dailynewsnblog
Skyrim. Listen, mate. We need to talk.
Back when I reviewed Skyrim’s 2022 Anniversary Edition update on Switch, I gave it a 7/10 and summarised that, whilst it was amusing that Todd Howard was still signing off on versions of this game, there were enhancements enough, through some new quests and the addition of Creation Club mods (and fishing), that fans would get their money’s worth, whilst newcomers were treated to a solid, stutter-free version of an epic RPG. Nice.
With a game this long in the tooth, albeit one folk seem to be unable to stop buying and playing (myself included, although I like to think I’m doing it ironically), I reckon a ‘Good’ score and a slap on the back for the effort would have been a healthy place to leave the relationship. But no. Oh no. Todd. He back.
You may have already clocked the score at the bottom, so let’s get to why I’ve come down so harsh this time. It’s chiefly because Bethesda’s taken a game that on Switch, whilst relatively restrained in comparison to some of its fancier ports, got the job done smoothly and competently. Yes, it was 30fps, but it felt nice.
With this Switch 2 upgrade, they’ve decided to smash a bunch of volumetric effects and graphical enhancements into the situation, as well as upping the resolution. Admittedly, I’m no Digital Foundry boffin, but DLSS is being employed and the resolution has improved. But then why no 40fps, at the very least? Honestly, my friends, Bethesda’s crapped out a terrible version of a game they’ve released hundreds of times already, and I do believe they’ve done it for Christmas.
I can’t think of any other reason to release their precious in this state other than a big rush to make the holiday shelves. The moment you boot into this Switch 2 port, once you’ve ridden the wave of excitement that is two-second-faster loading times and a slightly better draw distance, you’re immediately presented with a game that’s not as good at all to play. Quickly, how do I delete and go back to my old version? Well, you’ll need to delete this one entirely and redownload the older one, because they haven’t even done that bit well.
It still runs at 30fps *gulp*, but now there’s also genuinely awful input lag to boot. I’m talking about online-fighting-on-a-Switch-Lite bad at times. Why have they released it like this? Oh, and it’s a massive 53GB download as well. That’s 40+GBs to make something slightly prettier but ultimately worse, folks.
I’ve no doubt it’ll get fixed up eventually. They may even make it 60fps down the road, and it’ll be a lovely version then, especially given that mouse controls are in there now and working just fine. But we’re talking about Skyrim here, a game from 2011, not Cyberpunk 2077.
