Switch 2 Oblivion Remastered: A Technical Marvel, But a Frustrating Experience
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered has finally made its way to the Nintendo Switch 2, a year after its initial release on other platforms. With the Switch 2's less powerful hardware, there were concerns about how well the game would perform. Surprisingly, the port delivers a significant portion of the visual upgrades, but performance remains a challenge, especially in open-world environments.
Bethesda's attention to detail is evident, as they've promised optimizations for other versions, offering a glimmer of hope for improved performance on current-gen consoles. However, the core question lingers: can a troubled remaster thrive on a less capable system?
The Switch 2 version is compact, fitting into 58GB, which is half the size of the PS5 and Xbox releases. It introduces mouse support via detachable Joy-Cons, enhancing bow targeting and menu navigation. Additionally, it employs Nvidia's DLSS upscaler, which appears more advanced than the TSR used on other consoles.
In docked mode, the Switch 2 targets 1080p from a native 960x540 resolution, maintaining clarity in close-up details. However, in portable mode, the DLSS target drops to 900p, resulting in a softer image quality. This trade-off is noticeable in open-world areas, where high-frequency details struggle with the lower resolution, leading to flickering and shimmering.
Visually, the Switch 2 version lags behind the Xbox Series S in many aspects. Foliage density is reduced, and certain trees are removed from the map. Draw distances show more aggressive LODs, affecting castle structures and shadows at a distance. While textures are generally on par with the Series S, some materials, like mud pathways, are replaced with different assets, making them harder to distinguish.
Tree shadows, in particular, suffer a significant downgrade, transforming from defined leaves to simple shade blobs. On the positive side, Lumen reflections and GI perform well, and SSR is used as a fallback at a lower resolution. Indirect light bounce matches the Series S, but with slightly less scattering accuracy than the Series X.
To manage CPU strain, decimated animations are employed, causing NPCs at a distance to animate at 15fps, which can be distracting. The Switch 2 targets a 30fps cap, but it still experiences frame pacing issues, with camera judder and traversal hitches exceeding 230ms. These hitches are unforgivable in a modern game.
Interestingly, the Switch 2 seems to avoid the performance degradation issue found on PS5 and Xbox, where performance worsens over time. After an hour of play, no significant degradation was observed, possibly due to the 30fps cap. However, a camera bug and a reproducible crash were encountered, indicating room for improvement.
The hybrid rendering setup, combining the original Oblivion logic with Unreal Engine 5, ensures authenticity to the 2006 original's systems and behaviors. While the UE5 enhancements translate well, technical frustrations like uneven frame pacing and hitching persist. A year later, it's challenging to consider this as the definitive tribute to the beloved game, but it remains a remarkable technical achievement for a handheld device.
