a lot of the tjme it looks almost native res
Yup, someone out there published an optimized version of FSR for mobile phones, bringing the cost from 6.3 to 2.0 milliseconds on iPhone 12. I wonder if someone will put out similar work for FSR2
@@BigCheeseEviefsr 2 is good but the issue is ghosting on anything in motion. Dlss has a lot less of that. Its still a lot better than most standard TAA though. Just look at DOOM Eternal or Xenoblade on switch. If those had fsr 2 theyd look much better
Actually xenoblade 3 does have some taa upscaling and it looks a shit ton sharper than xenoblade 2 despite having the same internal resolutions pretty much
@@HugoStiglitz88 yeah DLSS is the leader but FSR 2 in NMS is really good
that nms fsr pass looks CLEAN.
that's what i want from these upscalers.
That is an impressive feat! Kudos to Hello Games.
I thought you guys forgot about the Switch third party games, so I'm super delighted with this video. There has been so many post-launch updates and while Switch is still underpowered, the developers deserve some props for the magic they manage to squeeze out. Thanks for the video!
fair play to hello games for what they have done with nms. unlike some companies who i won't mention (activision/ea/blizzard etc) who only care about profit. hello games actually cares about their games and have done sterling work to redeem themselves. well done to all of the staff at hg.
More like ... They have a different business model
the amazing work they put into no man's sky really contrasts with the ridiculous performance issues that are still present in the GTA definitive collection. The "newest" game in that still predates the Switch by over a decade.
Shhhhhhhh.
Just shhhhhhhhhh. Stop talking.
They should've just emulated the PS2 versions and we would've been ok with it.
Sad but unsurprising part is that the unofficial fanmade ports were way better, despite not even being finished before R*'s DMCA.
Great video - it’s good to shine a light on games post-launch to see how they’ve improved. It’s something that generally isn’t addressed in game reviews
Optimization is a lost art. Been working as a software dev for the last 23 years and I can safely say that nowadays most want to get an MVP out the door and don’t care about how it runs. It didn’t use to be like this, we actually delayed launch dates to make sure everything felt snappy on day one.
No Mans Sky is amazing. Super recommend if the thought of an expansive open world exploration game is somethijg you're interested in. Its super relaxing after a long day of work.
Only so much you can do on a hand-held. It's amazing some of these titles play as well as they do. Hats off to devs putting in hard work to get these ports running 👊
I'd love to know more about NMS in house engine. How did they integrate FSR "in the engine" pretty much natively? There's no way they could see this coming during development so it's pretty impressive it works like this IMO.
AMD has been a godsend for sharing their technology. RSR is crazy and FSR2 and 3 seems to be very impessive too .
Can't wait to see their 8000 series of APU on handheld pcs !!!!
This is a very good and important format. Usually I can't find reliable information about post release fixes on the Internet.
You guys really should have included Skyrim. The anniversary update brought improved ambient occlusion and it now has volumetric lighting effects. Recent updates also restored the frame rate to a mostly locked 30 FPS. It’s pretty great now.
My problem with the Switch version of Outer Worlds is that each loading screen was literally 1 minute, compared to a few seconds on any other platform. I wish this video would have addressed if this has changed at all.
Sad that we can't upgrade the switch's storage to an ssd
Yeah it's the biggest draw back as the graphical compromises are manageable while playing in portable
Perhaps there are videos from other TH-cam channels that addresses loading improvements.
It is pretty long, I think the Witcher 3 was longer. It's not ideal but I just use that time to browse my phone.
What I can't stand on Supernova is that the game saves JUST BEFORE you enter a new location. Would it have killed them to save the game once you have entered? It would have reduced the loading time by half as you would only go through one loading screen then.
It's unlikely to have changed in my opinion. Even if it was, it probably can only be improved by like 12 seconds
I really appreciate these videos looking at if things improved. Thanks for showing the specs of the Switch, 4GB of memory nowdays is just insane.
Well is a portable console that is very close to replacement.
I wonder what they will do with the Switch 2.
Some think that since Nintendo is cheap with Hardware they will just put 8GB and say is enough since they doubled the memory.
Others say they will have to put 16GB to stay relevant in getting third party ports.
Personally I see them going in the middle and putting 10 or 12 GB.
The rumors indicate 12 GB, but this can easily change even a few months before release. The Switch should have only 3 GB originally, but devs like Capcom convinced Nintendo a few months prior to release to include 4 GB for UE4 compatibility.
