Digital Foundry has finally got around to taking a look at the Switch iteration of Ark: Survival Evolved and let's just say the results aren't pretty. The open-world survival game has never run well on the most powerful consoles and is poorly optimised. While the Unreal Engine might have proven itself on the Switch in the past, Ark's use of it falls short.
Everything in the Switch version of the game has been seriously scaled back. Foilage is not present, the jungle floor looks incomplete, objects nearby are displayed at a low resolution, assets are reduced and textures are a mess throughout. Apparently, the visual quality is closer to a Nintendo 64 title. The blur is so bad and resolution so low, DF struggled to identify what techniques were used by the developer Studio Wildcard. When tested, resolutions were around 360p and 432p in docked mode and in some cases, DF noted resolutions of 304 x 170 - lower than a Sega Mega Drive game and also much blurrier.
It's the lowest resolution Switch game DF has tested. Its pixel count is worse than games from the GameCube, PlayStation 2 and Xbox era - even then, those games do a better job. In handheld mode, the problem is magnified, with pixel counts hanging below 216p on a regular basis - not to mention visual quality taking a serious hit. Sadly, the mobile version beats the Switch release, because the Switch version attempts to deliver the full experience.
In terms of the frame rate, that's one of the better aspects of this port. It holds up at around 30fps in docked, with minor hiccups from time to time, and in portable, it's much the same - running at 30fps, with dips here and there. It's mildly better than you might expect. In saying this, the load times are unforgivable, taking more than two minutes during DF's test, all while they played the first level of Contra III on the side. It's probably best to avoid unless you're an absolute diehard fan of Ark.
[source youtube.com]
Comments 49
On the bright side of things, at least this isn't an indication of the Switch's upper limits. Switch is certainly capable of running something this graphically intense as games like Warframe and Doom have shown. This is just an issue of lazy optimization and development, just like everything else with this game.
Why would anyone be surprised by this lol?
The game is a total joke on all consoles and PC and barely runs stable on a high end pc like all other early access trash.
There needs to be much much harsher and stronger rules on this new early access garbage train tons of Devs are on. Games either never come out of EA or when they do they are no better than launch. Full refunds should be issued if a game doesn't leave early access status within a year of initial launch in a reasonable state.
@ilikeike Doom sure, Wolfenstein 2 of course but Warframe isn't graphically intense at all because even a Intel GPU can run it at decent settings with 60fps.
The other 2 I said are impressive ports.
Ark on the other side, great game, great music, don't play it on any console it's that simple.
On PC a GTX 770 should be fine.
As for the Switch, it's sad such a great game is such a terrible port but as expected it looks bad, even while the framerate is better than on the other 2 consoles, even WWE 2K18 has better performance and resolution on the Switch... and well I don't have any more words for that, it's abysmal.
Doesn't change the fact consoles ports of it suck, I mean even Xbox One X can barely handle it which is ridiculus because that machine has a GTX 1060 comparable GPU, One X should run it fine because a GTX 770 on PC is enough...
What does that mean? Well the devs should stop making consoles ports because they suck at it.
@SpacedDuck you clearly didn't play the PC port the last year or so, runs way better than before, and anybody who doesn't even have a GTX 770 shouldn't complain because even good optimised games need more nowdays (but then again for different reasons then Ark)
Btw the game is officialy early access no more.
If you look on the bright side, these developers unintentionally gave it a retro vibe.
But muh portability.
@MsJubilee sadly enough the phone version is better... except the controls.
I have to reiterate what I commented in the review. You don't need to single out the Switch with that statement for this game.
They don't know the meaning of optimisation, just need bear minimun, rush it out and charge almost top price.
I loved the loading screen part, lol
What I don't understand is how is this game on the best seller's list here in United States eshop smh lol
@Triforce79
PC's don't become obsolete in two to three years, I really don't understand why people spread this misinformation. Do better PC components come out pretty regularly? Sure, but that goes for technology in general. I'd rather start with hardware on par or slightly more powerful than a PlayStation or Xbox, and have the option to make small improvements if I choose to . If I don't, I can rest easy knowing I'll have more powerful hardware than current gen until the next cycle. I don't really upgrade my PC but once every 5+ years, and it's usually little by little.
This game IS rough. But I still enjoy it as much as I did on X1. I was actually on the phone earlier this evening with my best friend that played this with me on X1 when it was in preview and we were talking about how certain issues still exist in the Switch version. We also reiterated that WildCard just sucks.
People buy games only to swell the collection n wont even break the plastic seal. So many mad collectors just look at all the new limited physical release that are being pumped out. Im sure plenty will buy this game just to own a sealed box to place in alphabetical order on there book cases
@Sanya_Claus Was really funny and refreshing
@Painay My friend literally does this regularly; then has the nerve to ask me to buy him a burger.
@ilikeike
You forget an important thing :
Games like Doom put the player on "small" environments, ARK is totally open...
There is too much to handle for the Switch + the game in itself is not that optimised = catastrophe.
I get constant ads for this on YouTube complete with the Switch click intro, it’s disturbing that Nintendo would sign off on that but maybe they weren’t aware of how bad this would be. 170p and two minute load times can it get worse than this?
@subpopz
Exactly this, the game has been badly optimized across the board and even if the concept is cool and it has a lot of content, that almost makes me more upset that the developers focus more on adding things to the game than they do fixing it.
