The Witcher 3: Complete Edition - Nintendo Switch Review - IGN

The Switch version of The Witcher 3 is an ambitious port of one of the best games of the generation, albeit with some notable concessions.

[KeenBean345]

CD project red setting the benchmark for switch ports now. No excuses to EA or Activision

[IMissJimRyan]

Any game can be ported to almost any system if the publisher wants it. The Witcher 3 could have been ported to the PS360 if CD Projekt wanted to.

In this generation we saw several new games with great versions for older consoles (PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360) such as Rise of the Tomb Raider, Forza Horizon 2, Far Cry 4, Watch_Dogs, Shadow of Mordor, Metal Gear Solid V, etc. Even Vita received Borderlands 2!

The merit of the port lies in the production company and not the target hardware. After all, these Switch ports are far behind other versions. Doom, for example, runs at 540p and 30 fps. An 8x difference from the base PS4 and a 16x difference from the Xbox One X when we measure the amount of screen pixels per second. It had been a series of geometries, textures, and postprocessing effects lost in adaptation.

If The Witcher, which loses 4 times the number of pixels compared to the PS4, besides the super short draw distance, simplified textures and constant pop-ins, is considered the benchmark I'm really afraid of the bad ports.

[ilikestuff]

I think they should change his hair color, if like him to have a brown hair color or a blonde hair color. He should also have a dog that helps him out when he’s in a jam, and the dog should be able to talk and he should say racist stuff all the time. Racist against everyone, no one is safe from the racist evil fighting dog

[KeenBean345]

The Witcher 3 wouldn't run at half the frames it does on switch on PS3/360 even if they put the necessary resources into it, as the game wouldn't be witcher 3 anymore. This is still a perfectly playable and handheld version of witcher 3 that was released on PS4/XB1, just with the obvious concessions made.

These are the only way to play these games handheld natively and have a similar experience to console, albeit with lower textures, res, etc due to the cost of portability which is always going to be the case unless you want to pay triple the switch's price.

It doesn't matter what it's losing as long as everything is clear and playable and resembles the original game, which it does easily. Don't know why people are trying to downplay this by using the "any game can play on any system" excuse which I keep seeing, among many others. This is impressive and deserves all the praise it'll get, considering this was a game the switch would never be able to run. Just like MK11, Outer Worlds, etc were...

[King_Noctis]

“ Any game can be ported to almost any system if the publisher wants it.”

Wait a minute, that’s rich. What happen to “The Switch can’t run it!!!!” comments just from a few months ago?

“ considered the benchmark I'm really afraid of the bad ports.”

It is the benchmark because The Witcher 3 can run on a console the size of a freaking tablet. Can you compare that to the Xbox 360/PS3 size which you happily brought up?

[Sm00thNinja]

An 8 sounds too high based on their description of the issues

[Concertoine]

At its core its still Witcher 3 which is a really good game. Obviously there are drawbacks but context is important - the switch is like 1/10 the size of an Xbox One. I don't really think CDPR want you to play this port on a TV tbh, so it comes down to how much Witcher 3 succeeds as a portable game.

[Sm00thNinja]

And I can agree that I guess. But the fact they're saying it's a serviceable port as long as you dont play it in docked mode sounds like a huge negative.

[prankster101]

Let me guess... It runs at 12 frames per second?

[DankSinatra]

Read the article, he said it ran a steady 24-30 fps

Digital foundry says it runs between 25-30 with some dips into low 20's in more dense cities, but majority hangs in the 28-30fps.

[Sm00thNinja]

That's crazy in 2019 were ok with a steady 25 fps....

[DankSinatra]

@Sm00thNinja
That's about how it ran on base PS4 and Xbox one, there's several games that ran on said consoles like that yet people were fine with it, but as far as I can tell from personally playing it on switch the game runs 28-30 FPS 90% of the time so I'm completely fine with it.

[mamotte]

Let me guess... Jhon Snow?

[King_Noctis]

Did you even try to read past the headline? Heck, just look at the score. Does a game that run at 12fps get an 8 out of 10 score?

[autobotdan]

Good honest review

[XxINFERNUSxX]

I have a Switch but TBH only the PC does this game justice. Especially when you use graphic mods like SweetFX/Reshade: https://www.pcgamer.com/the...

[stefd75]

It's not all about graphics you know. Sone of us are from the 80s and 90s where playability mattered over graphics manly becuase the graphics where very basic. I have Witcher 3 on ps4 and got it on switch yesterday and think it's amazing what they have done with it.

[stormhawk]

Runs nice. This is okay for the majority.

[Ratchet75]

8/10 it's fair considering on how hard they pushed the hardware but I can't help thinking it is too expensive for something I could get on the psstore or xboxlive for less than 1/2 the price and with much better graphics and sound.
But for those who never played the game and only own a switch, it's definitely a must buy.

[Neonridr]

I think that is the market here. Obviously it's a hard sell at full price to someone who already owns a PS4/XB1 or gaming PC. But for those who maybe don't get to game at home as much or who only happen to own a Switch this is still a great way for them to experience the core game with some sacrifices.