@@SIPEROTH I hope they go with 14gb and a slightly more premium pricey console but the 12gb rumors sound very realistic. Who knows what they end up deciding though towards it's actual launch
It more insane that switch suppose to launch with only 2gb of ram.
I appreciate DF giving these efforts the attention they deserve, even though the games aren't the new hotness anymore. It's a way to reward the developers for their work and commitment to quality. Keep it up!
Glad to see you guys doing videos like this. Switchup has been doing it for awhile but some games definitely deserve to be revisited because some studios are doing great work on Switch.
FSR2 makes an incredible difference to the Nintendo Switch's dock mode, No Man Sky is so much better now.
I would love if games like The Witcher 3, Pokémon Scarlet/Violet or even Tears of the Kingdom received an update adding FSR2 but I don't think that will happen as we will probably see the Switch's successor next year and the interest in working with the original Switch it should unfortunately decrease.
I actually think Tears of the Kingdom already got at least FSR 1 support if I am remembering correctly
I love these videos! You guys protect the right to be called “Digital Foundry” acknowledging these updates for games on minimal hardware. Thanks guys
Thank you for this video, please make it a series! I love buying portable versions of my fave games
Now this custom FSR2 looks like THE perfect contender for demanding PC games on the Steam Deck and all other PC gaming handhelds!
The Switch is such a treasure for emulation. Games are usually like 20% the drive space and very optimized. I'm glad not every game is the Steam version cause that means every game would be 10-100gb. I know people complain about the Switch being outdated, but the limited hardware means Switch ports often run on mobile phones/Steam Deck very well whereas their PC/Steam versions won't be installable at all or have very large file sizes
It's partly because of having to get blood out of a stone whereas on the PC or other consoles, there's more power to play with so more developers get lazy with their optimisation.
The switch being a large user base, forces many developers to get to the nitty-gritty when it comes to optimisation, but there is only so much they can get out of limited hardware and if the same effort was put into PC and other console games, the results would be a lot more impressive for the hardware level.
At the end of the day, most publishers are going to take the easy option, more hardware power allows them to get lazy and careless on port quality and optimisations, that's unlikely going to change unless A.I. can optimise games for us.
@@paul1979uk2000 Yeah I got an RTX 3090 on my PC largely for that reason, it plays everything regardless of optimization. Other reason is the 24gb VRAM is clutch for machine learning. I'm worried about Switch 2 being more on par with modern consoles, file sizes will be huge and it will be harder to hit 60fps with emulation
No man's sky still amazes me It's a beautiful game at times
very impressive stuff. Happy for those gamers that only have a Switch enjoying the big performance updates. I don't think you mentioned how much shimmering was in No Man's Sky before the new update. It looks like a lot vs none now. Also I can't believe for Alan Wake they used the remaster as a base instead of the original. The Switch should be capable of running the 360 version at full speed or even 60 fps instead of the remaster at barely 30.
It should be able to run PS2 games at 120fps minimum yet they somehow made it struggle to run GTA games from PS2 era.
It should be able to run PS1 games at 240 fps, yet...
Hello games needs a special award for all platforms.
I still always find it impressive what they can manage on Switch, and with FSR. My OLED Switch is still one of my favorite pieces of hardware. Even Digital Foundry often really underestimates the battery life of the Switch. Especially with the later revisions of it and the OLED. I use it portable a lot and the average battery consumption (based on how much game demand) is usually between 10% to 15% per hour for the 3D games. Persona 5 Royal (which I played a lot off battery) always gets around 7.5 hours of playtime off the battery itself.
I hope that the next Switch, using a much newer tech, can also have such great battery life, but I have a feeling (like the original switch revision) it'll probably be only 60% as long lasting on the first model. But needless to say, my OLED is a long life portable gaming device and I appreciate the convenience that gets me.
While I love my Steam Deck, it really is more of a plug-in hybrid. It allows me to use it more places than at a desk, but outside of quick sessions, I'm always playing it plugged in within a couple of hours. My OLED, in the same time frame still has between 75%-80% battery, depending on the power demands.
I've no clue what was Remedy thinking porting Remastered version to Switch instead of the original Alan Wake from 360, it would look and run so much better. Unless Microsoft has some sort of ownership over the original version? That seems like the only reasonable explanation.
It's for the same reason they released GTA definitive edition instead of OG GTA Trilogy, same reason they release Skyrim Anniversary instead of OG Skyrim, etc...
