The Outer Worlds’ accolades sadly came to a halt upon the release of the game’s Nintendo Switch port. Its graphics were widely criticized on the portable screen, however developers Virtuos and Obsidian Entertainment appear to be rectifying this by announcing a patch that will appear for Nintendo Switch on October 21.
Announced on The Outer Worlds Twitter account, it was revealed that employees of The Board would receive a Nintendo Switch patch for the action-RPG. The post also invited players to join the Halcyon Colony via a sale that would be happening on October 22. Whilst the post didn’t address any of the updates included in the patch, it did include two screenshots that showed before and after visuals of gameplay. With more details expected to be announced very soon, fans were happy to see the Switch variant’s biggest issue being addressed, while its console counterpart continues to sell at its lowest price yet.
Described as disappointing and devoid of the details featured in the console release, The Outer Worlds had a below average debut on the Nintendo Switch. Despite having a good track record of Switch ports, Virtuos may have punched a little to high when transitioning this time, making greater compromises than expected. Triple-A ports are expected to carry a little give and take when converting, however a significant drop in resolution - which made some areas of The Outer Worlds near impossible to play - could not be ignored. Dreary textures and a serious lack of depth of field when viewing character close-ups all contributed to an agonizing experience for fans.
The loading time for textures and models drew a comparison to navigating through Google Earth, which also caused a lot of the game to lose many of its environmental details present in the console version. These small details all contribute to creating a richer environment for gameplay, which Nintendo Switch users effectively missed out on. The beautiful skies of The Outer Worlds were significantly lack-luster, and the additional removal of asset shadows rendered a port that looked unmistakably flatter.
While the The Outer Worlds Switch port has had many poor reviews, Virtuos and Obsidian have taken the time to provide - what we hope will be - a dramatic visual enhancement. Based on the two screenshots we were provided, clouds have reappeared again, more building details are present and accounted for, and the inclusion of additional environmental details are starting to recoup the wonder that was established within The Outer World’s initial release.
