- Unreal Engine 5 games like Cronos: The New Dawn and Fortnite have been tested on the Nintendo Switch 2.
- Both titles forego the use of Lumen, Nanite, and Virtual Shadow Maps on this console.
- Analysts believe that it may not be possible to support such features on Nintendo’s hardware for now.
Unreal Engine 5 is the most popular engine available on the market today. Games like Fortnite have already shown encouraging results on even less capable consoles like the Xbox Series S, but the same is not the case for the Nintendo Switch 2.
In fact, analysis shows the console may not be built for such features.
Why it matters: Recent releases like Star Wars Outlaws have shown that the Nintendo console is capable of punching above its weight in many instances. Past rumors also suggested the hardware would be well-suited to Unreal Engine 5.
The team at Digital Foundry recently looked at Fortnite, Cronos: The New Dawn, and Split Fiction running on the Nintendo Switch 2.
All three games make use of Unreal Engine 5, with the first two relying on Lumen and Nanite on all platforms. Unfortunately, these features are not present in the Nintendo Switch 2.
For starters, Cronos: The New Dawn ditches both Lumen and Nanite on the hybrid console. This leads to less intense lighting with missing details like flashlight bounce. In many ways, the game produces results similar to the “Very Low” settings PC preset.
Like the console, this preset also uses Cascaded Shadow Maps instead of Virtual Shadow Maps, in addition to lower detail models and assets. Looking at Fortnite, the game runs at 60FPS on the new Nintendo hardware, but it does so without using Lumen, Nanite, or Virtual Shadow Maps.
This makes for completely different lighting on the Nintendo Switch 2, and the absence of Nanite also leads to pop-in and models that often look blocky and angular. Similarly, Fortnite on the Nintendo Switch 2 uses cascaded shadow maps compared to the virtual shadow maps on the Xbox Series S.
Vegetation is another element that looks inferior on the Nintendo hardware due to the lack of Nanite.
It would be cool to see these features coming out on the Switch 2, but maybe it’s not realistic at this time.
-Digital Foundry
Split Fiction, like the other games, runs on Unreal Engine 5. However, it does not make use of the aforementioned features on any platform. Still, the title runs at 30FPS while showing various compromises compared to the Xbox Series S.
These results show that perhaps Unreal Engine 5’s headlining features are too much for the Nintendo Switch 2. In particular, the fact that Epic Games itself foregoes these features for Fortnite might be a strong indication of this fact.
What do you make of these results? Let’s discuss in the comments and on the Tech4Gamers Forums.
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[Senior News Reporter]
Avinash is currently pursuing a Business degree in Australia. For more than 5 years, he has been working as a gaming journalist, utilizing his writing skills and love for gaming to report on the latest updates in the industry. Avinash loves to play action games like Devil May Cry and has also been mentioned on highly regarded websites, such as IGN, GamesRadar, GameRant, Dualshockers, CBR, and Gamespot.
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