@Cobalt unreal engine doesn’t work that way. the pop in you see is unreal starting to render and object that was previously not rendered. the sections of the map not being displayed are not even run through the game loop and therefore do not impact the performance of the game at all. the only thing rendered that is not within view distance is potentially landscape, billboards, skybox and anything else in the main level. the switch is more than capable of handling all of this. both warframe and doom both do exactly what unreal / ark does, dynamically load levels. except in the case of ark this load is not put behind some loading animation
@Triforce79
Nvidias new raytracing AI technology and whatever else they're currently working on is actually widening the gap between console and PC, an article I read about. PC is nowhere near becoming obsolete.
@H0MBR3SUPR3M0 I may be misunderstanding what you said but I don't think anyone said PCs in general are going obsolete more that a single PC goes obsolete about as often as a console does which is true for the most part.
I don't even know why we're having this discussion though because this game has horrible performance from everyone I've heard about it from, no matter PC or console or phone.
I'm hard on the Switch but at the end of the day a half baked port from a company that half bakes game professionally is not what I would use to say something is impossible.
304 x 170 ? LOL this game truly is a dinosaur.
This game made history: one of the worst games for switch!
A game that is just trash, Nintendo should have refused this to be published.
See now I'd totally get this game if it had intentional sub-par graphics as in sharp/slightly blurry/poly/whatever but done cleanly and if the framerate was stable.
Watching the other half play BOTW, that actually has a fair amount of pop-in for the enemies and thats cool.
But this... such a disappointment. I really hope one day there is a patch that'll make it better.
@ilikeike Incorrect. This game does not run properly on any system. There is absolutely no way the Switch can or ever could run this game that is a fact. But this doesn't come down to a lazy port. The game is broken itself. It has poor framerate issues on both PS4 and Xbox. The Switch never had a chance. Porting this was in my eyes just a waste of the developers timne, time that maybe they should of spent making the other platforms actually work.
What a mess, didnt see This comming
This game deserves to be made extinct, amirite? 😄
This game could never run smoothly on a high end PC but they still decided to release a DLC while it was still on early access. So there is nothing surprising about this developer giving the finger to all switch users.
Lol 😂 £50+ for a decent soundtrack accompanied by what could be deemed as a crappy interactive music video. 😂
What would be a good bit of gaming journalism would be someone obtaining an interview with with the developers and get them to explain how they honestly thought this was a game worth releasing.
Wonder if there will be a landfill sight somewhere in the world where the unsold physical copies will be stored for eternity like Ataris ET game in the 80’s.
Someone I know has it on his iPhone and it works fine and is FREE, it even works pretty well on my old iPod touch.
Why release something that is this bad? Don't they have play testers?
Of course the reason is money, but this will damage reputation, but most don't care nowadays it seems
Only shame and sadness. Nothing to say.
To Developers: You cannot give to the public an entertaining product such as a video game title and not polish it enough.
If the game cannot be downgraded at all just don't publish it for the love of God!
We are not in 1993. We are at an era where videos, screenshots and opinions are wide spread in just a matter of seconds all over the globe. Also...just to inform you A LOT of people in Europe will start a lawsuit about this for consumer misleading, cause the videos you first showed to the public for this version and also the screenshots on the Nintendo Eshop (and maybe the retail version don't know) are waaaay different than the real thing.
Before anyone says 'even high spec PCs can't run this', that's really not true. A low-mid spec PC (i5 + gtx 970) can play this game just fine at 1080p 60fps at mid-high settings.
If I had to guess, I'd say it's probably the CPUs in current gen consoles (PS4 and XBO both using Jaguar laptop CPUs) that's the main reason this game runs terribly on console, across the board.
I wanted to buy this gmebut now I'm not so sure...
@subpopz
Ya I cancelled my order when I saw it was a bad port.
Was hoping they'd fix it up but... I doubt they ever will. Even if they wanted to, I dont think they have the ability.
From what I have heard, this is an incompetent port of a game made by incompetent developers.
it all fun and games until something goes wrong.
@Triforce79 That's not really true, although being a PC gamer does require the user to be more 'involved' to get the best out of games. Overall it's a cheaper yet less simple alternative to consoles.
Preordered it but the day it came out I saw the reviews so I returned it. Thankfully I hadn’t opened it yet.
When I said I wanted more low poly retro N64 styled games this wasn't what I ment.
I think this review is misleading, I am playing this and it's not as bad as this makes out the only part of what they call blurred graphics is when you go deep in a forest then the tree look a blurred mess, out of the forests the graphics are fine, the game play is not different to PS4/xbox or PC it good, I've played over 50 hours both online and off and it's ok.
I'm hoping they will polish this up I've played this for over two years and having fun on the Switch with it.
Will get this game if it is lets say $20 Canadian?
@Triforce79 I feel you last time I upgraded I decided since I had some extra money to get me an alienware laptop, and I won't spend that much money again. Normally I used to just build my own PC's, not only did it not take long to feel like it's already outdated, I've had a lot of weird problems, and I'm sure part of that is because of the bloatware they put on it.
@Rayquaza2510 "even a Intel GPU can run it at decent settings with 60fps." are you implying that intel is low-end? because nothing could be further from the truth.
@ilikeike Doom is a blurry mess. Killzone Merc's looks much better on vita!
Yes it plays well and it's a great port keeping the 'essence' of Doom. But it's still highly disappointing in terms of anything looking sharp. Esp. on handheld.
I haven't seen pop-in that bad since Daytona USA.
Should have been scrapped, utter crap.
Am I allowed to say that this game always was an ugly, inconsistent, buggy mess?
They do this and yet we have no Arkham Armored Edition. Cmon.
On par with an N64 title? N64 was 240P and it's best games have textures and lighting effects way beyond this!
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