Nintendo Switch 2 shines against PS4 and Xbox Series S in Cyberpunk 2077
During the official Switch 2 launch, Nintendo made a big deal about the performance and the resulting image quality improvements in Switch 2 games. The full specs that later came out confirm that Switch 2 is indeed considerably more powerful than the original Switch. CD Projekt Red has now dropped a ton of footage of Cyberpunk 2077 running on the Switch 2. Image quality comparisons made by Digital Foundry show that Switch 2 indeed puts up a great fight against the base PS4 and the Xbox Series S.
Nintendo Switch 2 vs Sony PlayStation 4
The Nintendo Switch 2 runs Cyberpunk 2077 at up to 1080p at a max frame rate of 40 FPS in the "Docked Performance mode". At a 30 FPS Quality mode, which uses DLSS to upscale the image from a lower resolution, the Switch 2 shows better image quality than the base PS4.
While the texture and asset quality appear to be the same between the two consoles, DF maintains that the overall image produced by the Switch 2 is both sharper, stable, and less noisy. This results in a notable difference between the image quality of the Switch 2 and the PS4.
That said, Cyberpunk 2077 running on the base PS4 is not exactly a good experience. So, seeing Switch 2’s version of the game looking better doesn’t say a lot about the capabilities of the console.
What does say a lot about the hardware of the Switch 2, however, is the image quality comparison with the current-gen Xbox Series S (Available on Amazon).
Nintendo Switch 2 vs Xbox Series S
The Xbox Series S is the cheapest current-gen console. It is the console that, combined with Xbox Game Pass, most console gamers who want to spend as little as possible will get. So, it is quite exciting to see the Nintendo Switch 2 stacking up well against the Xbox Series S.
DF shows that Cyberpunk 2077 running on Switch 2 with DLSS enabled produces a sharper and more stable image than the Xbox Series S, despite the former having a lower native resolution than the up to 1440p resolution of the Xbox console. The difference in image clarity is more notable in shots that don’t involve a ton of movement. So, static scenes with little action show up the best on the Nintendo Switch 2.
Nvidia’s Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) seems to be the key factor behind the cleaner image on the Switch 2. Nintendo Switch 2’s Tegra T239 SoC features an Nvidia Ampere-based iGPU with support for DLSS.
We know that before the FSR 4 update, which mostly closed the image quality gap between FSR and DLSS, FSR was quite bad when pitted against DLSS. Cyberpunk 2077 utilizes FSR 2 on Xbox Series S, resulting in an inferior image to the DLSS-based Switch 2 output.
Sadly, DLSS can’t help the Switch 2 much in motion because of the low internal resolution. DF gives an example of pretty noticeable visual artifacts around some NPCs in motion on the Switch 2. Similarly, the Switch 2 also doesn’t perform the best with dips below 30 FPS during fast traversal. This looks like a result of an underpowered 8-core ARM CPU since traversal requires streaming in of assets from memory, which taxes the CPU.
In the end, a demanding title like Cyberpunk 2077 looking solid on the Switch 2 inspires a lot of confidence regarding other AAA games on their way to the console. However, performance concerns, especially in handheld mode where the power budget of the SoC is limited to just 10 W, remain.
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