Ah, we do love a good port for the Nintendo Switch. After all, the best way to play a game is in bed, which the PlayStations and Xboxes of the world can't really manage without a whole living room/bedroom remodel. But the Switch gets a lot of sub-par ports with grainy, low-resolution art or — even worse for some — Cloud Editions, which force players without great internet to deal with compression artefacts and connection issues all over the shop.
So it's very nice to see a port that has extra time put into the Switch version, like Life is Strange: True Colors, which was done by development studio Dragon's Lake, and is covered in this technical behind-the-scenes video.
With a rebuilt lighting system, tweaked anti-aliasing, Switch-specific shaders, and a bunch of optimisation features, this version of the Switch isn't just "turn the graphics down to low" — it looks a lot like the versions on other, more powerful consoles.
Admittedly, it's still not quite as gorgeous. Other consoles can handle much more subtle lighting and higher polygon counts, and you just can't replicate the way that looks. A lot of the background decoration around the town — flowers, rocks, and so on — has been taken out, to prioritise more important models in each scene and speed up rendering time.
Have you played True Colors on Switch? Do you think it looks good, or do you think that some games are always bound to look a little ropey on Nintendo's tiny handheld screens? Let us know in the comments!
Comments 15
Every time I see stuff like this, it pisses me off how The kh “ports”went, I mean look at this game! I thought it would look bad on a switch but it looks great!
And I would give kh3 a pass because of its graphics but no, it could have been ported just fine with the work.
Sorry for derailing, The ports look amazing, and I’m happy form LIS fans.
Edit: and I just noticed the protagonist looks like Kate lol.
I mean its nice that effort was put into this port but the game itself doesn't look all that demanding.
Unless I'm missing something.
Is it actually pronounced "Square Ehnix"?? Have I been saying it wrong this whole time? Or is it just an accent thing?
Once again...proof that money and development time should be spent on ports.
So square can put time and effort on this but not Kingdom Hearts???
Wow
I’ve never played a Life is Strange game but it looks like something I might enjoy so I’ve been a little on the fence. Seeing the love and care that went into this Switch port makes me want to take the dive that much more though. That type of porting is definitely something I want to support.
It looks great, and I will be buying. I'd like for Square to keep doing actual Switch ports, not cloud versions, even if the ports don't look quite as good as the next-gen versions.
I might feel differently if the game looked horrible on the Switch, but it looks fine to me.
I was waiting for LIS Remastered, but it seems like it's okay to start with this one seeing as how Remastered apparently won't be out on the Switch for a while.
I don’t normally purchase these types of games but I’m having a pretty good time with it and it looks good. Load times break the immersion somewhat and it’a 20GB download (or 6GB if you have the physical) but I would recommend purchasing especially if you see it discounted.
"It looks a lot like the versions on other, more powerful consoles". I'll take your word for it, but it certainly doesn't in those screenshots.
That was an illuminating Digital Foundry-esque dive into the game’s development - it seems like a lot of care and effort went into this port.
And did I hear her say the full game is on the cart? I’m still curious whether it’s in a playable state on the cart alone, or will it not even boot without the required 6GB download?
Either way, it’s a series I’ve been interested in for a while, and I’d like to support the dev’s effort this time, so I’ll probably pick up a cart while they’re available.
So I know the switch ain’t a power house, but let’s not make these graphics are more than they are.
I've played the first two entries of the series and their graphics aren't exactly their strongest points. They look like PS2 graphics with a lick of HD. Really. So I never imagined a good port to Switch should be something to commend.
@ModdedInkling actually an interesting fact here is that LIS true colors on Switch used AMD FSR for the port.
@anoyonmus
And I wish other devs would consider it soon.
@ModdedInkling thats what I think WB will do for Hogwarts Legacy for Switch if it isn't a cloud version
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