[Digital Foundry] Kingdom Come Deliverance on Switch - The Most Ambitious Switch Port Yet?

[John Elden Ring]

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

- "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

 

[xollowsob]

Hugely under-rated game. I hope it runs, and sells well on Switch.

 

[ToTTenTranz]

Meh... just get a Steam Deck and play it decently.