These people don't go back and work on the OG versions of games, to some extent the developers have probably forgotten how to work with some of that old code, or they may have misplaced or lost it, this is not uncommon. Even if the devs wanted to work on it, shareholders don't like to greenlight a simple port. Look at all the blowback from RDR1 port to PS4 and Switch, fans were mad it wasn't a whole remaster. I personally like straight ports on games that already look and run good, but you can see how upset some fans get. That is why they don't port games, people call it "lazy" not knowing all the work that goes into it. To me it's more efficient, than making a new version of a game that never needed a new version, the original is still great!
It's way easier to port a current gen version to Switch and make cutbacks than it is to port the last gen versions. Switch and make upgrades. Switch is still an 8th gen system in terms of architecture and back-end. It's way more similar to Xbox One and PS4 than it is to 360 and PS3 when you're coding for it.
Yeah, it sucks when you get results like Alan Wake, but there's a very good reason they do it that way.
I'd like to note that the magic that Hello Games managed to work on the NMS Switch port would be impossible if FSR was a closed source technology like DLSS. It's a very good example of why making as much software as possible open source is so important.
Hush, you can't speak well of FSR on a DF video, or Alex will appear under your bed at night to smother you with a leather jacket! :)
I'm joking, obviously, but sometimes it is quite depressing to see the vitriol and disgust in his tone and expression when he talks about the technology... Sure, It's not quite as good as DLSS, but to hear him speak, you'd sometimes think it's a crime against humanity.
WHOA! Thanks for the upload! I've been considering grabbing this for switch
I really wonder how a custom FSR2 implementation could look like on Alien Isolation on the Switch, the image quality was already really good with CAS TAA, but FSR2 could take it one step further.
Just goes to show how transformative FSR 2 can be for the current consoles. If developers put more effort into their implementations *cough*Bethesda*cough* you can get much better image quality and performance. While DLSS works better at these lower resolutions, it simply isn't available for these machines. I think with enough care and craftmanship devs could implement FSR 2 into their game engines to give an experience that is close to DLSS.
DLSS is going to be amazing on Switch 2, Nintendo going with Nvidia has really been a huge success.
@@karehaqt Well they still are beaten hard by AMD powered Steam Deck, but I mean that's to do a with AMD's higher end CPUs (NVIDIA just uses some off the shelf ARM cores) and Nintendos insisting to go with the cheapest crap they can find. Just imagine what they could do with a proper AMD or NVIDIA offering...
Care and craftmanship sounds nice, but FSR2 needs to be backed by Ai like DLSS to be better. TSR and XESS are also better than FSR2.
@@archivey-h8e TSR is way worse... Also ML (it's not AI, no one has achieved AI yet or will anytime soon) it's only a way of easier creating that algorithm in the end all of these algorithms are just that, algorithms. It is just about how you tune it and which instruction set used (you can use ML to train an algorithm that doesn't use ML typical instruction sets as well, you could probably even improve FSR2 parameters with ML training as well, if AMD doesn't already do that). In the end ML is just usually easier to do, almost never the most optimal way.
@@cromefire_ TSR has been shown to be better than FSR2 multiple times. Devs pick FSR2 because it's less expensive.
Such a great video. Thank you! Impossible Switch Ports are the best DF content 🙏
Can you imagine how great it would be if Pokemon Scarlett/Violet got this kind of treatment? The game world would be a lot more fun to play in.
Game is very bad optimized ..... nothing will change. Shaders are very simple in this game. So decrease resolution and upscale with fsr will take more time than rendering without fsr.
Nintendo know you will buy this shit game, no matter fps, bugs, image quality ....
Great video Ollie! You're becoming one of the best content creators at DF. Happy for you and your continued growth.
Now its time to support these guys... they deserve it... look at the love theyve put into this port!
I thought fsr2 was imposible on switch.... i didnt get how they were able to adapt it
Common Hello Games W putting all that effort into FSR.
Hello Games has amazing tech in their hands for a while now. And expertise at using it. I really want to see their next big game.
Damn oO The difference is huge. Especially in NMS.
It also has cross save so I actually might pick it up now.
What are the chances that Hello Games gets a custom version of FSR 3 working on the Switch? Curious on everyone’s thoughts.
The switch version now is better than the PS4 version, in FPS terms, which is crazy
The switches library is epic, the next console will have an even better one! I’m from the GBA era it’s crazy how far we have come! 😂
Given the ancient tech, it's amazing the results that some teams get out of the Switch. Really looking forward to part 2 (although really wish it was on a newer TSMC process).
A78 cores and 6nm will still be decent.
@@bulletpunch9317 I thought it was to be Ampere and thus Samsung 8nm?
