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One of the biggest games of the year, Assassin's Creed Shadows saw Ubisoft revamp the Anvil Engine for current generation consoles - so where does that leave Switch 2? What we're looking at here is a port that nips and tucks at the Series S experience, using DLSS to make up the difference in terms of image quality. It's impressive as a handheld experience thanks to VRR, but docked mode's frame-pacing judder really needs to be addressed.

00:00 Overview
01:45 Series S settings
03:55 Switch 2 visual features
08:51 Switch 2 image quality and performance
11:53 Portable vs docked play
14:23 Analysis and conclusion

 

[RoboFu]

missing SSR is weird. I wouldn't be surprised if it gets added in a future update.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Assassin's Creed Shadows*

*may not be included

 

[adamsapple]

- Primarily comparing Switch to the Series S version

- Recapping Series S:
- Diminished compared to SX with removal of RTGI in favor of baked GI
- Strand based hair were also absent on Series S
- Pared back resolution with higher aliasing and breakup, more pop-in and foliage draw distance is reduced
- The above results are compared to Quality but barring RTGI, other cutbacks still remain when compared to SX in Performance mode

- Switch 2 (Docked)
- Switch 2 inherits Series S compromises but goes further
- Screen space reflections are entirely removed for cube map fallback
- Water surface does not react to movement
- Environmental density reduced, higher lod usage on trees but geometry remains the same
- Foliage and wind related animation is reduced, additional clothing clipping also seen
- Textures have lower resolution compared to Series S
- Shadow quality is worse and pop-in is more notable
- Cutscenes look degraded with the above, characters can glow, DoF is more blurry etc
- Hair strands and RT lighting are also absent, similar to Series S
- On Series S RTGI was retained in the hideout but Switch 2 eliminates it here as well
- SSAO coverage is also reduced

- But most of the time, it appears a very 'handsome' presentation on Switch 2
- The core visual makeup is still retained

- IQ is more comparable, sometimes it's softer and blurrier but sometimes can be marginally clearer.
- Switch 2 uses DLSS compared to TAAU on Series S
- Docked: 648p but final output looks cleaner thanks to DLSS. Series S was 720p to 1080p DRS

- Switch 2 targets 30fps but runs with poor frame-pacing related issues
- Series S's 30fps mode did not have this issue.
- Some cut-scenes can drop to 20, 21fps and traversal can drop to mid 20's
- Series S did not have any drops barring single drops here or there
- Series S has a camera jump/skip issue when horse riding not seen on Switch 2
- Switch 2 also lacks motion blur entirely

- Switch 2 (Handheld):
- Further cuts, more pop-in, draw distance is lowered, shadow resolution and pop-in is even worse
- IQ takes a notable hit (but this shouldn't be an issue on the handheld screen itself)
- DRS 400p resolution observed, uses DLSS to clean up the final image
- The built-in VRR and LFC makes the 30fps feels more smoother here compared to docked play

Verdict
- DF are Happy overall with final result despite the cut-backs
- DF hopes the frame pacing issues are resolved as a priority

 

[DeepEnigma]

- DF are Happy overall with final result despite the cut-backs

We've come a long way since their OG "grassgate" and then "puddlegate" boyos!

 

[FalconPunch]

Docked 648p, Portable Mode 400p, looks worse than series s with several cuts. Drops as low as 20fps.... You're now playing with Nintendo power.....

 

[Kenneth Haight]

We've come a long way since their OG "grassgate" and then "puddlegate" boyos!

 

[Kacho]

- Some cut-scenes can drop to 20, 21fps and traversal can drop to mid 20's

 

[Gonzito]

Nintendo's hardware is a joke

There is no way to defend it

 

[kevboard]

- Some cut-scenes can drop to 20, 21fps and traversal can drop to mid 20's

it's half as powerful as the Series S.
this is to be expected.

I remember when people got their knickers in a twist whenever I said the Switch 2 is about half as powerful as the Series S lol... when all I tried to do is get their expectations in check.

 

[Skifi28]

Doesn't sound like a particularly great way to play the game, unless you have no other choice.

 

[LordOcidax]

 

[Panajev2001a]

We've come a long way since their OG "grassgate" and then "puddlegate" boyos!

DF commentary wise… Framerate is everything, 120 FPS is THE way to play MP4… yet DOOM Eternal at 30 FPS was great apparently . You know DOOM Eternal designed clearly as a laid back 30 FPS friendly adventure game as opposed to the frantic vertical mayhem that is MP ?

