Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition for Nintendo Switch 2 review — Night City on the go

I remember when The Witcher III (AKA Switcher) came to the original Nintendo Switch. It was massive, an incredible feat by CD Projekt Red to port something of that magnitude to a tech-challenged device. Now, at the launch of the Switch 2, CDPR has come out to play, and have somehow managed to surprise us yet again.

For anyone somehow unfamiliar with Cyberpunk 2077, it's got quite the story behind it. I bought the PS4 copy to play on my PS5, and boy, was something wrong. We all remember that launch, riddled with bugs, odd UI/UX decisions, and mechanics that just didn’t click right. Features we expected weren't there, and more. It was a mess, leading to refunds and digital delisting in some cases.

Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty review — A blaze of glory

Space Force One is going down. President of the NUSA (That’s New USA), Rosalind Myers, needs Night City’s best merc to help her delta the hell out of Dogtown before local warlord Kurt Hansen can cause an international incident – a flatlined President wouldn’t look good on the

GamingTrendDavid Flynn

Fast forward to the Phantom Liberty expansion, along with the 2.0 version of the game via the update, and the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series consoles, and PC versions got the facelift they needed. Not only was the expansion a revelation, but the game instantly vaulted into my favorites of all time.

I don’t want to dwell too long on it, as this review is more about the port itself, but Cyberpunk 2077 is simply incredible. With a story of pain and facing your own mortality that has so many layers to it, alongside phenomenal RPG mechanics and brilliant side missions, this is one of the most impactful games of the last decade, both for better and worse. The effort put into reworking this game is truly spectacular when viewing the results. 

Our own David Flynn summarized the re-release with Phantom Liberty, saying, “Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty represents the best the game has to offer. The main quest is tense and thrilling, with amazing characters played by fantastic actors and twists around every corner. Every quest gives you something unique and interesting to do, including side quests. Dogtown is gorgeous, deadly, and deep.”

That is never truer than today. I’ve been playing Cyberpunk 2077 again this year on my PS5 Pro, and I’ve been nothing but impressed and entranced. Now, being able to install the game on my Nintendo Switch 2 is nothing short of wizardry. This begins with CD Projekt Red somehow making this game fit on a 64GB game card, with the digital form only being 59.4GB in total. Sure, it’s pretty huge, but it’s one of the few games so far available fully on the cartridge. This is INCLUDING the Phantom Liberty expansion, another feat by the port team.

Simply based on the eye test, Cyberpunk 2077 isn’t much of a downgrade on the Switch 2. It’s not as impressive as the PS5 or Xbox Series builds, but it’s a long shot from what we received on PS4 and Xbox One. Playing it handheld, it’s pretty obvious that it’s running around the 40 frames per second advertised. This can be a little off-putting, but an understandable restriction of the hardware. There are a few cuts for better performance evident in the environment as well, with NPCs barely populating the streets. For the most part, any time I’ve been in bigger areas, it runs relatively smoothly, with only a couple of stutters or dips as more happens on screen. While I may not have explored as much of the open-world map, I’ve not had heavy drops in framerate while driving, which has operated cleanly so far.

Docked, it still runs awesome, with the same occasional hiccups as mentioned above. 1080P is what CDPR are aiming for, with 30fps locked in. Given the dock assists with performance and DLSS is in fact a thing with the Switch 2, I am a bit sad we couldn’t find a 60fps middle ground. Even so, there being an option for quality or performance – trading a few frames for prettier images – is a nice touch.

Something truly impressive has been the fidelity of Cyberpunk 2077. It’s a pretty game with a well-designed aesthetic, one which also doesn’t have to be as shiny as others with the sharp neon color – although it definitely shimmers when the bells and whistles are active. Even though the resolution definitely takes a hit, with textures getting muddy in the open world areas, when you get close up to some of the characters, or with some shadows, it’s astounding how good it looks. Just take a look at the collection of screenshots above. Those are gorgeous textures. That said, just like the other versions of the game, character model quality does slip when they aren’t as important to the narrative.

The controls are an intriguing part of the Switch 2 package, both good and bad. While Cyberpunk 2077’s aiming has been a bit touchy, adding in the Joy-Cons makes it even more flighty. Simply put, you’ll want to adjust your sensitivity. The Pro controller gets rid of that factor, but let’s not act like Cyberpunk’s aiming was ever very tight. You get used to it, and that’s how it goes. Surprisingly, the best way to play might be using your right Joy-Con in mouse mode. I found myself hitting some astonishingly accurate shots this way, and while it may not be the easiest way to play while mobile, it’s a trip to watch in action. Beyond aiming, everything else works well, including excellent driving mechanics.

Traveling down the information superhighway is a bit annoying, however. Loading times are just not good. Cold booting the game from the Nintendo start screen takes about thirty-nine seconds to get to the Cyberpunk 2077 start menu. If you have a game you’re loading, that will take about thirty seconds to boot into. If you’re fast traveling, it’s going to be at least ten seconds to get from point A to point B. While none of this is incredulous, it does feel like a trip back to older RPGs that gave you the timeframe to check your phone notifications really quickly.

Quite possibly the greatest accomplishment for Cyberpunk 2077 on the Switch 2 is the lack of bugs. I’m sure there are plenty of things that can happen; after all, most RPGs that offer a lot of player agency have them. But, compared to the initial release, this port is extraordinarily clean. Good on you CDPR.