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Digital Foundry: Kingdom Come Deliverance on Switch - The Most Ambitious Switch Port Yet? - DF Tech Review

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?



Another 'impossible port' arrives on Switch, once again engineered by the tech wizards at Saber Interactive. This time, CryEngine 3 gets another run-around on Switch with Kingdom Come Deliverance - a game that struggled with performance even on PS4 and Xbox One systems back in 2018. Six years on, the Switch edition arrives with a surprising number of visual features in tact - while frame-rates are very much what we'd call 'dynamic'.​

00:00 Overview
03:09 Loading Time Tests
04:21 Switch vs Xbox One Graphics Comparisons
09:08 Switch Frame-Rate Tests
12:57 Conclusion
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
- "One of the most ambitious ports on Switch"
- Runs on CryEngine 3. Last gen versions struggled to lock at 30 FPS

- IQ degraded, visual quality dropped and performance often worse than PS4/XBO
- Load times are faster than One S. (first boot still takes 1m 26s, which is still 1 whole minute faster than One S)
- Runs at a 30 FPS target
- 720p DRS to 540p when stressed
- Sharpening used in some foliage and can appear over-sharpened
- SSR, PoM etc are retained
- Switch version includes SVOGI. A feature that isn't present on PS4/XBO.. Runs at a low resolution but it's still impressive to see
- Tree density and geometry is a match for Xbox One
- Draw distance, shadows, texture quality lower than One S

- Empty open areas run at at 30 FPS but with frame pacing issues
- Towns, battles and cut-scenes drop to 20 FPS or lower. Generally in towns it's between 20-30
- An early barracks sequence at night causes drops to 15~16 FPS




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For what it is, I think it's impressive. Wouldn't be my choice though if I had one. If you had to I guess it's ok to play that, but I feel like I would just wait for different/better hardware to play it. What devs have managed to do in general with the Switch has been impressive considering what the hardware was thought to be able to do.
 
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Mr Moose

Member
It's a visual effect that was too taxing for PS4/Pro/One/One X that's present here, and the game is best played on the Switch's portable screen.

It's an ambitious port, it's just not for you.
It doesn't seem that taxing.


Runs and looks like dog shit on Switch. What did PS4/Xbox One run at? Did they drop a lot?
Oh looks like it can run like shit on Xbox One as well.
 
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adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Runs and looks like dog shit on Switch. What did PS4/Xbox One run at? Did they drop a lot?

They both also drop frames, especially in combat / effect heavy areas but not as much as Switch.

The Switch port would probably run better without the effect, the port house opting to use it when they could easily have avoided it is ambitious to say the least.
 

PSlayer

Member
That is actually pretty impressive! I remember this game being pretty heavy for consoles and pc back in the day. Still,it seems the PS4/XBOX/PC version could be more optimized.
 

StereoVsn

Member
Can we have a sequel before the decade is over at least? The first game laid such great foundation and it would be a damn shame if we never got a proper follow up. :(
 
Is this a test of the patched version (released today) or the earlier version?

They removed the sharpening filter (some of the shots in this digital foundry video seem to have it on). Here's a review that takes that into context:


Yeah, I've watched the Switch Up review during lunch break and they specifically pointed out that it received a patch very recently which improved the image quality substantially.

They also put out this pinned comment under the video so there's a good chance that Tom reviewed it using the old patch...

Update: Looks like we are the only post patch Switch review currently. Sure the FPS can tank in some locations but still...still...I'm pretty impressed. Mark
 
Does the game come on the cart?
Yes, there is a physical version available as well. However, I'm curious if it's the full game on cart since they would need to use 16GB game cartridges for this release (install size is ~14GB).

I think I'll grab it once the physical goes on sale as it comes with all the DLC and in portable mode should run and look decent enough.
 
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Trunx81

Member
for a Switch game, it doesn´t actually look so bad. I played hours of Witcher 3 in handheld mode and loved every second of it.
Reminds me a lot of the last days of the PS Vita, when Borderlands 2 released as a stuttering bugfest .. and I still played it. Maybe a friend of mine was right when he said a few days ago that "you are not a pro-gamer", lol.
 

Deerock71

Member
for a Switch game, it doesn´t actually look so bad. I played hours of Witcher 3 in handheld mode and loved every second of it.
Reminds me a lot of the last days of the PS Vita, when Borderlands 2 released as a stuttering bugfest .. and I still played it. Maybe a friend of mine was right when he said a few days ago that "you are not a pro-gamer", lol.
I'm going to snag a physical copy and hope the Switch 2 accelerates the performance.
 

Denton

Member
It is an impressive port, all in all. Framedrops suck (although personally, I find even framedrops to 59 from 60 to be sucky, so...), but at least they mostly happen in cities where not a lot of combat happens.
 
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Dr.Morris79

Gold Member
Yes, there is a physical version available as well. However, I'm curious if it's the full game on cart since they would need to use 16GB game cartridges for this release (install size is ~14GB).

I think I'll grab it once the physical goes on sale as it comes with all the DLC and in portable mode should run and look decent enough.
That's what I'm hoping. If it's all on the cart, they'll have a sale from me. Hopefully it is.
 
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