 

[kevboard]

DF commentary wise… Framerate is everything, 120 FPS is THE way to play MP4… yet DOOM Eternal at 30 FPS was great apparently . You know DOOM Eternal designed clearly as a laid back 30 FPS friendly adventure game as opposed to the frantic vertical mayhem that is MP ?

they do tech analysis, and from a tech analysis standpoint it was cool to see a game like Doom ported to such a low power system.

it's essentially like those fan made ports of Super Mario Bros to the 2600, or porting Doom 1 to a calculator and stuff like that.

tha doesn't mean it's a great way to play the game or that you even should play it that way... it's just a cool thing to look at

 

[FalconPunch]

 

[Panajev2001a]

they do tech analysis, and from a tech analysis standpoint it was cool to see a game like Doom ported to such a low power system.

it's essential like those fan made ports of Super Mario Bros to the 2600, or porting Doom 1 to a calculator and stuff like that.

tha doesn't mean it's a great way to play the game or that you even should play it that way... it's just a cool thing to look at

So if someone ports it at 15-20 FPS on a weaker HW, at which point do we not call compromises that make the gameplay worse?

Panic Button did a lot of hard work with the port but prioritised the visual parity (or as close as they could get) over the gameplay for these games and DF should have called it out, same way they call out bad framepacing.

Low resolution rendering (blurry-ish) and unstable 30 FPS for games like DOOM 2016 and DOOM Eternal means that they bit off more than they could chew and DF needs to decide whether they consistently prioritise recognising and praising cool tech or gameplay effects of the technical choices.

 

[Dorfdad]

I bought it and played on both docked and portable. I agree frame pacing needs fixed and would love a sharpness filter.

Overall impressive for handheld but I hope they are working on optimization patch. If you have no other way to play it's a great experience. Even with the Dow grade I'd choose this over the pc 5090 for the portability factor alone. If you have steam deck however just get the pc version or the portal and ps5 would be a better experience than overall.

We can cherry pick every game apart but if only got a switch 2 it's a good experience overall. Similar to Star Wars.

 

[Flabagast]

What the point really ?

It is a really rotten game at its core with notably awful, nearly unbelievable-level-of-bad characters and story. The only true redeeming quality is its next gen presentation, which I must admit is quite spectacular (though it is not enough to save the game from mediocre land). If you dont have the graphics, the game is worthless.

 

[adamsapple]

What the point really ?

It is a really rotten game at its core with notably awful, nearly unbelievable-level-of-bad characters and story. The only true redeeming quality is its next gen presentation, which I must admit is quite spectacular (though it is not enough to save the game from mediocre land). If you dont have the graphics, the game is worthless.

 

[Gambit2483]

This is a $450 Tablet running a PS5 game, comparably (with future updates to further improve the game). ..but sure, because its not pumping out EXACT same PS5 visuals it's "garbage"...

Same old usual suspects with their drive by shit posting per usual.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Docked 648p, Portable Mode 400p, looks worse than series s with several cuts. Drops as low as 20fps.... You're now playing with Nintendo power.....

Be happy, friend!!

 

[Bojji]

Without RTGI you at least need SSAO, but even that was removed...

 

[FalconPunch]

I bought it and played on both docked and portable. I agree frame pacing needs fixed and would love a sharpness filter.

Overall impressive for handheld but I hope they are working on optimization patch. If you have no other way to play it's a great experience. Even with the Dow grade I'd choose this over the pc 5090 for the portability factor alone. If you have steam deck however just get the pc version or the portal and ps5 would be a better experience than overall.

We can cherry pick every game apart but if only got a switch 2 it's a good experience overall. Similar to Star Wars.

 

[kevboard]

So if someone ports it at 15-20 FPS on a weaker HW, at which point do we not call compromises that make the gameplay worse?

Panic Button did a lot of hard work with the port but prioritised the visual parity (or as close as they could get) over the gameplay for these games and DF should have called it out, same way they call out bad framepacing.

