The Switch 2 has seem some incredible ports so far: Star Wars Outlaws, Final Fantasy VII Remake, HITMAN World of Assassination, Resident Evil 7-9, and more. None of these are perfect, with some locked to 30 fps, dropping frames, or looking noticeably worse than their other console counterparts. However, they all reach an acceptable standard that makes those sacrifices worth it for the Switch 2's versatility. Resident Evil Requiem hardly ever hits 60 frames per second, but it's close enough to that target as to not be hard to look at. It's impressive enough that the game isn't settling for 30 regardless. South of Midnight is a game that should be perfect for Switch 2, with a gorgeous art style covering up any technical imperfections and theoretically allowing it to hit higher framerates than something going for photo-realism. However, what I played doesn't just feel slightly lesser than what we've seen on Xbox and PC, but feels barely playable at times and unfinished at others.
I really hate being negative, so let's focus on some positives first. South of Midnight is a fantastic game. When Cassie Peterson and Adam Moreno reviewed the game, they gave it a glowing score of 95. You can read that review below, but—based purely on the game itself—I mostly agree with their assessment. The combat could be a little tighter in my estimations, but the story is gripping, Hazel is an amazing protagonist, the environments and characters are gorgeous, the music and sound design are phenomenal, and the platforming is fluid and fun.
Cassie Peterson
I'm glad I played the first third of the game on PC last year through GamePass, because I don't think I'd be able to see those positives as easily with this port. Don't get me wrong, they're still there, they're just almost impossible to access in terms of gameplay. The first thing to notice is that South of Midnight targets 30 fps. I'd love 60, but I could live with 30 if it ever stayed at that target for more than a single frame. It's constantly bobbing up and down, the frametime also being all over the place makes this a whole lot worse. This means that each frame takes a different amount of time to render, with big spikes up to 77.8 milliseconds, so you're constantly experiencing microstutters. Turning off camera shakes in the accessibility settings helps, but it's like putting a band-aid on a gaping wound.
I don't have specific numbers for portable mode, but just know that all of those issues are greatly exacerbated there along with a few new, unique issues that made me call this port unfinished up top. There's a whole lot more screen tearing in portable mode, specifically with the storybook cutscenes between chapters. If the camera zooms in or out of an illustration, the image is probably going to become an absolute mess as it does so. Unfortunately I can't show you this directly as capturing through the system will show a non-torn image. I can abide a bit of screen tearing, but I'm honestly shocked the game released in this state.
But wait! There's more! Pausing the game, returning to the home menu, then returning to the game will cause the game to "unpause" for a moment while the pause screen is still up, both in docked and portable modes. Subtitles will also break occasionally, with text being cut off or aligned inappropriately. Same thing with the voice acting, with a couple lines getting prematurely cut off; this happens most frequently with Bunny Flood for some reason. Later on in the game, in Chapter 12, I encountered a cutscene that barely functioned, with constant slowdown and lines cutting off or not playing entirely.
Additionally, sometimes inputs simply would not register. I got this a few times with exploration and platforming, particularly with the grapple move not triggering, but it's most prevalent in combat. Sometimes I'd press the dodge or ability buttons and nothing would happen. I had initially thought Hazel just couldn't cancel between actions like I was trying to do, but after testing this further and more deliberately it's also just dropping inputs.
I really hope they can patch all of these issues because, as I said before, there is a great game hidden under all these problems. I feel like, with enough work, polish, and time, the developers could even get this running at 60 fps. The game still looks great visually, it's just everything else that's not quite up to standards.
