It was a bit surprising seeing Team Ninja announce their port of Wo Long, of all games, onto the Switch 2. Sure, the Ninja Gaiden: Master Collection dropped on the eShop back in 2021, but those were all older generation games anyways. None of the modern Nioh games have ever made their way onto the platform, but somehow 2023’s Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty got a Switch 2 port.
To keep things brief and to the point, this port is kind of just “eh”. While it does bundle all 3 DLC expansions along with collaboration packs from Lies of P, Nioh 2, and Naraka: Bladepoint, the overall visual quality is beyond disappointing. The “complete package” contains nothing new other than a “Commemorative Bonus Xuanwu Armor” and comes in at 38.6 GB on the Switch 2.
Yes, the Switch 2 edition does offer both a performance mode and a quality mode, but the performance mode drops the visual fidelity to around 720p docked. It maintains mostly 60 fps, but there are noticeable dips in certain combat scenarios. PS2 games from 20 years ago look better than this. Colors and fine textures blend together into this messy look, especially when you look at environmental details like fire or building geometry. This is exacerbated when played on a large 4K television. Everything is just muddied and blurry.
Handheld mode looks even worse, which is to be expected. Plenty of mobile games nowadays look and perform better than Wo Long does, unfortunately. There’s no option to rebind controls either, but at least there are 4-5 control schemes to choose from, along with rumble support as well.
Since I already own the PS5 version of the game, I thought it would be interesting to compare the two. Even the visual quality on the PS5's performance mode looks better than the quality mode on the Switch 2 port. I’d say the 30 fps quality mode on Switch 2 renders at 1080p, if I had to guess. Load times on both consoles are actually quite similar, taking around 17 to 18 seconds, which is also nothing to brag about.
When you compare Wo Long to the recent Lies of P port, Round8 Studio did a much better job at preserving the visual quality without compromising on technical performance. Seems like Team Ninja couldn’t do the same. Both titles are being sold as complete packages at a full price tag, so I expect the same quality from both. Even the Lies of P physical release will be fully on the cartridge whereas Wo Long’s will be a Game-Key Card.
It doesn’t help that Wo Long does not support cross platform play nor cross platform save, so Switch 2 port owners can only play with other players on the same platform and have to start from scratch, which I’m not sure there will be a lot of. There’s clearly no reason to double dip if you’ve already played the game on a different platform, but I’m also unsure if Nintendo-only players would see the value in this. I guess if you don’t mind playing a muddy handheld quality game from the early 2000s.
Wo Long 2 has been announced for the Switch 2 as a launch platform, but given the mediocre quality of the first game’s port, I have my reservations about the sequel’s potential quality on this system. Team Ninja has never been known for their raw visual fidelity, and their games have always looked outdated and washed out compared to other AAA studios’ projects.
Don’t get me wrong, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty Complete Edition on Switch 2 is a fine port, because at the end of the day, it’s still playable and it still works. But is it a good port? Absolutely not. If you haven’t played the game, which is fantastic by the way, then I recommend you do so on another platform, unless the Switch 2 is your only option.
