Review of The Witcher 3 on Nintendo Switch - Ugly? Yes. Playable? Like hell!
The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt on Nintendo Switch is an ugly duckling. CDPR has a compromise with us here - we'll accept the not-so-beautiful look of the game, and they'll provide us with the best RPG for a portable console. It's worth agreeing.
Life is unbelievable. When The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt came out in 2015, I haven't worked at GOL's editorial office yet. I read the reviews appearing on the web (like the next question marks on the map), but it did not cross my mind that one day I would be able to judge the golden child of the CD Project RED myself. So here we are, in the year of the Lord 2019, four years after the release of the original version of the game. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt for the Nintendo Switch console appears on the market, and I am receiving an order for Geralt.
The order is not so simple. Everything in all languages has probably been written about the witcher. However, releasing this item to a portable console is an event - small, but always - an event. "Switcher" - how quickly the portable "Village" was hailed - was until recently a joke and argument in the fan and opponent's stories of new Nintendo equipment. The latter said that there was no chance that Geralt would hit the Nintendo hybrid system, indicating - not without reason - poor hardware specifications. The first Witcher somehow did not particularly deal, because this is not what you buy a console from an Italian plumber from Japan to play in multiplatform ports.
And yet it worked! The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, in the footsteps of Skyrim, along with all the additions goes to the Nintendo console and - let's say it right away - turns out to be playable. Sure, this port is an art of compromise. But I think that this is a compromise that is most acceptable.
Intoxicated impressionism
You must jump to the store before setting off on the trail. You won't run the digital version of The Witcher 3 on Switch without a memory card. The game needs a minimum of 28 gigabytes, which you will not get by deleting other titles and screenshots collected over the years ... Yes, I tried. Be smarter and add up to 13.12 USD to the microSD card for over 52.50 USD. Or just buy the game in physical form - then most of the data will be saved on the cartridge.
I therefore rate my first moments in Kaer Morhen and White Orchard as positively. It's ten The Witcher himself, with the same cut-scenes, animations, dialogues, thread and an open world. The sunsets are still nice! The rays bounce off the guard, heads and blade of swords on our backs, the wind moves, and the NPCs are bustling in the villages. All after you haven't played The Witcher 3 yet, and at the same time you do not need a 50-inch screen or 4K in 60 frames per second, so you don't even wonder - the work of the Switch Project RED in the Switch version is enough for Christmas.
But - well - stuffing one of the best RPGs in the history of games on a piece of plastic has a price. After a few hours of exploration in Toussaint, I felt like I had a good liter of vodka before the game. Limited rendering does its job, so the world is blurred, hazy and reminiscent of impressionist paintings. It will take you a long time to get used to the movement, even more to fight - the characters are tiny, the inscriptions above their heads are blurred, and the foggy depth of the environment intensifies the impression that Geralt gets drunk healthy before dealing with robbers. The real shock, however, turns out to be the Witcher 3 on TV. Playing this way, I lasted 2 hours, and so out of dedication to reviews. You can see all the compromises then - from depleted textures, through low framerate, blurred surroundings and characters, ending with reading the elements (and not only those distant, close ones also read). I felt much better playing on the tablet itself than on the desktop version. The small console screen saves the situation - first of all, it is easier to come to terms with compromises, holding in hand a small device unable to accommodate a full-sized RTX, and secondly, our eye does not register so many daubs and textures that can be seen on a larger screen.
PROS:
- This is the same Witcher 3 that has won awards on all platforms;
- Easy to learn controls;
- Despite the years and restrictions, he still seduces and catches the console for TENS hours;
- The sunrises and sunsets are still taking heart;
- Is the only AAA multiplatform sandbox of the current generation on Switch.
MINUSES:
- Graphic cuts resulting from console restrictions;
- Frame drops, also during cut-scenes;
- Blurred, blurred surroundings - especially when connected to a TV.