Low resolution rendering (blurry-ish) and unstable 30 FPS for games like DOOM 2016 and DOOM Eternal means that they bit off more than they could chew and DF needs to decide whether they consistently prioritise recognising and praising cool tech or gameplay effects of the technical choices.

funnily enough, Eternal runs and looks better.

but that's just the reality of ports like these.
they are a tech curiosity, and not much more. and always have been.

like the Doom port on SNES, or Quake 2 on PS1.
hell, games like FarCry 3 just ran like that on the target platforms at the time.
if you played something like FarCry 3 and got more than 25 fps, you were lucky.
during that generation, basically the only way to get decent performance in games was playing on a PC. most console versions were highly compromised. which is why Call of Duty stood out so much with its 60fps target.

with the Switch 1 basically being an Xbox 360 on steroids, it's not unreasonable to also just expect the performance of a typical Xbox 360 game.

 

[LordOcidax]

I bought it and played on both docked and portable. I agree frame pacing needs fixed and would love a sharpness filter.

Overall impressive for handheld but I hope they are working on optimization patch. If you have no other way to play it's a great experience. Even with the Dow grade I'd choose this over the pc 5090 for the portability factor alone. If you have steam deck however just get the pc version or the portal and ps5 would be a better experience than overall.

We can cherry pick every game apart but if only got a switch 2 it's a good experience overall. Similar to Star Wars.

Totally agree, i have the PS5 version and playing for second time on Switch 2. The overall experience is great and better than i expected, with a few patch like Outlaws the game is going to improve. I don't know what people expect from a 10-20 watts hardware.

 

[Panajev2001a]

funnily enough, Eternal runs and looks better.

but that's just the reality of ports like these.
they are a tech curiosity, and not much more. and always have been.

like the Doom port on SNES, or Quake 2 on PS1.
hell, games like FarCry 3 just ran like that on the target platforms at the time.
if you played something like FarCry 3 and got more than 25 fps, you were lucky.
during that generation, basically the only way to get decent performance in games was playing on a PC. most console versions were highly compromised. which is why Call of Duty stood out so much with its 60fps target.

There is truth to what you are saying but also the different measures for different people which makes these kind of analysis worse off.

The review was glowing and it should not have as the tech compromised the gameplay aspect and it could have been better, being a more stable 30 FPS in Eternal is the bare minimum given how important speed is in the game (much much more so than in DOOM 2016).
We can excuse bad framepacing , shader compilation stutters, etc… on the same grounds,

Sacrificing more of the visual oomph for gameplay, something that DF often advocates in other scenarios, was part of the engineering (or the outcome of how well that was done) that DF should review and judge (that is what people also mean by optimisation to begin with) and note down when they go for the opposite.

If DF never went into the "graphics vs gameplay" debate you would have more of a point. Also, they were not reviewing a free tech demo but a full priced game.

 

[kevboard]

There is truth to what you are saying but also the different measures for different people which makes these kind of analysis worse off.

The review was glowing and it should not have as the tech compromised the gameplay aspect and it could have been better, being a more stable 30 FPS in Eternal is the bare minimum given how important speed is in the game (much much more so than in DOOM 2016).
We can excuse bad framepacing , shader compilation stutters, etc… on the same grounds,

Sacrificing more of the visual oomph for gameplay, something that DF often advocates in other scenarios, was part of the engineering (or the outcome of how well that was done) that DF should review and judge (that is what people also mean by optimisation to begin with) and note down when they go for the opposite.

If DF never went into the "graphics vs gameplay" debate you would have more of a point. Also, they were not reviewing a free tech demo but a full priced game.

I agree that they should have prioritised gameplay more.
but for that to be possible, they would have needed to do a very old school type of port. something noone does anymore these days.

you'd need a port that has completely bespoke assets, bespoke shaders etc.
basically they would have had to make a proper demake for the game.

this was the default back in the day, when porting a game was essentially impossible. as many "ports" of games on older systems (pre gen6, and especially pre gen5) were not actually ports as we know them now, but almost entire remakes essentially. different engine, completely different code (mimicking the original of course), completely different assets based on the originals, sometimes even redone level design...

but that's just not happening anymore sadly, and the next best thing is what you saw with those Switch 1 ports.
we won't get those completely bespoke "ports" of old systems back. you're lucky if a port is as well made as Doom Eternal these days basically.
best case is a port like Warframe, where the devs optimised the CPU performance to such a degree that it got backported to the other versions of the game. but even that game is unstable 30fps running at 480p or so.

the last time we got one of those "old school" ports was Hogwarts Legacy, but even that didn't go as far as some gen5 ports. and it's the only one that I know of that released in like a decade.
before that Forza Horizon 2 did something like that.

