WB was able to port Hogwarts to Switch albeit with caveats

After some time Hogwarts Legacy was finally ported to Switch.

PC and console gamers have already been able to enjoy this game tremendously, now it's the first time it's making its way to Nintendo's little handheld console.

Nobody expected this game to be a looker but I'm actually positively surprised it holds up this well.

Some things left on the cutting room floor:

• Lighting and textures took a huge hit
• The game is no longer a seamless open world (load screens for every new part of the map as well as entering shops).
• Animations took a huge hit, with lower framerates in the BG and not as detailed when entering conversations

Who enjoyed this game already on PC or consoles?

And who is grabbing this one on Switch?

"Open world" games have been in existence for decades. GTA Vice City "ran" on PS2 (it's performance was just garbage). Any game CAN be ported even to Switch if you give up enough. It's just a matter if the devs can achieve HD resolutions and stable frame-rate.

Of course sometimes it just isn't worth it for devs to spend the time optimizing, just because it's too far from the current target. That actually looks to be the case here. Seems like a pointless port since it's a clear downgrade. Although if framerate is tolerable it might not be a horrible experience. Whether they really did a good job I guess depends on how it's performance compares to the likes of Skyrim and Red Dead on Switch.

"The game is no longer a seamless open world (load screens for every new part of the map as well as entering shops)."

All of a sudden, I'm reminded of the Eurocom version of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (GCN, Xbox), which toned down some aspects from the PS2 version. Even though Eurocom knew the GameCube was more capable even WITH it's bottlenecks (see: Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy).

If gamers need a reason why most third-party, multi-platform games sell poorly on the Switch than those on the Xbox Series and the PS5, the Switch version of Hogwarts Legacy is the reason.

Yeah I guess if it'll take years of work to backport, one has to decide what the best cost effective approach is.

I think these kind of trade offs are within expectation.

R* kept pushing boundaries with its games. GTA III was the first fully open world game, GTA Vice City pushed things further and San Andreas once again ever further with an insanely large map (for its time). Buildings were not seamless though, and had load times. Vice City also had load times between the different parts and so did GTA III.

The question is indeed how much time devs want to spend time on optimizing for each system. Xbox Series X is technically more powerful than the PS5 however we aren't seeing the differences we saw between PS 3 and 360 anymore. The differences are marginal at best.

Some third party games sell better on Switch just because of the amount of Switch gamers there are.

Sony had to pull The Last Hope from the eshop as it was selling more copies than their very own TLOU remake and TLOU Pt. 2

All for more people being able to play games, but if it's a shitty state don't bother.

The older days where the game itself would be entirely different developed titles was more interesting.

10+ different versions of Batman Returns

With the weaker hardware (Master System game) superior to the Mega-Drive.

The game doesn't run or look great on the PS5 or Xbox Series X. I can only imagine how rough this is gonna look and run. I'm kinda shocked this didn't get canceled.

Who thought they would put much effort into it?

They did a fantastic job. Will be buying a couple copies for the fam to play

Episode 3 was another example

And I remember back in PSP and DS days those were seperate from consoles, which were seperate from PC.

It just all came down to gamers being more tolerant for shorter and less feature complete games, and companies were fine with financing more games created by fewer people in shorter timespans.

lol :P

@R4gn4r0k: I'm not into Harry Potter, in general. So I'd probably just grab it on a sale.

When I'm done with my current singleplayer game I'm playing (Aliens: Dark Descent...really fun game!), I might have to go back and play Hogwart's Legacy.

Only reason I stopped playing is because it didn't meet my expectations, not necessarily because it was bad. I've had some time to reset my view of it and could probably play it with an open mind.

Does the game open up more? I got as far as Hogsmead and the initial attack (maybe an hour or two further than that). I thought they nailed the atmosphere very well, a true Harry Potter title.

Why would you play anything else but 2D sider scrollers on a portable system?

@R4gn4r0k: You have a source the Last Hope was selling more?

I have no interest in the game but, credit where it's due, that looks like a very good port considering the constraints the devs are working with. They have basically taken a game that can give current gen machines some trouble and made it work on a PS3/360 Pro.....and it looks quite good all things considered.

The big sore point is the world broken up. If i was to hazard a guess i'd say this is a CPU problem. I suspect, during gameplay, the CPU is already working very hard. If they were to try and load in assets for the main town in the background, for example, it would just cause the game to stutter all over the place. They are already cutting back animation framerates pretty close to the player to save CPU work so there is probably nothing else to give there.

But yeah...still fair dues to the devs. A very solid port. If they can fix that popping in places then looks pretty polished overall. If they had managed to get the seamless open world working then i'd file it under miracle port.

I enjoyed the game on PC when it released back in February. The framerate and graphics hit are to be expected on the switch, but the break in open world is a deal breaker imo. I also expect it would have huge framerate drops in certain segments of the game.

If switch is the only option to play, I guess the gimped version would suffice, but I've seen it run on Steam Deck and it's a much smoother portable option without making so many sacrifices to the game.

I think I have four Switch’s. This is just a reminder I really need to sell them. They’re collecting dust.

Sell all four and buy a single Steam deck oled

How does it play on Steam Deck?

And yeah the Switch version can't really keep a steady framerate but is mostly 30fps.

@R4gn4r0k: You can play it on medium settings just fine, but I think kthe sweet spot was low settings locked a 30fps. It ran buttery smooth with no slow down when I played it. Even in highly populated areas or fights with high particle effects it didn't stutter at all.

It looks terrible on Switch.

Okay for kids who won't pick up on that stuff, but damn is it rough.

Wonder if they'll make a Switch 2 version...

Doubt the game would be all that good ... even on a super computer.

It looks horrific, like it's competing with Arkham City. I'm watching the video thinking "ah... Okay". Then they put it side by side with the PC version. :-O

Nintendo please. This isn't funny any more. You need to put this thing to sleep.

If you're a fan of Harry Potter, I don't see why you'd do this to yourself. At LEAST get the Series S to play it. The only people I'd imagine playing this version is the young kids who only have a Switch and don't have a choice.

After watching the video in the op, I was expecting a far more scathing response from you. :-P

They should've changed artstyle to something Switch could handle better.

HL could look great on Switch with some work put into it, but since it's gonna sell a lot either way, why bother.

More devs should do this:

Actually even prefer the Wii graphics for that game. Has aged way better than the other versions. I'd take clean cartoony visuals over fugly attempts at realism any day.

30fps is not smooth, let alone buttery smooth. Also, the game suffers from traversal stutters regardless of your specs.

@BassMan: See my previous comment. I was talking frame rates and stutters on Steam Deck vs Switch. Performance on portable if thats what someone wanted. I didn't really run into traversal stutters when I played on PC personally.

100% agree. The wii visuals have far more charm to them.

The other version are more realistic but have the weird coated in oil look many generic UE games have. Art-direction trumping technological advantage.

@Litchie said:

They should've changed artstyle to something Switch could handle better.

HL could look great on Switch with some work put into it, but since it's gonna sell a lot either way, why bother.

More devs should do this:

Actually even prefer the Wii graphics for that game. Has aged way better than the other versions. I'd take clean cartoony visuals over fugly attempts at realism any day.