Cyberpunk
Image: Nintendo Life / Zion Grassl

It's funny, even though CD Projekt Red has given the Switch some love in the past, it's safe to say almost none of us had Cyberpunk 2077 on our Switch 2 bingo cards, let alone the 'Ultimate Edition'. That's not to say we don't want it, quite the opposite! We just never honestly envisioned a world where this graphically taxing shooter could run on Nintendo hardware...at least competently.

It's safe to assume everyone remembers the trainwreck of a launch the game had on PS4 and Xbox One back in 2020 — the buggy character models, missing textures, game-breaking glitches and the like — but things have truly changed. Now, nearly five years after that disastrous release, the developers have not only managed to rebuild the game on other platforms (and put out an incredibly striking anime with Studio Trigger), they've found a way to bring the game to Nintendo's newest console. This may not necessarily be a visual masterpiece, but it's an example from the Witcher devs that proves anything is possible on Switch 2.

Night City is a place to get lost in, stroll through a few neon-lit puddles, and see what you can get up to. During our brief 15-minute demo, we did our best to lap it all up.

It was truly surprising to see how vibrant the world is; neon illuminates anything and everything. While the detail in the environments can get a little muddy in motion, everything looks sharp when you stop and stare. The character models have a shocking amount of detail (although at this stage we were unable to confirm exactly how anatomically customisable they are on Switch 2), and the motion-captured animations didn't seem to lose much in the jump to the new system, either.

Combat is another thing altogether. While I've not spent much time with Cyberpunk on other platforms, I gathered my bearings and made do with the assault rifle and pistol I was given. I was tasked with breaking into a compound full of thugs, and did my best to take them out one by one while avoiding their onslaught of lead pesticides.

With every bullet I took, my player character's vision blurred and glitched out and even though I found this a tad bit distracting, I still found it incredibly satisfying staring down the sights, locking in on enemies and defending no matter the risk.

Even though many years have passed and the game has seen improvements over the initial release, Cyberpunk still seems to have some 'natural' jank to it. I clocked a few thugs across the head with a massive hammer that I found in my inventory, and they instantly dropped dead in the most unnatural Yamcha-like pose we've ever seen. Not really a rag doll either, more like a stiff skeleton, as if rigor mortis had instantly set in.

Then, after a seated bout of dialogue with an NPC, my character got stuck behind a chair and I had to jump out and over it, really breaking the immersion factor and getting a chuckle out of me.

Frame-rate-wise, we couldn't get official word, although we heard 40fps whispered around the demo halls. We'll have to wait for a tech breakdown on this one, but definitely don't go expecting a 1080p120 option on this one.

Cyberpunk
Image: Nintendo Life / Zion Grassl

All that being said, we're still utterly shocked Cyberpunk is coming to Switch 2, on launch day for that matter! This feels like a Witcher 3 moment all over again. An astoundingly impressive game when played on powerful hardware, now made possible on a platform that can theoretically fit in your pocket. I'm expecting to have a lot of sleepless nights in the city when this hits Switch 2 in just a few short months.