Wolfenstein II Switch technical analysis

With some major help from Panic Button, Wolfenstein II released on Switch yesterday. Digital Foundry has taken a closer look at the port from a technical perspective.

Arguably what’s most important is the content. No sacrifices were made here, as every level from other versions of Wolfenstein II are present on Switch. All sequences are presented in full. Some tricks were implemented though, like placing a wall in a certain area of the game – likely to reduce load when looking back at the stage.

Similar to Doom, Wolfenstein II makes use of dynamic resolution which adjusts pixel count based on load. It seems that the highest is 720p, but it can drop to as low as 640×360 when docked. In portable mode, you’ll often come across 768×432 and 640×360 pixel counts. Digital Foundry says it’s comparable to Doom, though is often closer to the lower end. The image on screen can sometimes look a bit blurry.

Wolfenstein II is just 22GB on Switch. In comparison, other platforms more than double that size. Panic Button managed to significantly reduce the size with some changes, such as a reduction in video quality and asset quality like textures. It’s worth noting here that geometry and particles are very similar to other versions of the game.

On PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, Wolfenstein II runs at 60 frames per second, but only the PlayStation 4 Pro and Xbox One X can maintain that throughout. Panic Button naturally decided drops to 30 FPS. The good news? There really aren’t any major dips that you’ll come across aside from a few specific areas, and the frame rate seems to be steadier than Doom. The one downside is that the bonus game Wolfenstein 3D runs half as fast on Switch.

Digital Foundry has much more on Wolfenstein II for Switch below.