- Batman Arkham Knight will be available for the Nintendo Switch on 1 December, but early impressions are concerning.
- The game has gone through various visual downgrades during the transition. It also runs poorly, showing frequent stutters and hitching, in addition to the poor frame rate.
Rocksteady’s work on the Batman Arkham franchise needs no introduction. The studio has redefined the superhero genre multiple times with this franchise, concluding the trilogy with the exemplary Batman Arkham Knight in 2015.
This trilogy of Batman games was announced for the Nintendo Switch in June. With the release date right around the corner, early impressions of the ports are now available, but it seems Batman Arkham Knight is quite challenging for the hardware.
According to various videos, the game not only looks much worse but runs poorly.
Why it matters: This port was already a concern at the time of announcement since the Nintendo Switch has shown time and again that it can struggle a lot with modern AAA releases.
A video shared by Cycu1 directly compares Batman Arkham Knight on PS5 and Nintendo Switch. It is important to note that the former is identical to the PS4 version of the game since this title did not receive any enhancements for the PS5.
As expected, the Nintendo Switch comes with its fair share of compromises. The level of detail is toned down across the board, the game shows much more aliasing, and effects like the impressive rain from the console versions are much worse on the hybrid console.
In theory, these are fair trade-offs for a portable experience. Recently, a game like Hogwarts Legacy came with similar compromises but was praised for a decent transition.
However, the Nintendo Switch struggles to keep up with Batman Arkham Knight at its fastest moment. When driving the Batmobile or flying through the open world, objects often fail to load properly.
These flaws are made worse by the uneven performance. As noted by SwitchUp, the game does not run too well on the limited hardware of the Nintendo Switch. Batman Arkham Knight suffers from frequent drops below 25FPS during intense moments.
Elsewhere, stutters are a common occurrence, with the aging hardware clearly showing its limitations in this title.
These problems lead to a somewhat jarring gameplay experience. For some, the thought of being able to play Batman Arkham Knight on the go might be enough to negate these issues, but we would not recommend playing the game in this state.
This port may have been too ambitious for this aging hybrid console. Games like Mortal Kombat 1 saw a similarly rough transition to the Nintendo Switch. With more than a few recent examples of Nintendo’s hardware holding back third-party compatibility, the company’s next console can’t come soon enough.
Featured Image Credit: Cycu1
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