 

[PeteBull]

No complains about portable version but docked looks cut to hell and back even vs weakest stationary holidays 2020 console aka series s, on top lowered resolution, and even on top of that prolonged dips below 30fps in both cutscenes and gameplay, and as a cherry on top nasty framepacing issuses all the time xD

Thats ninny for u, no wonder their exclusives look so dated vs current gen games, when proper current gen game from visuals standpoind has to be cut like crazy and still doesnt run well even in docked mode.

Thats how that game looks on top pc btw, just so u know how bad switch2 port looks in comparision:


By the time we got switch4 ninny will reach that lvl of graphics fidelity, aka 2040+

 

[DeepEnigma]

I don't know what people expect from a 10-20 watts hardware.

I guess you can put your trolling posts below in the the recycle bin now.

Rumor  Post in thread 'GTA VI on Switch 2 Rumor Thread'

Nov 18, 2025

so a PS4 game running better on Switch 2 ( a console a little more powerful than a PS4pro ) somehow is an indicative of GTA 6 ( PS5/XSX and next gen ) running on it too ? SW2 cant even handle Borderlands 4 at the moment, but hopefully R* ll pull some miracle port like CDPR did with The Witcher on SW1.

Cant wait to read your next goal post move...

• LordOcidax

• 

 

[LordOcidax]

I guess you can put your trolling posts below in the the recycle bin now.

Rumor  Post in thread 'GTA VI on Switch 2 Rumor Thread'

Nov 18, 2025

so a PS4 game running better on Switch 2 ( a console a little more powerful than a PS4pro ) somehow is an indicative of GTA 6 ( PS5/XSX and next gen ) running on it too ? SW2 cant even handle Borderlands 4 at the moment, but hopefully R* ll pull some miracle port like CDPR did with The Witcher on SW1.

Cant wait to read your next goal post move...

• LordOcidax

• 

Thats exactly what we got …

 

[DeepEnigma]

Thats exactly what we got …

 

[Physiognomonics]

It looks bad. AC Odyseey running on PS4 looks and runs better than this.

So handheld is great because of VRR? Since when VRR is impressive?

 

[Karim]

This is a $450 Tablet running a PS5 game, comparably (with future updates to further improve the game). ..but sure, because its not pumping out EXACT same PS5 visuals it's "garbage"...

Same old usual suspects with their drive by shit posting per usual.

Lack of SSR and drops to 20 fps aren't absolutely excusable. Hope they will fix it in a future patch but the Tablet excuse is not acceptable and this port is quite disappointing. Maybe the engine isn't it easily scalable but release in this state urgh nope what will happen when they should release the future games contemporary on all platforms if already they struggle with dedicated release?

 

[kevboard]

Lack of SSR and drops to 20 fps aren't absolutely excusable. Hope they will fix it in a future patch but the Tablet excuse is not acceptable and this port is quite disappointing.

no SSR is good actually. the issue is that there are no proper cubemaps in place.

 

[LordOcidax]

Switch 2 version

 

[DeepEnigma]

Switch 2 version

 

[Skifi28]

It looks bad. AC Odyseey running on PS4 looks and runs better than this.

I'm of the same opinion, at least in term of lighting. The baked lighting in Shadows felt very underwhelming and a big step down when compared to previous games, which is understandable given the combination of a huge world, 4 seasons and a main focus on RTGI.

 

[Karim]

I'm of the same opinion, at least in term of lighting. The baked lighting in Shadows felt very underwhelming and a big step down when compared to previous games, which is understandable given the combination of a huge world, 4 seasons and a main focus on RTGI.

The baked lighting system is the same from the ps4 AC Origins. Raytracing simply is miles better and in the other games there wasn't the option to play with it that's why people can't see the enormous benefit of real time lighting when they can only play with the baked solution. Ghost of Yotei is an other big prove.

 

[SlimySnake]

I find it hilarious that they cut so many features and it still runs like shit.

 

[KU_]

Totally agree, i have the PS5 version and playing for second time on Switch 2. The overall experience is great and better than i expected, with a few patch like Outlaws the game is going to improve. I don't know what people expect from a 10-20 watts hardware.

Apparently there's a patch coming December 15th that will address performance. Confident with how Ubi has supported Outlaws, this will get the same treatment and will be a worthy port when it's all said and done.

 

[Karim]

 

[Skifi28]

The baked lighting system is the same from the ps4 AC Origins. Raytracing simply is miles better and in the other games there wasn't the option to play with it that's why people can't see the enormous benefit of real time lighting when they can only play with the baked solution. Ghost of Yotei is an other big prove.

