The Outer Worlds is a first person view action RPG developed by Obsidian Games and published by Private Division. Well before it’s initial release Obsidian Games surprised fans by announcing that The Outer Worlds on Nintendo Switch would happen… Eventually. Now, just over eight months later, it has finally here. And while many gamers might be concerned with how much this port might suffer from the Switch’s known hardware limitations, I’m happy to report that eager gamers have nothing to worry about.
The first place players might expect to see The Outer Worlds on Nintendo Switch take a hit would be graphically. I didn’t notice any particular difference between here, and my original play through when I reviewed the game on my Xbox One when it first released. Granted, I was running it on a standard Xbox One so I’m sure that if you compare to One X there will be differences. But the visuals don’t seem to suffer to me at all. Even having played extensively in handheld mode, the Halcyon colony retained all its charm.
Another note where visuals are concerned are in its text presentation. When I originally reviewed The Outer Worlds the only knock I had against it was in its hard to read text. Thanks to previous updates which provide black box backgrounds, and size adjustments on text this issue is largely resolved. Even playing in hand held mode presented no reading problems for me.
So, the game looks as good as ever, but how does it run you might be wondering. Again I found no complaints here either. The Outer Worlds on Nintendo Switch ran just as well as I remember the original doing. This smooth transition is undoubtably aided by the smaller encounter sizes that most of The Outer Worlds’ combat moments are made up of.
The only place where The Outer Worlds on Nintendo Switch really struggles a bit is in its controls. I’ve never found the Joy-Con thumb-sticks to be as precise as other controllers, and this remains true here as well. As the combat is a bit more paced than many other first person view games this isn’t a deal breaker, just a minor hiccup one should be prepared for.
The final aspect of The Outer Worlds on Nintendo Switch that players might be wondering about is how hard this game is on battery in handheld mode. During my playtime the I got about two and a half hours out of my Switch before the low battery warning showed up. Mind you I’m running on an original release Switch, so the newer model would probably get around three hours out of the battery. This places The Outer Worlds in the same boat as most other games of its graphical weight.
With all these factors considered I can whole heartily endorse picking this game up for the Switch if you have been waiting for that. I think the controls give its original release a slight edge, but if the convenience of mobile gaming, or the necessity of only owning a Switch makes this the place for you to experience it, The Outer Worlds on the Nintendo Switch shouldn’t disappoint.
If you would like my full thoughts about the games story and other features check out my full review of the game.
