The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was finally confirmed for the Nintendo Switch during the Nintendo E3 2019 Direct presentation.
The game will be a ‘complete edition’, meaning that players will be granted access to the main game as well as to the expansion packs – Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine – that came out following its release.
There’s a massive caveat with this port though, with the trailer showing that the Witcher 3’s visuals have suffered a significant downgrade in order to get the massive open-world game running on the Switch.
CD Projekt Red confirmed via Twitter that the game will only run at 540p in handheld mode, which is a significant drop in quality from the PS4 and Xbox One versions. That said, you will supposedly see 720p visuals with Dynamic Resolution enabled on the Nintendo Switch when the hybrid console is docked and hooked up to a TV.
Related: E3 2019
540p handheld, 720p, with dynamic resolution enabled, on screen.
— The Witcher (@witchergame) June 11, 2019
It will be interesting to see how the Witcher 3 actually performs on the Nintendo Switch, as while the visual downgrade may be tolerable, any dips in frame rates or a choppy performance could well be a deal breaker. We do have faith in CD Projekt Red that this won’t be the case though.
CD Projekt Red also confirmed the Witcher 3’s file size will be roughly 32GB, which is the same as the default storage of the Nintendo Switch. This won’t be a problem if you buy the cartridge, as then you won’t need any additional downloads. But if you’re looking to buy a digital copy of the Witcher 3, you’ll definitely want to upgrade the storage with a microSD card.
Read our review of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
In our review of the third game in The Witcher series, we couldn’t praise the game enough: ‘It still has the classic hook of every RPG – fighting monsters to gain experience and loot to level up and upgrade to make you even better at fighting monsters – but it has other pleasures too, with incredible scope for exploration and quests that are well-scripted, varied and full of personality’.
The Witcher 3 is not the only game to cross over and find a new home on Nintendo’s portable console – Skyrim, LA Noire, Dark Souls, Diablo 3 and Dragon’s Dogma have all made the switch in recent years.
The Witcher 3 is expected to arrive on the Nintendo Switch later this year. The game is available now on Xbox One, PS4 and PC.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.