It's not the same, it's of much lesser accuracy since it has to account for many more variables than in previous games. Otherwise the game would be hundreds of gigs in size. I believe there was even a DF interview with the devs about the subject.

 

[Panajev2001a]

I agree that they should have prioritised gameplay more.
but for that to be possible, they would have needed to do a very old school type of port. something noone does anymore these days.

you'd need a port that has completely bespoke assets, bespoke shaders etc.
basically they would have had to make a proper demake for the game.

this was the default back in the day, when porting a game was essentially impossible. as many "ports" of games on older systems (pre gen6, and especially pre gen5) were not actually ports as we know them now, but almost entire remakes essentially. different engine, completely different code (mimicking the original of course), completely different assets based on the originals, sometimes even redone level design...

but that's just not happening anymore sadly, and the next best thing is what you saw with those Switch 1 ports.
we won't get those completely bespoke "ports" of old systems back. you're lucky if a port is as well made as Doom Eternal these days basically.
best case is a port like Warframe, where the devs optimised the CPU performance to such a degree that it got backported to the other versions of the game. but even that game is unstable 30fps running at 480p or so.

the last time we got one of those "old school" ports was Hogwarts Legacy, but even that didn't go as far as some gen5 ports. and it's the only one that I know of that released in like a decade.
before that Forza Horizon 2 did something like that.

I am not minimising the effort required by the developer and how likely the publisher would have agreed to it, but the "it sounds like a You problem" line comes to mind.

DF's job, in most other circumstances, is to call out how the technology has been implemented and what is the result of the choices they made, in this case forgetting about impact to gameplay while in other games a first person shooter pushing for 30 FPS would scream bloody murder as it does not suit the gameplay, because of motion resolution sacrifices, etc…

If they just want to judge on how cool it could be to bring big console like tech over without impact to the gameplay of the game (DOOM 2016 and Eternal are not meant to be played at 30 FPS period, why are we dancing around this ?) sure but they need to apply this criteria consistently.

 

[Mr Moose]

I guess you can put your trolling posts below in the the recycle bin now.

Rumor  Post in thread 'GTA VI on Switch 2 Rumor Thread'

Nov 18, 2025

so a PS4 game running better on Switch 2 ( a console a little more powerful than a PS4pro ) somehow is an indicative of GTA 6 ( PS5/XSX and next gen ) running on it too ? SW2 cant even handle Borderlands 4 at the moment, but hopefully R* ll pull some miracle port like CDPR did with The Witcher on SW1.

Cant wait to read your next goal post move...

• LordOcidax

• 

I warned people about using that retard Cycu1s comparison videos. He's a fraud.

 

[Trilobit]

Assassin's Creed Shadows*

*may not be included

To be honest I don't like to cast shade. And neither does the Switch 2.

 

[Darkness_Arises]

I am not minimising the effort required by the developer and how likely the publisher would have agreed to it, but the "it sounds like a You problem" line comes to mind.

DF's job, in most other circumstances, is to call out how the technology has been implemented and what is the result of the choices they made, in this case forgetting about impact to gameplay while in other games a first person shooter pushing for 30 FPS would scream bloody murder as it does not suit the gameplay, because of motion resolution sacrifices, etc…

If they just want to judge on how cool it could be to bring big console like tech over without impact to the gameplay of the game (DOOM 2016 and Eternal are not meant to be played at 30 FPS period, why are we dancing around this ?) sure but they need to apply this criteria consistently.

There is literally no consistency. Jon is the worst of the crew for this, his gushing reviews of absolute gutter thrash looking games like Metroid Prime 4 and Penny's Big Breakaway are clear examples of this. His opinion on the graphics is heavily clouded by his personal love for the games.

 

[Mister Wolf]

Is the RTGI in Shadows a lot better than the RTGI in Outlaws? I know they use different Ubisoft game engines.

 

[Baemono]

water is the biggest letdown for me, otherwise seems fine

 

[Witchilich]

This is just a terrible game in a terrible franchise. Switch has better games to play like Bayonetta and Astral Chain.

 

[Danjin44]

This is just a terrible game in a terrible franchise. Switch has better games to play like Bayonetta and Astral Chain.

This....I have PS5 and still refuse get this game for it. I didn't buy Switch 2 to play some crappy western games on it.