“A colossal upgrade” – Digital Foundry delivers technical verdict for The Witcher 3 remastered on Switch 2

Digital Foundry has delivered its technical verdict for The Witcher 3 Remastered; a game that for many will be a completely free upgrade if you own the original Switch version.

Clearly, the difference in quality between the Switch 1 and 2 is staggering, even though DF called the original version one of the “most impressive feats” of Nintendo hardware. Image quality is the highlight, with a docked mode offering dynamic resolution between 540p and 1080p, with DLSS output to a 1080p target.

Resolution for portable modes is between 360p and 720p, with the latter being the final output goal. Overall, despite clear differences in quality between the docked and handheld game, the upgrade over the original Switch version is vast, with environments appearing much more detailed. Textures have been improved for both backgrounds and characters, while background NPC animations are much improved and are no longer choppy.

Frame rate is capped at 40fps in tethered and handheld gaming mode, provided you’re using a 120Hz display. Otherwise, you’re looking at a cap of 30fps. DF states that the 40fps target is “far too ambitious” and that while it keeps a fairly constant framerate in some areas, it will drop off in places like Novigrad or when fighting multiple enemies at once, hovering between 30 and 40.

It’s worth watching the full video for all the details, but even with these frame rate drops, this is a massive upgrade on Switch 2. One last thing to note is that while the remastered version is exclusive to the eShop at the moment, a 55GB install size makes it a pretty perfect candidate for a proper physical release later. Fingers crossed.