Fans of the acclaimed Batman: Arkham series were delighted when WB Games and Rocksteady announced that Batman Arkham Trilogy would be coming to Nintendo Switch in late 2023. Little did they know that it would not be as pleasant an experience as they would have expected.
The series is facing severe performance issues on the console, and Batman: Arkham Knight in particular is almost unplayable, which has led to the game getting bashed by players.
Batman Arkham Trilogy Is Reportedly Unplayable on the Nintendo Switch
Batman Arkham Trilogy was released for Nintendo Switch on December 1 and brings Batman: Arkham Knight, Batman: Arkham Asylum, and Batman: Arkham City to the console.
Players expected the games to be on par with the release of last-gen platforms, which received positive reviews, but have been disappointed. Players are facing major performance issues and visual downgrades, especially with the last entry in the series, Arkham Knight.
The other two installments in the Batman: Arkham Trilogy, Arkham Asylum and Arkham City are said to be decent, but Arkham Knight has been termed “unplayable” and is getting scrutiny from players bashing it on social media.
Several gameplay videos have surfaced on the internet and they are even disappointing to watch let alone play. YouTuber, GameRiot, took to X/Twitter and shared a gameplay video of him driving the Batmobile and here’s what he said:
Warning I would stay away from the Batman Arkham Trilogy on Switch. This is unplayable.
He further added:
So Arkham Knight I would stay away from [It] (at least until it’s patched). Arkham Asylum is pretty solid. But still not ideal. FPS drops in combat. Arkham City is pretty good and would recommend picking it up.
GameRiot posted a half an hour gameplay video on YouTube and the performance is very poor. The game hardly runs at locked 30 FPS and sometimes it drops to 20 FPS. He stated that the game is not very easy to play and he has struggled to even drive at times. The textures are degraded and the resolution has taken a big hit.
It’s not limited to that, because the game sees constant frame rate drops during combat as well and the character models are downgraded. He also mentioned that the game sometimes ran at 2 FPS and even crashed.
GameRiot played the game on the release patch, so the day one patch could fix these issues, but it still will not be possible to get rid of all the problems.
Another YouTuber Cycu1 shared a video comparing the performance of PS4 and Switch versions of the game, highlighting that the game falls short in visual detail compared to the PS4 version.
Arkham Asylum‘s performance is okay-ish other than a few frame drops during combat and Arkham City has been said to be the best performing of the other titles in the Batman Arkham Trilogy. However, Arkham Knight‘s visual and performance downgrade is inexcusable.
It is important to know that Batman: Arkham Knight faced similar issues when it was launched for PC, but those were later patched, so the same could happen with the Switch port too. However, it still doesn’t help Turn Me Up Games get off the hook.
Batman Arkham Trilogy was delayed from the initial release date of October 13 to December 1 as the developers needed extra time to give players the “best experience possible on Nintendo Switch,” and even with the delay have let down the players.
These issues with Batman Arkham Trilogy might be fixed with post-launch patch updates, so gamers who are looking to play the game on Switch should wait until these issues are eradicated.
If users are still inclined to play, they should pick up Arkham Asylum and Arkham City as they play relatively better than Arkham Knight. The Batman Arkham series has been praised for its gameplay and rich storyline, so you might want to wait until the issues are fixed with updates.
Follow us for more entertainment coverage on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