@@philth7587 Different leaks have said different things.
@@andyenglish4303 As they often do 😁 Last I heard from DF, who I trust more than most, was Samsung 8nm, so I'll temper my expectations there. Anything better will be a bonus.
No Man's Sky's FSR2 implementation at such low internal resolutions looks better than most of AMD's first party "sponsored" titles implementations at much higher internal resolutions. I think there's some lessons to be learned by devs using the tech here, perhaps the non-external library structure is actually a boon for the tech?
It could be custom work but it could also be a lot of fine-tuning, which in the case of the PC, I feel a lot of games don't fine tune them for good results because many are supporting 2 or 3 upscalers, dividing resources and I suspect developers would get better results if they focus on 1 over 3 that works on a lot more hardware.
That's the flip side of current upscaling technology being very "plug and play" -- devs drop it in without thought and check if it actually looks good well after the fact. FSR can look really good if the dev team puts some effort into base image stability, but they rarely do. It's also why TAA tends to look like crap in most games nowadays.
It feels like No Man's Sky's team is always ahead of the curve on participating in technical stuff challenging themselves with stuff like PS VR 1, overhauls, PC VR, graphical overhauls, cross play, DLSS, PS VR 2, Mac port, etc. They just do stuff that makes you happy that other devs seem to shy away from until a sequel at least.
@@HunterTracks I wonder if that's why the TAA in Halo Infinite looks so blurry
Custom in game on switch api work
So grateful to see this on my feed today! Revisiting Switch ports needs to be a thing from now.
Very nice episode Oliver! Thanks
The little great handheld that could. even with having the steam deck i find myself coming back to the switch. looking forward to switch 2
no more playing on my switch, 2 years now. Steam deck is better
@@gambikulesthe Steam Deck is only appealing to a minority and will never have the mind share appeal of the Switch.
FSR, with all its shortcomings, is really proving its worth. Kudos to AMD for bringing this technology to all!
I hope Hello Games shares this FSR2 optimization they have done with other developers. It's quite a fantastic job.
Also... it shows what a difference DLSS could make on a Switch 2 with actual Hardware support.
It is pointless to share because it is detail work based on their game and engine and way it works.
Other developers can't use the same details because their games and engines works differently.
I think they set up a program to share a bunch of there procedural generation tech with other indie developers. Wonder if they learned anything super helpful about implementing FSR2 well
Gotta thank Capcom to help Nintendo change their decision from 2gb Ram to fcking whole 4 GB of RAM for the Switch
FSR 3 launched.
Digital Laundry: crickets.
Thanks for these update vids, I barely play on my switch but this gives me a reason to jump on and try and play the games I've already brought.
No Man's Sky's standard TAA is very old and thus very unstable and blurry. On my PC, I get way more image stability both standing still and in motion even with FSR2 performance mode at 4k than I do with native 4K and TAA. Quality mode is far better looking than native 4k TAA. So it makes sense that they changed over to FSR2 in the Switch version.
I still wouldn't play any of these games on Switch, but glad they are getting fixed.
I wonder how the new NMS patch with an overclocked switch would perform
If FSR were released with the switch SDK at launch, we wouldn't be so upset about switch ports, It's really amazing how it can change the game. The Switch 2 will be a game changing on performance for a Nintnendo console after all these years, thanks to DLSS and FSR.
It shows what happens when effort is put into the Switch version of a game.
NMS looks great, and the huge Patch for MK1 made the Switch version look a lot better.
Yay! No man's sky switch video from df
Thanks Oliver. This kind of contents usually don't generate much views, but very important IMO. I appreciate that.
This is utterly amazing. I have yet opened Outer Worlds, but this update will give me greater incentive to put this game on top of my list to play.
I do wonder if we get a switch 2 or whatever that developers will be more interested in upgrading their ports for that at the least. You briefly showed Nier at the end there, if that could hit 60fps or if the visuals were upgraded just a little it would be incredible.
I played through all of Outer Worlds and the main problem I noticed was performance tanking if I was moving around a lot of inventory. Exiting the immediate area seemed to improve things a bit.
Also, when the DLC came in, the performance took a small hit.
Just recently I've heard that MK11 also got quite better with later patches, but I never got to check myself. I don't know if it's possible to make a part 2 of this video but if it is, I'd love to see that one included! (especially with all the chaos surrounding MK1)
They also promised to fix MK1 so it will be interesting to see what upcoming patches will do.
MK11 runs and looks great. MK1 on the other hand….
