Nier Automata: The End of YoRHa Edition is finally making its way to the Nintendo Switch family of consoles on 6th October and many of you will be wondering how the port performs. Large third party Switch games often have to make a number of concessions of some sort in order for the game to run optimally on Nintendo’s hybrid console, so it is reassuring to hear that Virtous have pretty much nailed another faithful Switch port. As always, it is best to wait for the full reviews before committing your money, but for now here’s some tidbits from some of the new previews floating around the web.
“I don’t get how Square Enix got a game like Nier Automata looking and running this well on what is undeniably outdated hardware – it feels like there is magic at play. PlatinumGames has struggled to get less ambitious games running this well, the best example coming being its Nintendo-published action-adventure Astral Chain. That game was designed for Switch too, so to see Automata outclass it was something I’d never expect in a million years.”
“So when it was announced that Automata would be coming to Nintendo Switch in the form of the End of Yorha Edition, I feared the worst. How was this game that was already a technical mess on far more powerful hardware going to hold up on a portable console that had a less than stellar history when it came to p orts of more ambitious titles. Turns out the answer is way better than I ever could have expected. After playing through the game’s opening I think this is not only a solid version of the classic action RPG, but a new benchmark of what we can expect from older games making their way to the platform. Glory to Mankind and all that.”
“The fact that so many of those last-gen, occasionally pitiably automatons look alike probably helps NieR: Automata to run so well on Switch. There just isn’t a lot going on here to cause the current-gen hardware to chug. I didn’t notice any new slowdown or frame rate drops when playing the game in handheld or docked mode. Load times were also a non-issue.
I was surprised to see that my only problem with the visuals of this Switch port came from how loyal it is to the source material. Like in the original version of the game, the camera sometimes zooms way out and 2B gets really small on-screen. That was fine on a big TV, but on the original Switch, it can be hard to keep track of her.”
