Batman: Arkham Trilogy finally shipped on Switch last week, and a new analysis from Digital Foundry covering aspects like frame rate and resolution indicates that it didn’t launch in the best state.
Batman: Arkham Knight expectedly has the biggest issues on Nintendo’s console with much to be desired from performance. Unfortunately, Arkham Asylum and Arkham City aren’t perfect either.
Here’s the full rundown:
Batman: Arkham Knight
– Targets 30 frames per second, but there are near constant drops
– Open world traversal especially impacts frame rate
– 20 – 25 FPS common while gliding in the city, can stabilize a bit on the ground
– Frequent stutters
– Batmobile can cause even bigger issues with the frame rate
– Occasional super high frame time spike
– Sometimes hangs at 0 FPS indefinitely, or at least when it crashes
– Some sections hold up better – notably on foot gameplay and indoor areas
– A number of graphical cuts for the Switch version
– Texture resolution reduced on Switch
– Lighting differences and stripped back material properties
– Ambient occlusion removed on Switch
– Distant geometry is paired back
– Severe pop in when driving through the city
– Looking down at street level, tends to be less enemy commotion and traffic
– Clouds in the sky greatly simplified
– Rain volume reduced
– Characters look more basic on Switch
– Water changed on Switch
– Postprocessing has been cut back
– Motion blur stripped out
– One of the minigames has been impacted making it more difficult to solve
– 810p resolution when docked
– 540p in portable mode
Batman: Arkham Asylum and City
– Based on the original games instead of Return to Arkham
– Depth of field in the background absent on Switch
– Some issues with texture loading
– No anti aliasing
– Arkham City uses dynamic resolution up to 1080p (often 900p)
– Portable is up to 720p (typically stays here)
– Arkham Asylum can drop frames and hang in the mid 20s for extended periods
– Some frame time inconsistencies as well
– Seems to run better in portable mode
– Frame rate dips for Arkham City as well, but more consistent than Arkham Asylum
You can check out the full Batman: Arkham Trilogy technical analysis below covering frame rate, resolution, and more in Knight, Asylum, and City.
Technical Analysis
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