Digital Foundry Dives Into Cyberpunk 2077 On Switch 2

“It does seem to run well in some scenarios”

by Jim Norman 5:45pm

Cyberpunk 2077 had a notoriously rough launch back in 2020. The game is in far better shape today, but memories of five years ago had us feeling slightly apprehensive when the open-world RPG was announced as a Switch 2 launch title — are we going to see a launch day repeat? Does Switch 2 have the power for decent performance? What about the sections that even the PS5 struggles with?

To put some of those worries to rest, the tech wizards over at Digital Foundry have gone hands-on with the Switch 2 version of the game, and are here to provide a technical breakdown of what they saw.

Now, it’s worth bearing in mind that the Cyberpunk 2077 DF’s Richard Leadbetter got to play at the recent Switch 2 Experience in London was already weeks-old code, and he flags that performance may well be better on the final launch build. That said, it seems to be okay so far — and that’s in the Phantom Liberty’s Dogtown (one of the most demanding areas in the game).

In docked, Digital Foundry’s Oliver McKenzie describes the footage as “similar to what you would expect out of last-gen consoles” (the Phantom Liberty DLC wasn’t released on last-gen), with a level of visual fidelity that you’d never expect from the OG Switch. Performance is a little mixed in more demanding areas, though the pair point out that this is the same even on beefier consoles.

“It seems that the game is both CPU and GPU-limited,” Leadbetter commented, stating that travelling at speed or getting into large firefights does result in performance dips, though some busy market scenes ran better than expected.

As for handheld, things seemed to run “fine” in earlier sections of the game, with less taxing indoor sequences running noticeably better than the more demanding outdoor sections. The HDR 10, however, is “fantastic”, with Cyberpunk’s neon lights and overall aesthetic working well on the Switch 2’s fancy new LCD screen.

“The concept that we’re seeing anything playable at all is quite remarkable,” Leadbetter commented, “even in this early form”. The 5th June launch date is close, and Digital Foundry hopes that CD Projekt Red has some optimisations lined up before then, but the fact this even exists is cause for celebration at the moment, it seems.

Will you be picking up Cyberpunk 2077 on Switch 2? Let us know in the comments.

[source youtube.com]

Jim came to Nintendo Life in 2022 and, despite his insistence that The Minish Cap is the best Zelda game and his unwavering love for the Star Wars prequels (yes, really), he has continued to write news and features on the site ever since.

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