Which doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense to me because they made MK1 with the Switch in mind-so they didn’t need to port back any version already made. 🥴 it was literally developed alongside
FSR improves the image in the way we used to dream anti aliasing would. The detail isn't higher but all roughness, jaggedness and temporal crawling is solved making lower resolutions look pleasing
Fun video, I like to see how games improve overtime. I wonder if DOOM and Eternal would be even better if they patched in the new FSR?
very interesting with No Mans Sky... So they're using FSR 2 in a way kind of equivalant to DLAA?
Developers discussing switch port of their games:
"no way can switch run this"..
"100 million plus player base though"..
"We can do this!"
Honestly always been surprised at how much the Alan Wake gets knocked on the switch. Sure it’s QUITE as visually accurate but I bought it day one and it’s always looked and played really well on the switch.
That comparison of Alan Wake Remastered vs the 360 version is insane. I've never played the game, but holy hell does the 360 version look lightyears more visually interesting than the remastered version. Damn.
DF did a video on Warframe back in 2018. A lot of work has gone into it since then visually it looks much better, wondering if DF could take a look again!
Played Alan Wake Remastered recently on switch in handheld mode, and I enjoyed the game, Aside from the downgrades, the game is still quite enjoyable from start to finish and I would think the cutscenes ran at a pretty good resolution. In a couple of months I'll come back and play it on PC
Thanks for reminding me about the Ark Switch video you guys did. I rewatched it. It's still incredible.
Love this kind of content.
Thank you for taking the time to meticulously reevaluate these games as they've changed over time.
This sort of information is immensely useful for the consumer.
No one is buying a switch to play these games, and anyone who is doesn't have a choice and doesn't care how the games run. This is literally just crappy viral marketing for Nvidia and Nintendo.
i loved this video, keep this type of videos coming 😊
Just another reason to respect No Man's Sky's developers despite the seriously rocky start when it launched. Respect.
Blows my mind this is running on a cell phone chip from 2015. The Switch hardware has truly been wrung out as much as it could possibly be wrung out.
Actually it never was wrung out since the Switch is using half the power of the Tegra so it can stay cool and have long battery.
Arks fix was the most impressive one.
Its definitely the most impressive port out of these
It would be nice if you could take a comprehensive look at the recent patch 4.04b for The Witcher 3 on Switch, as it makes further improvements to get the game closer to "next gen", as on other systems. Thanks!
probably one of the strongest cases for FSR2 i've seen thanks to no man's sky. if only we had this technique for some nintendo games, let alone other suffering third party titles
what Nintendo games that running on 540P?
I ran the numbers when FSR2 came out and it left me quite convinced that we'd never see it on the Switch. You simply can't give away most of your frametime to a TAA resolver.
I'm glad to be proven wrong.
Also a little right since there's no way the original implementation would have made it.
Needless to say i'm mighty impressed.
I was already impressed with it, man! This is crazy!
When ARK is one of the standouts in terms of updating stuff you know you done goofed as a studio comparatively.
I've been playing NMS on the Switch since the latest patch and it's great! It does crash on occasion but otherwise it's been great having the game in a portable format. I realised I enjoy it way more than playing on PC, I think the game works really well with the short gameplay sessions often associated with portable game consoles.
I've had NMS on PC for years but I've never completed the game because I get burnt out on it. I can actually see myself getting to the end on the Switch version.
I think its one of those sort of games that just sits well as a handheld experience. There's another game I can think of that had an exceptional Switch port, to such an extent that playing it in handheld mode is arguably one of if not the best ways to experience it. Diablo 3.
No Man's Sky really gunning for "most improved" game of all time
After playing NMS on switch for 130 hours I have to say, the more you unlock in the game the more it takes a toll on performance. Especially on my freighter base it got really bad, I often could not send my fleet on missions without the game crashing. In the last 30-40 hours I got constant crashes. Sometimes after 5 minutes sometimes after 30 minutes. As soon as I finished a derelict freighter the game would crash, and because the game doesn't save on those it became impossible to farm for upgrades.
In the beginning of the game my save got corrupted somehow and 27 hours of play time was basically erased (tried to load the save and it would initialize the beginning of the game).
No living ship, because of a bug it was just a regular ship. No amount of rebooting helped, so just claimed it and sold it for scrap.
Despite all of it I still enjoyed the game, but if you can play it on something else, I would recommend you do so.
When you look at those specs...it's a reminder how impressive the Switch library is.
Switch is really keeping the spirit of the PS3 alive with these hideous low res textures paired with not even 30fps.