Mista
Banned
Arriving in the form of a Complete Edition, this is possibly the boldest Switch project to date. Rendering a complex world like The Witcher 3's on a handheld involves cutbacks - in texture resolution, shadows and terrain quality. All of these feature in the latest Switch trailer - but the world is crucially intact, and appears to be running at 30fps. As a handheld version, the glimpse into what's in store is promising, as Tom covers.
the studio says that the game operates at a dynamic 720p while docked and 540p while handheld. Analysis of the small amount of footage released to date shows a native 1280x720 at the top-end, dropping to 896x504 at the minimum. Remarkably though, from the small amount of foot
Given the complexity of the game and Switch's mobile-orientated hardware, first impressions still suggest an impressive technical feat. The only snag is that anti-aliasing quality is evidently low, which can make the stair-stepping stick out. Playing handheld may well be a better way to evaluate the Switch version's strengths - despite the resolution drop, the smaller screen usually works well in mitigating reductions in fidelity.
Last but not least, shadow resolution and the SSAO set-up are on the receiving end of a cut as well. In short, it ends up giving the Switch output a lighter appearance overall. In fact, it looks like ambient occlusion - the shade between objects - is either cut out completely or running in a limited capacity, which does make sense.
Every chop and change is a necessary for performance. How Saber Interactive ends up balancing frame-rate with visual quality will be fascinating to see. The trailer itself is only a 30fps encode, presumably to match the target frame-rate of the game. The feed isn't good for getting a precise lock on performance in terms of frame-times, but the fact that the entire sequence plays out with only the slightest of wobbles at least bodes well.
Here's how The Witcher 3 on Switch compares to PlayStation 4
Initial head-to-head comparisons look ciri-ously impressive.
www.eurogamer.net
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